Environment news

• Hard facts unmask the fiction behind Coalition's 'coal comeback' | Lenore Taylor

  10-02-2017 23:50 via theguardian.com
  
  There’s a long list of blame and shame for Australia’s threadbare climate and energy policy, but Turnbull’s party takes the cakeWatching politics builds a high tolerance for hypocrisy and humbug, but even I am aghast at the Coalition’s antics this week – fondling a lump of coal in parliament while accusing the opposition of an “ideological approach to energy” and negligence in policy planning.Seriously. There’s a long list of blame and shame for Au
  
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• Queensland's electricity price spikes far worse than South Australia during 'crisis'

  10-02-2017 22:57 via theguardian.com
  
  Analysis shows spike in fossil fuel-dominated state’s wholesale spot price this year far eclipses that in SA in July 2016 which sparked calls for a national inquiry into renewable energyExtreme price spikes in Queensland’s fossil fuel-dominated electricity market this year have far eclipsed those seen in South Australia last July, which sparked calls of a national inquiry into renewable energy and led the federal Coalition to call for a halt to state-based renewable energy targets.
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• Libya mayors say Europe's migration crisis should not be dumped on them

  10-02-2017 22:50
  By Ahmed Elumami TRIPOLI (Reuters) - Mayors from Libya's desert south to its northern shores fear a deal between Tripoli and Rome to fund migrant holding centres in this north African country will simply shift Europe's migration crisis onto Libyan soil. The Mediterranean Sea between Libya and Italy has become the main crossing point for asylum seekers and economic migrants seeking a better life in Europe. The deal foresees European Union money for holding centres in towns and cities along the ma
  
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• New Data from NOAA GOES-16's Space Environment In-Situ Suite (SEISS) Instrument

  10-02-2017 22:44 via feedproxy.google.com
  The new Space Environment In Situ Suite (SEISS) instrument onboard NOAA’s GOES-16 is working and successfully sending data back to Earth.A plot from SEISS data showed how fluxes of charged particles increased over a few minutes around the satellite on January 19, 2017. These particles are often associated with brilliant displays of aurora borealis at northern latitudes and australis at southern latitudes; however, they can pose a radiation hazard to astronauts and other satellites, and thr
  
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• University of Wyoming Researcher Helps Solve Fish Evolution Mystery

  10-02-2017 22:36 via feedproxy.google.com
  A University of Wyoming researcher is part of an international team that has discovered how more than 700 species of fish have evolved in East Africa’s Lake Victoria region over the past 150,000 years.
  
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• Australia's heatwave continues with record temperatures forecast

  10-02-2017 22:21 via theguardian.com
  
  NSW and Queensland brace for hottest February day on record, putting paramedics on high alertNew South Wales is expected to experience its hottest February day on record this weekend with emergency services on high alert for catastrophic fire conditions.A state-wide total fire ban has been declared for Saturday as the mercury was set to soar past 40C. Continue reading...
  
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• Australia's heatwave continues with record temperatures expected

  10-02-2017 22:21 via theguardian.com
  
  NSW and Queensland brace for hottest February day on record, putting paramedics on high alertNew South Wales is expected to experience its hottest February day on record this weekend with emergency services on high alert for catastrophic fire conditions.A state-wide total fire ban has been declared for Saturday as the mercury was set to soar past 40C. Continue reading...
  
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• Wind Surpasses Hydroelectric as Top U.S. Renewable Energy Source

  10-02-2017 20:57 via feedproxy.google.com
  For decades, hydroelectric dams served as the United States’ top source of renewable energy. But last year, wind power took the top spot, according to a new report by the American Wind Energy Association, an industry trade group. It is now the fourth largest source of energy in the U.S., behind natural gas, coal, and nuclear.
  
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• A warm relationship between corals and bacteria

  10-02-2017 20:48 via feedproxy.google.com
  Bacteria in certain microbiomes appear to help corals adapt to higher water temperatures and protect against bleaching, as shown by a KAUST-led research team.
  
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• Methane Levels Have Increased in Marcellus Shale Region Despite a Dip in Well Installation

  10-02-2017 20:25 via feedproxy.google.com
  Despite a slow down in the number of new natural gas wells in the Marcellus Shale region of Northeast Pennsylvania, new research led by Drexel University finds that atmospheric methane levels in the area are still increasing. Measurements of methane and other air pollutants taken three years apart in the rural areas of Pennsylvania that have been the target of natural gas development over the last decade, revealed a substantial increase from 2012 to 2015.
  
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• Oil up on widespread OPEC deal compliance, U.S. rig count rises

  10-02-2017 20:09
  By Devika Krishna Kumar NEW YORK (Reuters) - Oil prices rose on Friday after reports that OPEC members delivered more than 90 percent of the output cuts they pledged in a landmark deal that took effect in January. Supply from the 11 members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries with production targets under the deal fell to 29.92 million barrels per day, according to the average assessments of the six secondary sources OPEC uses to monitor output, or a 92 percent compliance. T
  
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• Gas Hydrate Breakdown Unlikely to Cause Massive Greenhouse Gas Release

  10-02-2017 20:03 via feedproxy.google.com
  A recent interpretive review of scientific literature performed by the U.S. Geological Survey and the University of Rochester sheds light on the interactions of gas hydrates and climate.The breakdown of methane hydrates due to warming climate is unlikely to lead to massive amounts of methane being released to the atmosphere, according to a recent interpretive review of scientific literature performed by the U.S. Geological Survey and the University of Rochester.Methane hydrate, which is also ref
  
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• Researchers invent a breakthrough process to produce renewable car tires from trees and grasses

  10-02-2017 19:43 via feedproxy.google.com
  A team of researchers, led by the University of Minnesota, has invented a new technology to produce automobile tires from trees and grasses in a process that could shift the tire production industry toward using renewable resources found right in our backyards.Conventional car tires are viewed as environmentally unfriendly because they are predominately made from fossil fuels. The car tires produced from biomass that includes trees and grasses would be identical to existing car tires with the sa
  
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• Environmentalists warn of bumblebee's extinction after Trump halts regulations

  10-02-2017 18:38 via theguardian.com
  
  Order for 60-day pause on regulations not yet implemented includes protection for endangered rusty patched bumblebee, which experts say is near extinctionDonald Trump has been accused of targeting Muslims, media outlets and even department stores in his first month in the White House. Now, the US president may have doomed a threatened bumblebee.
  An executive order freezing new regulations could push the rusty patched bumblebee towards extinction, environmental groups claim. The 60-day pause on a
  
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• Spaceflight Changes the Shape of Astronauts' Brains

  10-02-2017 18:23
  
  It appears that spaceflight really goes to astronauts' heads. Doctors and scientists have long known that exposure to a weightless environment causes muscles to atrophy, bones to weaken and vision to deteriorate, among other effects. Now, a new study has determined that spaceflight also causes some parts of the brain to expand and others to contract.
  
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• Non-OPEC delivers 40 percent of pledged oil curbs in January - OPEC sources

  10-02-2017 18:18
  DUBAI/LONDON (Reuters) - Eleven non-OPEC oil producers that joined a global deal to cut output to boost prices have delivered 40 percent of promised curbs in January, two OPEC sources said. The lower compliance figure for non-OPEC to date is partly due to the phased implementation of the deal by Russia, the largest non-producer cooperating with OPEC. An OPEC and non-OPEC technical committee due to meet in Vienna on Feb. 22 will look further at how to assess compliance with the deal.
  
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• Renewables, floods and the incredible Amazon catfish – green news roundup

  10-02-2017 17:44 via theguardian.com
  
  The week’s top environment news stories and green events. If you are not already receiving this roundup, sign up here to get the briefing delivered to your inbox Continue reading...
  
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• Behavioural science can help tackle problem of idling engines

  10-02-2017 17:44 via feedproxy.google.com
  New research by academics at the University of East Anglia (UEA), University of Kent and University of Lincoln, suggests that insights from behavioural science can help inform the design of road signs to bring about changes in driver behaviour.Research in behavioural science has demonstrated how even very minimal cues or ‘nudges’ can sometimes have a powerful influence on human behaviour and decision-making. In this study, the researchers applied this approach to examine whether simp
  
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• Oil up nearly 2 percent on signs of widespread OPEC deal compliance

  10-02-2017 17:17
  By Devika Krishna Kumar NEW YORK (Reuters) - Oil prices rose nearly 2 percent on Friday after reports that OPEC members delivered more than 90 percent of the output cuts they pledged in a landmark deal that took effect in January. Supply from the 11 members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries with production targets under the deal fell to 29.921 million barrels per day, according to the average assessments of the six secondary sources OPEC uses to monitor output, or a 92 per
  
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• Evidence of Sea-level Change in Southeast Asia 6,000 Years Ago Has Implications for Today's Coastal Dwellers, Rutgers Study Finds

  10-02-2017 17:14 via feedproxy.google.com
  For the 100 million people who live within 3 feet of sea level in East and Southeast Asia, the news that sea level in their region fluctuated wildly more than 6,000 years ago is important, according to research published by a team of ocean scientists and statisticians, including Rutgers professors Benjamin Horton and Robert Kopp and Rutgers Ph.D. student Erica Ashe. That’s because those fluctuations occurred without the assistance of human-influenced climate change.In a paper published in&
  
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• Europe to invest in renewables despite Trump - electricity lobby

  10-02-2017 16:36
  European utilities will not reduce their investments in renewables if U.S. President Donald Trump lowers U.S. climate goals, encouraged by Chinese and EU political commitments to low carbon energy, electricity lobby Eurelectric said. Trump, who campaigned on a pledge to bolster the U.S. oil, gas and coal industries, said during the campaign he would pull the United States out of a global pact reached in Paris in 2015 to cut greenhouse gases, although he has not yet acted on that pledge. "If the
  
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• Lightbulb moment: UK streetlights get innovative green makeover

  10-02-2017 16:34
  
  Streetlights connected to electricity networks in Kensington and Chelsea will now act as charge points for electric vehicles (EVs), while a Lanarkshire-based IT specialist has agreed to fund development of wind-harvesting lampposts in the UK.
  
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• NASA's Spots Tropical Cyclone Carlos' Night-time Stretch

  10-02-2017 16:33 via feedproxy.google.com
  NASA-NOAA's Suomi NPP satellite captured a night-time image of Tropical Cyclone Carlos using infrared light that showed the storm was being stretched out. Carlos is being adversely affected by the Westerlies.
  
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• Litter Levels in the Depths of the Arctic are On the Rise

  10-02-2017 16:12 via feedproxy.google.com
  The Arctic has a serious litter problem: in just ten years, the concentration of marine litter at a deep-sea station in the Arctic Ocean has risen 20-fold. This was recently reported in a study by researchers at the Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research (AWI).
  
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• Rosneft's Volga refineries in limbo over tax reform, low oil prices

  10-02-2017 15:25
  By Olesya Astakhova, Oksana Kobzeva and Maxim Nazarov MOSCOW (Reuters) - Some of the domestic refineries of Russia's largest oil producer Rosneft have been hit hard by tax reforms and weaker oil prices, putting a strain on profits, sources and analysts told Reuters on Friday. The government has tweaked tax for the oil industry, aiming to encourage companies to produce better-quality oil products. Starting from January, it hiked the export duty for fuel oil, a low-grade product, under a so-called
  
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• Oil rises on signs of widespread OPEC deal compliance

  10-02-2017 15:10
  By Karolin Schaps LONDON (Reuters) - Oil prices rose about $1 on Friday after reports that OPEC members delivered more than 90 percent of the output cuts they pledged in a landmark deal that came into force in January. Supply from the 11 OPEC members with production targets under the deal fell to 29.921 million barrels per day, according to the average assessments of the six secondary sources OPEC uses to monitor output, or a 92 percent compliance. The International Energy Agency (IEA) - one of
  
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• Fuel cell technology to power Radisson Blu hotel

  10-02-2017 14:08
  
  Global hotel chain Radisson Blu has partnered with energy supplier E.ON to install low-carbon fuel cells at its property in Frankfurt, which will generate a large share of the site's energy needs.
  
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• Urine batteries and impossible food: the best green innovations of the week

  10-02-2017 14:07
  
  In a week where businesses ramped-up resource efficiency methods, edie rounds up some of the latest and greatest green innovations that could strengthen and already solid business case for low-carbon technology.
  
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• Exclusive - OPEC figures show over 90 percent compliance with supply cut: sources

  10-02-2017 14:04
  OPEC has delivered more than 90 percent of pledged oil output curbs in January, according to figures the exporter group uses to monitor its supply, making a strong start to implementation of its first production cut in eight years. Supply from the 11 OPEC members with production targets under the deal has fallen to 29.921 million bpd, according to the average assessments of the six secondary sources OPEC uses to monitor its output and which were seen by Reuters. This amounts to 92 percent compli
  
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• Libyan mayors say Europe's migration crisis should not be dumped on them

  10-02-2017 13:58
  By Ahmed Elumami TRIPOLI (Reuters) - Mayors from Libya's desert south to northern shores fear a deal struck between Tripoli and Rome to fund migrant holding centres in the north African country will simply shift Europe's migration crisis onto Libyan soil. The Mediterranean sea between Libya and Italy has become the main crossing point for asylum seekers and economic migrants seeking a better life in Europe. The deal foresees European Union money for holding centres in towns and cities along the
  
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• How Xi Jinping's global ambitions could thrive as Trump turns inward

  10-02-2017 13:25 via theguardian.com
  
  As Donald Trump steers the US towards isolationism and protectionism, China’s leader is casting himself as a champion of internationalism and free trade. But are Xi’s values really compatible with those of the rest of the world?Some call it Xi Jinping’s Big White Book; a 515-page, 2.5kg tome in which China’s paramount leader lays out his thinking on everything from tree planting to macro-economics; from Karl Marx to the importance of being earnest.More than five million c
  
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• Renewables reaching cost-parity with fossil fuels, research finds

  10-02-2017 12:54
  
  Low-carbon technologies are now reaching cost-parity with fossil fuels, according to a new report which states that solar cell technology is likely to have a "major impact" in the near future.
  
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• Britain takes rising interest in Norwegian gas - joint statement

  10-02-2017 12:44
  Britain sees growing interest in natural gas imports from Norway as part of efforts to cut carbon dioxide emissions, the two countries said in a joint statement released by the Norwegian energy ministry on Friday. "British interest in Norwegian gas is set to grow as the UK looks to phase out power generation from unabated coal in the transition to a lower carbon energy mix," it said following a meeting of their energy ministers. Norway is Britain's largest supplier of gas.
  
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• Oil overhang points to need for extended OPEC output cuts

  10-02-2017 11:21
  The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and non-OPEC producers in December reached their first deal since 2001 to curtail oil output jointly, by around 1.8 million barrels per day. In the months leading up to the deal and after it was struck, OPEC ministers said tackling an overhang in crude and oil product inventories that has depressed oil prices for over two years was one of their main objectives. This contrasts with price hawk Iran, whose oil minister Bijan Zanganeh said OPEC s
  
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• Oil rises on 90 percent compliance on OPEC output deal

  10-02-2017 11:20
  By Karolin Schaps LONDON (Reuters) - Oil prices rose more than 1 percent on Friday after the International Energy Agency (IEA) reported record initial compliance by OPEC members implementing last year's landmark deal to curb output in an effort to prop up global oil prices. Members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) made production cuts in January equating to 90 percent of the agreed volumes, a record high for the first month of implementation for such deals, the IEA
  
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• Shell's departing CFO to join Rio Tinto as non-executive director

  10-02-2017 11:07
  Royal Dutch Shell's chief financial officer, Simon Henry, will join miner Rio Tinto as non-executive director from July 1 after he leaves the oil major. Henry, who has served as CFO for seven years of his 34 years at Shell, will hand over to Jessica Uhl on March 9 and leave the company on June 30. "Royal Dutch Shell confirms that Simon Henry, Chief Financial Officer of the company, has been appointed a non-executive director of Rio Tinto with effect from July 1, 2017," Shell said in a statement
  
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• Australia swelters in heatwave and argues about energy future

  10-02-2017 11:05 via theguardian.com
  
  As records tumble on east coast, politicians debate the energy mix they need to combat climate change and ensure supplyA long, hot summer in Australia is smashing weather records, with about a fifth of the country predicted to swelter in temperatures of more than 40C on Saturday.The hottest days yet this summer are forecast for parts of New South Wales and Queensland, which have taken the brunt of a series of heatwaves in recent months.Continue reading...
  
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• BBC launches mandatory carbon tracking scheme

  10-02-2017 10:18
  
  From April this year, all BBC televisions programmes will be required to track their carbon footprint using a "hotspot" identifying calculator.
  
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• IEA says record OPEC cut compliance helps oil market rebalance

  10-02-2017 10:03
  By Dmitry Zhdannikov LONDON (Reuters) - Global oil output plunged in January as OPEC and non-OPEC producers curbed supply to accelerate a market rebalancing following one of the largest oil gluts in a generation, the International Energy Agency said on Friday. Oil supplies fell by around 1.5 million barrels per day last month, including by 1 million bpd for OPEC, leading to record initial compliance of 90 percent with a six-month output-cut deal reached in December by big producers to boost pric
  
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• Oil prices rise on strong Chinese imports, OPEC-led production cuts

  10-02-2017 09:16
  By Henning Gloystein SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Oil prices edged up on Friday, supported by strong Chinese crude imports and OPEC-led production cuts, although ample U.S. fuel inventories still weighed on the market. Brent crude futures , the international benchmark for oil prices, were trading at $55.68 per barrel at 0807 GMT, up 5 cents from their previous close. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were up 3 cents at $53.03 a barrel.
  
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• The world's most unloved, underappreciated wildlife – in pictures

  10-02-2017 09:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Do you like pangolins or silky sharks? How about the black-legged kittiwake? Vote for your favourite in the Wildscreen Arkive’s Valentine’s Day campaign to help protect under-appreciated species from poaching and climate changeContinue reading...
  
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• Electricity market operator denies being ‘asleep at the wheel’ during blackout

  10-02-2017 08:24 via theguardian.com
  
  Australian Energy Market Operator executive David Swift admitted to Senate committee there was an error in South Australia forecastThe Australian Energy Market Operator says it was not asleep at the wheel after another electricity shortage in South Australia on Wednesday caused blackouts for 40,000 people.
  Senior managers from the electricity market operator faced combative questioning about their management of the South Australian weather event during a Senate committee hearing in Canberra on F
  
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• Why Australian cities are at risk of power outages – video explainer

  10-02-2017 07:40 via theguardian.com
  
  As temperatures in New South Wales, South Australia, the ACT, Queensland and Victoria soar, there are predictions of rolling blackouts in some parts of the national electricity grid. However, experts agree there is more than enough generation capacity in the energy market to meet demand, so why are we having power outages? Is it market failure? Are renewables to blame? Or are power companies gaming the system? Continue reading...
  
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• With a head-pumping strut, the cattle egret struts around the cows

  10-02-2017 06:30 via theguardian.com
  
  Warblington, Hampshire By associating with large ungulates, these birds can obtain up to 50% more food using two-thirds of the energy required for lone foragingA loose flock of egrets has gathered by the cattle in the corner of the pasture to the west of the cemetery. Three of the white herons are immediately identifiable as little egrets, their yellow feet beacons in the mizzle. The fourth bird looks dumpy, hunchbacked and stubby-billed next to its elegant, slim-necked, rapier-billed cousins. I
  
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• Oil prices stable on strong Chinese imports, OPEC-led production cuts

  10-02-2017 05:45
  By Henning Gloystein SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Oil prices were stable on Friday, supported by strong Chinese crude imports and OPEC-led production cuts, although ample U.S. fuel inventories weighed on the market. Brent crude futures , the international benchmark for oil prices, were trading at $55.68 per barrel at 0427 GMT, up 5 cents from their previous close. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were up 7 cents at $53.07 a barrel.
  
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• Morrison and co are kneecapping my generation's future. And laughing about it | Alex McKinnon

  10-02-2017 05:14 via theguardian.com
  
  A small opportunity to avoid a frightening world has been tossed away by this government and the lobbyists and financiers that they answer toSpeaking in parliament on Thursday, treasurer Scott Morrison held aloft a large lump of coal and made the funniest joke he’ll ever think of in his life. “Mr Speaker, this is coal. Don’t be afraid! Don’t be scared! It won’t hurt you.” Morrison yelled at the opposition as his colleagues jeered and hooted behind him. It was
  
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• Volunteers try to save whales at New Zealand beach after mass stranding – video

  10-02-2017 05:08 via theguardian.com
  
  Dozens of volunteers form a barrier in Golden Bay in an effort to prevent more whales from stranding themselves after hundreds died on Thursday night. The Department of Conservation (DOC) discovered 416 pilot whales had beached themselves at Farewell Spit at the top of the south island, the largest stranding in decades. Volunteer Peter Wiles said: ‘It is one of the saddest things I have seen.’ Continue reading...
  
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• CEFC warns against risky investment in 'clean coal' technology

  10-02-2017 04:47 via theguardian.com
  
  Federal government’s Clean Energy Finance Corporation says coal ‘seriously challenged’ as a commercial investmentThe Clean Energy Finance Corporation has said it is “very unlikely” it would invest in new coal-fired generators and poured cold water on the federal government’s push to support “clean coal” technology.The CEFC’s hostile approach to the sustainability and commercial viability of new coal plants means the government will have to ch
  
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• Competition is failing in energy retail and it's hurting households | Gerard Brody

  10-02-2017 02:11 via theguardian.com
  
  If governments want to make energy more affordable, making competition work for the community rather than the industry would be the sensible first stepIn his address to the National Press Club last week, prime minister Malcolm Turnbull called out that families across the nation need not just reliable but affordable power. For lower income earners who spend up to five times as much of their disposable income on energy than higher income earners, this is very welcome.However, the federal governmen
  
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• Oil prices stable on OPEC-led production cuts, but bloated inventories weigh

  10-02-2017 02:10
  By Henning Gloystein SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Oil prices were stable early on Friday, with OPEC-led production cuts supporting the market while soaring U.S. fuel inventories were weighing on crude. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were trading at $53.08 per barrel at 0106 GMT, up 8 cents from their last settlement. Brent crude futures , the international benchmark for oil prices, were up 3 cents at $55.66 a barrel. Both crude futures have traded within a $5 range since the beginning
  
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