Environment news

• Energy positive: how Denmark's Samsø island switched to zero carbon

  23-02-2017 23:48
  
  The small island’s energy makeover took less than a decade and was spurred on by local commitment, providing a template for how regional Australia could transition to renewablesAnyone doubting the potential of renewable energy need look no further than the Danish island of Samsø. The 4,000-inhabitant island nestled in the Kattegat Sea has been energy-positive for the past decade, producing more energy from wind and biomass than it consumes.
  Samsø’s transformation from a
  
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• Researchers find new clues for nuclear waste cleanup

  23-02-2017 23:31 via feedproxy.google.com
  A Washington State University study of the chemistry of technetium-99 has improved understanding of the challenging nuclear waste and could lead to better cleanup methods.The work is reported in the journal Inorganic Chemistry. It was led by John McCloy, associate professor in the School of Mechanical and Materials Engineering, and chemistry graduate student Jamie Weaver. Researchers from Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), the Office of River Protection and Lawrence Berkeley National
  
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• Melting polar ice, rising sea levels not only climate change dangers

  23-02-2017 22:25 via feedproxy.google.com
  Climate change from political and ecological standpoints is a constant in the media and with good reason, said a Texas A&M AgriLife Research scientist, but proof of its impact is sometimes found in unlikely places.
  
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• Forests worldwide threatened by drought

  23-02-2017 22:23 via feedproxy.google.com
  Forests around the world are at risk of death due to widespread drought, University of Stirling researchers have found. An analysis, published in the journal Ecology Letters, suggests that forests are at risk globally from the increased frequency and severity of droughts.
  
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• Air pollution may have masked mid-20th century sea ice loss

  23-02-2017 22:06 via feedproxy.google.com
  WASHINGTON, DC — Humans may have been altering Arctic sea ice longer than previously thought, according to researchers studying the effects of air pollution on sea ice growth in the mid-20th Century. The new results challenge the perception that Arctic sea ice extent was unperturbed by human-caused climate change until the 1970s.
  
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• Manufacturing union calls for land and tax deals for industry to help transition from coal

  23-02-2017 20:45
  
  Union tells Senate inquiry there must be plans in place to attract jobs before mines or power stations closeThe manufacturing union has called for governments to hand over land and tax concessions to industry to provide the support to save the sector in the transition from coal.Steve McCartney, the state secretary of the Australian Manufacturers Workers Union in Western Australia, called on the Senate environment and communications references committee to ensure governments have a plan for alter
  
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• Australia's carp herpes plan dubbed 'serious risk to global food security'

  23-02-2017 20:14
  
  UK academics say introduction of herpes virus could also cause ‘catastrophic ecosystem crashes’ in AustraliaScientists in Britain have raised concerns about Australia’s $15m plan to release a herpes virus in the nation’s largest river system to eradicate carp, saying it poses a serious risk to global food security, could cause “catastrophic ecosystem crashes” in Australia, and is unlikely to control carp numbers long term.In a letter published in the Nature E
  
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• Robot farm workers won’t do consumers any good | Letters

  23-02-2017 20:06
  
  It’s worth asking who exactly would benefit from Andrea Leadsom’s suggestion that farmers should replace workers with robots (Farmers deliver stark warning over access to EU seasonal workers, 22 February; Letters, 23 February). Not the farmers, who would lose the freedom to exploit their workers while any cost savings associated with the robots would be swallowed up by competition and the supermarkets’ hold over the supply chains. Not the workers, who would lose their jobs, wit
  
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• Bees learn by watching others carry out a task – video

  23-02-2017 20:00
  
  Bumblebees can learn how to manoeuvre a ball by watching others carry out the task, researchers from Queen Mary University of London have discovered. Bees have already been shown to be able to learn how to pull on strings, push caps and even rotate a lever to access food. The Queen Mary study shows that bees are better at problem-solving than was previously thought Continue reading...
  
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• Professor Trash Wheel & wet steam energy: The best green innovations of the week

  23-02-2017 16:39
  
  In a week that saw the private sector strengthen its resource and ethics commitments, edie rounds up the low-carbon, resource efficient technologies and innovations that could drive business agendas in the future.
  
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• Low snowpacks of 2014, 2015 may become increasingly common with warmer conditions

  23-02-2017 16:10 via feedproxy.google.com
  Oregon experienced very low snowpack levels in 2014 and historically low snowpack levels in 2015; now a new study suggests that these occurrences may not be anomalous in the future and could become much more common if average temperatures warm just two degrees (Celsius).The low snowpack levels were linked to warmer temperatures and not a lack of precipitation, the researchers say. Based on simulations of previous and predicted snowpack, the study suggests that by mid-century, years like 2015 may
  
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• Study Targets Warm Water Rings that Fuel Hurricane Intensification in the Caribbean Sea

  23-02-2017 16:05 via feedproxy.google.com
  Last year’s devastating category-5 hurricane—Matthew—may be one of many past examples of a tropical storm fueled by massive rings of warm water that exist in the upper reaches of the Caribbean Sea.
  
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• Cavefish May Help Humans Evolve to Require Very Little Sleep

  23-02-2017 15:53 via feedproxy.google.com
  We all do it; we all need it – humans and animals alike. Sleep is an essential behavior shared by nearly all animals and disruption of this process is associated with an array of physiological and behavioral deficits. Although there are so many factors contributing to sleep loss, very little is known about the neural basis for interactions between sleep and sensory processing. 
  
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• Sugar's 'tipping point' link to Alzheimer's disease revealed

  23-02-2017 15:44 via feedproxy.google.com
  For the first time a “tipping point” molecular link between the blood sugar glucose and Alzheimer’s disease has been established by scientists, who have shown that excess glucose damages a vital enzyme involved with inflammation response to the early stages of Alzheimer’s.
  
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• What, You Can't Tell Two Lemurs Apart? Computers Can

  23-02-2017 15:39 via feedproxy.google.com
  The Centre Valbio research station, a modern building of stone and glass set in the jungled hills at the edge of Madagascar’s Ranomafana National Park, was starting to look like the third season of The Wire. Big tackboards lined the walls, each one covered with dozens of pinned-up photographs. Some images were grouped together in families, while others floated alone, unconnected. It was 2012, and Rachel Jacobs was using Detective McNulty-style tactics to sort out the associations
  
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• Oil and Gas Wastewater Spills, including Fracking Wastewater, Alter Microbes in West Virginia Waters

  23-02-2017 14:46 via feedproxy.google.com
  Wastewater from oil and gas operations – including fracking for shale gas – at a West Virginia site altered microbes downstream, according to a Rutgers-led study.The study, published recently in Science of the Total Environment, showed that wastewater releases, including briny water that contained petroleum and other pollutants, altered the diversity, numbers and functions of microbes. The shifts in the microbial community indicated changes in their respiration and nut
  
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• Fishing for bacteria in New Zealand

  23-02-2017 14:25 via feedproxy.google.com
  If you asked Richard Sparling, what he did during his sabbatical early last year, he’d probably say “fishing in New Zealand.”But this ambiguous answer by the department of microbiology associate professor does not tell the whole story.
  
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• Sediment Flows into Galveston Bay Studied to Help Understand Health of Watershed

  23-02-2017 14:14 via feedproxy.google.com
  A better understanding of sediment and freshwater flow into Galveston Bay is now available from a new U.S. Geological Survey report, done in cooperation with the Texas Water Development Board, and the Galveston Bay Estuary Program.
  
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• Canary Wharf Group launches circular coffee waste system

  23-02-2017 14:11
  
  A pioneering initiative at the Canary Wharf estate in London has fully embraced the circular economy as the property, retail and waste management sectors join forces to recycle and reuse coffee waste.
  
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• Barclays delivered £21bn for sustainability projects in 2016

  23-02-2017 12:30
  
  Multinational bank Barclays raised £21.1bn in finance for environmental and societal schemes in 2016 as part of a fresh strategy that focuses on enhancing the sustainability of its business model.
  
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• Heineken couples sustainability and financial reporting as emissions tumble

  23-02-2017 12:26
  
  A "firm belief" that business growth and sustainability go hand-in-hand has seen Heineken publish its latest sustainability report alongside a financial report for the first time, with the report highlighting rapid business expansion alongside a decrease in emissions.
  
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• Green Investment Bank: Australian bidder woos MPs as protests continue

  23-02-2017 11:37
  
  Macquarie insists it is committed to renewable energy – but critics say it could invest in fossil fuels if its bid succeeds The Australian investment bank on the verge of buying the UK’s publicly owned Green Investment Bank has launched a Westminster charm offensive after parliamentarians of all parties told Theresa May to halt the £2bn sale.Green party co-leader Caroline Lucas, the Lib Dems’ Vince Cable and former Tory minister Lord Barker last month warned a sale to Mac
  
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• Most wood energy schemes are a 'disaster' for climate change

  23-02-2017 10:47 via bbc.co.uk
  
  A new report says that using wood pellets to generate low-carbon electricity is a highly flawed policy.
  
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• Bolivia's salt flats – in pictures

  23-02-2017 10:42
  
  The salt flats in Salar de Uyuni, Bolivia, are the largest in the world and contain 50-70% of the world’’s lithium reserves Continue reading...
  
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• Is it time for a plastic bottle tax?

  23-02-2017 10:29
  
  Following the success that the UK's plastic bag charge has had on changing consumer behaviours and reducing waste, environmental campaigners and industry experts have this week been discussing the viability of a plastic bottle deposit scheme. Would such a scheme be successful?
  
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• Dell launches marine waste packaging trays

  23-02-2017 10:28
  
  Computer firm Dell has achieved a new first for the technology industry, after converting waste plastic found on beaches and in waterways into new packaging for one of its laptop products.
  
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• Dell delivers tech industry's first ocean plastic packaging

  23-02-2017 10:28
  
  Computer firm Dell has achieved a new first for the technology industry, after converting waste plastic found on beaches and in waterways into new packaging for one of its laptop products.
  
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• Politics of fear and anger has buried tradition of reform, says NAB chair Ken Henry

  23-02-2017 08:20
  
  Former Treasury secretary urges Australian businesses to fill leadership vacuum left empty by politiciansFormer Treasury secretary Ken Henry has blasted Australia’s federal political leaders saying the reform agenda has been buried by the politics of fear and anger.He urged Australian business to fill the leadership vacuum, saying if companies wanted greater certainty they would have to start delivering it themselves. Continue reading...
  
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• Report: Heathrow expansion will create a 'black hole' in future carbon budgets

  23-02-2017 08:15
  
  The UK Government's lack of commentary on how it plans to mitigate the environmental impacts of the third runway expansion at Heathrow Airport could create a "black hole" in future carbon budgets, a new report has warned.
  
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• Deep sea life faces dark future due to warming and food shortage

  23-02-2017 08:01
  
  New study reveals negative impact of climate change, human activity, acidification and deoxygenation on ocean and its creatures The deep ocean and the creatures that live there are facing a desperate future due to food shortages and changing temperatures, according to research exploring the impact of climate change and human activity on the world’s seas.The deep ocean plays a critical role in sustaining our fishing and removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, as well as being home to a
  
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• Talons at noon as red kite pair topple the spare

  23-02-2017 06:30
  
  Sandy Bedfordshire In an aerial tussle one raptor attacked from above until its opponent dropped so low it was groundedBy lunchtime the skies over rural Bedfordshire had become an arrivals and departures board. Thin white slashes criss-crossing the blue trailed over the horizon towards Barcelona, Rome and Salzburg. The 11.25 to Katowice had dissipated into a wispy smudge. Then, an intense arrowhead, like a cursor on a computer screen, might have been the 12.20 from Barcelona entering our airspac
  
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• Gas-fired power plants failed during NSW heatwave, report reveals

  23-02-2017 01:33
  
  Market regulator urgently requested aluminium smelter reduce electricity use as demand surged alongside temperaturesGas-fired power plants failed during this month’s New South Wales heatwave, forcing authorities to urgently cut demand from the Tomago aluminium smelter to prevent outages.The record-breaking heat put enormous strain on NSW’s electricity supply on Friday, 10 February, when demand peaked at 4.30pm at 14,181MW.Continue reading...
  
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• 'Magical thinking' on Heathrow expansion

  23-02-2017 01:15 via bbc.co.uk
  
  A third runway at Heathrow can only be justified if it does not breach climate change laws, MPs say.
  
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• Government 'watering down' pollution limits to meet Heathrow pledge

  23-02-2017 01:01
  
  MPs say ministers are not doing enough to demonstrate how third runway would meet obligations on noise and air qualityThe government is set to “water down” limits on aviation emissions and is shifting targets to meet its pledge to mitigate the environmental impact of expanding Heathrow, MPs have said.The cross-party environmental audit committee said ministers were not doing enough to demonstrate a third Heathrow runway could be built without breaching laws on air quality and carbon
  
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