Interesting Ideas

EU government ministers sign off on new Weights & Dimensions which grant trucks extra weight to accommodate heavier zero-emission technologies. After more than two years of deadlock EU government ministers have finally unlocked negotiations on rules to grant trucks extra weight to accommodate heavier clean technologies. This was the last ... [continued]

The post Member States Seize Last Chance to Unlock Clean Truck Deal appeared first on CleanTechnica.

In an article earlier today about Waymo announcing that it’s going to enter four more cities — Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Baltimore, and St. Louis — one of our readers provided a couple of brilliant comments. Now, let me say that I didn’t mention Tesla in the article, but there’s been a ... [continued]

The post Digging Deeper into Differences Between Tesla Full Self-Driving & Waymo Driver appeared first on CleanTechnica.

Rewilding charity helps bolster Scottish stronghold of species that once came close to extinction in UK

Red squirrels have expanded their range across the Highlands by more than a quarter after a 10-year reintroduction programme moved hundreds to new homes.

The species once came close to extinction in Britain when foresters killed them as pests and their natural habitat was destroyed. A deadly virus carried by invasive grey squirrels has hampered their recovery.

Plans that evolved over more than two decades are about to become reality as a 6km cycling, walking and nature corridor opens through Sydney’s inner west

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About 25 years ago, Bruce Ashley was walking beside the Hawthorne canal in Sydney’s inner west when he stopped to chat with two men planting native species next to the footpath.

Ashley, an environmental planning consultant, had been thinking about how to link paths and scraps of bush to create a “greenway” along the old goods line from Pyrmont to Dulwich Hill since the mid-1990s, when the state government had commissioned him to examine the potential for cycle rail trails throughout New South Wales.

Conservationists say changes, coupled with underfunding, will curb take-up and leave less land protected for nature

• UK politics live – latest updates

An ambitious scheme to restore England’s nature over coming decades has been undermined after the government inserted a clause allowing it to terminate contracts with only a year’s notice, conservationists have said.

The project was designed to fund landscape-scale restoration over thousands of hectares, whether on large estates or across farms and nature reserves. The idea was to create huge reserves for rare species to thrive – projects promoted as decades-long commitments to securing habitat for wildlife well into the future.

As the year draws to a close, my email inbox and my Facebook page are full of offers from car salespeople. Cash back from BYD, free charging from another, even discounts for the Cadillac LYRIQ! New cars are still being launched — for example, the Leap Motor B10, the BYD ... [continued]

The post November Update: Steady As She Goes For Australian Plugin Vehicle Sales appeared first on CleanTechnica.

This week’s best wildlife photographs from around the world

In this week’s CleanTechnica YouTube gathering, fellow CleanTechnica writers Zach Shahan, Larry Evans, José Pontes, and I over-extended the allotted time of 30 minutes and talked for an hour and fifteen. The discussions were continuous and spontaneous, layered, one topic opening up another. One of the points we raised and ... [continued]

The post China’s Most Updated Autonomous Driving Framework Makes Both Carmakers & Operators (Owners Included) Liable in a Crash appeared first on CleanTechnica.

Last month during Tesla’s annual shareholder meeting, Elon Musk noted that Tesla would soon allow texting while using FSD (“Full Self Driving”). That was potentially going to be a huge step forward. Was Tesla about to let human drivers completely stop supervising the car in FSD mode and do things ... [continued]

The post Tesla Allows Texting While Using FSD In Certain Situations … But Not Taking On Liability appeared first on CleanTechnica.

Texas — Today the Trump Administration’s Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) approved two do-nothing haze pollution plans from the Texas government, ignoring public pleas for EPA to reduce the harmful haze pollution that clouds Texas skies year round and makes people sick. Wealthy coal plant owners — like NRG and Luminant — now have permission ... [continued]

The post Trump EPA Opens Door for More Haze Pollution in Texas, Benefiting Wealthy Utilities appeared first on CleanTechnica.

News in batteries and electrification has been coming fast and furious lately. Recently, Su Yi, the head of CATL’s marine division, stated, “CATL’s marine business already covers inland rivers, lakes, and coastal waters, and is now advancing toward ocean-going applications.” “In the near future — perhaps within the next three ... [continued]

The post CATL Expects Oceanic Electric Ships in 3 Years appeared first on CleanTechnica.

Caistor St Edmund, Norfolk: I have memories of seeing them at night, on our pyjama-clad safaris round the farm, but they haven’t been here for a decade

There’s a shimmering in the sky and I can’t work it out. Driving, I can only snatch glimpses of flickering light. I pull into a lay-by near home. Now I can make out five or six broad-winged birds, flying in a loose flock. They are black and white and their motion reflects the low sun, flashing light and contrasting dark, like a disturbance in the force field.

Lapwings, or “peewits” as they are known for their call, are birds of my childhood. Every spring, they nested in the same field and, in winter, flocks gathered. I loved their crest and the way their petrol-sheened plumage changed with the light, from dark green to bronze or purple.

Designer Michael Schmidt’s 36-piece collection was made from the wool of rams who have shown same-sex attraction

When a ram tips its head back, curls its upper lip, and takes a deep breath – what is known in the world of animal husbandry as a “flehmen response” – it is often a sign of arousal. Sheep have a small sensory organ located above the roof of the mouth, and the flehmen response helps to flood it with any sex pheromones wafting about.

Usually, rams flehmen when they encounter ewes during the mating period, according to Michael Stücke, a farmer with 30 years of experience raising sheep in Westphalia, Germany. But on Stücke’s farm, the rams flehmen “all the time”.

US innovators are continuing to support the global movement towards solid state EV batteries, with the Massachusetts startup Factorial Energy among the contenders.

The post A US Startup Heats Up The Solid State EV Race, CAFE Or No CAFE appeared first on CleanTechnica.

I was pleased to be asked to complete the technoeconomic assessment of seabed mining by the National Ocean Protection Coalition and to join the webinar discussing its results. It is not often that I have the opportunity to bring together decades of work in complex systems analysis, technology readiness, and ... [continued]

The post Seabed Mining Meets Reality: What the Technoeconomic Evidence Shows appeared first on CleanTechnica.

Former Perth curator Mark Harvey is one of the few people on Earth to have described 1,000 new species, many of them arachnids. Colleagues say his legacy is ‘unquantifiable’

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For most people around the world, 16 August 1977 was memorable because it was the day Elvis Presley died.

“We turned the radio on when we got back in the car and that was the headline. Elvis was dead,” remembers Dr Mark Harvey.

RSPB says growing trend for honouring species that are in decline is not matched by action on conservation

Britain’s street names are being inspired by skylarks, lapwings and starlings, even as bird populations decline.

According to a report by the RSPB, names such as Skylark Lane and Swift Avenue are increasingly common. Using OS Open Names data from 2004 to 2024, the conservation charity found that road names featuring bird species had risen by 350% for skylarks, 156% for starlings and 104% for lapwings, despite populations of these having fallen in the wild.

Exclusive: ‘extremely unhelpful’ policy seen as deterrent to clearing thousands of dump sites across England

Millions of pounds in landfill tax owed to the government has to be paid by the Environment Agency (EA) if it clears any of the thousands of illegal waste dumps across the country.

Of the £15m that taxpayers are paying for the clearance of the only site the agency has committed to clearing up – a vast illegal dump at Hoad’s Wood in Kent – £4m is landfill tax.

Tesla sales have dropped in some markets this year, dropped even more in other markets, and risen in a few. At times, the UK has been one of Tesla’s bright spots. However, the trend lately has been downward again, and the company had a very bad November. According to non-official ... [continued]

The post Tesla Sales Drop 19% in UK, while BYD Sales More Than Triple appeared first on CleanTechnica.

‘Soilsmology’ aims to map world’s soils and help avert famine, says not-for-profit co-founded by George Monbiot

• George Monbiot: Over a pint in Oxford, we may well have stumbled upon the holy grail of agriculture

A groundbreaking soil-health measuring technique could help avert famine and drought, scientists have said.

At the moment, scientists have to dig lots of holes to study the soil, which is time-consuming and damages its structure, making the sampling less accurate.