Interesting Ideas

Exclusive: Fighting Dirty taking legal action against government over proposal it says could import weaker standards

An environmental campaign group is taking legal action against the government over proposals that it claims could fast-track chemical hazard classifications from other countries with lower standards into UK law.

Fighting Dirty claims proposals to change the classification and labelling of potentially hazardous chemicals could result in the UK weakening standards on cancer-causing substances.

Rebalance Earth is investing in Broughton Sanctuary to generate financial, environmental and social returns

From a high point on the hill, the North Yorkshire landscape unrolls below. The moorland above gives way to grassland, trees and then pasture, divided by the region’s traditional dry stone walls.

The view may be idyllic, but it belies the condition of parts of this land, belonging to the sprawling 1,100 hectare (2,500-acre) Broughton Sanctuary estate, near Skipton.

Singularity Fuels in California has completed a six month trial of its system that converts bio-methane to sustainable aviation fuel.

The post Circularity Cuts Cost Of Making Sustainable Aviation Fuel From Bio-Methane appeared first on CleanTechnica.

Rivian has hinted that its R3 and R3X hatchbacks may go into production as soon as its new factory in Georgia is complete.

The post Rivian R3 & R3X Will Go On Sale … Eventually appeared first on CleanTechnica.

A year ago, on this very site, we reported that all our previous EV sales articles for Mexico were wrong, and that we had been underestimating numbers for as long as we had been reporting on them. That was the last report on Mexican sales we did, and the matter ... [continued]

The post How Mexico Lost Track Of Its EV Revolution, And Why Only A Small Team Is Keeping Up With It appeared first on CleanTechnica.

If you have been following the growth of US public EV charging infrastructure, you know there has been steady expansion this last year or eighteen months. In fact, there have been dozens or more announcements about federal funding reaching some US states, but not all, for the continued installation of ... [continued]

The post Over 250,000 Public EV Chargers Operating In US Now appeared first on CleanTechnica.

Floating solar PV power has been one of the most interesting and fun segments of the global solar power industry in the past decade. When it started popping onto the scene, it was catchy, but one wondered, was it really practical and cost effective? As it turns out, the benefits ... [continued]

The post Floating Solar PV on Foam with Air Bubblers appeared first on CleanTechnica.

Despite the sharp U-turn in US energy policy, global innovators like China's Trinasolar are continuing to set new records for solar conversion efficiency.

The post New World Record Set For Solar Module With Perovskite appeared first on CleanTechnica.

If you have ever tried towing a standard travel trailer with an electric vehicle, you know the pain. You watch your range drop by half or more and find yourself stopping to charge way more often than you would with just the EV. Finding a camper that can actually handle ... [continued]

The post EV-Friendly RVs With Big Trailer Features? It’s No Longer Impossible. appeared first on CleanTechnica.

He wears a straw floppy hat, gray tee shirt, black shorts, and topsiders. His round face and easy smile belie his tenacity and vision. Bernie McBee has led an incredible mission to create a sustainable community garden in an economically disadvantaged area of Fort Pierce, Florida. With the support of ... [continued]

The post Want To Create A Viable And Sustainable Community Garden? These Folks Can Show You How appeared first on CleanTechnica.

Heatwave conditions build over much of continent, while mild start to winter continues in parts of Australia

Hot weather is expected across Europe this week as heatwave conditions build over large swathes of the continent.

A mass of hot air from the Sahara has settled over the Iberian peninsula and spread into southern and western France, pushing temperatures widely into the low- and mid-30s celsius.

Amid fears the wreck will be more accessible to explorers – and new species – as the climate warms, conservationists want to create the region’s first underwater protected area

The harsh temperatures, treacherous currents and shifting pack ice of the Antarctic’s Weddell Sea, which crushed and sank his ship, Endurance, in 1915, led Ernest Shackleton to describe it as the “worst portion of the worst sea in the world”.

For more than a century, the inhospitable conditions, which present a challenge even for modern icebreaker ships, helped to protect the lost wreck, which was discovered in 2022, its structure still largely intact.

The US Air Force is among those recognizing that solar energy is an essential tool in the national defense toolkit, with the potential to replace treacherous fuel resupply missions for ground operations.

The post Solar Energy Is Essential (Trump Just Won’t Admit It) appeared first on CleanTechnica.

‘Saddened, stunned, surprised and haunted’ is how one surfer describes the mood at the popular Sydney beach two days after Leah Stewart was bitten by a great white

• Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates

• Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast

Under a clear blue sky on a Monday morning, Coogee beach in Sydney’s east is quiet.

A few swimmers have ventured into the ocean pools at the northern and southern ends of the beach. Most others sit on the sand, looking towards the water.

Charging industry and electric vehicle manufacturers say measure could cost jobs and harm UK automotive sector

The UK government’s plans to further weaken electric car targets have provoked a furious backlash from the charging industry and the electric car brand Polestar, which would lose out from the changes.

The government is expected to dilute rules known as the zero emission vehicle (ZEV) mandate. Government sources have said it will reduce a target for pure electric cars from 80% of all sales by 2030 to 50%.

Activists argue business model is ‘plantation tourism’ designed to benefit elite and disadvantage most Jamaicans

• Campaigners go to court to fight privatisation of Jamaican coast

Devon Taylor remembers when the Mammee Bay shoreline in St Ann, Jamaica, was filled with children frolicking in the ocean after school, fishers haggling with locals over the price of their daily catch and craft vendors carving souvenirs under almond trees.

“I grew up on Mammee Bay,” Taylor says. He recalls fetching seawater in bottles for his grandmother when she was no longer able to go to the beach, learning to swim in the shallows, and watching generations of fishers cast their nets. “That beach raised us. It fed us.”

Residents of West Oakland, which suffers from toxic waste and high pollution rates, rally against a coal export facility

West Oakland, a California neighborhood known for its rich history of Black activism from the Pullman Porters’ union to the Black Panthers, might not seem like the site of the country’s next great coal project.

But that’s exactly what the Trump administration is pushing for – with the injection of $75m to build a sprawling coal export terminal in the nearby port of Oakland.

One of the easiest ways to get long-range energy and materials demand wrong is to treat first-build infrastructure demand as a permanent condition. Countries build their first stock of housing, highways, ports, rail, power systems, water systems, industrial parks, and concrete-and-steel cities once. After that, the demand structure changes. The ... [continued]

The post China’s First Build Is Ending, And The World Won’t Repeat It appeared first on CleanTechnica.

Activists are challenging colonial-era law and demanding ‘free, legal, unfettered, forever rights’ to use beaches

• Jamaica’s beach access crisis: ‘We shouldn’t be forced to fight for what is already ours’

Campaigners in Jamaica are heading to court next week to try to prevent the government from cutting off access to more of their beaches.

They argue that ceding their shorelines to big hotel chains enriches private investors and benefits tourists and outsiders while depriving Jamaicans who depend on the sea for their livelihoods, leisure and health.

Ballaugh, Isle of Man: As I discover, spotting one of these marsupials isn’t hard. The problem is how to manage them

Walking through Ballaugh Curraghs, a marshland in the north of the island, I’m taking part in a favourite island pastime: spotting red-necked wallabies. Creeping through the stands of willows, I soon see a grey shape with beady eyes and pricked up ears watching me, unafraid. Another appears and I check for the ultimate sighting … a joey poking out from a pouch, but without success. It’s a rare sight even here.

These marsupials have changed this area beyond recognition. They arrived in the 1960s after a few escaped from a nearby wildlife park, and even by 2006 their footprint was light enough that the “curraghs” were declared a wetland site of international importance. Today, though, it would struggle to qualify, as so many key species have been eaten or disturbed by the 800 or so wallabies that now dominate.