Interesting Ideas

Electric car sales are down significantly this year as the market remains “hung over” from the end of the $7,500 US EV tax credit. Several electric car models are seeing huge drops in consumer demand, and automakers have been pulling models off the market. The Honda Prologue is no exception ... [continued]

The post Honda Offering Up To $8,000 Off The Prologue EV! appeared first on CleanTechnica.

Leaders say automated mowers’ blades threaten nocturnal animals as studies highlight risks to wildlife

German mayors have called for a nationwide ban on night-time use of robot lawnmowers to protect hedgehogs and other small nocturnal animals from being killed or maimed in the dark.

Recent studies have highlighted the threat lawnmower blades pose to wildlife active between dusk and dawn, prompting growing calls for regulation. Hedgehogs also tend to curl into a ball when threatened rather than running away, making them harder for a robot mower’s sensors to detect.

The most talked-about economics book of 2026 fits in your jacket pocket. Here are the five things you need to know. Gabriel Zucman is having a moment. The Paris-born Berkeley economist who coined the term “tax haven” and mapped the hidden wealth of nations is now one the most famous ... [continued]

The post We Need To Tax Billionaires At 2%, & Economist Gabriel Zucman Just Explained Exactly How appeared first on CleanTechnica.

The clean energy boom is also creating physically demanding work, and the Bavarian tech company German Bionic has the exoskeleton to power such work, such as manufacturing the components that make the energy transition possible; turbine housings and blades, nacelle assemblies, solar panel frames; which demands thousands of repetitive lifts ... [continued]

The post German Bionic Cracks The Energy Transition’s Back Problem appeared first on CleanTechnica.

A report by a top Chinese scientist suggests that space-based solar could also be used as a weapon to disrupt critical communications.

The post Microwaves From Space — What Could Possibly Go Wrong? appeared first on CleanTechnica.

Outta Gas. CleanTechnica Press. “This book helps those fighting climate change to clearly understand the challenge we are facing, to focus our efforts on the most effective solutions, and to let go of the distractions, noise, and stress. Focused effort on what is truly working will make an enormous difference, ... [continued]

The post CleanTechnica’s first published book — Outta Gas appeared first on CleanTechnica.

Stock runs low as oil crunch increases enthusiasm for electric vehicles

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When a used vehicle rolls into a car yard, the usual trajectory for its price tag is down if it lingers too long.

That is the (almost) iron law of the secondhand market – until the oil crisis hit and dealers started raising asking prices for used electric vehicles.

With its largest-ever product campaign for electric vehicles, the Volkswagen Group is consistently implementing its “In China, for China” strategy—starting with “Auto China 2026” in Beijing. Under the motto “Rise Up”, the Volkswagen Group will present ten models from four brands at its Media Night on April 21, while also ... [continued]

The post “In China, for China”: 4 World Premieres and the Latest AI-Powered Systems Make Their Debut at the Volkswagen Group Night in Beijing appeared first on CleanTechnica.

Concerns about coming wildfire risk, and temperatures also remain high on other side of Pacific where rare tropical cyclone has formed

After a historically warm winter across nine states in the US, the first month of meteorological spring again brought exceptionally high temperatures, with numerous states recording new all-time high temperatures in March. The remarkable intensity and longevity of the warmth have left much of the mountain snowpack, a crucial source of water for millions in the American west, at critically low levels.

Though precipitation totals tend to increase in spring, the low snowpack has raised concerns about a potentially severe wildfire season if conditions do not improve soon. And with further spells of abnormally warm, dry weather expected this week, the outlook is becoming increasingly worrying heading into the late spring and summer months.

The fact that fossil fuels are the primary contributor to climate change, and climate change impacts potentially cost trillions of dollars to humanity and the planet, seem to not register much with millions of individuals around the globe. However, if gas and diesel prices at the pump rise and the ... [continued]

The post EV Driver “Fills Up” For Less Than $30 On Road Trip appeared first on CleanTechnica.

Hogshaw, Derbyshire: Our old Buxton tip is an area rich in nature. It’s depressing out local council wants it developed

Our old Buxton tip might bear the scars of former abuse, but it’s now an entangled, self-willed wood, largely made up of willows and birch, which is surrounded by flowers in summer and has a species list of 870, composed mainly of insects. The diversity arises because these two pioneer trees are among the most invertebrate-friendly in our islands.

Where you find insect abundance, you’ll also hear birdsong, because the music is fuelled largely by invertebrate protein. Recently we organised a dawn-chorus walk and managed 20 early spring vocalists. Song and mistle thrushes, dunnocks and wrens, as well as bullfinches and greenfinches, were among the breeding birds we heard and which are red- or amber-listed by the British Trust for Ornithology.

Harsh weather is nothing new in Kenya but the country’s climate is showing clear signs of getting hotter and drier

The day is hot and dry but the soil underfoot is soft. “After four months of drought, we received the first rains yesterday,” says Maasai elder Abraham Kampalei. “All we can do now is pray that they continue.”

Kampalei has lived for more than 50 of his 70 years with his family and animals in Oldonyonyokie, a hamlet in southern Kenya’s Kajiado county. He has witnessed the slow decline of the pastures. “I came here because of the abundance of grass for my livestock to graze. Today, there is almost nothing left of it,” he says.

Tesla’s stock price continues to slide. It was down 2.15% today after a clear slide and then a leveling off at the lower level. It was definitely a “down and out” day rather than the roller-coaster ride you often see with stocks like TSLA. This follows months of decline. In ... [continued]

The post Why Tesla’s Stock Price Has Dropped Nearly 20% In 6 Months appeared first on CleanTechnica.

As a child, Dominique Bikaba, was displaced by a new national park in the DRC. Now he is helping to secure land for wildlife and Indigenous groups against the backdrop of ongoing fighting

Mist hangs low over the forested slopes of Kahuzi-Biega national park, where the canopy still shelters one of the last strongholds of the eastern lowland, or Grauer’s, gorilla. It is a landscape of immense biological wealth and equally immense political fragility. For 54-year-old Dominique Bikaba, it was once home.

His family was among those displaced when their ancestral land was incorporated into the park in the 1970s. The protected area, in the lowlands of South Kivu in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), harbours elephants and a remarkable range of wildlife, but it is best known as the principal home of the Grauer’s gorilla, the largest subspecies of primates, known to grow up to 250kg (39st) in weight. It is one of five great ape species found in the DRC’s vast forests, including mountain gorillas, which are also found in other parts of the Great Lakes region, such as Rwanda and Uganda.

Worst polluters hold world’s future in their hands as they benefit from higher fossil fuel prices, but global trends favour renewables

Oil stands at about $110 a barrel and some forecasts have predicted it could reach $150. Food prices are on the rise and are expected to leap further owing to the fertiliser supply crunch, leading the World Food Programme USA to warn that global food insecurity could reach record levels, with 45 million more people pushed into acute hunger. Industries from steel to chemicals have alerted markets that they face shortages and soaring costs, while households across the world are feeling the pinch – people have been told to turn down their thermostats, take the bus or cycle, and cut their speed on motorways.

The impact of the US-Israel war on Iran – the third global shock in six years, after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine and the Covid-19 pandemic – has laid bare how reliant our economies still are on fossil fuels. Simon Stiell, the UN climate chief, said in March: “Fossil fuel dependency is ripping away national security and sovereignty and replacing it with subservience and rising costs.”

Covering how different electric vehicles have been faring in the US market this year compared to last, we’ve seen some huge drops in performance, but I was also happy and surprised to see Hyundai’s EVs performing even better! How about sibling (or cousin?) Kia? Well, Kia’s EV sales are a ... [continued]

The post Kia EV Sales Holding Up Okay In 2026 In USA appeared first on CleanTechnica.

Over the past week, announcements by Tesla and BYD have shown different approaches to building out DC charging systems. The differences have implication not just for charging infrastructure strategies, but also for the vehicle electrification trajectories in different markets. Along with announcing their sales totals for March, BYD also announced ... [continued]

The post BYD & Tesla Show Different EV Infrastructure Approaches appeared first on CleanTechnica.

Under Anne Hidalgo – mayor for 12 years until last week – the French capital added bike lanes, cut traffic and reclaimed public space, but not without resistance

When Corentin Roudaut moved to Paris 10 years ago, he was too scared to cycle. The IT developer had biked everywhere as a student in Rennes but felt overwhelmed by the bustling French capital. Cars were everywhere. Cyclists had almost no protection.

But once authorities carved out space for a segregated bike lane on Boulevard Voltaire near his home in the 11th arrondissement, Roudaut returned to the two-wheel commute and did not look back.

The shock of the oil crisis is playing out on Australian streets, where bike sales are up and cycle lanes are busier

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Before the 1970s global oil crisis, city planners in Copenhagen were considering removing bike lanes. Bicycles were considered outdated now car was king, and just 10% of locals were cycling regularly.

But as economic shock waves reverberated around the world, Denmark, which almost entirely relied on imported oil, took a dramatic U-turn, with citizens staging mass protests in the middle of highways demanding better cycling infrastructure.

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Tebay, Cumbria: A planned reintroduction of these apex predators has got us upland farmers worried. We’re still not convinced they won’t harm our flocks

The years seem to be coming around very quickly – this will be my ninth spring at this farm. As the days get longer and the grass begins to grow, my mind turns to lambing. We have a short growing season here, so we plan for lambing to start mid-April, hoping the grass will have started growing by then. The tiny Ouessant sheep, which have to lamb indoors due to predation, started lambing on April Fools’ Day.

Last year I put a large group of Ouessants outside to graze on the Roman fort when they were four days old, and they disappeared without a trace – 13 lambs lost. It wasn’t a fox or a badger, as we know what a predated carcass looks like, and it wasn’t the mink that had been killing hens, as that was leaving dead bodies.