Interesting Ideas

There has been a lot of discussion around the launch of BYD’s next-generation Flash Charging and Blade Battery. There has also been some confusion, which can be clarified with a little context. “Flash charging” is BYD’s terminology for MW+ fast chargers that can charge vehicles from 10–70% in 5 minutes, ... [continued]

The post BYD Song Ultra In Market Context: Value & Next-Generation Capability appeared first on CleanTechnica.

Hemmed in by the sea and poor transport links, many young people from the Yorkshire town feel trapped, but there is also a pride in the area

It’s the morning after a wet and stormy day in the Yorkshire seaside town of Scarborough. The waves, which the previous day had been crashing dramatically on the harbour walls, have calmed and a few brave souls have entered the water with surfboards. There is a man throwing a ball for his dog on the beach and a kayaker bobbing on the waves.

Just up from the seafront in the centre of town, Jack and Charlie, both 17, are leaning forward listening to a story from 19-year-old Keane about his recent visit to a drama school in London, where he is hoping to apply for a place on an actor training course once he has saved enough money.

Scarborough, on the North Yorkshire coast, was one of England’s first seaside resorts

Buffering batteries placed near transmission constraints are rarely listed among grid enhancing technologies. The usual list includes advanced conductors, dynamic line rating, and power flow control devices. All of those technologies increase the instantaneous capacity of transmission lines. Batteries do not do that. A battery cannot turn a 500 MW ... [continued]

The post Buffering Batteries: The Grid Enhancing Technology No One Calls A GET appeared first on CleanTechnica.

The Chevy Bolt 2.0 is arriving at dealers now. It brings some fresh new colors and a ton of new tech features at an affordable price.

The post Chevy Bolt 2.0 — Way Better In (Almost) Every Way appeared first on CleanTechnica.

They will soon be looking for nest sites to begin the huge effort of raising their brood of between eight and 10 chicks

If there were an award for the most underrated British garden bird, the blue tit may well come out on top. Feisty and fascinating, this colourful little creature is so common and familiar that we often take it for granted.

This could be because of the blue tit’s ubiquity. In both the main garden bird surveys in the UK – the RSPB’s annual Big Garden Birdwatch and the long-running BTO Garden BirdWatch – the species is always in the top five. With roughly 3 million breeding pairs, blue tits are as common in urban and suburban gardens as they are in rural ones.

Young people hope green light to build eco attraction’s northern outpost will change theirs and the town’s fortunes

In the Lancashire coastal town of Morecambe, there has been talk of Eden Project’s futuristic biomes being built beside the shoreline overlooking the bay for a decade.

But this summer, spades will finally break ground to make the project a reality, with the visitor attraction expected to open in less than two years.

Study shows animals hear very high frequencies, making it possible to design a deterrent to cut deaths

Hedgehogs have been discovered to hear high-frequency ultrasound, raising hopes that they could be deterred from dangerous roads with ultrasound repellers.

Vehicles are estimated to kill up to one in three hedgehogs, a big factor in the much-loved mammal’s drastic decline across Europe over recent decades.

Climate change committee finds move to renewable energy would also bring health, economic and security benefits

Achieving the UK’s net zero target by 2050 will cost less than a single oil shock and bring health and economic benefits while insulating the country against future costs, the government’s climate advisers have forecast.

Eliminating the UK’s reliance on fossil fuels by adopting renewable energy and green technologies, such as electric vehicles and heat pumps, would be the best and most cost-effective option for the future economy, the Climate Change Committee (CCC) found.

Well, the news of the month so far has been BYD unveiling 1,500 kW “flash charging” for passenger electric vehicles. Apparently, though, it’s hard to keep secrets in the Chinese EV industry and BYD’s top competitor has been working on the same thing. In particular, the Zeekr 001 will be ... [continued]

The post Geely & Zeekr Right Behind BYD with 1,500 kW Charging appeared first on CleanTechnica.

Researchers from Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute are studying ways to reduce ocean acidification near Cape Cod.

The post Geoengineering The Gulf Of Maine appeared first on CleanTechnica.

Interior decision opens 2 million acres to industrialization, attempts to fast track Ambler Road Ten Alaska and national groups sued the Interior Department today for unlawfully removing federal protections over public lands in an area stretching from the Yukon River to the Brooks Range. These lands had been protected for ... [continued]

The post Lawsuit Challenges Trump’s Massive Public Lands Giveaway in Alaska appeared first on CleanTechnica.

Washington, D.C. — Pollution from coal-fired power plants has reached a quarter-century high under the Trump administration. This massive spike comes as the Trump administration touts rollbacks of bedrock public health safeguards, exemptions for polluting coal plants from emission standards, and handouts to coal plants across the country. Last month, Donald Trump was crowned the “undisputed champion of ... [continued]

The post Toxic Coal Pollution Spikes to 25-Year High Under Trump appeared first on CleanTechnica.

Solar power is still coming in hot in Texas, despite a lawsuit aimed at throttling back investment in renewable energy, brought against three leading investment firms by Texas State Attorney General Ken Paxton.

The post A Deluge Of Solar Power Crushes A Hollow Victory For Coal appeared first on CleanTechnica.

Analysis has found more than 3,000 mining operations within the most naturally precious areas of the planet, a much bigger footprint than previously thought

Weda Bay is just one example of a global trend that could see the mining industry expand into some of Earth’s last areas of wilderness in search of minerals and materials to feed the global economy.

Analysis produced for the Guardian by a group of academic researchers found more than 3,267 mining operations within key biodiversity areas (KBAs), accounting for nearly 5% of the mining sector’s global footprint. China, Brazil, Argentina and Mexico top the rankings for total surface mining area within key biodiversity areas, the most naturally precious areas of the planet.

There is sort of a humorous situation in the US now with some people having a bit of gasoline price anxiety because of geopolitical conflict and instability. It may be seen as humorous because the cost of climate change impacts globally could be trillions of dollars and some Americans are ... [continued]

The post Another Electric Vehicle Benefit: No Catalytic Converters To Be Stolen appeared first on CleanTechnica.

We saw it coming, after years of investment, vision, and hard work, but it’s still a truly momentous occasion and a huge deal for the EV industry as well as NIO itself. The EV company made a profit from operations in the 4th quarter. Following Tesla and BYD doing this, ... [continued]

The post NIO Makes A Profit! appeared first on CleanTechnica.

Reaching up to 100ft, these massive piles contain tonnes of salt that keep roads clear – but pose environmental risks

Most mountains take tens of millions of years to form. Toronto’s newest mountain took just days.

Towering atop the crowns of evergreens, it has no skeleton of limestone or granite. There are no spires, cornices or headwalls. It is simply piles upon piles of snow, mixed with a toxic cocktail of road salt, antifreeze, oil, coffee cups and lost keys. It is the final resting place for the forces of nature that have battered the city in recent weeks – and a daunting environmental hazard.

Knightwood Inclosure, New Forest: I realise my knowledge of my favourite haunt is the size of the spidery-speck hanging in the heather

In soft sunlight the woodland wakes. Brimstone butterflies boast their presence, a raven pair rattle overhead, and the first scents of warming earth drift upwards. Spring shouts its arrival across Knightwood Inclosure, home of the New Forest’s girthiest tree, the Knightwood Oak. It falls on deaf ears though; knelt in mud, immersed in undergrowth, I’m mesmerised in micro.

In front of me, suspended on barely-there thread, hangs a speck of a spider. It was the disco-ball water droplets, clinging to its intricately woven web, that enticed me in. The spider is so small that my eyes and camera struggle to focus, flicking from a cream and tawny-coloured orb to a faded heather flower. When I do lock on, the abdominal markings gain clarity: inky black lines encasing two small spots.

More than 100,000 people have tuned in to watch ‘kākāpō cam’, which captures a rare flightless bird sleeping, tidying her nest and fighting off intruders

On an island in New Zealand’s remote southern fjords, one of the world’s strangest and rarest parrots – the kākāpō – is caring for her tiny chick as fans from across the globe watch on.

Through the black and white lens of a hidden camera, a fluffy orb with a kazoo-like squeak jostles for food from its mother’s beak. The mother, Rakiura, is attentive – scooping her chick under her large green wings, fending off an intruding bird, and periodically tidying her nest.

Recent attack on plants led to fears of escalating strikes, but Iran knows drought has left it equally vulnerable

• Middle East crisis – live updates

In 1983, the CIA determined that the most crucial commodity in the Gulf was its desalinated potable water.

Although the loss of a single plant could be handled, “successful attacks on several plants in the most dependent countries could generate a national crisis that could lead to panic flights from the country and civil unrest”. And the greatest threat to the region’s water supply? “Iran.”