Interesting Ideas

Recent regulatory filings with China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology reveal that BYD will use its new TZ200XYAT 240 kW (322 hp) motor in a wide range of mainstream vehicles. While we do not have too many details yet, this motor is being used for RWD 800V architecture vehicles, ... [continued]

The post BYD Rolls Out New 240 kW Motor Across Mainstream Models, with Broad Implications appeared first on CleanTechnica.

The debate of the last 15 years rages on. Should automakers just focus on transitioning to fully electric vehicles as quickly as possible, or should they play in the half-electric, half-fossil fuel pool? The Chevy Volt extended-range electric vehicle was released in 2010, a decade and a half ago. It ... [continued]

The post ONVO Exec Torches Extended-Range Electric Vehicles appeared first on CleanTechnica.

Kolahoi is one of many glaciers whose decline is disrupting whole ecosystems – water, wildlife and human life that it has supported for centuries

From the slopes above Pahalgam, the Kolahoi glacier is visible as a thinning, rumpled ribbon of ice stretching across the western Himalayas. Once a vast white artery feeding rivers, fields and forests, it is now retreating steadily, leaving bare rock, crevassed ice and newly exposed alpine meadows.

The glacier’s meltwater has sustained paddy fields, apple orchards, saffron fields and grazing pastures for centuries. Now, as its ice diminishes, the entire web of life it supported is shifting.

We found reusable wrapping clothes, garlands made from invasive species, and solar-powered lights that you’ll want to use season after season

• Nine eco-minded gifts for Americans that actually make a difference

• Sign up for the Filter US newsletter, your weekly guide to buying fewer, better things

The holiday season is a time for joy, togetherness and generosity, but it can also be a time for overflowing waste bins. According to Oklahoma State University, families tend to generate about 25% more trash during this season, and it’s easy to see how. From disposable gift wrap to novelty decor destined for the landfill by New Year’s Eve, short-lived festivities can unintentionally generate long-term trash.

But that doesn’t mean you need to endure a drab and joyless December in a cave: a few thoughtful swaps can make for magical holiday celebrations with less waste, and some of them even help communities in need. Here are nine sustainable purchases that can help fill the season with intention, and maybe even inspire those around you to do the same.

The Nissan LEAF was once the gold standard for the EV market and EV sales. Yes, that was the very early days, and it was very early adopters who were buying it, but there’s no doubt the LEAF is one of the most notable cars in the modern electric vehicle ... [continued]

The post Can the Nissan LEAF Shoot to the Top of EV Sales Charts? appeared first on CleanTechnica.

An advocacy piece published by WattTime and REsurety was brought to my attention because it reflects the tension building around the proposed revisions to the Greenhouse Gas Protocol’s Scope 2 accounting rules. These rules are not American regulations. They are global and voluntary, governed by the World Resources Institute and ... [continued]

The post Big Loads, Small Loads, & A Changing Grid: A Better Path for Scope 2 Accounting? appeared first on CleanTechnica.

I just wrote about ONVO President Shen Fei torching the idea of extended-range electric vehicles (EREVs). He’s not a fan. However, he had something else much more interesting to say in the interview with The Paper, a Chinese media outlet. ONVO, like its parent NIO, offers battery swapping to owners ... [continued]

The post Yes! EV Drivers with Choice & Time Downgrade Their Batteries! appeared first on CleanTechnica.

Ford and Renault have announced a new partnership to build affordable electric cars and light duty trucks for European customers.

The post Ford To Outsource EV Production To Renault In Europe appeared first on CleanTechnica.

Remember that article on Albania and its 57% BEV share? Well, the good news just keeps on coming. Now it’s time to report that Ukraine reached 39% BEV share in November! Despite being a relatively small market (7,910 new light vehicles were registered in November) and the ongoing war, Ukraine ... [continued]

The post Ukraine — 39% BEV Share! appeared first on CleanTechnica.

Kenya’s electric motorcycle journey is a beautiful story characterized by tremendous innovation and sheer determination by a group of locally based companies working to address the real pain points of traditional ICE motorcycle users. This has resulted in the tens of companies that are now active in the Kenyan electric ... [continued]

The post Waya Electric Motorcycles’ Daily Use In Kenya’s Tsavo Conservation Area Takes E-Mobility To Where It Is Needed Most appeared first on CleanTechnica.

Wondering what to get the nature lover in your life? Our outdoor enthusiast curates the must-haves: Loop earplugs, Yeti Rambler and more

• The 163 best holiday gift ideas for 2025, vetted by the Guardian US staff

• Sign up for the Filter US newsletter, your weekly guide to buying fewer, better things

Whether you know someone who camps every weekend or just enjoys morning coffee outside, you already know: outdoorsy people can be particular about their gear. They want to stay both comfortable and safe in the elements – a reliable water bottle means no spills in the pack and a good headlamp keeps them on the trail and not in a ravine.

Outdoor gear can be intimidating and expensive, but I’ve pulled together a list of affordable yet reliable things that I’ve personally used as an outdoors lover. (I have also gifted many of these to family members who now use them often.) These are things I’ve dragged through mud, shoved into carry-ons and relied on when the weather turned. Whether your person camps, hikes, fishes or bikes, here are durable and practical gifts that make being outside easier and more fun.

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UN GEO report says ending this harm key to global transformation required ‘before collapse becomes inevitable’

The unsustainable production of food and fossil fuels causes $5bn (£3.8bn) of environmental damage per hour, according to a major UN report.

Ending this harm was a key part of the global transformation of governance, economics and finance required “before collapse becomes inevitable”, the experts said.

Pulp and paper mills sit at the intersection of several decarbonization pressures. They burn large volumes of fossil gas in lime kilns and recovery boilers. They buy significant amounts of industrial oxygen for delignification and bleaching. They operate in communities where economic continuity matters at least as much as emissions ... [continued]

The post Why Hydrogen at a Kamloops BC Pulp Mill Fails the Cost Test appeared first on CleanTechnica.

Consumers spent £1.7bn on festive lighting last year and much of it is treated as disposable

UK households have thrown away an estimated 168m light-up Christmas items and other “fast-tech” gifts over the past year, a study suggests.

The research by the non-profit group Material Focus found about £1.7bn was spent last year on Christmas lighting, including 39m sets of fairy lights.

Hargatewall, Derbyshire: Cycling towards a frosty Kinder Scout, I was waylaid by a raptor so settled she wouldn’t even move for a passing tractor

North of Hargatewall, the country has an austere quality, a high limestone plateau with a tracery of walls the colour of old bones dividing oblongs of pasture. The hamlet’s name has nothing to do with gates or walls. It’s derived from Old English words meaning “herd farm by the spring” – a clue to the deep roots that farming here can draw on. Wildlife today was limited to the ubiquitous crows and rooks silhouetted against the milky blue sky or else resting on those white walls.

Cycling north, my attention was fixed on the horizon, where, in contrast to the green fields around me, the broad bulk of Kinder Scout was heavily frosted.

Charity worker had joined 40 demonstrators ‘bearing witness’ to the loss of three lime trees in Falmouth

A charity worker suffered a head injury when police tried to remove her from a protest against trees being felled in a Cornish seaside town.

Debs Newman, 60, was “bearing witness” to the loss of three mature lime trees in Falmouth when she was seized by officers.

The space solar power industry is gathering steam, with Aetherflux among the US startups working on space-to-earth and orbiting data center applications.

The post New Solar-Powered Orbiting Data Centers Skip To The Head Of The Line appeared first on CleanTechnica.

Tapanuli orangutans survive only in Indonesia’s Sumatran rainforest where a mine expansion will cut through their home. Yet the mining company says the alternative will be worse

A small brown line snakes its way through the rainforest in northern Sumatra, carving 300 metres through dense patches of meranti trees, oak and mahua. Picked up by satellites, the access road – though modest now – will soon extend 2km to connect with the Tor Ulu Ala pit, an expansion site of Indonesia’s Martabe mine. The road will help to unlock valuable deposits of gold, worth billions of dollars in today’s booming market. But such wealth could come at a steep cost to wildlife and biodiversity: the extinction of the world’s rarest ape, the Tapanuli orangutan.

The network of access roads planned for this swath of tropical rainforest will cut through habitat critical to the survival of the orangutans, scientists say. The Tapanuli (Pongo tapanuliensis), unique to Indonesia, was only discovered by scientists to be a separate species in 2017 – distinct from the Sumatran and Bornean apes. Today, there are fewer than 800 Tapanulis left in an area that covers as little as 2.5% of their historical range. All are found in Sumatra’s fragile Batang Toru ecosystem, bordered on its south-west flank by the Martabe mine, which began operations in 2012.

‘Destructive’ marine heatwaves driving loss of microalgae that feed coral, says Global Coral Reef Monitoring Network

Caribbean reefs have half as much hard coral now as they did in 1980, a study has found.

The 48% decrease in coral cover has been driven by climate breakdown, specifically marine heatwaves. They affect the microalgae that feed coral, making them toxic and forcing the coral to expel them.

Copernicus deputy director says three-year average for 2023 to 2025 on track to exceed 1.5C of heating for first time

This year is “virtually certain” to end as the second- or third-hottest year on record, EU scientists have found, as climate breakdown continues to push the planet away from the stable conditions in which humanity evolved.

Global temperatures from January to November were on average 1.48C higher than preindustrial levels, according to the Copernicus, the EU’s earth observation programme. It found the anomalies were so far identical to those recorded in 2023, which is the second-hottest year on record after 2024.