Interesting Ideas

Vanessa Napaltjari Davis puts $70 a week on her prepaid electricity card – but as Alice Springs swelters through ever-hotter summers, that credit lasts less than three days

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Since the start of summer, Vanessa Napaltjari Davis and her grandchildren have sweltered in their two-bedroom home. Temperatures in the southern half of the Northern Territory have been well above average and the electricity running their single air-conditioner has been regularly disconnected.

“We almost had 40 days over 40,” she says. “I was struggling to keep on top of the power bill and keep my little grannies [grandchildren] cool.”

Typically, when people talk about electric vehicles, the metrics they focus on are price, range, energy efficiency, charging speed, battery size, and so on. For EV chargers, the focus may first be on charging speed, cost per charging session, and charger availability where one drives. However, there are also broader ... [continued]

The post Over 100 Million EV Charging Sessions Conducted On ChargePoint Chargers In Last Year appeared first on CleanTechnica.

Wild gardening is about shedding obsessions with tidiness, embracing a looser aesthetic and providing a home for ‘the most important creatures on the planet’

On a wintry January day in Manchester, I crossed University Green, navigating a paved path behind our hotel through lush patches of lawn. It was the start of the inaugural “Wilding Gardens” conference. For two days, scientists and practitioners were gathering to discuss new ways to think about gardens and nature, about what nature needs to thrive, and the untapped potential of gardens – if we step back and allow ecological processes to unfold – to help counter climate change and biodiversity loss.

Clumps of snowdrop flowers poked through the unmown grass and a grey squirrel streaked across it, from one bare-branched tree to another. Probably common alders, going by the University of Manchester Tree Trail. The world’s first industrial city seemed an apt venue for a talkfest on the urgency of rewilding suburban gardens to help save the planet from precisely what drew Marx and Engels there to study, 180 years ago: the impacts of industrialisation.

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December saw plugin EVs at 98.5% share in Norway, up from 89.8% year on year, with BEVs alone taking 97.6% share. Full year 2025 saw EVs at 97.5% share in Norway, up from 91.3% YoY, with all the growth coming from BEVs. Overall December auto volume was 35,188 units, a ... [continued]

The post 2025 Saw EVs At 97.5% Share In Norway — Tesla Model Y Best-Seller appeared first on CleanTechnica.

While Tesla EV sales flounder, CEO Elon Musk engages in epic online poop-flinging against a leading Democratic donor.

The post Tesla CEO Elon Musk Should Stop Flinging Poop And Start Selling More Tesla EVs, STAT appeared first on CleanTechnica.

Images confirm xAI is continuing to defy EPA regulations in Mississippi to power its flagship datacenters

Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence company is continuing to fuel its datacenters with unpermitted gas turbines, an investigation by the Floodlight newsroom shows. Thermal footage captured by Floodlight via drone shows xAI is still burning gas at a facility in Southaven, Mississippi, despite a recent Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ruling reiterating that doing so requires a state permit in advance.

State regulators in Mississippi maintain that since the turbines are parked on tractor trailers, they don’t require permits. However, the EPA has long maintained that such pollution sources require permits under the Clean Air Act.

Exclusive: High levels of banned ‘forever chemical’ have been detected in rivers and groundwater at 25 sites

A string of toxic pollution hotspots has been uncovered across Cumbria and Lancashire, with high levels of the banned cancer-causing “forever chemical” Pfos detected in rivers and groundwater at 25 sites.

The contamination, spread across a large area, was uncovered by Watershed Investigations and the Guardian after a freedom of information request revealed high concentrations of Pfos in Environment Agency samples taken in January 2025.

The UK is putting up 1 billion pounds to promote local clean energy projects that will provide benefits to communities, not investors.

The post In The UK, “Power To The People” Is Latest Clean Energy Trend appeared first on CleanTechnica.

Cardiff: It steals light, it discourages growth at its base, and it blocks what was once a panoramic view. How do I make peace with it?

It goes against the grain for me to hate a plant, but I’ve been resenting a certain Leyland cypress for a long time. Planted by a neighbour in the 1970s to give the house we overlook privacy, it now blocks part of our panoramic view over Cardiff. When we moved in 12 years ago, I was able to lie down in bed and see only sky. In that time the solitary tree has grown four metres and now looms over my sleep. Crows, robins, pigeons and green woodpeckers use it as a lookout over the city. Magpies have attempted (unsuccessfully) to build a nest in it. Polite requests to the owner have been ignored.

Hesperotropsis leylandii is an accidental hybrid of Cupressus macrocarpa and Callitropsis nootkatensis. First noticed in 1888 in Leighton Hall near Welshpool, it was exploited commercially as a cheap, fast-growing screen. Leylandii hedges are light-stealers, tolerant of pollution and notorious for discouraging growth around their base. They often generate disputes between neighbours (including one murder). One person was convicted of criminal damage for urinating on an offending plant. So far I have resisted this, and another suggestion that I knock copper nails into its trunk.

I recently looked into Tesla’s January sales in 12 European markets, and the results were not pretty. Overall, across those 12 markets, Tesla’s sales were down 23%. However, one reader pointed out that it could be much more interesting going back two, three, or even four years. So, that’s what ... [continued]

The post Tesla Sales Down 55% in UK, 58% in Spain, 59% in Germany, 81% in Netherlands, 93% in Norway vs. 2024 appeared first on CleanTechnica.

Choice could prove difficult for Thames Water, which is trying to push through a water recycling scheme nearby

The first designated bathing water area on the River Thames in London has been shortlisted as one of 13 new monitored swimming areas across the country.

The Thames at Ham, in south-west London, was shortlisted as a new river bathing water after campaigners gathered evidence to show thousands of people use the river for swimming throughout the year.

The fight for Hope Moor is set to be repeated across the UK as the government aims to hit its renewable energy targets

Instead of a slingshot, the Davids are brandishing a sculpture and a coffee table book. Their Goliaths are a Norwegian energy company and a UK energy secretary with renewable targets to meet.

A fierce battle has begun over one of England’s tallest windfarms, proposed for deep peat moorland overlooking the Yorkshire Dales national park, in what residents say will mark the irrevocable industrialisation of their rural landscape.

The US manufacturer Talon PV plans to launch a new generation of high-efficiency TOPCon solar cells into the US market, despite the sharp U-turn in federal energy policy.

The post TOPCon Solar Cells Are Killing A Key Anti-Solar Talking Point appeared first on CleanTechnica.

December’s auto market saw plugin EVs at 34.4% share in France, up from 23.5% year on year. Full year 2025 saw EVs at 26.7% share, up slightly from 25.4% YoY, and let down by shrinking PHEV share. Overall December auto volume was 172,927 units, down some 6% YoY. Full year ... [continued]

The post France 2025 EVs at 26.7% Share — Renault 5 Best Seller appeared first on CleanTechnica.

Some districts are adding programs in clean energy and sustainability, while one state is infusing environmental lessons into culinary education and construction

On one end of the classroom, high school juniors examined little green sprouts – future baby carrots, sprigs of romaine lettuce – poking out of the soil of a drip irrigation system they built a few weeks prior.

On the opposite end of the room, a model of a hydropower plant showed students how the movement of water can stimulate electrical currents. In this class in South Carolina’s Greenville county school district, students primarily learn about one topic: renewable energy.

Senators said repeal was ‘particularly troubling’ and was counter to EPA’s mandate to protect human health

More than three dozen Democratic senators have begun an independent inquiry into the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) following a huge change in how the agency measures the health benefits of reducing air pollution that is widely seen as a major setback to US efforts to combat the climate crisis.

In a regulatory impact analysis, the EPA said it would stop assigning a monetary value to the health benefits associated with regulations on fine particulate matter and ozone. The agency argued that the estimates contain too much uncertainty.

Recent reports out of Mexico indicate that Nissan and Mercedes are selling their joint venture factory in Aguascalientes, Mexico, and the top bidders have been narrowed down to BYD and Geely. Overall, this represents a dramatic shift for legacy automakers in Mexico. While Chinese vehicles have rapidly risen to take ... [continued]

The post Geely & BYD Are Top Bidders For Nissan/Mercedes Aguascalientes Plant, Potentially Expanding Mexican EV Production appeared first on CleanTechnica.

Remember the MiBot, that tiny Japanese EV predicted by many EV pundits to be the next spawn of electric mobility in Japan because of its affordable ¥1 million (~$7000) price tag? Well, MiBot manufacturer KG Motors delivered the first completed MiBot units on December 30, 2025, after some delays which ... [continued]

The post Japan’s Smallest EV Gets Backing From One Of Its Largest Energy Companies appeared first on CleanTechnica.

December saw plugin EVs take 68.6% share in Sweden, up from 62.8% in December 2024. BEV share grew marginally year on year (YoY), while PHEV share increased. Full year 2025 saw EVs at 63.2% share, up from 58.4% YoY, with two thirds of the gain coming from PHEVs. Overall December ... [continued]

The post Sweden’s EVs at 63.2% Share in 2025 — Volvo EX40 Best Seller appeared first on CleanTechnica.

Project in Ceredigion aims to help country catch up with large-scale nature recovery projects elsewhere in UK

A Welsh charity has bought more than 480 hectares (1,195 acres) in Ceredigion to establish Cymru’s “flagship” rewilding project, helping the country catch up with large-scale nature recovery projects under way elsewhere in the UK.

Tir Natur (Nature’s Land), founded in 2022, announced it had acquired the site at Cwm Doethie in Elenydd, or the Cambrian mountains, after a fundraising drive launched last year raised 50% of the £2.2m purchase price. A philanthropic bridging loan enabled the sale.