Interesting Ideas

As volatile fracked gas prices and energy demand rises, customers worry about paying more for less. COLUMBIA, S.C. — Last night, dozens of South Carolinians testified before the state Public Service Commission at two back-to-back hearings, expressing concerns that the proposed Canadys gas power plant may drive up already skyrocketing ... [continued]

The post South Carolinians Fret Over Price Tag of Proposed Gas Plant at PSC Hearing appeared first on CleanTechnica.

CleanTechnica has carried reviews on a number of backup battery systems in the last few years, including Anker Solix, Bluetti, and Jackery. Reading the reviews, I got ever more intrigued by what I found. These are not just batteries, but power stations with charge controller and inverter built in. They ... [continued]

The post More On Batteries, Or How To Grow Lemons In Vermont appeared first on CleanTechnica.

A couple of weeks ago, when I wrote about Tesla’s stock price dropping 20% in 6 months, a reader commented: “Tesla down 20% in the past 6 months and the P/E is still over 300. That is not sustainable.” Another commenter showed in more detail why this was crazy: Price ... [continued]

The post Tesla’s Price-to-Earnings Ratio Is Nuts appeared first on CleanTechnica.

AI data centers have become a major problem for cutting greenhouse gas emissions. They need soooooo much power. Some people like to claim that they can all be powered with cheap, clean renewable energy from the sun and the wind, but the fact is, that’s not how it’s always happening ... [continued]

The post Good News: A Bunch Of AI Data Centers In Limbo appeared first on CleanTechnica.

E-SAF can play a key role in reducing European aviation emissions. While the climate benefits of e-SAF are well understood, much less attention has been paid to what scaling up European production could mean for Europe’s economic growth, jobs and energy security. Currently, the EU relies on imports for more ... [continued]

The post E-SAF Made in Europe — A Source of Jobs, Growth, and Energy Security appeared first on CleanTechnica.

Taking sand from the Nigerian city’s lagoon to supply a building boom harms more than fish – it affects the entire food chain, erodes coastlines and is depriving fishing communities of their livelihoods

Before dawn, when the noise of Lagos’s danfobusesfills the air and generators rumble to life, the city’s lagoon is already stirring. Not from fish splashing or canoes gliding, but from the long suction pipes of the dredging machines, pulling up the lagoon bed and spitting out wet sand that will be used in the construction of high-rise blocks, housing estates and flyovers.

Sand dredging is regulated by the Lagos state government and the waterways authority but in a city of more than 20 million people, where sharp sand has never been in higher demand, not all dredging is being done by the book.

Dredging leaves its mark on the landscape along the shores of the Lagos Lagoon in Epe

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

• Track current petrol and diesel prices across Australia

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

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.

Sign up for a weekly email featuring our best reads

Senior climate figures warn North Sea drilling would encourage fossil fuel exploitation by developing countries

Opening new oil and gas fields in the North Sea would “send a shock wave around the world”, imperilling international climate targets, undermining the UK’s climate leadership and encouraging developing countries to exploit their own fossil fuel reserves, experts have warned.

The UK government is under stiff pressure from the oil industry, the Conservatives, Nigel Farage’s Reform UK party, some trade unions and parts of the Treasury to give the green light to new oil and gas fields, despite clear evidence that doing so would not cut prices and would have almost no effect on imports.

Sandra Laville has been reporting on England’s sewage crisis for years. She answered your questions on the water privatisation scandal.

Guardian environment correspondent Sandra Laville’s reporting on the sewage crisis in English water has helped to expose a scandal of privatisation that has created a swell of fury across the political divide.

Sandra has now finished answering your questions. Read the Q&A below.

The government has put the cost of renationalising water at £100bn. But this is a disputed figure. Academics working with the People’s Commission on the Water Sector say this figure is ‘serious scaremongering created on biased evidence’ which was paid for by water companies. It is based on the Regulatory Capital Value of companies as determined by Ofwat, not the” true and fair value in law”, which reflects losses from market failures, like the cost of pollution or the monopoly profits taken by shareholders and banks.

The route to renationalisation could come via the system set up legally when the companies were privatised. Under the law companies can be put into special administration if they are unable to pay debts, if they breach licence obligations, such as on sewage pollution, or failing to supply water, and if it is considered in the public interest to do so. Special administration is a form of temporary renationalisation.

This is the million dollar question! While tackling separation across the whole network at once is considered too disruptive and costly, particularly in urban environments, the chartered institute of water and environmental management says moving towards separated systems is their key focus to address urban pollution and storm water sewage releases. New developments, for example, are now mandated to have separate pipes for foul wastewater and surface water run off.

They also want to see the increased use of sustainable drainage systems like water butts, and storage basins for existing properties, to reduce the amount of runoff into the system. Keeping gardens rather than paving them over, and creating so called sponge cities is also key to tackling pollution.

The UK was described as the dirty man of Europe back in the 70s and 80s, due to levels of pollution. For example in coastal towns there were no water treatment plants to treat sewage, raw sewage was just pumped and dumped into the sea. It was only when the EU directives came in that the clean up began. Chief amongst these was the Urban Wastewater directive, the Water Framework directive, and the Bathing Water directive.

Since leaving the EU there have been fears that these pieces of legislation could be watered down. James Bevan, as CEO of the Environment Agency, talked about changing the Water Framework Directive, essentially to make it easier for rivers to pass tests for chemical and biological health. Currently no river is rated as in good overall health under the WFD where rivers have to pass both chemical and biological health tests.

The birds – not native to the South Australian island – have covered a school in faeces, torn up infrastructure and damaged crops

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

Thousands of little corellas that have been terrorising the inhabitants of Kangaroo Island have been culled but it won’t be enough to fix the problem, authorities say.

The birds, which are not native to the island, have covered a local school in faeces, torn up infrastructure, damaged crops and caused mental distress to residents with their screeching.

VinFast is introducing a new vehicle access program for transport and ride-hailing drivers in Indonesia and the Philippines, adding a rental option alongside its existing vehicle purchase model. The program allows drivers to rent vehicles from VinFast’s Green lineup through authorized dealerships in both markets. It comes as fuel costs ... [continued]

The post VinFast Rolls Out EV Rental Program For Drivers In Indonesia & The Philippines appeared first on CleanTechnica.

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.

Once upon a time, renewables were nice to have but not essential. The war on Iran is changing that calculus.

The post Fossil Fuels & The Maslow Hierarchy Of Needs appeared first on CleanTechnica.

Woolton Hill, Hampshire: I visit an old friend in an old haunt, where a small herd of Shetlands has been set to work

Thirty years on from the impassioned action of the road protests, the Newbury bypass soars above us on the old railway embankment. I can’t entirely accept it even now, having been part of the campaign. Today, walking in The Chase, the nature reserve that lies adjacent, the roar of traffic slips into a background hum, aided by other memories I’ve built up here.

Many of those have been with my dearest friend, Sarah. She volunteers as a “cow watcher” for the National Trust, and I’ve come with her as she checks their whereabouts and wellbeing. They are conservation grazers; keeping coarser scrub in check, spreading seed and poaching areas, and encouraging greater biodiversity and plantlife.

Like so many flying insects, these essential pollinators are suffering because of habitat loss and the overuse of chemicals. Here’s how to give them a healthier, happier home

We know about honeybees and bumblebees, but most of the UK’s bees are neither: they’re solitary bees, loners who come in a dizzying range of sizes, colours and varieties – more than 240 species. Have you heard, for instance, of the hairy-footed flower bee? “They’re one of the first bees to emerge each year,” says Laura Larkin, the chief conservation officer at Buglife. “The males have got fantastic little fluffy bits on their feet.”

How about leaf-cutter bees, which chomp “a perfectly circular hole” out of leaves to build their nests? Or bright-orange tawny mining bees, wool-carder bees, ivy bees? “There are so many of them and I’m still learning,” says Kate Bradbury, a wildlife gardener, writer, bee lover and the author of One Garden Against the World. “They’re just great – there’s a solitary bee for every occasion.”

Our writer travels to the eastern Andes in search of one of Ecuador’s most elusive birds

I’m out of breath – and not just because I’m desperate to see one of Ecuador’s most elusive birds, the rufous-bellied seedsnipe. To have any chance of success, I’ve come to Cayambe Coca national park in the eastern Andes. At 4,400 metres (14,400 feet), this is the highest altitude I have ever experienced.

Fortunately the skies are clear, the sun is shining, and my guide, Juan Carlos, is optimistic. I don’t tell him I have a track record of missing nailed-on certainties.

Earlier this year, 1.5 million Kenyan households received a text message reading: “Samahani KOKO customer. We regret to inform you that KOKO is closing operations today.” Within hours, KOKO Networks, one of Africa’s most celebrated clean-energy startups, laid off 700 staff, shut 3,000 fuel stations, and took the continent’s largest bioethanol ... [continued]

The post What KOKO’s Collapse Reveals about Carbon Market Infrastructure and Why Africa’s Carbon Future Depends on Integrity, Not Discounts appeared first on CleanTechnica.

Shahid Bagheri leaking fuel towards Hara mangrove forest, home to migrating birds and endangered turtles

• Middle East crisis – live updates

An oil slick from a stricken Iranian ship threatens to contaminate one of the Middle East’s most important wetlands, satellite image analysis suggests, making it one of a number of spills posing a risk to the livelihoods of coastal communities in the Gulf.

The Shahid Bagheri, a drone carrier, began leaking heavy fuel oil in Iranian territorial waters near the strait of Hormuz after it was hit by a US warplane in the first few days of the US-Israel attack on Iran.

Puerto Vallarta is getting electric buses now. The first seven of the new fully electric buses were recently delivered in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, but many more are to come. “The 38 new buses will primarily operate along the city’s main thoroughfare, Avenida Francisco Medina Ascencio, connecting popular destinations such as ... [continued]

The post First Electric Buses Launch In Puerto Vallarta appeared first on CleanTechnica.

The newly published white paper began with a question that persisted because of how clearly island systems expose the realities of energy. Can Hawaiʻi, an isolated archipelago with no continental grid behind it and a long dependence on imported fuels, build an energy system that is cleaner, more resilient, more ... [continued]

The post The Clean Energy Future Hawaiʻi Can Actually Build: New TFIE Strategy White Paper appeared first on CleanTechnica.