Interesting Ideas

Cranbrook, Kent: I have a stretch of leggy hawthorn that needs attention, so I head out into the cold with my axe and billhook

Wire netting is everywhere in the Kent Weald – barbed boundaries to ancient pastures where sheep and cattle still idly graze. But what did farmers do for the hundreds of years before stock fencing was invented?

Hedges, so rooted in what we wistfully consider to be our natural landscape, are in fact human-made features, planted almost solely for the purpose of enclosure. Unmanaged hedges are not a permanent solution, though: young trees mature, trunks become bare, and animal‑sized holes appear, rendering them useless. To remedy this, the practice of hedge laying was developed; unlike bricklaying, it is an act of maintenance rather than creation.

There are so many koalas in some places that food is the issue – while elsewhere populations are threatened by habitat loss. And there are no easy fixes

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On French Island in Victoria’s Western Port Bay, koalas are dropping from trees. Eucalypts have been eaten bare by the marsupials, with local reports of some found starving and dead. Multiple koalas – usually solitary animals – can often be seen on a single gum.

Koalas were first introduced to French Island from the mainland in the 1880s, a move that protected the species from extinction in the decades they were extensively hunted for their pelts. In the absence of predators and diseases such as chlamydia, the population thrived.

Desperate times call for desperate measures, as the saying goes, and US President Donald Trump is desperate to avoid losing. But, losing he is. Take his ferocious, no-holds-barred attack on the thousands of workers employed by the US offshore wind industry. While successfully obliterating many wind jobs during the course ... [continued]

The post Losing Loser Loses Another Offshore Wind Fight, Again appeared first on CleanTechnica.

The German hydrogen backbone without customers or suppliers—a pipeline from nowhere to nowhere—is real steel in the ground, pressurized and defended as inevitable, yet it is being built for an energy system that does not need it. That claim sounds provocative until the energy flows are laid out in full. ... [continued]

The post Pressurized Steel, Missing Demand: Germany’s Hydrogen Backbone In Energy Flows appeared first on CleanTechnica.

Pioneering scheme hopes species that thrived for thousands of years in Irish waters can do so again

The dinghy slowed to a stop at a long line of black bobbing baskets and David Lawlor reached out to inspect the first one.

Inside lay 60 oysters, all with their shells closed, shielding the life within. “They look great,” beamed Lawlor. So did their neighbours in the next basket and the ones after that, all down the line of 300 baskets, totalling 18,000 oysters.

It’s a mystery wrapped in an enigma: If EV sales are crashing, why are hundreds of new public EV charging stations still popping up all over the country like mushrooms after the rain? There are more than a few answers to that question, and the coming wave of used EVs ... [continued]

The post Oh, So That’s Why EV Charging Stations Are Still Hot Property appeared first on CleanTechnica.

After writing about how EV fast chargers are coming to Walmarts in 19 states, here’s another big announcement related to a brand name retailer. Thousands of EV fast chargers will be installed in a variety of US states at Kroger, Foods Co., Fred Meyer, Fry’s Food Stores, Harris Teeter, King ... [continued]

The post Thousands Of EV Fast Chargers Planned In Various States appeared first on CleanTechnica.

As international treaty comes into force, bill to make it law in Britain is moving at ‘glacial pace’ through parliament

The UK risks being shut out of a historic oceans summit because parliament has failed to ratify the UN’s high seas treaty, environmental charities and campaigners have warned.

The high seas treaty, formally known as the Agreement on the Conservation and Sustainable Use of Marine Biological Diversity of Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction, comes into force on Saturday, after two decades of talks.

The latest research examines the risks and rewards of geoengineering the ocean to make it absorb more carbon dioxide.

The post Geoengineering The Ocean — What Could Possibly Go Wrong? appeared first on CleanTechnica.

Virunga park ranger says babies are well cared for by mother Mafuko but high infant mortality makes first weeks critical

It was noon by the time Jacques Katutu first saw the newborn mountain gorillas. Cradled in the arms of their mother, Mafuko, the tiny twins clung to her body for warmth in the forest clearing in Virunga national park, in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).

Katutu, head of gorilla monitoring in Virunga, has seen dozens of newborns in his 15 years as a ranger. But, he tells the Guardian, even he was touched by the sight of the fragile infant males, who face serious obstacles if they are to become silverbacks one day.

The US has issued a new "emergency" plan to force data centers to pay for the electricity they need but it undercuts renewables,

The post Data Center Demand For Electricity Provokes US Government Response appeared first on CleanTechnica.

A return to nuclear power is at the heart of Japan’s energy policy but, in the wake of the 2011 disaster, residents’ fears about tsunamis, earthquakes and evacuation plans remain

The activity around the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear power plant is reaching its peak: workers remove earth to expand the width of a main road, while lorries arrive at its heavily guarded entrance. A long perimeter fence is lined with countless coils of razor wire, and in a layby, a police patrol car monitors visitors to the beach – one of the few locations with a clear view of the reactors, framed by a snowy Mount Yoneyama.

When all seven of its reactors are working, Kashiwazaki-Kariwa generates 8.2 gigawatts of electricity, enough to power millions of households. Occupying 4.2 sq km of land in Niigata prefecture on the Japan Sea coast, it is the biggest nuclear power plant in the world.

A new, energy efficient desalination system leverages natural water pressure to make a 40% cut in energy consumption.

The post Yet Another US Startup Has A Global Energy Transition Plan Up Its Sleeve appeared first on CleanTechnica.

Todolí foundation produces varieties from Buddha’s hands to sudachi and hopes to help citrus survive climate change

It was on a trip with a friend to the east coast of Spain that the chef Matthew Slotover came across the “Garden of Eden”, an organic farm growing citrus varieties he had never heard of. The Todolí Citrus Foundation is a nonprofit venture and the largest private collection of citrus in the world with more than 500 varieties, and its owners think the rare fruit could hold the genetic secrets to growing citrus groves that can deal with climate change.

The farm yields far more interesting fruit than oranges and lemons for Slotover’s menu, including kumquat, finger lime, sudachi and bergamot.

Tony Cholerton created Robovacc to inoculate a timid tiger at London zoo – but says it could administer jabs to badgers

It began with the tiger who wouldn’t come to tea. Cinta was so shy that she refused to feed when keepers at London zoo were around, and staff wondered how they would ever administer the young animal’s vaccinations without traumatising her.

So Tony Cholerton, a zookeeper who had been a motorcycle engineer for many years, invented Robovacc – a machine to quickly administer vital jabs without the presence of people.

As expected, the US electric vehicle market took a hit in the 4th quarter. With the $7,500 federal EV tax credit ending at the end of the 3rd quarter (after Republicans in Congress and Donald Trump prematurely killed it), people rushed to buy EVs before October, and then the market ... [continued]

The post Lowest US EV Sales Since 4th Quarter of 2022 — CHARTS appeared first on CleanTechnica.

Food produce and other waste has been littering Sussex coastline as capsized shipping containers wash ashore

Coral Evans was walking along the beach in Brighton on Tuesday evening when she came across an unfamiliar sight.

“Hundreds of dust masks had washed up, along with single-use plastic gloves and cans of dried milk,” she said. “It was odd to see in winter – because nothing surprises us in summertime with the amount of people on the beach.”

I just wrote about 4th quarter US EV sales. As expected, they don’t look great. Sales dropped a ton in the 4th quarter after Republicans killed the $7,500 US EV tax credit. However, we all know that the 3rd quarter was a blockbuster quarter for US EV sales for the ... [continued]

The post US EV Sales Drop 2% in 2025, But Up 162% Compared to 2021 appeared first on CleanTechnica.

The cost of producing milk is higher than that being paid by milk processors, leaving farmers operating at a loss

“Every morning that I roll out of bed at 4.40am, I know I’m losing £1,800 that day, just by getting up.” This is the stark daily reality for Paul Tompkins, as he and his fellow dairy farmers struggle in the face of plummeting milk prices.

Tompkins, who is the third generation to run his family’s 234-hectare (600-acre) farm in the Vale of York, can produce milk for about 40p a litre from his 500-strong herd of black and white Holstein cows. However, he is being paid only 29p a litre by his milk processor, leaving him operating at a loss, despite trying to run his business as efficiently as possible.

With new, advanced drilling systems in hand, the domestic geothermal energy industry can spread into new parts of the US.

The post Trump Sends A Geothermal Love Letter To Coal, Oil, And Natural Gas appeared first on CleanTechnica.