Interesting Ideas

Scarborough and Bognor Regis among places where water is so polluted it is not recommended for swimming

One in seven (13%) of England’s bathing waters are rated as polluted, and one in 14 so polluted they are not recommended for swimming.

Famous beaches including Bognor Regis, Scarborough’s South Bay and Littlehaven Beach in South Shields were all rated “poor” in the latest classifications from the Environment Agency, which means they are not recommended for swimming.

Several nations pushed at COP30 for an expansion of biofuels, but Transport and Environment argues that is a poor strategy.

The post Biofuels: Hope Or Hype? appeared first on CleanTechnica.

Washington, DC — The US House of Representatives passed H.R. 1949, Unlocking our Domestic LNG Potential Act of 2025, which would limit federal action to review the impacts of expanded liquefied methane gas exports on the economy, consumer energy costs, the climate, and local communities. More than 150 climate and environmental justice ... [continued]

The post US House Bill Would Allow Rubber Stamping of Dangerous LNG Gas Exports appeared first on CleanTechnica.

Gagan Dhillon, CEO of Synop, and I sat down recently to discuss why electric school buses are the perfect starter V2G fleet, real-world results from electric school bus V2G programs, making electric school bus (and other EV) fleets pencil out after the federal tax-credit cliff, EV fleet energy management, and ... [continued]

The post Electric School Buses & V2G — Match Made in Heaven appeared first on CleanTechnica.

In a time when there is a US president who opposes clean energy and sustainable transportation, combined with the loss of federal EV incentives, it has been encouraging to see many new public EV charger installations going forward. These “small” EV charger installation projects matter in their local areas, and ... [continued]

The post New Fast EV Chargers Installed In Kansas City & Pittsburgh Downtown Areas appeared first on CleanTechnica.

Scientists excited by progress in bold project to see if native species can train themselves to survive alongside cats

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In the middle of the Australian outback’s arid deserts, many of the country’s distinctive small marsupials – the bilbies, bandicoots and quolls – have been missing for a century or more, wiped out by land clearing and the hunting prowess of feral cats. Felis catus – introduced by European invaders and settlers – was too fast and too agile for the native mammals that had not evolved with this voracious and adaptable new predator.

While efforts to rid the landscape of cats have so far failed, a group of scientists have entered into a bold project to see if small marsupials can train themselves to survive alongside the cats that drove their species almost to extinction.

At Maple Farm, nature is returning in droves: nightingales, grass snakes, slowworms, bats and insects. All due to the vision of a group determined to accelerate its recovery

The manically melodic song of the nightingale is a rare sound in Britain these days, but not at Maple Farm. Four years ago, a single bird could be heard at this secluded spot in rural Surrey; this summer, they were everywhere. “We were hearing them calling all night, from five different territories,” says Meg Cookson, lead ecologist for the Youngwilders, pointing to the woodland around us. A group of Youngwilders were camping out at the site, but the birds were so loud, “we couldn’t sleep all night,” says Layla Mapemba, the group’s engagement lead. “We were all knackered the next day, but it was so cool.” An expert from the Surrey Wildlife Trust came to help them net and ring one of the nightingales the next morning, Cookson recalls: “He’d never held a nightingale in his hands before. He was crying.”

Rewilding is by definition a slow business, but here at Maple Farm, after just four years, the results are already visible, and audible. The farm used to be a retirement home for horses. Now it’s a showpiece for the Youngwilders’ mission: to accelerate nature recovery, in one of the most nature-depleted countries in the world, and to connect young people (18-30-year-olds) with a natural world they are often excluded from, and a climate crisis they are often powerless to prevent. Global heating continues, deforestation destroys natural habitats, and another Cop summit draws to a disappointing conclusion in Brazil – so who could blame young people for wanting to take matters into their own hands?

Ottawa’s transit system is working through difficult choices at a moment when reliability, cost control, and public confidence matter more than ever. The fleet is aging, budgets are tight, and ridership is still recovering from the pandemic. Decisions made in the next two or three years will shape the quality ... [continued]

The post What Ottawa Can Learn From Hydrogen Transit Failures Across Canada and Beyond appeared first on CleanTechnica.

Environmental body says modest investment and changes can help preserve long list of animals, fungi and lichen

Almost 3,000 species ranging from glorious birds to tiny lichen are in peril in Wales because they are clinging on in a handful of locations or even fewer, a groundbreaking report has revealed.

The report from Natural Resources Wales (NRW) highlights that, since the millennium, 11 species have already been lost to Cymru, including the turtle dove and belted beauty moth. It warns that 2,955 other terrestrial or freshwater species are at serious risk because they are confined to five locations or fewer.

While at a media event, I saw a camouflaged prototype of a SUV/CUV testing outside of XPENG’s new headquarters in Guangzhou. The next day, the same vehicle appeared outside of XPENG’s factory, where media had assembled for the production of their millionth vehicle, an X9 EREV. This fastback crossover has ... [continued]

The post XPENG Compact SUV Prototype Spotted Outside of Facilities in Guangzhou appeared first on CleanTechnica.

Hawaii is re-evaluating its electricity system again and LNG is back on the table as a proposed bridge between oil dependence and a renewable future. The idea is simple at first glance. Hawaii burns more oil for electricity than any other state and Oahu still relies on oil for most ... [continued]

The post Hawaii’s LNG Detour: Why A Fossil Bridge Arriving In The 2030s Makes No Sense appeared first on CleanTechnica.

It was touch-and-go during the final days of COP30 — would there be a declaration on hunger, poverty, and human-centered climate action? Yes! 43 countries and the EU agreed to address the “unequal distribution of climate impacts” through actions including expanding social-protection systems and supporting climate adaptation for small farmers. ... [continued]

The post The Symbiosis Of Food And Climate Arise At COP30 appeared first on CleanTechnica.

The Nature inFocus photography competition 2025 announced its winners at the Nature inFocus festival hosted at Jayamahal Palace in Bengaluru, India.

Close to 16,000 images were submitted by more than 1,250 photographers from more than 38 countries.

Blazes that smoulder in the permafrost, only to reignite, are extending fire season though winter, leaving vegetation struggling to recover

In May 2023, a lightning strike hit the forest in Donnie Creek, British Columbia, and the trees started to burn. It was early in the year for a wildfire, but a dry autumn and warm spring had turned the forest into a tinderbox, and the flames spread rapidly. By mid-June, the fire had become one of largest in the province’s history, burning through an area of boreal forest nearly twice the size of central London. That year, more of Canada burned than ever before.

The return of cold and snow at the close of the year typically signal the end of the wildfire season. But this time, the fire did not stop. Instead, it smouldered in the soil underground, insulated from the freezing conditions by the snowpack. The next spring, it reemerged as a “zombie fire” that continued to burn until August 2024. By then, more than 600,000 hectares (1.5m acres) had been destroyed.

Evidence that the whales and other marine animals are particularly vulnerable to sound is driving calls for quieter vessels

The delicate clicks and whistles of narwhals carry through Tasiujaq, locally known as Eclipse Sound, at the eastern Arctic entrance of the Northwest Passage. A hydrophone in this shipping corridor off Baffin Island, Nunavut, captures their calls as the tusked whales navigate their autumn migration route to northern Baffin Bay.

But as the Nordic Odyssey, a 225-metre ice-class bulk carrier servicing the nearby iron ore mine, approaches, its low engine rumble gives way to a wall of sound created by millions of collapsing bubbles from its propeller. The narwhals’ acoustic signals, evolved for one of Earth’s quietest environments, fall silent.

Campaigners say closure of loophole making it cheaper to export rather than recycle will boost circular economy

The UK could end its reliance on exporting plastic waste by 2030 to support the creation of 5,400 new jobs and take responsibility for the environmental impact of its waste, according to research.

The report said up to 15 new recycling facilities could be built by the end of the decade, attracting more than £800m of private investment. The increase in capacity would help generate almost £900m of economic value every year, providing at least £100m in new tax revenues annually.

Community solar is awesome. Talk about a feel-good story. The savings from community solar can be enjoyed by renters and homeowners alike, whether they have a roof of their own to mount solar panels to or not. People can “subscribe” to a community solar project, which can be located somewhere ... [continued]

The post Climatize Facilitates Community Solar Projects in Minnesota and Illinois with Pre-Construction Financing appeared first on CleanTechnica.

As Mumbai sees increased energy demand from new datacenters, particularly from Amazon, the filthiest neighbourhood in one of India’s largest cities must keep its major coal plants

Each day, Kiran Kasbe drives a rickshaw taxi through his home neighbourhood of Mahul on Mumbai’s eastern seafront, down streets lined with stalls selling tomatoes, bottle gourds and aubergines–and, frequently, through thick smog.

Earlier this year, doctors found three tumours in his 54-year-old mother’s brain. It’s not clear exactly what caused her cancer. But people who live near coal plants are much more likely to develop the illness, studiesshow, and the residents of Mahul live a few hundred metres down the road from one.

Volkswagen has launched a new testing center in China. Interestingly, there was almost no mention in the announcement that this is an EV-only center. This is also the first time Volkswagen has built a full development facility in a country other than Germany. “Strategic Milestone reached: For the first time ... [continued]

The post Volkswagen EV-Only Full Development Center Launches in China appeared first on CleanTechnica.

It took some oblique wording, but Saudi Arabia made a last-minute decision to sign deal that marks departure for Cop

Dawn was breaking over the Amazonian city of Belém on Saturday morning, but in the windowless conference room it could have been day or night. They had been stuck there for more than 12 hours, dozens of ministers representing 17 groups of countries, from the poorest on the planet to the richest, urged by the Brazilian hosts to accept a settlement cooked up the day before.

Tempers were short, the air thick as the sweaty and exhausted delegates faced up to reality: there would not be a deal here in Brazil. The 30th UN climate conference would end in abject failure.