Interesting Ideas

The German Bundesrat’s recent plea to Brussels to double green hydrogen-base fuel quotas is less a bid to accelerate decarbonization than a request to manufacture demand for an infrastructure program that never made economic sense and had weak demand signals from the start. The upper chamber’s proposal to increase mandated ... [continued]

The post Germany’s Bid To Double Hydrogen Fuel Targets Ignores Operator Demand And Cost Signals appeared first on CleanTechnica.

I’ve lived through many internet ages. In each stage of where the internet evolves and where humans spend their time, businesses and political actors step in and try to “game the system” for their benefit. It’s not all about eyeballs and money, but, eventually, that’s almost always what anything popular ... [continued]

The post Hacking AI — In Simple Ways — To Spread Misinformation appeared first on CleanTechnica.

Staff are using stoves and generators to keep lions, camels and Ukraine’s lone gorilla safe from winter and war

• Europe live – latest updates

Kyiv zoo’s most famous resident lays on his back watching television. On screen: a nature documentary.

For a quarter of a century, Toni has been the star attraction, drawing tens of thousands of visitors. He is Ukraine’s only gorilla. At 52 – old by western gorilla standards – he needs warm conditions similar to the lowlands of central Africa.

22 February 2001: How the Guardian first covered the national crisis that unfolded as a result of the virus that spreads like wildfire

An outbreak of the highly infectious animal transmitted foot-and-mouth disease in the UK was one of the worst in the world. Roughly 6 million cattle, sheep, and pigs were culled, and mass funeral pyres became a striking image of the British countryside. Rural communities were shut off, tourism devastated, and movement across the countryside severely restricted. The crisis was so serious that the 2001 UK general election had to be postponed.

Plastic production has doubled over the last 20 years – and will likely double again. For author Beth Gardiner, metal water bottles and canvas tote bags are not the solution. So what is?

Like many of us who are mindful of our plastic consumption, Beth Gardiner would take her own bags to the supermarket and be annoyed whenever she forgot to do so. Out without her refillable bottle, she would avoid buying bottled water. “Here I am, in my own little life, worrying about that and trying to use less plastic,” she says. Then she read an article in this newspaper, just over eight years ago, and discovered that fossil fuel companies had ploughed more than $180bn (£130bn) into plastic plants in the US since 2010. “It was a kick in the teeth,” says Gardiner. “You’re telling me that while I am beating myself up because I forgot to bring my water bottle, all these huge oil companies are pouring billions …” She looks appalled. “It was just such a shock.”

Two months before that piece was published, a photograph of a seahorse clinging to a plastic cotton bud had gone viral; two years before that England followed Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland and introduced a charge for carrier bags. “I was one of so many people who were trying to use less plastic – and it just felt like such a moment of revelation: these companies are, on the contrary, increasing production and wanting to push [plastic use] up and up.” Then, says Gardiner, as she started researching her book Plastic Inc: Big Oil, Big Money and the Plan to Trash our Future, “it only becomes more shocking.”

Abandoned beaches, public health warning signs and seagulls eating human waste are now features of the popular coastline in New Zealand

A tide of anger is rising in New Zealand’s capital, Wellington, as the city’s toilets continue to flush directly into the ocean more than two weeks after the catastrophic collapse of its wastewater treatment plant.

Millions of litres of raw and partially screened sewage have been pouring into pristine reefs and a marine reserve along the south coast daily since 4 February, prompting a national inquiry, as the authorities struggle to get the decimated plant operational.

While most hybrids are said to use one to two litres of fuel per 100km, a study claims they need six litres on average

Plug-in hybrid electric cars (PHEVs) use much more fuel on the road than officially stated by their manufacturers, a large-scale analysis of about a million vehicles of this type has shown.

The Fraunhofer Institute carried out what is thought to be the most comprehensive study of its kind to date, using the data transmitted wirelessly by PHEVs from a variety of manufacturers while they were on the road.

I published an article yesterday on Tesla’s crazy-high market cap, more than the following automakers’ combined: Toyota, BYD, GM, Ford, Hyundai, Kia, Mercedes-Benz, Stellantis, Geely, Ferrari, BMW, Volkswagen Group, Honda, Nissan, Renault, XPENG, and NIO. Unfortunately, we had a tech crisis today and had to republish several articles, which led ... [continued]

The post Tesla’s Huge Market Cap — Reader Thoughts appeared first on CleanTechnica.

Faaborgs rail against oppressive industrial agricultural system with unexpected evolution into indie artisan food firm

As a sixth-generation Iowa farmer, Tanner Faaborg is all too aware that agricultural traditions are hard to shake. So when he set in motion plans to change his family’s farm from a livestock operation housing more than 8,000 pigs each year to one that grows lion’s mane and oyster mushrooms, he knew some of his peers might laugh at him. He just did not necessarily expect his brother to be chief among them.

“My older brother has worked with pigs his entire adult life, managing about 70,000 of them across five counties,” Faaborg says. “But we got to a point where he went from laughing at me to saying: well, I guess maybe I’ll quit my job and help you out.”

I just caught up on comments under an article I wrote several days ago, “Is Tesla Really In Trouble This Time?” There were many great comments from readers, but a few jumped out at me to stimulate this followup piece. The first one came from vensonata, who wrote: “The combined ... [continued]

The post Tesla Market Cap More Than Market Cap of Toyota, BYD, GM, Ford, Hyundai, Kia, Mercedes-Benz, Stellantis, Geely, Ferrari, BMW, Volkswagen Group, Honda, Nissan, Renault, XPENG, and NIO Combined appeared first on CleanTechnica.

Joseph Schumpeter wrote that creative destruction is the essential fact about capitalism. He was not describing a gentle process. He was describing waves of innovation that dismantle capital stock, reprice assets, and reorganize entire industries. In the Chinese zodiac, the Year of the Fire Horse we have just entered symbolizes ... [continued]

The post The Fire Horse Energy Transition & Creative Destruction appeared first on CleanTechnica.

Activist group says some members have been visited by agents, including by agency’s terrorism taskforce

Environmental group Extinction Rebellion said on Wednesday it was under federal US investigation and that some of its members had been visited by FBI agents, including from the agency’s taskforce on extremism, in the last year.

Asked for comment, the FBI said it could neither confirm nor deny conducting specific investigations, citing justice department policy.

The updates are projected to save Oregonians hundreds of dollars each month on utility bills SALEM, Ore. — Today, the Oregon Building Code Division’s Residential and Manufactured Structures Board (RMSB) voted to approve a package of updates to the state’s residential energy code, including a requirement that new homes be built ... [continued]

The post Oregon Adopts New Building Codes to Reduce Energy Costs and Increase Energy Efficiency in Newly Constructed Homes appeared first on CleanTechnica.

A bill banning the sale and use of plastic and metallic glitter has yet to go through in Brazil as the capital’s sandy shores bear cost of carnival’s shine

Whether it is embellishing elaborate costumes, delicately applied as eye makeup, or smeared across bare skin, glitter is everywhere at Rio de Janeiro’s carnival in Brazil. The world’s largest party, which ended on Wednesday, leaves a trail of sparkles in its wake.

At one blocolast weekend, a huge sound truck and dancers in leopard print led thousands of revellers down the promenade at Flamengo beach. Among them was Bruno Fernandes, who had jazzed up an otherwise minimalist outfit of navy swimming briefs by smearing silver glitter over his body.

Weakening the hydrogen framework would threaten climate goals, grid stability, and the investment certainty needed to build a truly sustainable hydrogen market. 2025 marked an important milestone for EU hydrogen policy: with the entry into force of the Delegated Regulation (EU) 2025/2359 (‘Low-Carbon fuel Delegated Act’), the EU hydrogen regulatory ... [continued]

The post Green NGOs & Renewable Fuel Producers: Commission Must Resist Pressure to Reopen the Rules Governing Renewable Hydrogen appeared first on CleanTechnica.

The other day, watching the below video, there was a little excitement to find out about an electric RV, but that quickly turned to dismay to find out it uses a gas generator to provide extra electricity. The RV in question is the 2026 Entegra Electric Class A Motorhome, which ... [continued]

The post An Electric Chevy BrightDrop Van For 50% Off? appeared first on CleanTechnica.

One thing is clear: Either you are in lockstep with the US pro-fossil fuel energy policy, or you are the enemy and will pay the price. Created in the 1970s after the OPEC oil embargoes, the International Energy Agency was designed to collect data on who was producing oil and ... [continued]

The post IEA Focus On Clean Energy Gives US Officials Heartburn appeared first on CleanTechnica.

Wet fields drive away rodents, leaving barn owls without much prey, but gulls of all kinds are attracted by the water

The Somerset Levels flood regularly – but this year, after very heavy winter rains, the fields and moors are overflowing with water. So what effect does this have on wintering birds?

Like most extreme weather events, there are winners and losers. Huge flocks of gulls are gathering in the flooded fields to feed, with scarcer Mediterranean and little gulls joining the regular black-headed, herring and common varieties. These have attracted a white-tailed eagle from the Isle of Wight reintroduction project, although it does not appear to have caught any victims yet.

Report says common agricultural policy provides ‘unfair’ levels of support to unhealthy, meat-heavy diets

Beef and lamb receive 580 times more in EU subsidies than legumes, a report has found, despite scientists urging people to get more of their protein from less harmful sources.

Analysis by the charity Foodrise found the EU’s common agricultural policy (CAP) provides “unfair” levels of support to meat-heavy diets that doctors consider unhealthy and climate scientists consider environmentally destructive.

Washington, DC — A broad coalition of health and environmental groups sued the Environmental Protection Agency today over its illegal determination that it is not responsible for protecting us from climate pollution and its elimination of rules to cut the tailpipe pollution fueling the climate crisis and harming people’s health. The case, ... [continued]

The post Sierra Club, Partners Sue EPA Over Illegal Repeal of Climate Protections appeared first on CleanTechnica.