Interesting Ideas

With anger stoked by Channel 4’s drama Dirty Business, we look at what has happened to some of the main players

Water companies have been in the public eye for the wrong reasons again recently. South West Water was in the dock pleading guilty to supplying water unfit for human consumption, while the regulator fined South East Water £22.5m for repeated supply failures that affected more than 280,000 people over three years.

As the full scale of the sewage pollution scandal has been revealed to the public over the past six years, key figures working for the regulators and the privatised companies have been heavily criticised. Channel 4’s drama Dirty Business has focused attention on individuals at the heart of the scandal.

Zoox sort of feels like “The Little Engine That Could.” For years, Waymo and Tesla have gotten almost all of the attention in the US for their robotaxi plans and progress — as well as Cruise, a bit, before it shut down. However, Zoox slid onto the scene sort of ... [continued]

The post Zoox Coming to Dallas & Phoenix, Partnering with Uber in Las Vegas & Los Angeles appeared first on CleanTechnica.

A unique new green hydrogen electrolyser system that is purpose-built to run on off-grid solar power will be showcased in Spain, eventually contributing to the country's plans for exporting sustainable H2 to the rest of Europe.

The post The Epstein War Breathes New Life Into EU Green Hydrogen Schemes appeared first on CleanTechnica.

Review from non-profit finds range of scenarios of firms simultaneously lobbying for and against Pfas regulations

Some top US lobbying firms are simultaneously working both sides of the Pfas “forever chemicals” issue, raising serious conflict of interest questions and concerns that their activity is slowing states’ efforts to rein in the public health threat.

The review of six states’ lobbying records conducted by the non-profit F-Minus found a range of scenarios in which firms lobbied both sides. Most common Pfas are linked to cancer. The lobbying firm Holland & Knight works for the American Chemistry Council, which represents the nation’s largest Pfas makers, and aggressively opposes most regulations. Simultaneously, Holland & Knight lobbies for the American Cancer Society.

The UK’s ZEV mandate required that 22% of new vehicle sales be zero-emission vehicle (electric vehicle) sales in 2024. The industry exceeded that, though, according to data just released by the UK’s Department for Transport (DfT). Well, that is, if you take CO2 credits in the Vehicle Emissions Trading Scheme ... [continued]

The post UK EV Sales Were Higher Than Mandated In 2024 appeared first on CleanTechnica.

Colossal Biosciences’ CEO says its work follows a ‘moral obligation’ while critics say it’s ‘tech bro’ hype that could undermine conservation

Can and should we resurrect animal species that have been extinct for thousands of years? Such weighty, existential questions were once the preserve of science fiction but are now being played out within an unassuming brick building in a Dallas business park.

Colossal Biosciences, valued at $10.2bn after raising hundreds of millions of dollars in funding from investors including celebrities spanning from Tiger Woods to Paris Hilton, has provoked a stampede of acclaim as well as denunciation after announcing last year it had made the dire wolf, a species lost from the world for more than 10,000 years, “de-extinct” via the birth of three new pups.

Her research popularised the idea of the wood wide web, but the scientific backlash was brutal. As the author of The Mother Tree returns to the forest in a new book, she discusses her battle to reimagine our relationship with nature

In 2018, the ecologist and writer Suzanne Simard was conducting research in the forested Caribou Mountains of western Canada when a thunderstorm rolled in. She was with her two teenage daughters and her close friend and colleague, Jean Roach. They saw flashes of lightning, heard a loud rumble and then they smelled smoke. They were forced to run the half kilometre back to Simard’s truck as the trees behind them caught alight and the air grew thick. As they ran, animals burst out of the forest: a deer, a rabbit, a grey wolf. They reached the truck with no time to spare, all four of them covered in soot and dirt. Overhead, helicopters began circling the orange-black air, dropping water on the flames below.

Wildfires have become an ever bigger problem in Canada. The 2018 wildfires were the biggest in British Columbia’s history, but this record was broken in 2021, and then again in 2023, when fires consumed an area three times the size of the Canadian province of Nova Scotia and the smoke travelled as far as New York City. The cause is not only global heating, which has brought hotter, dryer summers, but also the changing makeup of the forest. When logging companies clear forest, they replant it with fast-growing conifer species, but these trees are much more flammable than Canada’s diverse, native forest.

The debate over who should pay to power data centers is taking center stage all across America, from Virginia to Montana.

The post Dominion Energy Falls Into The “Dispatchable” Trap Over Data Center Power appeared first on CleanTechnica.

During its March 12 investor day in New York, Lucid Group announced a sweeping financial and product strategy that signals a departure from its status as a niche luxury manufacturer. CleanTechnica attended the event’s webcast live. Marc Winterhoff, the Interim CEO at Lucid, opened the event indicating immediately how the ... [continued]

The post Lucid Investor Day Report: “We Are Building for the Future” appeared first on CleanTechnica.

Hedgehogs’ habitat is shrinking, they’re vulnerable to cars, and pesticides are affecting their food supply. Here’s how we can help them pull through

With stumpy, speedy legs, questing snouts and a fierce quiver of needles, hedgehogs are enchantingly strange, like fantasy creatures from a medieval bestiary. “It’s the nation’s favourite wild animal – every time there’s a vote or a poll, the hedgehog wins,” says ecologist Hugh Warwick, AKA “Hedgehog Hugh”, author of the Cull of the Wild and hedgehog champion.

Exclusive: Lough Neagh, which supplies drinking water for 40% of NI, contains genes resistant to last-resort antibiotics

Genes capable of creating antibiotic-resistant superbugs have been detected in the UK’s largest lake, which supplies drinking water to about 40% of Northern Ireland.

Testing of water from Lough Neagh, which has a surface area 26 times bigger than Windermere, found genes resistant to a wide range of antibiotics, including carbapenems – drugs reserved for life-threatening infections when all other treatments have failed.

Following what the Department of Energy (DOE) has described as the highest fuel price jump in the country’s history, with pump prices rising by as much as P24 (~$0.55) per liter this week due to global supply disruptions, Vingroup has launched its “Trade Gas for Electric” campaign. The initiative is ... [continued]

The post Vingroup Shielding Filipino Motorists from Historic Fuel Price Hikes with Campaign appeared first on CleanTechnica.

Ruabon grouse moor, Wrexham: Mating season is upon us. Will I be lucky enough to spot a courtship lek?

I’m shooting grouse on the moor today. There are two kinds here: red grouse, a gamebird reared and shot in its thousands; and its larger, rarer cousin, the black grouse. The latter is supposedly spared by a ban that remains voluntary despite catastrophic declines in recent decades. As it’s not shooting season, which runs from August to mid-December, I shoulder a camera, not a shotgun, hoping to snap one of these increasingly rare birds.

Springtime is when black grouse start to breed, so I arrive before dawn, which is when they lek – a courtship dance where they fan their tails, peck and scuffle with their rivals.

The US offshore wind industry is still alive and kicking with multiple gigawatts' worth of clean electricity heading for the nation's grid.

The post Trump’s Offshore Wind Nightmare Has Become Reality appeared first on CleanTechnica.

Many of our readers ask why Australia doesn’t have an automotive industry. Well, here comes the next generation to take up the challenge. Meet Applied EV, a Melbourne-based startup that has just raised AU$40 million to progress its autonomous electric dreams. The list of investors includes some heavy hitters, among ... [continued]

The post Applied EV Presses Ahead with Autonomous Electric Vehicles in Australia appeared first on CleanTechnica.

Tesla revealed its Semi (semi truck) nearly a decade ago. Many of us hoped for and expected a quick move to market and rapid scaling up. However, the process has gone much more slowly than I think anyone anticipated. However, when I saw news that Mone Transport is now engaged ... [continued]

The post Why Is The Tesla Semi Still In Pilot Program Stage? appeared first on CleanTechnica.

This week’s best wildlife photographs from around the world

Rumor is out that Stellantis has been in talks with two Chinese EV producers, XPeng and Xiaomi, regarding forming significant partnerships for Europe. Stellantis has not exactly been the shining example of good financial management or traveling with the trends and leading on electric vehicles, and it’s not surprising to ... [continued]

The post Stellantis Rumored to Talk with Xiaomi & XPeng Regarding Partnership appeared first on CleanTechnica.

Carmaker’s decision to drop NissanConnect EV app on relatively recent cars fuels warnings from experts

Owners of some Nissan Leaf electric vehicles are angry after the carmaker announced it would shut down an app that lets them remotely control battery charging and other functions.

Drivers of Leaf cars made before May 2019 and the e-NV200 van (produced until 2022) have been told that the NissanConnect EV app linked to their vehicles will “cease operation” from 30 March. This means they will lose remote services, including turning on the heating, and some map features.

Mohammed Ahmed Sayed Mohammed is among those redeploying his skills for a local recycling company that is cleaning up the Nile

At 6am, Mohammed Ahmed Sayed Mohammed steers his boat from al-Qarsaya island through Cairo’s Nile waters towards the capital’s riverside clubs. Fifteen years ago, he searched for fish. Now he hunts plastic bottles.

“The fish fled from the plastic chokehold,” said Sayed, who has lived on the Giza island since arriving from Assiut, further south on the Nile, as a 14-year-old fishing apprentice. He never returned to his village, marrying locally and raising three children who now live alongside him with their 12 grandchildren on the island housing 200 families.