Interesting Ideas

There’s no doubt about it — solar power has already revolutionized the electricity industry. Solar power accounts for the majority of new power capacity around the world and around the US. That said, there are still significant barriers to residential solar adoption, and we are nowhere close to 50% of ... [continued]

The post 3rd US State Allows Plug & Play Solar Power appeared first on CleanTechnica.

Carl Camilleri is one of a dwindling number of owners of LPG-fuelled cars. As petrol and diesel prices go through the roof, they are sparking a dose of Australian car industry nostalgia

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When Carl Camilleri goes to fill up his Ford Falcon XR6 Mark II, he pays just over 70c a litre for fuel. Filling up the whole tank costs about $60.

The tank is about 85 litres and, if driven daily, lasts Camilleri two to three weeks around town.

Study of 1,300 campaigners finds arrests, fines and jail terms increase determination of activists to take direct action

The criminalisation of direct action climate protests in the UK is counterproductive and increases the determination of activists to undertake disruptive demonstrations, according to a study of 1,300 campaigners.

New findings suggest arrests, fines and lengthy prison sentences given to nonviolent climate protesters who have blocked roads or damaged buildings may actually radicalise them. The repression of protest could even be one driver of recent covert actions such as the cutting of internet cables, they said.

Athletes are helping to promote a new film about the crisis, reaching people ‘in a way that scientific reports never will’

It wasn’t so long ago that UK government briefings from Downing Street were essential viewing. Professors Chris Whitty and Patrick Vallance were household names in Britain and there was a roaring trade in “next slide please” mugs. Four years after the final Covid lectern was put away comes an attempt to alert the public to another emergency – the climate and nature emergency. And sport could be the secret weapon in spreading the word.

The National Emergency Briefing was held in London last November, in front of over 1,000 guests including MPs. It brought together experts from the fields of nature, climate, tipping points, weather extremes, food security, health, national security, economics and energy transition to sum up the scale of the challenge ahead and what could be done about it. A condensed version of the day was made into a 45-minute film, The People’s Emergency Briefing, which was released earlier this month, with backers including the British Ecological Society and the Campaign to Protect Rural England.

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Prendwick, Northumberland: On a crisp, cold walk, I’m reminded that winter still clings on, and that familiar constellations are far from alone

The red sun rising over the radar station on Alnwick Moor picks out the tall shape of a hare at our end of the meadow. It lopes forward a little way – forever appearing, as hares always do, to be on the brink of a forward roll – and then pauses, sits up and shakes the dew from its front paws.

A nearby pheasant lets rip a choked cock-crow. Both of these animals are game, here in England (as is the red-legged partridge, toiling tortoise-like through the weeds at the meadow bottom).

What if the best time to fill up your car was while you were fast asleep — and it saved you money? For Ford electric vehicle (EV) and plug-in hybrid owners in Texas, that’s not a dream; it’s a nightly reality with home charging. Through a partnership between Ford and ... [continued]

The post Ford Customers Are Saving Even More On Home Charging With TXU Energy Free EV Miles Program appeared first on CleanTechnica.

In the Sierra Tarahumara, gangs ‘disappear’ those who resist their lucrative illegal tree-felling operations

Decades ago, the children of Rochéachi village in the Sierra Tarahumara – pine-covered mountains of north-west Mexico’s Chihuahua state – would run through the forest by night. In the rainy season, they would collect fireflies whose glimmering light would flicker through the hollows of the pine trees.

“We had peace. We used to walk and play and be together,” says one mother of three, who asked to remain anonymous, about the forest she once knew. “Now, children can’t go out to play. We don’t know what might happen.”

After her sister died, Victoria Bennett left Cumbria for the remote Scottish archipelago, where she learned to go with the ebb and flow of life

It was during her first winter in Orkney that the nature writer Victoria Bennett experienced the joy of baying into the sea during a storm. “There’s something very physically releasing about howling,” she says. “It’s quite animalistic and powerful.” On a stormy beach, when waves are crashing on the rocks, “you can really let rip”, she says. “The sound just disappears.”

Until that moment, Bennett had been struggling with her decision to move to the remote archipelago off the north coast of Scotland. “I was beginning to feel like I was in a fight against the sea, and against the weather.”

Early birds were like ‘T rex reincarnated’, says scientist who believes avian skulls offer insight into dinosaurs’ behaviour

T rex is often depicted as more brawn than brains, but now scientists are hoping to probe just what was going on inside its head, drawing on findings from another kind of dinosaur: birds.

Scientists have previously found some species of bird not only make and use tools, but are able to plan ahead and show basic forms of empathy – with laboratory tests suggesting emus can recognise other birds might have different experiences to themselves.

Researchers find ‘alarming’ effect on fertility across global species from simultaneous exposures

Simultaneous exposure to toxic chemicals and climate change’s impacts likely generates an additive or synergistic effect that increases reproductive harm, and may contribute to the broad global drop in fertility, new peer-reviewed research finds.

The review of scientific literature considers how endocrine-disrupting chemicals, often found in plastic, coupled with climate change’s effects, such as heat stress, are each linked to reductions in fertility and fecundity across global species – including in humans, wildlife and invertebrates.

When the Alberta Energy Regulator ordered MAGA Energy to suspend operations in April 2026 over unpaid obligations and failure to meet commitments, it was not just another small oil and gas enforcement story. It pointed to a much larger rural Alberta problem. The Rural Municipalities of Alberta reported that, as ... [continued]

The post The Pro-Alberta Case For Holding Weak Oil & Gas Operators Accountable appeared first on CleanTechnica.

We have journalists at the Beijing Auto Show (Auto China 2026), but it takes time to collect and then share all of the great EV announcements happening there. In the meantime, below is one notable announcement from XPENG that was shared on Friday when the show launched. The 19th Beijing ... [continued]

The post AI Transforms the World: XPENG Showcases Its Full-Stack Physical AI Ecosystem at Auto China 2026 appeared first on CleanTechnica.

Charlotte, NC — On Wednesday, April 29, 2026 at 5:30 PM, dozens of concerned residents are expected to join advocates in the courtyard of Mecklenburg County Courthouse for a rally in response to Duke Energy’s request to increase residential customers’ bills in North Carolina by about 18%. The rally, organized by the ... [continued]

The post Rally in Charlotte Against Duke Rate Hikes to Focus on Affordability Crisis — WEDNESDAY appeared first on CleanTechnica.

Heatwaves reach 45C across India as unseasonably cold weather affects parts of central Canada

Widespread heavy rain is sweeping over southern China. By Wednesday, rainfall totals are expected to exceed 100mm across many parts of Guangxi, Guangdong, Fujian, Zhejiang, Jiangxi and Hunan provinces, and in some areas as much as 150-200mm.

As a result, the Office of the State Flood Control and Drought Relief Headquarters and the Ministry of Emergency Management have been holding meetings with meteorological and hydrological departments to emphasise the importance of reinforced patrols and emergency responses to mitigate against the probable flooding that the intense rainfall is expected to bring. In particular, reservoirs with known safety concerns must remain empty during the period, as well as through the coming rainy season.

Exclusive: As countries meet at key climate crisis meetings, Australia’s Chris Bowen says war underlines need to move away from fossil fuels

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The fallout from the Iran war is driving countries to boost homegrown energy reliability and opens an opportunity for progress on clean generation at the next UN climate summit, says the lead negotiator at the talks.

Chris Bowen, the Australian climate change minister and new president of negotiations at the Cop31 conference in Turkey in November, said the energy market disruption should be seen as a global fossil fuel crisis – the second in four years, following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022 – and it was having an acute impact in Asia.

We have journalists at the Beijing Auto Show (Auto China 2026), but it takes time to collect and then share all of the great EV announcements happening there. In the meantime, below is one notable announcement from Leapmotor & Stellantis that was shared on Friday when the show launched. Leapmotor ... [continued]

The post Leapmotor Launches Lafa5 Ultra at Auto China 2026 appeared first on CleanTechnica.

Advancements in sodium-ion batteries have come from a new generation of cells from CATL, BYD, and others, bringing the possibility of lower cells costs at higher volume in the near future. CATL has stated it expects oceanic electric ships to be possible in the next three years. Could $20/kWh Naxtra ... [continued]

The post Will Sodium-Ion Batteries Revolutionize Electric Ships? appeared first on CleanTechnica.

We have journalists at the Beijing Auto Show (Auto China 2026), but it takes time to collect and then share all of the great EV announcements happening there. In the meantime, below is one notable announcement from NIO that was shared on Friday when the show launched. The Beijing International ... [continued]

The post NIO: 3 Auto Brands, 11 Models at Auto China appeared first on CleanTechnica.

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, Donald Trump signed off on a controversial proposal to allow toxic sulfide mining in the watershed of one of the country’s most visited wilderness areas. Trump signed a Congressional Review Act Resolution overturning a 20-year ban on mining in the Superior National Forest in Minnesota, which contains the headwaters ... [continued]

The post Trump Approves Toxic Mining on Doorstep of Boundary Waters appeared first on CleanTechnica.

Many of us who bought Tesla’s Full Self Driving (FSD) package several years ago have been highly disappointed with its slow progress, and also repeatedly false claims about the technology. The thing is: Tesla cars produced with “Hardware 3” computers, sensors, etc. were supposed to be buying cars that would ... [continued]

The post Hardware 3 Tesla Vehicles Will Get Unsupervised Full Self Driving Via Hardware Updates? Who’s Most Pissed? appeared first on CleanTechnica.