Interesting Ideas

The most interesting person in the first commercial eVTOL launch may not be the pilot, the regulator, the mayor at the ribbon cutting, or the executive standing beside the aircraft. It may be the underwriter. The aircraft may have completed its test program. The regulator may have signed off. The ... [continued]

The post Why Insurance Breaks The Uber-In-The-Air Fantasy appeared first on CleanTechnica.

The USA is becoming a true backwater nation. Following the lame, anti-EV trend that is so atypical globally right now (more on that coming later today), Nissan has decided not to produce electric vehicles in the United States (as once planned) and to instead produce expensive gas powered pickup trucks ... [continued]

The post Nissan to Produce ICE Trucks & SUVs Instead of EVs in USA appeared first on CleanTechnica.

Cheshire villagers are letting lawns grow wild to improve diversity and reconnect with nature on their doorstep

Ian Waddington was crouched in his garden last summer, inspecting loose paving, when he lifted a slab and spotted something extraordinary: a tiny field mouse nestled in a hollow, feeding four babies – each half the size of his little finger. “It was astonishing. Like life in miniature,” he says.

After decades in the construction industry, the 86-year-old has found a new passion in retirement – nature. The discovery of the field mice made him realise his garden could be a thriving habitat for animal and plant life. This year, Waddington joined the No Mow May movement and allowed his garden grow wild through spring.

The long-running series in which readers answer other readers’ questions on subjects ranging from trivial flights of fancy to profound scientific and philosophical concepts

This week’s question: The inside of my cardigans never become bobbled. Can’t the pieces be sewn together inside out?

I must admit to cracking a smile when I read the story about the revolting result of a tofu spill last month in Missouri. About 18,000kg (40,000lb) of extra-firm tofu was left to rot for three weeks after a road accident – no one was hurt – turned into an insurance dispute. Local officials described the smell as “unforgettable” and “like a dead animal, but worse”. So, what are history’s greatest bad smells? Liz Prior, Southampton

Send new questions to nq@theguardian.com.

Calf was transported by water-filled barge in operation deemed ‘inadvisable’ because of low chance of survival

Rescuers have released a young humpback whale that became a national sensation after it was beached in shallow waters off the coast in Germany, although marine experts have said its chances of survival are low.

The whale, variously nicknamed Timmy or Hope, was released into the North Sea off Denmark after being transported there in a water-filled barge by rescuers.

Tribal Energy Alternatives recently awarded $3.2 million in grant funding to 14 Tribal Nations, plus Tribal-serving organizations and community-serving entities. The grants will support solar energy access, workforce development, and long-term energy resilience. Tribal Energy Alternatives is a Tribal-led affiliate of GRID Alternatives. Solar power is a clean, renewable source ... [continued]

The post $3.2 Million Awarded For Tribal Solar Projects appeared first on CleanTechnica.

The Minister for Foreign Affairs for Ukraine recently shared on X that five buses were given to Ukraine by Azerbaijan. One news source stated they are electric buses. Here is the full text of his post: “During this visit, Azerbaijan has provided five passenger buses to Ukraine as humanitarian assistance ... [continued]

The post Electric Buses Sent To Ukraine For Humanitarian Assistance appeared first on CleanTechnica.

Tebay, Cumbria: While new life begins up on our hills, down at the farmstead I say goodbye to a dear companion

Lambing is still in full swing here, and each evening I start my last rounds at 8.30pm, as by 9.30pm it will be too dark to see the sheep without the headlights of the quad bike. Our main flock of sheep lamb outside, and when the time comes they take themselves off away from the others, usually at dusk or dawn. I know that two sheep have gone up towards the railway line, so I drive along to check them as darkness falls.

From up here I can see both north and south, with the lights of the trucks of the M6 reminding me that the motorway is there. I do not process the sound of the motorway any more, and during the daytime I forget that it is there. A train speeds past with lights on inside, and I think about the thousands of people who pass through this valley every day without stopping or thinking about our lives here.

The above photograph shows a huge number of Tesla employees around their first Tesla Semi completed at the vehicle’s high-production line. Tesla has an enormous number of employees that are not the CEO. Their work counts more than the activities of one executive. There was a tremendous response on X ... [continued]

The post First Tesla Semi At High Production Line Completed appeared first on CleanTechnica.

Birdwatching no longer niche, old-fashioned pastime, says RSPB as research shows 47% increase in hobby since 2018

Birdwatching is the second fastest growing hobby for generation Z after jewellery making, according to a multiyear study of more than 24,000 people.

Almost 750,000 gen Zers (16 to 29-year-olds) in Britain regularly enjoy watching birds, a 1,088% increase since 2018, according to research by Fifty5Blue published by the RSPB.

As Covid-era funding dries up and bus services are cut, a food insecurity crisis is brewing from Tennessee to Rhode Island

Zen’Yari Winters’ job, at a pet shop in East Memphis, Tennessee, should be a 20-minute trip from her house. She leaves herself three hours to get there. “The bus is always, always late,” she said – if it shows up at all.

It’s not just her work commute that’s affected by the time-consuming guessing game that is riding with the Memphis Area Transit Authority (Mata). The only full-service grocer in the Chelsea-Hollywood area where she lives closed in 2025.To shop for food in person, she could take two buses for a 13-mile (20km) trip to Walmart. But she risks waiting at bus stops for hours with perishables – or shelling out about $24 for an Uber back.

Tesla wins gold and silver in a market running at different speeds. BEVs vs. PHEVs Plugin vehicle registrations were up 5% year over year (YoY) in March, ending the month at around 1.7 million units. Interestingly, BEVs (+12% YoY) and PHEVs (-8% YoY) behaved very differently, with pure electrics back ... [continued]

The post Top Selling Electric Vehicles in the World — March 2026 appeared first on CleanTechnica.

Residents say AI factories with unknown environmental impacts are being rushed into development as proponents argue Australia must ride the data boom or be left behind

• Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates

• Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast

When West Footscray resident Sean Brown takes his 19-month-old boy to the park, their walk passes an imposing new building cheerily spruiked as “Australia’s largest hyperscale AI factory”, a datacentre called M3.

He hates it: the construction noise from its constant expansion, the looming towers and the insistent background hum, the exhaust from the growing array of diesel generators that can help power the ranks of servers inside.

Negotiations on Net-Zero Framework postponed until the autumn, but appetite for green measures remains. Negotiations at the International Maritime Organization (IMO) have ended with the Net Zero Framework (NZF) intact, despite a week of pressure and delay tactics from the United States. While the US and its allies successfully pushed ... [continued]

The post UN Shipping Deal Lives to Fight Another Day, as US Fails to Derail Negotiations appeared first on CleanTechnica.

Colombia hosted nearly 60 countries at pivotal time on world stage for fight to transition to a clean energy future

Looking out to sea from the grey sandy beaches of Santa Marta, on Colombia’s Caribbean coast, it is never hard to spot evidence of the country’s thriving fossil fuel export trade. Oil tankers ride at anchor on the horizon and sometimes, locals say, lumps of coal wash up on the shore, blown off the collier ships that carry cargos from the nearby mines.

It was here, on Wednesday evening, that the Colombian government took a bold step to shift its economy – and that of the rest of the world – away from dependence on coal, gas and oil and into a new era of clean energy. With the first ever conference on “transitioning away from fossil fuels”, the host joined nearly 60 countries determined to loosen of the grip of petrostates on the world’s future.

In its latest quarterly report for shareholders, Tesla mentions “robots” three times. Two of those times were in the “Robotics” paragraph/section: “Preparations for our first large-scale Optimus factory will begin shortly in Q2. The first-generation line, designed for 1 million robots a year, will replace the Model S and Model ... [continued]

The post Who Is Tesla Selling 1 Million Humanoid Robots A Year To? appeared first on CleanTechnica.

Caitlin Cassidy is a journalist in Sydney, Australia, home to two of the world’s most iconic buildings. The first is the Queen Victoria Building — known to city residents as the QVB. Opened in 1898, it contains five stories of shops and restaurants and occupies an entire city block. The ... [continued]

The post Living Without Fossil Fuel Is Harder Than We Think appeared first on CleanTechnica.

The IMO’s Net-Zero Framework came out of the latest Marine Environment Protection Committee meeting bruised, delayed, and still alive. For maritime climate policy, that matters. The International Maritime Organization has spent decades moving at the pace of the most cautious flag states, the most exposed bulk exporters, and the most ... [continued]

The post Maritime Decarbonization Is Closer, Cheaper, And More Practical Than It Looks appeared first on CleanTechnica.

Jackie Morris and Robert Macfarlane give the Guardian exclusive extracts as they aim to open eyes to the wonder of Britain’s declining and endangered species

When the artist Jackie Morris collaborated with the writer Robert Macfarlane to celebrate the names of plants and animals controversially removed from the Oxford Junior Dictionary, they never imagined their book, The Lost Words, would become a cultural phenomenon.

Grassroots crowdfunding ensured the book was bought and donated to more than three-quarters of primary schools in England, Wales and Scotland and to every hospice in the country.

Greater agricultural collaboration can improve food security and resilience to global crises, says policy paper

Agricultural co-operatives could “unleash growth” in the UK and improve national food security in the face of crises such as the Middle East conflict by “improving the resilience of UK farms”, according to a report.

The policy paper produced by the Co-operative party, which backs influential Labour MPs including Steve Reed and Jonathan Reynolds, calls for “a shift in perspective, not a doubling down of the status quo”. It says co-ops, which enable farmers to pool resources, share risk and invest collectively, can help “reduce exposure to volatile input markets”, such as fertiliser, fuel and animal feed.