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Global Coal Generation ‘Plunging into Death Spiral’

Photo-illustration: Pixabay

Global coal generation is plunging into a ‘death spiral’.

Photo-illustration: Pixabay

That’s the verdict from environmental think-tank Carbon Tracker, which has published a new report suggesting 42% of the world’s operating coal fleets are already unprofitable due to high fuel costs.

It expects a combination of renewable energy costs, air pollution regulation and carbon pricing to mean this figure will rise to 72% by 2040.

The statistics cover around 95% (1,900GW) of global operating capacity and 90% (220GW) of capacity being built – the predictions assume fuel costs will fall by more than a tenth after 2018 and only include existing climate and air pollution policies, meaning they are likely to prove conservative estimates.

Carbon Tracker claims 35% of existing coal capacity already costs more to run than building new renewable infrastructure, potentially increasing to 96% by 2030.

The think-tank believes renewables will be cheaper than coal in all markets by 2025 and warns coal owners that they could avoid $267 billion (£211bn) in stranded assets by phasing-out the fossil fuel resource sooner rather than later.

It suggests utility investors can play a critical role in engaging with their portfolio of companies and encouraging divestment and calls for governments to plan the move to low carbon energy alternatives as early as possible.

Source: Energy Live News

2018 Wasn’t a Completely Horrible Year for the Environment

Foto-ilustracija: Unsplash

Was 2018 a tough year for the environment? Absolutely. But were there bright spots and victories among the attacks on biodiversity, climate and public health? Of course there were. Here are just a few, in case you’re feeling blue about the state of our only planet.

Photo-illustration: Unsplash

The Ousters of Pruitt and Zinke

The first few weeks of 2018 saw Scott Pruitt, then administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, trying to deflect attention from several corruption scandals by publicly declaring his intention to halve the agency’s workforce and slash its operating budget by 30 percent, all toward his stated goal of “protecting taxpayer dollars.” Meanwhile, over at the Department of the Interior, then-Secretary Ryan Zinke was announcing his plan to get rid of 4,000 employees as a part of the largest reorganization in Interior’s history—one that would accommodate President Trump’s proposal, supported by Zinke, to cut the department’s budget by $1.6 billion.

By that point in their now mercifully truncated careers, both men had made clear their willingness to abuse their substantial power in order to reward cronies and supporters from the fossil fuel industry. This article is too short to list all of their various crimes against the environment and public lands and health, but they include the rollback of air and water protections, the opening up of U.S. coastal waters to offshore drilling, the shrinkage and pillaging of our national monuments and the cynical rejection of climate science.

Their boss, President Trump, admired his two hires’ dedication to destruction. But he came to hate the near-daily cavalcade of news stories detailing their shady dealings, which reinforced his administration’s reputation as an incubator of graft. Pruitt’s departure in July and Zinke’s resignation last week were met with cheers by practically every American who’s not currently employed in the oil, gas, or chemical industries—though their respective replacements, Andrew Wheeler and likely David Bernhardt, are every bit as dangerous (if not every bit as sleazy).

Keystone XL, Now on Ice

President Trump had been in office for only four days when, in one of his very first official acts, he signed an executive order advancing the controversial Keystone XL pipeline project that President Obama had blocked in 2015, signaling the brand-new administration’s old-fashioned obeisance to the fossil fuel industry. His signature (accompanied by the comment that he hoped his reversal of Obama’s decision would help “get that pipeline built”) was meant to fast-track the construction of a 1,179-mile tube designed to carry 830,000 barrels a day of filthy, toxic tar-sands oil from Alberta to Nebraska.

Source: Eco Watch

Environmental Storytelling Can Help Spread Big Ideas for Saving the Planet

Foto-ilustracija: Pixabay

Tackling climate change will require huge changes in society. Decarbonizing energy, restoring habitat and making food supply sustainable are all critical, but methods for motivating these actions have typically taken the wrong approach—by highlighting the urgency of the issues and the disastrous consequences of failing to act.

Photo: Pixabay

Research increasingly suggests that trying to promote behavioral change through fear can be counterproductive, leading to anxiety or depression that results in an issue being avoided, denied or met with a sense of helplessness. However, in education, news and fiction, stories with positive role models and which focus on the positive outcomes of solutions are much more likely to inspire action to solve it.

The Power of Positive Stories

I set out to explore the impact of such stories. As part of my research, 91 volunteers were given two stories to read, each concerned with the negative impacts of climate change: one about a woman caught in a flood and the other set at the end of the world.

The same readers were also exposed to two positive stories: one about a terrorist planting a flower bomb, which populates a bare area with flowers, the other about a young boy who, having watched Blue Planet, takes to collecting plastic to stop it entering the oceans—starting with his fish tank. Afterwards the readers were asked how the stories made them feel and to reflect on what kinds of behaviors they inspired.

While the negative stories motivated action for a few, most said they were discouraged. “I’d rather not think about it,” said one. “It made me angry and I switched off,” said another. Many also reported a sense of passive despair. “I felt hopelessness. If indeed, the heavy rain was caused by climate change, what can we do about it?”

However, there were no signs of avoidance among readers of the positive stories.

“It made me want to flower bomb land and do something positive and I felt happier after reading it,” said one reader.

“I felt inspired by the way the characters behaved … [the story] made me think about what I could do.”

This is concerning because almost all stories set in the future, whether in books, films or TV shows, are dystopian. The popular TV show Black Mirror tells cautionary tales about modern life and technology with often terrifying consequences. These stories elicit anxiety, pessimism and a feeling of passive fatalism.

I realized from my research that we desperately need cultural offerings with positive visions of what a sustainable society might look like, to inspire hope and positive change.

The University of Southampton runs writing competitions that ask people to read about green solutions and integrate them into stories. These ideas include replacing how much people buy, represented as GDP—the current measure of how successful society is—with a measure of well-being. Another looks at the potential of a “sharing economy,” in which more people borrow goods others have without needing to buy more themselves.

It can be hard for politicians to support green policies such as these when green issues evoke catastrophe in the minds of voters they’d rather not think about. Reframing issues in terms of their solutions and highlighting them through engaging characters and stories might be a more effective way to encourage change.

Love, Flowers and Insect Protein Bars

One winning short story was Come Help Me by Nancy Lord—a romance about an American fisherman and a Russian marine scientist.

The protagonist is inspirational and proactive: he spots a tension between the scientists concerned with the marine environment and the fisherman who needs to make a living. The writer finds a way to help them work together. We also loved the runner up, The Buildings are Singing, by Adrian Ellis, which made us laugh out loud.

This short story imagines a future world where buildings are alive—covered with photosynthesizing plants which create energy, light and shade for the occupants. The flora operates an artificial intelligence system which helps occupants live sustainably. Insects drawn to the foliage become nourishing protein bars and life for the humans is low carbon and almost utopian—unless you do something wrong.

Some stories are specifically about sustainable societies, whereas others showcase ideas that would seem radical in otherwise familiar tales, such as Just in Case, which imagines a society where we borrow rather than buy much of our stuff. The woman who runs the “library of things” in the story, plays matchmaker with two customers who she can tell are compatible by their borrowing patterns.

The transition to a sustainable society requires profound changes, but to imagine how all of these aspects can come together is currently the domain of creative fiction. If we want a better world then the first step is to imagine one.

Source: Eco Watch

Budweiser Brewer Hops Towards Lager Emissions Reductions

Photo: Pixabay

AB InBev has signed a 15-year power purchase agreement with Lightsource BP.

Scotland Considers Continental Wildcats to Save Native Species from Extinction

Photo-illustration: Pixabay

Releasing ‘pure’ animals could counter interbreeding with domestic cats, experts say.

Conservationists could release wildcats captured from other European countries in the Scottish Highlands in a final effort to protect Scotland’s population from extinction.

Recent genetic testing by the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland of 276 Scottish wildcat samples found those in the wild are so heavily interbred with domestic cats that they are close to becoming functionally extinct.

Photo: Pixabay

Leading ecologists have said the trend could be reversed by capturing pure-bred wildcats on the continent and releasing them in isolated and unspoilt parts of the Highlands, hoping they can replenish the Scottish population with pure wildcat DNA.

The proposal was discussed in September at a meeting of conservation agencies and wildlife experts involved in Scottish Wildcat Action, the government-funded umbrella organisation charged with protecting the species.

Sir John Lister-Kaye, a naturalist involved in the SWA, said the core proposal being developed was to set up a new captive breeding and release programme using wild caught animals and captive Scottish wildcats, which are generally purer genetically.

SWA is drafting proposals to house them in a new wildcat breeding centre in the Highlands, probably based at the Highland wildlife park near Aviemore, a safari park which includes a captive wildcat enclosure owned by the RZSS.The park is already home to the UK’s only breeding polar bear, a Siberian tiger enclosure and a Eurasian wolf enclosure. There are 94 captive wildcats held in various zoos and private collections around the UK.

“Everyone agreed that captive breeding was the way forward,” Lister-Kaye said. “If there are insufficient high quality wildcats the SWA would introduce pure wildcats from other parts of Europe, and that is now seen to be the way forward to save the species.”

The scheme would require approval, funding and licensing by Scottish Natural Heritage, the government agency charged with protecting native wildlife, and Scottish ministers.

A similar translocation strategy was used in 2009 in a government-funded project by the RZSS and Scottish Wildlife Trust to release beavers in Argyll in south-west Scotland, using animals trapped in Norway. Eventually captive animals from elsewhere in Scotland were added, because some of the Norwegian beavers were unable to adapt or died in quarantine.

The RZSS genetic study, which was published last week in the Journal of Evolutionary Applications, tested samples from 276 live wild and captive wildcats, and samples from dead specimens including roadkill, and compared them with 19 domestic cat samples.

Dr Helen Senn, who led the study, said the bulk of the wildcats shared the same gene pool as their domestic counterparts: “Having tested almost 300 wild-living and captive wildcats, we now have genetic data which confirms our belief that the vast majority of Scottish wildcats living in the wild are hybrids to one extent or another.”

Lister-Kaye said the RZSS research confirmed a long-standing belief that domestic cat genes were dominant in non-captive Scottish wildcats across the country, a trend being reinforced by continued interbreeding. The point was now being reached where wildcats, which are naturally shy and elusive, would disappear from the Highlands.

Wildcats are found in areas of France, Spain, the Balkans, the Caucasian steppes, the Indian subcontinent and Africa, but they are so rare the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) has placed them on the red list of endangered species.

The Scottish population, which was split off from the continental population about 9,000 years ago, after the last ice age, is in crisis. The IUCN says its status is bad and declining. Dr Roo Campbell, SWA’s priority areas manager, said only 100 to 300 survive in the wild in Scotland and were reduced to living in shrinking pockets of the Highlands.

Campbell said the SWA was waiting for the results of a special review by the IUCN of Scotland’s situation before finally deciding on a rescue strategy. “The very high levels of hybridisation reported in [Senn’s] paper is a very specific and challenging situation we are facing in Scotland,” he said.

Lister-Kaye said the wildcats’ natural habitats had shrunk dramatically because farming and commercial forestry plantations had severely reduced their range, cutting off their food supplies. That drives them closer to farms and villages, where they are more likely to crossbreed with domestic and feral cats.

“I’m optimistic,” he said. “I don’t actually think it’s terribly complicated. It takes money and time. Where I think we’ve got a real problem is in reinstating habitat. Where it exists it is very, very patchy.”

Source: Guardian

Could Wrapping Presents Get Us in a Sticky Situation?

Photo: Pixabay

UK waste collection firm Business Waste suggests sticky tape can pose a real environmental hazard.

Fossil Fuels and Climate Denial Still Reign in Louisiana Despite Scientists’ Dire Warnings

Photo-illustration: Pixabay

Louisiana is ground zero for the devastating impacts of climate change. Even though the state is already feeling the costly impacts to life and property due to extreme weather and an eroding coastline linked to a warming planet, its government continues to ignore the primary cause—human use of fossil fuels.

The impacts to the region, such as worsening floods, heat waves, and sea level rise, will only be intensified as the globe continues warming, warn federal scientists in the latest National Climate Assessment report.

Photo-illustration: Pixabay

But instead of heeding scientists’ warnings, Louisiana’s government continues to welcome the prospects of new billion-dollar petrochemical plants, liquefied natural gas (LNG) facilities, and an oil export hub, all without a mention of their climate change impacts.

Leading the pack, Gov. John Bel Edwards continues to gush over turning Louisiana into a world leader in natural gas and oil exports.

Louisiana politicians continue to claim natural gas is a “clean” source of energy, and usher in not only LNG facilities, but also petrochemical plants fueled by natural gas production.

In Plaquemines Parish, a peninsula south of New Orleans that, like all of southern Louisiana, is plagued by coastal erosion, the governor has hailed a new crude oil export terminal and a massive LNG facility that don’t yet have permits.

I asked the governor’s press secretary what he thought about the Fourth National Climate Assessment, an exhaustive review of environmental data by a team of hundreds of scientists that puts Louisiana square in the eye of physical and financial hardship due to climate change—and got no reply.

I also checked to see if the governor wanted to update his stance on climate change since his remarks during a 2016 radio show when he stated that he believes the climate is changing, but is less certain how much humans play a role in it. “The degree to which human conduct is impacting that change, I think, is somewhat debatable,” he said in an episode of Louisiana Radio Network’s Ask The Governor show.

“That’s like saying, ‘yes there is gravity, but I’m not sure what Earth’s role is,'” climate scientist Michael Mann told me, commenting on those people who dismiss climate science with reasoning like Gov. Edwards’.

“The reality is that natural factors (volcanoes and fluctuations in solar output) were most likely a cooling influence over the past half century. So not only can natural factors not explain the warming—they were actually working in the opposite direction,” Mann told me via email, adding: “Only the increase in greenhouse gas concentrations from fossil fuel burning can explain the warming we have seen.”

Climate Denial on Both Sides of the Aisle in the Louisiana

Gov. Edwards, a Democrat, isn’t alone in ignoring the latest National Climate Assessment and its warnings for the Pelican State. There is nothing about the landmark climate report on the websites of Louisiana Republican Sens. Bill Cassidy and John Kennedy, Republican Representatives Garret Graves, Steve Scalise, and Clay Higgins, or Democrat Rep. Cedric Richmond.

For any Louisiana politician to ignore the National Climate Assessment is a “crying damn shame,” former General Russell Honoré, founder of the GreenARMY, a coalition of Louisiana environmental groups and concerned citizens fighting against pollution, said over the phone.

“The promise that welcoming these plants will save the economy is a false promise,” Honoré said. “The money doesn’t trickle down to poor folks who live near polluting facilities—they stay poor and services for them don’t improve.”

I’m not against jobs and growing the economy,” Honoré added, but he said he is against embracing polluting facilities in the state while ignoring the harm they do to the people and environment. “If the oil and gas industry is so good for the state, why are the schools and infrastructure failing?” he asked. And he expressed frustration that as more polluting plants are permitted, there isn’t an increase in regulators being hired to monitor the new facilities.

Furthermore, Honoré believes that politicians aren’t doing their job if they are fawning over major new projects that bring in pollution before the permitting process has assessed them. By doing so, “they ignore the state’s constitution, which compels them to protect the people and the environment,” Honoré said.

Honoré is concerned about the slew of newly proposed foreign-owned petrochemical plants being built between New Orleans and Baton Rouge along the Mississippi River, a petrochemical corridor known to locals as Cancer Alley.

The petrochemical industry is tied to natural gas production, which can lead to air and water pollution. “Saying natural gas is clean is stupid,” Honoré said, pointing out that the methane which leaks from the natural gas supply chain is a huge driver of global warming.

In just St. James Parish, in the middle of Cancer Alley, new and proposed projects include Formosa’s $9.4 billion plastics complex, the $1.3 billion South Louisiana Methanol plant, Yuhuang Chemical’s $1.85 billion methanol facility; and a $1.25 billion chemical complex proposed by the Chinese firm Wanhua.

Rising Temperatures, Rising Risks

The exceptional risks from rising temperatures in Louisiana are outlined in the Fourth National Climate Assessment’s chapter on southeastern states. The 2016 flooding in South Louisiana was cited as an example of the destructive potential—and already present reality—of climate change. Scientists have connected extreme rain events to the planet’s rising temperatures, and severe flooding is expected to happen more frequently as the globe continues to warm. The report lists the cost of the thousand-year flood that devastated the Baton Rouge area in August 2016 at a staggering $10.1 billion.

“We have got to have a solution to pollution,” Honoré said. “And we have to do it now.” GreenARMY plans to continue addressing pollution and its many injustices in Louisiana, and is working on a slew of bills to introduce next year. Honoré thinks that doubting climate science is irresponsible, and hopes to get others in the state to face climate change head on while there is still a chance to lessen its worst impacts.

Source: Eco Watch

Climate Change Is Causing More Storms – but Could Trees Adapt?

Foto-ilustracija: Unsplash

New ecological research suggests trees could grow more efficient leaves to compensate for storm damage.

Wilo on the Global and Domestic Market – Innovative Solutions in the Production of Pumps and Systems

Photo: Wilo (Private archive)

Recently, the German company Wilo was presented with the renowned National Sustainability Award 2018 thanks to its high-efficiency products and comprehensive approach to sustainability. It seems as a well-deserved triumph to be named as one of the top 3 of “Germany’s most sustainable large companies”, having in mind that Wilo, with its innovative solutions in the production of pumps and systems, improves the market around the world making an effort at the same time to help mitigate the ecological consequences due to climate change and water shortages. Wilo’s global success is reflected in the position of the Serbian branch of this company at the local market as well as in their approach to local clients. The Service manager Aleksandar Momcilovic explains what are the comparative.

Photo: Wilo (Private archive)

EP: Offering a great product or service hasn’t been enough for a long time. It’s becoming ever so important how the production affects the environment and how much resources are used. As it seems, Wilo pays great attention to sustainability, so what’s the sustainable level of the Serbian branch?

Aleksandar Momcilovic: As manufacturers and equipment suppliers, we have long respected these needs of our customers, so we adjust our equipment (pumps and pumping systems) to our users’ needs. Our high-efficiency equipment greatly reduces emissions of harmful gases CO2 into the atmosphere, and thus positively affects the environment. Reliable and efficient equipment is of huge importance in today’s production facilities and processes, as unplanned stoppages due to the equipment failure bring about huge costs. For that reason, it is very significant that the equipment we supply in addition to being energy efficient is also reliable. As a result, the costs of production plant and maintenance are reduced, production processes do not have to undergo unnecessary stoppages and halts, the user of the equipment is more satisfied and focused solely on production, which eventually brings good results. It is necessary to know that the pump is only a component within the system. Being adjusted with the complete installation, it can reach the full potential. Therefore, it is essential that our equipment is safe and reliable so that the operation of the entire system is secured. The best way to a stable operation of the equipment is timely and continuous monitoring and servicing, without unplanned failure, damage and deadlock.

EP: In Serbia, Wilo also provides trustworthy support throughout all phases of the project – from planning, to dimensioning, to putting into operation and maintenance. You also organize workshops about the news in the sector of pumping techniques.

Aleksandar Momcilovic: We believe that our service should cover the entire economic life of the Wilo products which you use. No doubt it is valuable for end-customers that the company WILO Belgrade provides WILO SERVICE which is designed according to the highest company service standards. Adjusting to the customer’s maintenance concept and as experts for this type of equipment, we suggest being involved in maintaining of the Wilo pumps, pumping systems and other accompanying devices. The best way to accomplish this is through a maintenance contract, which determines in detail what is the subject of prospects and maintenance, how it is implemented and what are realization terms as well as all other mutual obligations. In addition to a competent and responsible approach that you can expect from the Wilo representatives, this type of business-technical cooperation also enables you to benefit from a partner status when it comes to all possible services, a privileged price for spare parts and a number of other benefits. The Wilo Belgrade Service is one of the most equipped service provider of the pump technology in the region, and in addition, we offer a complete vibro-diagnostic service, coaxial adjustment, ultrasonic flow measurement and thermo vision diagnostics, professional and competent analysis of conditions and malfunctions, determination of the costs of the economic life of pumps and systems, etc.

There is a potential to save as much as 90 per cent in energy consumption in the sector for air conditioning, heating and cooling in Serbia if old unchecked circulator pumps are replaced by new high-efficient pumps with low energy consumption.

Having Wilo as a partner, you can be sure not only to make a smart choice of products but also to benefit from the extensive package of services we provide. We offerreliable support throughout all phases of the project – from planning, to dimensioning, to putting into operation and maintenance. We do not want you to choose any solution, but precisely what you need and what is right for you – whether it’s a new installation or replacement of an old pump. We consider your requests and analyse them based on your individual and economic solutions, desires and conditions

Interview by: Tamara Zjacic

Read the whole interview in the new issue of the Energy portal Magazine on CIRCULAR ECONOMY, September-November 2018. Page 32.

Renewables Break UK Records for Second Quarter in a Row

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Government data shows clean generation made up a record 33.1% of the mix in the third quarter of 2018.

Renewable energy’s share of generation has broken UK records for the second quarter in a row.

New data released by the government and collated by the Renewable Energy Association (REA) shows clean electricity made up 33.1% of power in the third quarter of 2018.

This is an increase of 3.1% from the same period the year before and marks the second consecutive record broken in as many quarters, with a 31.7% record achieved in the second quarter.

Photo: Pixabay

The REA has highlighted that 38MW of capacity eligible for the Feed-in Tariff scheme was installed over the quarter, signalling a levelling off in the rate of installations in the run up to the closure of the scheme next year.

The report also shows bioenergy generation rose by 15% as a result of new plant capacity, while liquid biofuels consumption increased by 45% compared to the third quarter of 2017.

Dr Nina Skorupska, CEO of the REA, said: “This is fantastic news for the industry and a wonderful way to end the year.

“Breaking the record for renewables’ share of electricity twice in one year is testament to the Minister’s words that the trilemma is over and cheap power is now green power.”

Source: Energy News

Hydropower Can ‘Drive up CO2 Emissions’

Photo-illustration: Pixabay

Climate change is driven by CO2 emissions and so non-emitting energy sources such as hydropower are seen as much preferred alternatives to coal-fired power plants. Yet hydropower dams, too, can drive up CO2 emissions significantly during times of drought when they cannot operate efficiently or at all, explains a team of scientists at Stanford University in the United States.

In the states of California, Idaho, Oregon and Washington, the scientists say in a study, droughts between 2001 and 2015 resulted in about a tenth of average CO2 emissions annually from power generation.

Photo-illustration: Pixabay

“Water is used in electricity generation, both directly for hydropower and indirectly for cooling in thermoelectric power plants,” notes climate scientist Noah Diffenbaugh, a professor at Stanford’s School of Earth, Energy & Environmental Sciences who was the senior author. “We find that in a number of western states where hydropower plays a key role in the clean energy portfolio, droughts cause an increase in emissions as natural gas or coal-fired power plants are brought online to pick up the slack when water for hydropower comes up short,” he added.

Diffenbaugh and his colleagues discovered that droughts, which put hydropower dams out of action, caused an extra 100 million tons of carbon dioxide to be releases across 11 states in the western part of the U.S. between 2001 and 2015. California, which seeks to become a carbon-free state, alone contributed around 51 million tons. That 100 million tons is a vast amount that equals adding 1.4 million vehicles each year to the region’s roadways, they observe.

“For California, Oregon and Washington, which generate a lot of hydropower, the drought-induced increases in carbon dioxide emissions represent substantial fractions of their Clean Power Plantargets,” says Julio Herrera-Estrada, a said postdoctoral researcher who was lead author of the study.

Troublingly, droughts are set to become increasingly more common in western states in the United States as a result of climate change, making hydroelectric power less of an appealing option locally. In recent years there have been several prolonged droughts in the area, which indicates that policymakers should start diversifying local low-carbon energy generation options by relying more on solar, wind and nuclear energy.

“To have reliable and clean electricity, you have to make sure you have an energy portfolio that’s diverse, such that low-emissions electricity sources are able to kick in during a drought when hydropower cannot fully operate,” Herrera-Estrada explains.

Source: Suistanability Times

India Seeks to Save the Last Few Hundred Asiatic Lions

Photo: Pixabay

 In response to the mounting death toll among critically endangered Asiatic lions, India’s government has launched a project to save Asia’s last free-range population of lions in the state of Gujarat.

“The Asiatic Lion Conservation Project will strengthen the ongoing measures for conservation and recovery of Asiatic Lion with the help of state-of-the-art techniques, regular scientific research studies, disease management, modern surveillance techniques,” Harsh Vardhan, a government minister, said.

Photo: Pixabay

Unlike their cousins in Africa, Asiatic lions aren’t doing all that well in the wild. The last few Asiatic lions now live in Gir National Park and adjacent areas in Gujarat, where a recent viral outbreak led to the deaths of more than 30 lions within a matter of weeks.

The felines may have contracted the canine distemper virus from stray dogs, prompting conservationists to call for a relocation of a number of wild lions from the area in an effort to save them. “Lions could either have caught CDV directly from them or from other carnivores — hyenas, jackals or leopards,” Hari Shankar Singh, a member of India’s Wildlife Board, was quoted as saying.

Asiatic Lions which once roamed far and wide from Iran all the way to Eastern India, but they were nearly driven extinct a century ago by hunting and habitat loss. In 1913 there were a mere 20 wild lions left in 1913.

Thanks to conservation efforts, however, they now number around 500 animals in Gujarat. Yet that is twice the number that the protected area can support so many of the predators have been venturing outside the protected area, which places them at increased risks.

Since 2015 a number of lions have been hit by passing trains and trucks, while more than a dozen are known to have fallen into village wells. Several others have died of electrocution at electric fences erected by local farmers to keep wild animals out of their plots and away from their houses.

Just a few days ago three lions died after being run over by a goods train.

Source: Suistanability Times

UK Clothing Goes Green with a Wardrobe Full of Emissions Savings

Photo-illustration: Pixabay

WRAP says its Sustainable Clothing Action Plan 2020 has helped generate an 11.9% reduction in the carbon footprint per tonne of garments.

UK clothing is going green with a wide range of environmental improvements over the last six years.

The Waste & Resources Action Programme (WRAP) says its Sustainable Clothing Action Plan 2020 (SCAP 2020) has helped generate an 11.9% reduction in the carbon footprint per tonne of garments sold by its 80 signatories and supporters.

Photo-illustration: Pixabay

The organisations signed up to the programme include 11 retailers and brands responsible for selling more than half of all UK clothing by volume – their greenhouse gas reduction per tonne of clothes sold is estimated to be the same as the amount of emissions produced on a car journey of 24,000 miles.

The report also highlights a number of other reductions acheived between 2012 and 2017 – a 17.7% reduction in the water footprint per tonne of garments, a 1.1% reduction in waste per tonne and a 14% reduction in the volume of waste sent to landfill.

Peter Maddox, WRAP Director, said: “I am delighted by what SCAP 2020 signatories have achieved.

“Compared with the wider sector they continue to set the bar high for improving sustainable practices and it’s important that they do because while clothing might only be the eighth largest sector in terms of household spend, it has the fourth largest environmental impact behind housing, transport and food.”

Source: Energy News

Electric Car Batteries Will Come Cheaper and Charge Faster

Foto-ilustracija: Unsplash

Electric vehicles continue to be rather pricey for which their batteries are largely to blame. Encouragingly, though, in a win-win-win for electric car owners and prospective owners, developers are working on batteries that cost less, last longer and charge faster.

Photo-illustration: Unsplash

A case in point is 24M, an American startup, that says it is developing breakthrough technology that is set to make car batteries cheaper while keeping them just as efficient as their more expensive counterparts. The company is working on semi-solid batteries in which inactive materials are disposed of in the electrodes.

By doing so, 24M says it can eliminate several expensive and time-consuming steps in the production of lithium-ion batteries. Currently the manufacturing of lithium-ion batteries entails a process that involves a solvent depositing an active ingredient onto the positive- and negative-charged sides of a battery. The process requires mixing, coating, drying and recovering the solvent before filling the battery with an electrolyte.

24M has developed a way whereby the electrolyte can be used as the solvent to deposit the active ingredient onto both sides of a battery. This means that there is no more need for coating, drying, or recovering the solvent, which makes the process a lot faster, cheaper and less costly.

Specifically, batteries produced by the company, which has been finetuning its production process since 2010, are 20% cheaper when it comes to material costs and boast a 50% improvement in capital efficiency. As a bonus, its batteries have a higher energy density.

24M is now working on scaling up the process to mass production levels. If all goes well, its cheaper batteries could soon start arriving on the market. “It can be very transformative if we get the chemistry right,” says the company’s CEO. Richard M. Feldt. “We’ve demonstrated the science actually works.”

Meanwhile, German automakers are developing a technology that will allow car batteries to charge much faster, thereby sparing their owners prolonged waiting times.

Porsche has just unveiled an electric vehicle prototype that set a charging record of 450 kilowatts, more than three times the speed of Tesla’s superchargers. The car’s battery picks up enough juice in just three minutes to last it for 100km. Meanwhile, BMW’s prototype i3 model has clocked in at 350kW, which is fast enough to charge the car’s battery from 10% to 80% in just 15 minutes.

“The system works at up to 900 volts and 500 amps — multiply those, and you get 450,000 watts or 450kW,” an industry publication notes. “That’s about 25,000 times faster than your average smartphone fast charger.”

Source: Suistanability Times

Global Solar Installations to Soar 18% in 2019

Foto: EP

A new report expects new worldwide solar capacity to total 123GW in the next year.

Global solar installations are forecast to rise 18% through 2019.

Photo: EP

That’s the verdict from a new report published by IHS Markit, which expects new capacity to reach 123GW in 2019.

It expects around two-thirds of new solar capacity to come from outside China, with Argentina, Egypt, South Africa, Spain and Vietnam together representing around 7% percent of forecast installations and around 7GW of total demand growth.

The report illustrates how solar energy as a generation source is becoming more distributed geographically, with installations expected to grow by more than a fifth across as many as 45 countries.

The UK Government has announced plans to cut the solar export tariff to new applicants from the 31st of March next year.

Source: Energy News

Malayan Tigers Are Nearly Extinct, a Biologist Warns

Foto: pixabay

 Time is running out for Malayan tigers in the wild. Unless conservation efforts are stepped up these critically endangered striped predators might well go extinct in their habitats in Malaysia.

This stark assessment comes from tiger biologist Kae Kawanishi, a member of the Malaysian Conservation Alliance for Tigers (MYCAT).

Foto: pixabay

“The Malayan tiger (Panthera tigris jacksoni) is about to go extinct in the wild. Because of its limited distribution, only Malaysia can save this tiger from imminent extinction, but drastic actions needed are unlikely to come in time,” Kawanishi says.

“The tiger is the most endangered of the big cats on Earth,” she adds. “Four tiger subspecies have gone extinct in the past century and among the five surviving, the Malayan tiger is the least known, least supported and is closest to extinction.”

Experts believe that only as few as 150 Malayan tigers, which are endemic to Malaysia, may remain in the wild. Even these last few tigers, the remnants of animals that numbered several thousand only a few decades ago, are facing constant threats as a result of habitat loss and forest fragmentation.

“It is a matter of a year or two before the species loses its ability to cope environmental or demographic random events and processes,” Kawanishi warns. “There is no crisis greater than tiger extinction in Malaysia’s nature conservation history.”

This is no mere hyperbole. Within the past few decades, Balinese, Caspian and Javan tigers have all gone extinct.

Ironically, the very national identity of Malaysia is predicated on the majestic predators. Tigers are featured on the nation’s coat of arms as Malaysia’s national animals, and they are displayed proudly in the heraldry of national institutions.

Tigers also feature prominently in Malaysian folklore and are inexorably linked with the country’s self-image. Myriad athletic and sporting institutions, like Malaysia’s national football team, style themselves after the nation’s mighty Malayan tigers, helping cement an image of the country far and wide as a place where wild tigers roam.

Yet tigers that do continue to roam in the wild are now few and far between. Continued poaching is taking a toll on wild tigers in Malaysia. Over the past few years several wild tigers are known to have been killed by poachers.

“There is no time left now for peaceful dialogues and gradual improvements in the effort to protect tigers,” Kawanishi warns. “The only measure left to save the Malayan tiger is military protection against poaching now.”

Tigers are powerful creatures in their own right, but they’re defenseless against people who are out to harm them. Human greed, ignorance and cold-heartedness are driving these beautiful animals ever close to the verge of extinction.

Source: Suistanability Times

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