Report says new nuclear capacity will not be ready in time to provide required increase in baseload electricity
Labour is likely to have to approve new gas-fired power stations in its attempt to decarbonise the UK’s electricity systems by 2030, in what would be a tricky decision for the new government.
Keeping the lights on for the rest of the decade, and beyond, will require some additional baseload power, and new nuclear power stations will not be built in time, according to a report from the National Engineering Policy Centre.
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Breaking Waves: Ocean News
07/22/2024 - 23:00
Late spring and early summer blazes in Canada, Alaska and eastern Russia add to carbon emissions
The northern hemisphere has had a large number of intense wildfires in the first half of summer, carrying vast amounts of smoke across Eurasia and North America.
Research by the Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service (Cams) showed large-scale and intense wildfires had been developing throughout the late spring and summer, with numerous fires burning in Canada, Alaska and eastern Russia.
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07/22/2024 - 14:50
Climate change will have a considerable influence on the biodiversity and productivity of meadows and pastures. However, according to the results of the large-scale climate and land use experiment the extent of these changes depends on the land use. Grassland optimized for high yield responds much more sensitively to periods of drought than less intensively used meadows and pastures.
07/22/2024 - 14:49
Researchers use genomes to help restore the American chestnut population and adjust species breeding to the changing climate.
07/22/2024 - 12:49
Charged metallic lumps found to produce oxygen in total darkness in process akin to how plants use photosynthesis
In the total darkness of the depths of the Pacific Ocean, scientists have discovered oxygen being produced not by living organisms but by strange potato-shaped metallic lumps that give off almost as much electricity as AA batteries.
The surprise finding has many potential implications and could even require rethinking how life first began on Earth, the researchers behind a study said on Monday.
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07/22/2024 - 11:42
Stormont’s rescue proposal for UK’s largest lake criticised by campaigners for dilution of sewage reduction targets
There will have to be a move away from intensive farming around Lough Neagh if it is to survive, campaigners have said, as the noxious algal blooms that last year devastated the vast body of water returned to its shores earlier than ever.
Lough Neagh is the UK’s largest lake and supplies more than 40% of Northern Ireland’s drinking water. But vast amounts of phosphorus, nitrogen and other substances draining into the lough have left it at crisis point for some years now.
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07/22/2024 - 10:36
If approved, the region would become Scotland’s third national park and first to be made official in UK since South Downs in 2010
Galloway has been selected by the Scottish government as the preferred site for Scotland’s third national park.
The region, which came out top from a shortlist of five, will now be the subject of a consultation and an investigation into its suitability before potentially being made official by 2026. The unsuccessful candidate areas were Lochaber, Loch Awe, Scottish Borders and Tay Forest.
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07/22/2024 - 10:00
Targets to halt environmental damage ‘severely lacking’, Australian Conservation Foundation says, urging food industry to ‘step up to the plate’
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Major food companies in Australia are roundly failing to set adequate targets to reduce their impact on nature and most are not assessing how their supply chains are hitting the environment, according to a first-of-its-kind report from conservationists.
The Future of Food report from the Australian Conservation Foundation (ACF) assessed 20 major food companies across 37 different indicators, from deforestation and pollution to transparency and governance.
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07/22/2024 - 10:00
Analysis of thousands of wild chimp gestures in east Africa found striking similarities to human conversations
Humans might be the masters of quick-fire banter, but it seems chimpanzees have their own rapid back-and-forths, albeit in the form of hand signals.
Researchers analysed thousands of gestures made by wild chimps in east Africa and found striking similarities with the turn-taking seen in human conversations, in particular how swiftly the apes responded to one another.
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07/22/2024 - 06:14
Hitting target for zero-carbon electricity system will require ‘step-change’, says analyst Cornwall Insight
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Solar and wind power generation will fall well below the target needed to decarbonise Great Britain’s electricity grid by 2030 without an injection of £48bn, according to a forecast from one of the UK’s leading energy analysis companies.
The government has promised to deliver a zero-carbon electricity system by 2030, requiring the doubling of onshore wind, tripling of solar power and quadrupling of offshore wind capacity.
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