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3 Asiatic cheetah cubs were born in captivity recently. This was exciting, because this species is on the brink of extinction – there is only thought to be about 12 remaining in the wild, down from about 100 in 2010, a survey in 2017 stated fewer than 50 mature individuals.
Is this the last gasp for this species? Will the sight of a young cub like this never occur again?
Continue reading “Last of the Iranian Asiatic cheetah cubs in captivity has died”A new analysis shows that Britain can cut gas use from the power sector by 2030 (5 years early compared to current targets) and that this would save large amounts of money.
How much do you say? it is thought to amount to £93 billion saved, by avoiding fossil gas consumption.
Continue reading “Reducing gas reliance in the UK power sector from 40% down to 1% in 7 years, and saving money? Really?”In the west, for a large portion of the population a not insignificant proportion of their nutrients come from dairy. Unfortunately, though, this dairy requires various livestock to be kept, which are causing the methane emissions that are such a problem.
I have written before about milk without the cow, but this appears to be making some progress.
A company called Imagindairy is using a technique called precision fermentation. In a similar way to brewing beer, it uses microorganisms that have been genetically modified to produce casein and whey proteins, which is what makes up milk. A similar company called perfect day, is already creating similar products in the USA. However, with no lactose, hormones or cholesterol, which might one day make foods such as mozzarella or cream cheese a healthy option to eat. With the capacity to cut emissions on dairy products by as much as 97% it could also make it as good for the environment as vegetables.
COP15 ended with a hug biodiversity agreement, but will it succeed? Well that it is a hard question to answer, but I thought that 3 months after its signing, it would be worth returning to it and looking at what was promised!
A study in Oxfordshire last year, looked at how much carbon was locked away in 1000 trees. This study showed that old trees are more important than we thought, with them storing as much as twice as much carbon initially estimated.
Why is this important?
Simple!
It shows that the destruction of the rainforest in Africa, Asia, and South America, cannot be offset by planting a similar number of trees in the north. Even worse, if the UK government decides to build a motorway that requires clearing an ancient woodland, replacing the trees one for one is not good enough.
This must rapidly be added to calculations
In December Oregan republican officials approved regulations that would ban the sale of gasoline powered cars from 2035. This is fantastic news, but it appears that it is one step forwards and one back – Wyoming republicans are looking to ban the sale of all electric vehicles, in what lawmakers are calling an effort to preserve the states fossil fuel industry.
The UK likes to be seen as a country pulling its weight when it comes to the climate change battle. Unfortunately, they give the game away though when they subsidize fossil fuels by 20 billion more than they do renewables.
What is worse, is that 1/5 of the money for fossil fuels went to directly support new extraction and mining.
In the last 8 years, 60 billion has been spent supporting renewable energy generation, however 80 billion has gone on fossil fuels. Indeed 2020 was the first year when renewables got more money than fossil fuels, but each year since fossil fuels are back ahead.
The government claimed that this analysis was misleading as we would still need some fossil fuels as part of our move towards our net zero target – while this might explain why we need some fossil fuel investment, it does not explain why this little need is greater than the money we need to put into renewables – which must eventually supply all our energy needs.
58% of Conservative voters want more solar and onshore wind turbines. Despite this, the current Chancellor in the UK has just decided to leave this ban in place. They have to be called out on this. On shore wind turbines are the cheapest way to make electricity bar none.
This is completely in contradiction to what they are saying. Jeremy Hunt has just released his budget, which includes £20 billion, which will include small nuclear reactor. The energy security minister, Grant Shapps stated
“Already a leader in offshore wind power, we now want to do the same for the UK’s nuclear and carbon capture industries, which in turn will help cut the wholesale electricity prices to among the lowest in Europe”.
This is true, but how much further would we be, if the leading government stopped listening to a small minority of voters, and bought back onshore wind power. This would be good for our emissions, price of power as well as being fantastic for farmers, who can host wind turbines, and be paid for it
Ocelots are often thought of as relatively exotic animal. Looking like a small leopard or Jaguar, this is not particularly surprising. Never-the-less, like their bigger cousin, the jaguar, they are a native cat of the USA.
Road deaths are a significant problem, as with a total population not thought to number more than 60-80, 8 were lost in under a year (2015-2016). Texas has created 27 wildlife crossings, with many in Ocelot areas, but clearly more are needed, along with driver education.
Perhaps more unhelpful, as Ocelots are largely nocturnal, they are usually crossing the road when hardest to see. Once relatively common in the southern USA, just 1% of its optimal habitat remains, and this is criss-crossed by road.
COP26 called for 6 green shipping corridors, and Dover Calais is an obvious place for this. The crossing is just 22 miles, but with over 400 ships crossing a day, it could make a big difference. Thankfully rival operators have signed up – both covering freight and passenger travel. Of course, it is a big risk to be left out as should this work any company still having to buy fuel will quickly go out of business.
Industrial sized electric charging would be required to be installed, so that while the ships unload and then reload, the batteries can be recharged. it would require a large battery, likely using several megawatt hours per trip. Of course, while this is a great deal, it is far less than the fuel that is currently used.
Continue reading “Could English channel ferries be electric within 5 years?”