Posts

US Energy Department restores funding to carbon removal projects

By -
By Valerie Volcovici , Reuters.  Excerpt: WASHINGTON, April 16 (Reuters) - The Department of Energy will retain funding for major carbon direct air capture awarded under the Biden administration after targeting them for ​fund cancellation last year, according to a list of projects identified ‌by the agency that it sent to Congress this week seen by Reuters. Last October, the DOE considered cancelling billions of dollars in funding for clean energy programs, including awards for auto ​manufacturing, hydrogen and carbon capture. Projects slated for cancellation included two major direct ​air capture hubs that received $1.2 billion awards from former President Joe ⁠Biden's administration, including one that involves oil company Occidental (OXY.N) in Texas and another ​in Louisiana. ...The DOE confirmed that the South Texas DAC Hub and Louisiana's Project Cypress were on the list of nearly 2,000 projects that would ​retain their funding....  Full article at https://www.reuters.com...
Read more

Average new UK electric car price is now lower than petrol vehicles

By -
By Jasper Jolly , The Guardian.  Excerpt: The price of new battery electric cars has fallen below petrol cars in the UK for the first time, according to the car sales website Autotrader, in a significant milestone in Britain’s transition away from fossil fuels. The average price of a new electric car listed on the website was £42,620, compared with £43,405 for a new petrol model – making the former £785 cheaper based on advertised prices after discounts. The higher upfront cost of electric vehicles has long been one of the big sticking points preventing some drivers from switching away from cars with polluting petrol and diesel engines towards those with battery motors, which  do not emit carbon dioxide directly . Total running costs for electric cars have been  lower for some time . UK battery electric car sales accounted for 22% of new car sales in the first three months of the year....  Full article at https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/apr/17/new-uk-ele...
Read more

Fog is a vital water resource. Could it disappear in a warming world?

By -
By Hannah Richter , Science.  Excerpt: Each summer in California’s Central Valley, the land bakes as temperatures climb past an oppressive 35°C. And then, a wall of fog rolls in from the ocean, cooling the air and moistening the ground with tiny water droplets. For millions living in the most populous U.S. state, the fog spawned where a cold ocean meets a Sun-warmed coast is like “natural air conditioning,” says Peter Weiss-Penzias, an atmospheric chemist at the University of California (UC), Santa Cruz. It also delivers critical water for agriculture and ecosystems. Yet scientists don’t know what makes some years foggier than others, how fog might change in a warming world, or what pollutants it carries. ...This month, Weiss-Penzias, [Sara] Baguskas, and their colleagues will begin fieldwork on the $3.65 million  Pacific Coastal Fog Research project , funded over 5 years by the Heising-Simons Foundation. Using fog collectors and climate models, the project will for the first ...
Read more

Britain’s Most Iconic Fish Nears Breaking Point

By -
By Johnny Sturgeon , Inside Climate News.  Excerpt: Consumers in the U.K. are being warned to “completely avoid” all home-caught cod by the Marine Conservation Society (MCS). The nation’s cod stocks have declined over the last decade, driven by overfishing and sea temperature changes, warns the environmental charity.  ...In September, the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES) issued scientific  findings  to the U.K. and European Union calling for a zero catch of North Sea cod in 2026... any commercial fishing could threaten reproduction rates. The Denmark-based fishery board warned fishermen to avoid catching off the west coast of Scotland, in the North Sea and in the English Channel. ...With  97 percent  of UK households eating fish, the MCS has recommended consumers choose more sustainable alternatives such as Icelandic cod or European hake. ...However, this is not the first reckoning for British fisheries in recent months....
Read more

Europeans want more renewables, even if it increases energy bills

By -
By Elena Giordano , Politico.  Excerpt: Public enthusiasm for clean energy comes as the Iran war exposes Europe’s vulnerability to global oil and gas markets....  Full article at https://www.politico.eu/article/poll-europeans-back-renewables-despite-higher-energy-costs/ . 
Read more

Land subsidence on Java Island and its contributions to relative sea level change

By -
By Leonard O. Ohenhen et al, Science.  Abstract: Rising sea levels and land subsidence combine to determine relative sea level (RSL) rise, which is intensifying coastal hazards. However, many densely populated regions lack the observational infrastructure to identify and quantify land subsidence contribution to RSL, hindering effective planning of responses. Here, we used satellite radar observations to generate a high-resolution assessment of land subsidence across Java Island, Indonesia, and evaluate its contribution to 21st-century RSL change. We identify widespread and temporally evolving subsidence with rates ranging from 1 to 15 cm/year in multiple coastal cities. ...we attribute the dominant subsidence mechanisms to resource extraction across various geographic and geological settings. ...contemporary subsidence will dominate RSL budgets over the next 25 years along >75% of the coast. These findings underscore the urgent need to integrate subsidence into sea le...
Read more

Trump’s EPA chief Zeldin gives keynote speech at climate-denying group’s event

By -
By Dharna Noor , The Guardian.  Excerpt: Lee Zeldin opens conference for Heartland Institute, which once compared climate advocates to the Unabomber. ...He derided previous administrations’ heeding of climate scientists’ warnings about the dangers of greenhouse gas emissions, and for ignoring “what’s good and necessary about carbon dioxide for the life of the planet”....  Full article at https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/apr/08/epa-chief-zeldin-climate-denying-group-event .
Read more