Daily Links May 24

Stop hoping we can fix climate change by pulling carbon out of the air, scientists warn.
Scientists are expressing increasing skepticism that we’re going to be able to get out of the climate change mess by relying on a variety of large-scale land-use and technical solutions that have been not only proposed but often relied upon in scientific calculations
http://www.dailyclimate.org/t/-995200128361600948

Shell CEO says climate change is real but energy demand growth is ‘unstoppable.’
‘Climate change is real….It doesn’t mean we have to kiss hydrocarbons goodbye.’
http://www.dailyclimate.org/t/-995200128361599046

Pope’s encyclical boosted his credibility on climate change, especially among liberals
Pope Francis’s 2015 encyclical on climate change, “Laudato si’,” sought to leverage the pontiff’s moral authority and draw attention to climate change as a global issue that disproportionately harms the poor.
https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2017-05/appc-pcm052317.php

More people heading to court to spur action on climate change, study finds
Study by UN and Columbia finds ‘proliferation’ of cases instigated by citizens
Lion’s share of court cases are in US but number also growing around the world
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/may/23/climate-change-government-court-cases-study

Unimpeachable logic says Trump shouldn’t quit Paris climate pact
Owen Gaffney
President Donald Trump should keep the US in the Paris Agreement on climate and embrace it as a great deal for his nation’s economy
https://www.newscientist.com/article/2132142-unimpeachable-logic-says-trump-shouldnt-quit-paris-climate-pact/

The world would be better off if Trump withdraws from the Paris climate deal
Luke Kemp, Australian National University
If the US stays in the Paris deal but misses its targets, the deal could look like a sham. But if Trump carries out his threat to withdraw, the US veto would be gone, and other nations might step up.
http://theconversation.com/the-world-would-be-better-off-if-trump-withdraws-from-the-paris-climate-deal-78096

Market reform, not subsidies, needed for battery storage market
CEC throws support behind proposal to buy out premium feed in tariffs in exchange for a battery storage device, and says storage does not need new subsidies, but widespread reform to bring the country’s energy market into the 21st Century.
http://reneweconomy.com.au/market-reform-not-subsidies-needed-for-battery-storage-market-45777/

Pacific Hydro raises $670m in multi-currency facility to fund wind, solar
Pacific Hydro looks to fund new wind, solar and hydro developments with multi-currency fund raising.
http://reneweconomy.com.au/pacific-hydro-raises-670m-multi-currency-facility-fund-wind-solar-29704/

ARENA opens $20m funding round for next generation solar PV
ARENA switches focus of solar PV support back to R&D, in bid to achieve more cost savings and ensure solar can provide nearly one third
http://reneweconomy.com.au/arena-opens-20m-funding-round-for-next-generation-solar-pv-98140/

Spark’s bright on energy changes
Spark Infrastructure believes changes to the grid to accommodate renewable energy and batteries are an opportunity.
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/mining-energy/spark-hails-energy-changes-as-an-opportunity/news-story/af7d888c88376e006517e6195bbdedcc

Powering through: how to restore confidence in the National Electricity Market
Grattan Institute
http://apo.org.au/node/90576

Should Australia invest funds and resources in developing Generation IV nuclear reactors?
Noel Wauchope
Australia is presently considering signing up to the International Framework for Generation IV Nuclear Energy Systems (GIF), which will commit this nation to take part in developing new nuclear reactors.
http://www.onlineopinion.com.au/view.asp?article=19049

Science is the winner from alliance
 Peter Boyer
Australia’s and China’s top scientists are teaming up to tackle climate change.
http://www.themercury.com.au/news/opinion/talking-point-science-is-the-winner-from-alliance/news-story/ed8fa438cb6ac1d32733ebfbfa4c19c4

State will need new port by 2055
VICTORIA won’t need a new container port until 2055. But even then, Infrastructure Victoria doesn’t think the site should be in Melbourne.
http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/victoria/port-of-melbourne-report-wants-future-bay-dredging-more-overnight-freight/news-story/0de8c6b0d854cb3621ba7604be0ca99d

Planning Minister wins fight for city park’s right to light
http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/planning-minister-richard-wynne-wins-fight-for-right-to-light-in-birrarung-marr-20170523-gwbahr.html

Short-changed on infrastructure
Tim Pallas
ALL Victorians are entitled to be disappointed, even angry, at the behaviour of the Turnbull Government.
http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/opinion/turnbull-governments-infrastructure-spending-shortchanges-victorians/news-story/e0ef001657b1341a09a7717bb5361eb3

How many Teslas does it take to black out an apartment block?
City of Sydney backs study by local start-up, Wattblock, into how Australia’s apartment buildings will accommodate – and power – mass EV uptake.
http://reneweconomy.com.au/many-teslas-take-black-apartment-block-13934/

Police charge activists chained to Aurizon coal train at Tennyson
http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/queensland/activists-chain-themselves-to-aurizon-coal-train-at-yeerongpilly-20170522-gwatk8.html

Queensland poll paints bleak infrastructure picture
http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/queensland/queensland-poll-paints-bleak-infrastructure-picture-20170523-gwawsc.html

Australian Conservation Foundation vows to pursue all avenues to stop Adani loan
Environmental group warns it will take legal action against Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility directors if funding granted for rail line
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/may/23/australian-conservation-foundation-vows-to-pursue-all-avenues-to-stop-adani-loan

Annastacia Palaszczuk’s Adani inaction a ‘disgrace’: Campbell Newman
The man who vowed to financially support Adani’s Carmichael coal project while Premier of Queensland, Campbell Newman, says the Palaszczuk government’s inability to make a decision over the project was a “towering disgrace”.
http://www.afr.com/news/politics/annastacia-palaszczuks-adani-inaction-a-disgrace-campbell-newman-20170522-gwau5j

Qld scrambles for Adani fix
http://www.afr.com/news/politics/palaszczuk-tries-to-find-compromise-royalty-plan-for-adani-mine-20170523-gwbb3x

Adani offered deal in March
Queensland Labor is reneging on royalty concessions it formally offered Indian miner Adani two months ago
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/mining-energy/labor-offered-adani-royalty-deal-in-march/news-story/2f048965770deccc30e5045b2306ef12

Report: government won’t rule out underwriting Adani’s Carmichael coal mine
Michael West
Is the government secretly planning to put taxpayers on the hook to build the world’s biggest new thermal coal mine? It is refusing to rule it out.
http://theconversation.com/report-government-wont-rule-out-underwriting-adanis-carmichael-coal-mine-78127

Adani takes brinkmanship to new levels
Matthew Stevens
Adani wants taxpayers to carry about 30 per cent of the immediate future funding task for its Queensland coal mine.
http://www.afr.com/business/mining/adani-takes-brinkmanship-to-new-levels-20170523-gwbbhn

Trad kowtows to Greens
Michael McKenna
The Adani brawl exposes the deep factional and personal divisions in the Queensland government
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/opinion/jackie-trad-kowtows-to-greens-and-walks-away-from-regions/news-story/24b56c94da6e54e7a92d1325a038717e

The forgotten victims of Adani stoush
Nyunggai Warren Mundine
A MINORITY group will will lose out if the Adani megamine project fails to get off the ground. And it’s part of a larger Labor failure.
http://www.couriermail.com.au/news/opinion/opinion-labor-delay-on-native-title-hurts-economy-and-its-legacy/news-story/06fa848e9b992707cd7d56d9d7ff53a6

Labor’s double fail as state grinds to a halt
Courier Mail editorial
THE top two projects on the State Government’s to-do list are stuck in limbo, highlighting the Labor Party’s mediocrity.
http://www.couriermail.com.au/news/opinion/editorial-labor-mediocrity-on-show-with-adani-and-cross-river-rail-fails/news-story/5dcc0a76fd8fd6d21db5dfecdeddbce7

Infrastructure key to our state’s success
Ruth Forrest
The state needs to devise a better plan for infrastructure spending.
http://www.themercury.com.au/news/opinion/talking-point-infrastructure-investment-key-to-our-states-success/news-story/cba6093835e3cbfcdd15349a930ec84c

Rubble recycling: From building waste to road base
In Western Australia it’s cheaper for builders and developers to get their waste recycled than to send it to landfill.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-05-23/war-on-waste-turning-building-waste-into-road-base/8550094

Woodside to boost cash flow by expanding WA projects
http://www.watoday.com.au/wa-news/woodside-to-boost-cash-flow-by-expanding-wa-projects-20170523-gwaw0h.html

EPA remains top target with Trump administration proposing 31 percent budget cut.
When the White House releases its latest budget proposal today, the EPA will fare worse than any other federal agency.
http://www.environmentalhealthnews.org/t/-995200128361600312

Small-scale renewables cheapest for rural Africa, says Dutch report.
Africa’s quest for full access to electricity needs governments to support small, off-grid projects that are typically disregarded by investors.
http://www.dailyclimate.org/t/-995200128361595565

How rising seas and coastal storms drowned the US flood insurance program.
Sea level rise and more severe storms are overwhelming U.S. coastal communities, causing billions of dollars in damage and essentially bankrupting the federal flood insurance program.
http://www.dailyclimate.org/t/-995200128361595558

New Chemical Reaction Could Eventually Yield New Fuels and Medications
Chemists have developed a new technique to convert carbon-hydrogen bonds into carbon-carbon bonds using catalysts made of silicon and boron, both abundant and …
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/05/170523144058.htm

Solar cells more efficient thanks to new material standing on edge
Researchers from Lund University in Sweden and from Fudan University in China have successfully designed a new structural organization using the promising solar cell material perovskite. The study shows that solar cells increase in efficiency thanks to the material’s ability to self-organise by standing on edge.
http://www.enn.com/energy/article/51322

LEGO Reaches 100% Renewable Energy Target
LEGO, the world’s leading children’s toy manufacturer, has reached its 100 per cent renewable energy target three years ahead of schedule.
https://probonoaustralia.com.au/news/2017/05/lego-reaches-100-renewable-energy-target/

Off-the-shelf, power-generating clothes are almost here
UMass Amherst scientists introduce coating that turns fabrics into circuits
https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2017-05/uoma-opc051817.php

EU energy auctions yield record low onshore wind prices
Two recent EU renewable energy auctions in Germany and Spain have yielded not only significant interest in onshore wind power, but record low prices.
http://reneweconomy.com.au/eu-energy-auctions-yield-record-low-onshore-wind-prices-17917/

More coal mines will lead to more poverty, new report warns
Supporters of Adani mine says coal crucial to solving poverty, but new report suggests new coal mines will only worsen climate change and drive poor nations deeper into poverty.
http://reneweconomy.com.au/more-coal-mines-will-lead-to-more-poverty-new-report-warns-14116/

The environment needs cryptogovernance.
Guillaume Chapron Nature
The blockchain technology that underpins cryptographic currencies can support sustainability by building trust and avoiding corruption.
http://www.dailyclimate.org/t/-995200128361600973

‘My worst nightmares are coming true’: Last major primeval forest in Europe on ‘brink of collapse.’
Polish government is accused of pushing Bialowieza forest ecosystem to point of no return with state-sanctioned logging in Unesco world heritage site
http://www.environmentalhealthnews.org/t/-995200128361595556

Climate change taking toll on clarity of Lake Tahoe water.
Climate change is causing Lake Tahoe to warm sooner in the spring than it has historically, disrupting the normal mixing of shallow and deep water and undercutting gains made in reversing the loss of clarity of the cobalt mountain lake, scientists say
http://www.dailyclimate.org/t/-995200128361595574

Three amazing nature areas shortlisted for World Heritage status
Three sites of outstanding biodiversity could soon be granted World Heritage status, and so receive new protection.
https://www.newscientist.com/article/2132274-three-amazing-nature-areas-shortlisted-for-world-heritage-status/

Widespread invasive species control is a risky business
R. Keller Kopf, Charles Sturt University; Dale Nimmo, Charles Sturt University, and Paul Humphries, Charles Sturt University
Before we decide to eradicate or control an invasive species, like carp, we need plenty of scientific evidence and independent assessments first.
http://theconversation.com/widespread-invasive-species-control-is-a-risky-business-77460

Thinking big gives top predators the competitive edge
Thomas Newsome, Deakin University
Dingoes and wolves can help control destructive smaller predators, new research shows, but only if we encourage them across wide areas.
http://theconversation.com/thinking-big-gives-top-predators-the-competitive-edge-78106