Breaking Waves: Ocean News

Britain’s whole energy economy needs to be reformed – decarbonising the grid is only part of the mix Britain is once again paying the price of an energy system that is more effective at extracting profits than delivering security. Illegal war and geopolitical disruption are sending fossil fuel prices soaring – and because our electricity market turns volatile gas prices into higher electricity bills, families here risk paying the cost. The government is already unpopular. How it responds to this crisis, and the wider crisis of affordability, will define its legacy. Its instinct has been to double down on clean power. That has strong merit – but understanding that strategy’s limits shows why deeper reform is urgently necessary. The government’s goal is clear: achieve stable prices by removing gas from the grid. Britain’s electricity market uses a marginal pricing system, which means that the price paid for all electricity at any moment is set by the most expensive source needed to meet demand. Even though gas produces only about a quarter of our electricity, it sets the price around 85% of the time. That means even when renewables are generating most of the country’s power, your bill doesn’t reflect the cost of solar or wind. And because gas is a global commodity with the price set by the international market, the closing of the Strait of Hormuz translates into rising electricity bills in Hull – even as the horizon grows thick with wind turbines and the share of clean power on the grid grows every year. Mathew Lawrence is the director of Common Wealth Continue reading...

Study shows animals hear very high frequencies, making it possible to design a deterrent to cut deaths Hedgehogs have been discovered to hear high-frequency ultrasound, raising hopes that they could be deterred from dangerous roads with ultrasound repellers. Vehicles are estimated to kill up to one in three hedgehogs, a big factor in the much-loved mammal’s drastic decline across Europe over recent decades. Continue reading...

More than 100,000 people have tuned in to watch ‘kākāpō cam’, which captures a rare flightless bird sleeping, tidying her nest and fighting off intruders On an island in New Zealand’s remote southern fjords, one of the world’s strangest and rarest parrots – the kākāpō – is caring for her tiny chick as fans from across the globe watch on. Through the black and white lens of a hidden camera, a fluffy orb with a kazoo-like squeak jostles for food from its mother’s beak. The mother, Rakiura, is attentive – scooping her chick under her large green wings, fending off an intruding bird, and periodically tidying her nest. Continue reading...

A billionaire is funding a sustainable development project on the west African island that makes the local population stewards of its future At the crumbling colonial farm buildings in Porto Real, agricultural worker Kimilson Lima, 43, has signed the agreement and he’s happy. “With this money we can have a proper floor in the house,” he said. “And an inside toilet.” Lima is part of a ground-breaking experiment on the West African island of Príncipe, where villagers who agree to follow an environmental protection code will reap a quarterly dividend. To date nearly 3,000 have joined the Faya Foundation’s project, more than 60% of the adult population. The first payment of €816 (£708) has just been delivered, a large amount of money on the island. “This will be truly transformative, both for nature and for the people,” said the president of the self-governing region, Felipe Nascimento. Continue reading...