Environment

European Countries Set Wind and Solar Records

Solar and wind produced more than half of Portugal’s electricity for the first time last month, according to new data from clean energy think tank Ember. April saw the renewables reach 51 per cent of electricity production - beating the previous monthly record of 49 per cent in December 2021. Strong solar deployment, electricity imports from Spain and lower demand kept energy generated by fossil fuels to just 24 per cent - despite a drought-driven dip in hydropower.

Locusts in Afghanistan

Northern Afghanistan’s breadbasket is being carpeted by a new generation of Moroccan locusts, which the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) says could ravage the region’s crops should they mature. Villagers and farmers have been collecting the young “hoppers” and killing them before they can fly and swarm across the land.

“You kill millions of locusts that way. The problem is there are billions of locusts,” said FAO representative Richard Trenchard. An invasion of Moroccan locust in 1981 wiped about a quarter of Afghanistan’s national harvest.

Urban Cloud Formation

New analysis of satellite data reveals that clouds form more often above cities and their suburbs than in surrounding rural landscapes, especially at night and during summer. Writing in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, researcher say they found that skies above urban areas, regardless of their size, saw 3% to 6% more cloud cover than in the countryside.

They believe that since summer nights and temperatures, in general, are warmer in cities due to the urban heat island effect, that warmth pulls up moisture from the landscape, creating the clouds. The effect disappears or is lessened during winter.