The gas reserves in shale rocks in the UK have been “overhyped”, a geology professor has warned. Prof John Underhill from Heriot-Watt University, where he is the chair and chief scientist of the Shell Centre for Exploration Geoscience, said UK shale deposits were formed 55m years too late to trap substantial amounts of gas. He said the government would be wise to formulate a Plan B to fracking for future gas supplies. The Daily Telegraph quotes him as saying: ““Both sides of the hydraulic fracturing debate assume that the geology is a ‘slam dunk’ and it will work if exploration drilling goes ahead…but the science shows that our country’s geology is simply unsuitable for shale oil and gas production. The implication that because fracking works in the US, it must also work here is wrong.” He told the Guardian: “These areas have been lifted up, buckled and depressurised, which has rendered them cooler than the optimal temperatures for oil and gas production…The resultant complexity means these are not good places for hydrocarbons.” Carbon Brief has published a detailed Q&A which includes more information about the various estimates made over recent years about how much shale gas and oil might be under the UK. Prof Underhill has also written an article for the Conversation.

Electric cars are twice as green as they were five years ago because of an increase in wind and solar farms and the closure of coal-fired power stations, a study has found. The Times says: “Owners of battery-powered vehicles can feel particularly virtuous in summer as greenhouse gas emissions fall by almost half compared with winter. A Tesla Model S still has higher CO2 emissions in winter than the most fuel-efficient petrol cars, but in summer it has a clear advantage, according to research by Imperial College London.” BusinessGreen also carries the story. Meanwhile, the Financial Times reports that “dwindling fuel duty sparks interest in road pricing”. It adds: “Last year, fuel duty generated £27.9bn for the Treasury, or 1.4% of national income. A further £5.8bn was raised from vehicle excise duty, and £200m from a levy on heavy goods vehicles. Together, the three taxes made up almost 5 per cent of government revenues. But those revenues are under threat as cars become increasingly fuel-efficient and fully electric vehicles, which are exempt from nearly all taxes, become more popular…Many agree that introducing road pricing would be the only sensible fiscal solution.” Separately, Reuters reports that Hyundai Motor is to launch an electric vehicle with a 500km range “after 2021”. The Financial Times offers a counterpoint with a story headlined, “UK driving surge offers respite for rattled petro-sheikhs”. It says: “While electric cars get attention, weak oil price boosts petrol consumption in the UK.”

Almost 1,400 birds will die each year if a controversial offshore wind farm gets the go-ahead, the UK’s leading bird-protection charity has claimed, writing in a comment piece in the Times. Anne McCall, director of the RSPB in Scotland, has responded after the charity was criticised by business groups for trying to halt the wind project. The paper says: “As reported in The Times yesterday, 29 companies have come together to call on the RSPB to stop its legal action against the 64-turbine development due to be sited off the east coast of Scotland. The business groups warned that the charity’s efforts to halt the development threatened the livelihoods of hundreds of families and the £2bn investment due to be spent on the Neart na Gaoithe offshore wind farm.”

Nature reports that scientists in California are sketching plans for a home-grown climate-research institute. The initiative, which is backed by California’s flagship universities, is in the early stages of development, says Nature: “If it succeeds, it will represent one of the largest US investments in climate research in years. The nascent ‘California Climate Science and Solutions Institute’ would fund basic – and applied – research projects designed to help the state to grapple with the hard realities of global warming…The project could be funded by revenue from the state’s cap-and-trade programme to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions, but its political prospects are unclear. Advocates say they have received a warm reception from California Governor Jerry Brown, but a spokesperson for Brown would say only that ‘discussions are ongoing’. The proposal must also clear the state legislature.”

The green light has been given for what will be Scotland’s largest solar farm, reports the BBC. Moray Council has granted Elgin Energy planning permission for a 20MW project near Urquhart, which could see about 80,000 solar panels installed. The farm will be constructed on the 47-hectare Speyslaw site – the equivalent of about 40 football pitches. The largest Scottish solar farm is currently a 13MW project at Errol Estate in Perthshire, which went live in May last year. The Times says it would “provide enough power for up to 10,000 homes”. Meanwhile, BusinessGreen reports that German onshore wind costs have fall 25% in the latest auction: “The average price for new onshore wind projects sunk to 4.28 Euro cents per kWh, down from 5.71 Euro cents in May.”

Scientists have announced that a core drilled in Antarctica has yielded 2.7-million-year-old ice, which, according to Science, is “an astonishing find 1.7m years older than the previous record-holder”. The find could “potentially offer clues to what triggered the ice ages” as the cores hold tiny bubbles of trapped air allowing scientists to study these ancient samples of atmosphere. The Princeton-led team say the ice has revealed that atmospheric CO2 levels did not exceed 300 parts per million, well below today’s levels. The MailOnline also covers the story.

A decision to permanently close the UK’s largest natural gas storage site will leave the country more dependent on imports and greater volatility in prices in winter months, an alliance of energy companies has warned. The Energy & Utilities Alliance (EUA), a trade body whose members include SSE, EDF Energy and ScottishPower, is pressing for a parliamentary inquiry into the long-term consequences of the closure of Centrica’s Rough storage site off the Yorkshire coast. The Times explains that Centrica said in June that it would permanently shut the site, a disused North Sea gasfield, because repairing its ageing infrastructure was no longer commercially viable.

Crooks, the FT’s US industry and energy editor, writes that “as technologies for renewable energy and grid management advance, the special position that coal has held since Thomas Edison’s first power plants in the 1880s has become much harder to defend”. He goes on to say: “So far,…there is little evidence that the rise of renewables has had any impact on reliability…That does not mean that renewable generation can be increased without limit, but numerous studies have suggested that it can continue to grow well beyond where it is today…’Keeping the lights on’ has been a rousing rallying cry in the defence of King Coal, but it increasingly looks like a rearguard action.”

Lizards are adapting their behaviour to help them cope with climate change, new research finds. As temperatures warm, the individual lizards that are most able to tolerate heat will be more likely to survive and reproduce, the researchers say. Over generations, this will lead to a higher number of heat-tolerant lizards in the population, they predict, which suggests the animals may be able to adapt their behvaiour to suit rising temperatures. “We demonstrate here, evolutionary adaptation may promote long-term persistence of ectotherms [cold blooded animals] in altered thermal environments,” the researchers say.