LONDON (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Thousands of Syrian refugees will be able to light their homes, charge their phones and chill their food by solar power as Jordan's Azraq camp became the world's first refugee camp to be powered by renewable energy, the U.N. refugee agency said on Wednesday.

PV power company Canadian Solar announced Thursday that it has acquired a minority equity interest in eNow — a US-based company specialised in solar-based energy management systems for the commercial transportation industry.

The NASA image above reveals a rather worrying 177 kilometre crack in the Antarctica ice shelf which, when it splits, will form the world’s largest ever iceberg. The inevitable impact on sea levels across the globe is described as “a catastrophe that we can witness unfolding but are utterly powerless to stop”. Given global warming presents the biggest long-term economic threat it’s not overly encouraging that last week’s federal budget failed to mention any new measures to mitigate climate change and instead plans to ditch the Climate Change Authority.

Are Australia’s coal and gas generators fit for purpose to power Australia through next summer’s heatwaves? The evidence of last summer suggests they cannot be relied upon, with a new report showing how coal plants melted in the heat in Queensland on a day of record demand.