Huffington Post: John Oliver Calls Out Big Oil Trade Group for Plagiarism
The oil industry’s lobbying arm, already under fire for its role in a decades-long climate change cover-up, has now been accused of plagiarism.
John Oliver, host of HBO’s Last Week Tonight, said on Sunday’s show that the Rio Olympics has been chock full of “starring performances,” none as bold as a TV advertisement aired by the American Petroleum Institute, or API.
“You took our shit, API!” Oliver said of the trade group’s ad, which looks suspiciously similar to Last Week Tonight’s opening credits. “You took our shit. Everything, from the font to the design style.”
The Conversation: We Have Most Certainly Blown the 1.5-Degree Global Warming Target
On our current emissions trajectory we will likely reach 1.5℃ within the next couple of decades (2024 is our best estimate). The less ambitious 2℃ target would be surpassed not much later.
This means we probably have only about a decade before we break through the ambitious 1.5℃ global warming target agreed to by the world’s nations in Paris.
A University of Melbourne research group recently published a series of graphs showing just how close we are getting to 1.5℃ warming. Realistically, we have very little time left to limit warming to 2℃, let alone 1.5℃.
Forbes: Will a President Hillary Clinton Close Down Nuclear Power Plants?
No. In fact, Clinton generally supports nuclear energy. She does not want any nuclear power plants to close prematurely, particularly the New York Indian Point nuclear plant. Clinton says that “rapidly shutting down our nation’s nuclear power fleet puts ideology ahead of science and would make it harder and costlier to build a clean energy future," agreeing with EPA chief Gina McCarthy, leading climate scientist Dr. James Hansen and almost all nuclear scientists.
Clinton opposes the Yucca Mountain nuclear repository and supports the President’s Blue Ribbon Commission recommendations for our nuclear future.
The Clinton campaign laid out a policy goal of achieving 33% of U.S. electricity from non-carbon-emitting sources by 2027, including maintaining our nuclear energy fleet.
Road Show: EV-Charging Companies Worried About Volkswagen for Some Reason
Part of Volkswagen's $15 billion Dieselgate settlement is a $2 billion contribution to the growth of green-car infrastructure. Sounds great, right? Well, if you're one of the 28 EV-charging station companies that sent a letter to the U.S. Department of Justice this week, perhaps it's not so great, although the reasoning behind it isn't necessarily sound.
This group, including ChargePoint and the Electric Vehicle Charging Association, is concerned about Volkswagen's $2 billion "donation," because it could tip the scales in VW's favor going forward, Reuters reports. They're worried that the money could actually harm competition.
The Telegraph: Battery Technology Smashes the Old Order
The U.S. Energy Department is funding 75 projects developing electricity storage, mobilizing teams of scientists at Harvard, MIT, Stanford, and the elite Lawrence Livermore and Oak Ridge labs in a bid for what it calls the "holy grail" of energy policy.
You can track what they are doing at the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E). There are plans for hydrogen bromide, or zinc-air batteries, or storage in molten glass, or next-generation flywheels, many claiming "drastic improvements" that can slash storage costs by 80% to 90% and reach the magical figure of $100 per kilowatt-hour in relatively short order.