Huffington Post: Tesla's Self-Driving Feature Leaves Insurers Idling as States Scramble
Tesla Motors’ plan to roll out a self-driving feature on some cars this summer has regulators, especially in its home state of California, scrambling to write new rules.
Current California law allows automakers to operate autonomous vehicles -- but not regular drivers.
“We have been trying to get a handle on what they are planning to do,” Bernard Soriano, deputy director of California’s Department of Motor Vehicles, told The Wall Street Journal. “We are knee-deep in it.”
KPCC: Short Staffing at LADWP Blamed for Slow Solar Rollout
Los Angeles has the largest municipal solar program in the country, but its growth is being limited by backlogs at the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, according to a preliminary study released Friday by UCLA and USC researchers.
Researchers presented the results of the study at City Hall on Friday morning as part of a workshop on LADWP’s feed-in tariff program.
The agency plans to purchase 150 megawatts of power through the program by the end of 2016. Currently, 7 megawatts are being generated, with about 50 more in the pipeline.
Bloomberg: Beijing to Shut All Major Coal Power Plants to Cut Pollution
Beijing, where pollution averaged more than twice China’s national standard last year, will close the last of its four major coal-fired power plants next year.
The capital city will shutter China Huaneng Group Corp.’s 845-megawatt power plant in 2016, after last week closing plants owned by Guohua Electric Power Corp. and Beijing Energy Investment Holding Co., according to a statement Monday on the website of the city’s economic planning agency. A fourth major power plant, owned by China Datang Corp., was shut last year.
The facilities will be replaced by four gas-fired stations with capacity to supply 2.6 times more electricity than the coal plants.
Washington Post: The Hidden Benefits of Cutting Coal Pollution
A key Environmental Protection Agency effort to cut power plant emissions of toxic metals and gases is up in the air, so to speak. Industry groups have asked the Supreme Court to overturn the rule, arguing that the EPA should have weighed the costs of regulating those pollutants in deciding whether taking any action at all was “appropriate and necessary” under the law. And at first blush Wednesday, the court’s four-member conservative wing seemed sympathetic to that argument.
Who’s right? In part, it depends on what you count as a benefit. But it also depends on another factor that is often overlooked: Some benefits of cutting toxic pollutants aren’t quantifiable at all, because we don’t have the data or the procedures needed to calculate them.
ClimateWire: Cities and Towns Choose Renewables to Save Money
Georgetown, Texas is home to the oldest university in the Lone Star State and is affectionately called the "Red Poppy Capital" of Texas. It will soon add another accolade to the mix: the state's first city-owned utility to run on 100 percent renewable energy.
Last Wednesday, the city announced a 25-year contract with SunEdison to buy 150 megawatts of solar energy. In order to supply the power, SunEdison will build a solar farm in West Texas.
Between the two sources, the city of about 50,000 people will have more than enough power even with projected population growth, said Keith Hutchinson, a spokesperson for the city.
Hutchinson said that when it came down to it, the price was right for renewable power.