The Hill: Trump Indicates Towns, States Should Be Able to Ban Fracking
Donald Trump seemed to support state and local bans on fracking in a Colorado interview Friday.
In a departure from the usual position of Republicans and the wishes of the oil and natural-gas industry, the GOP nominee for president said he thinks voters should be able to ban fracking at the state and local level, despite his personal support for the practice.
“I’m in favor of fracking, but I think that voters should have a big say in it,” Trump told Denver television station KUSA in an interview, a portion of which was posted Friday. “I mean, there’s some areas, maybe, they don’t want to have fracking. And I think if the voters are voting for it, that’s up to them.”
CNN Money: Elon Musk's Push for Autopilot Unnerves Some Tesla Employees
Even before Tesla reported the first known death of a driver using its autopilot feature, some employees worried the car company wasn't taking every possible precaution. Those building autopilot were acutely aware that any shortcoming or unforeseen flaw could lead to injury or death -- whether it be blind spots with the car's sensors or drivers misusing the technology.
But Tesla founder and CEO Elon Musk believes that autopilot has the potential to save lives by reducing human error -- and has pushed hard to get the feature to market. The team's motto is "not to let the perfect be the enemy of the better," according to a source close to Tesla. For Musk specifically, the source says his driving force is "don't let concerns slow progress."
However, Musk brushed aside certain concerns as negligible compared to autopilot's overall lifesaving potential.
Reno Gazette-Journal: Elon Musk Makes Libertarian Case for Carbon Tax
Tesla Motors founder and CEO Elon Musk made a libertarian argument in favor of a carbon tax during a recent visit to Nevada. Musk, who spoke with reporters for about an hour during a visit to the company's battery factory in Storey County on Tuesday, answered a question about tax breaks the company got for moving to Nevada. He also addressed tax incentives for sustainable energy products such as solar panels and electric vehicles (EVs).
Here's a transcript of the portion of the conversation in which Musk made a libertarian argument in favor of a carbon tax.
Electrek: Will TeslaSolar Continue to Outsource the Brain of Its Solar Systems?
Tesla had made it a goal to vertically integrate long prior to the current offer to purchase SolarCity. SolarCity took action purchasing a solar panel and solar racking company. A looming question is how exactly TeslaSolar will protect itself in the solar inverter market. TeslaSolar could purchase a close technology partner like SolarEdge or design in-house like it does with Tesla automobiles. With powerful options like these, arguments of value of cash, availability in-house focus, risk of inaction/value of action and control over data are probably the driving considerations.
Scientific American: Israel Proves the Desalination Era Is Here
Driven by necessity, Israel is learning to squeeze more out of a drop of water than any country on earth, and much of that learning is happening at the Zuckerberg Institute, where researchers have pioneered new techniques in drip irrigation, water treatment and desalination. They have developed resilient well systems for African villages and biological digesters than can halve the water usage of most homes.
The institute’s original mission was to improve life in Israel’s bone-dry Negev Desert, but the lessons look increasingly applicable to the entire Fertile Crescent. “The Middle East is drying up,” says Osnat Gillor, a professor at the Zuckerberg Institute who studies the use of recycled wastewater on crops. “The only country that isn’t suffering acute water stress is Israel.”