Quartz: Toyota Is Using Sewage Sludge to Power Its New Car
Hydrogen fuel-cell cars could help solve the global warming crisis, but nobody wants to buy them. Yoshikazu Tanaka, chief engineer of the Toyota Mirai, Toyota’s hydrogen fuel-cell car, calls it a “chicken or the egg” problem: No one wants to purchase hydrogen cars because there are no hydrogen fuel stations, and nobody wants to build hydrogen fuel stations because there are no hydrogen cars.
But Toyota thinks it may have found a solution. For unlimited clean energy, it’s turning to one of the dirtiest places there is: the toilet. In Fukuoka, Japan, the automaker is converting human waste into hydrogen to fuel the Mirai.
PV-Tech: SolarWorld to Lay Off 500 Temporary Factory Workers
Integrated PV manufacturer SolarWorld will lay off around 500 temporary manufacturing workers in the fourth quarter of this year due to significant PV module price declines on the world market.
The layoffs, which will start on October 1, include 300 temporary workers at its facility in Freiburg and 200 in Arnstadt, but permanent staff will not be affected.
“The reason is [the] current market situation, where we see a dramatic price drop, but not an increase of demand,” Milan Nitzschke, vice president at SolarWorld.
Bloomberg: Chinese Web-Video Tycoon Raises $1.08 Billion for Electric Car
China’s Le Holdings Co. has raised $1.08 billion to develop its electric sports car that has drawn comparisons to the Batmobile, the latest in a series of alternative-energy vehicle investments even as the industry is set for a Chinese government shakeup.
The Beijing-based company, also known as LeEco, has attracted a group of Chinese investors for the project’s initial funding, including Legend Holdings Corp., Yingda Capital Management Co. and China Minsheng Trust, it said in a statement Tuesday.
CBS: Wave-Powered Electricity Makes U.S. Debut in Hawaii
In the waters off the coast of Hawaii, a tall buoy bobs and sways in the water, using the rise and fall of the waves to generate electricity.
The current travels through an undersea cable for a mile to a military base, where it is fed into Oahu’s power grid -- the first wave-produced electricity to go on-line in the U.S.
By some estimates, the ocean’s endless motion packs enough power to meet a quarter of America’s energy needs and dramatically reduce the nation’s reliance on oil, gas and coal. But wave energy technology lags well behind wind and solar power, with important technical hurdles still to be overcome.
Utility Dive: All You Need to Know Ahead of the Clean Power Plan's Pivotal Court Date
Make no mistake, the Clean Power Plan is almost certainly heading for an ultimate showdown at the U.S. Supreme Court. The stakes are so high that virtually any lower court decision will be challenged.
But the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit is slated to consider the case first, with oral arguments beginning Sept. 27. So is that court's decision a mere formality? Absolutely not, say experts.
"The lower court decision sets up the case," said Ari Peskoe, senior fellow in electricity law at the Harvard Law School Environmental Law Program Policy Initiative. "The D.C. Circuit decision is going to be important regardless."