Associated Press: Trio Charged With Running $54M Green-Energy Ponzi Scheme
Three people were charged Thursday with running a $54 million Ponzi scheme built on promises of a green energy technology that would turn trash into fuel and "carbon-negative" housing developments, neither of which were ever fully developed, federal prosecutors said.
Troy Wragg, 34, of Georgia, Amanda Knorr, 32, of Pennsylvania, and Wayde McKelvy, 52, of Colorado, were charged with wire and securities fraud and conspiracy. It wasn't immediately clear if they had attorneys who could comment on their behalf.
Prosecutors said the trio lied to investors that their "biochar" technology and "carbon-negative" housing in Tennessee made millions, but they had almost no earnings and used the money to repay earlier investors and for themselves.
Fortune: This Tesla Alum's All-Electric Buses Could Already Be in Your City
It has the fastest 0-20 mph acceleration ever recorded in its class. It can go 200 miles on a single charge. It can recharge in as little as 10 minutes.
No, it’s not the latest cutting-edge electric sedan. It’s a 40-foot bus.
When it tested at the Altoona Bus Research and Testing Center in June, the Catalyst electric bus manufactured by Greenville, S.C.-based Proterra also set records for grade-climbing and overall efficiency, and it’s the lightest electric bus ever. That evokes the extraordinary performance of Tesla, whose P85D model now out-accelerates a McLaren F1.
Washington Post: The Energy Storage Business Is Growing Fast
The U.S. Energy Storage Monitor report, which is part of a series of documents published quarterly by GTM Research and the Energy Storage Association, claims that the second quarter of 2015 saw a sixfold increase in energy storage deployment since the first quarter.
It’s a big jump, says Ravi Manghani, a senior energy storage analyst with GTM Research -- but it’s not wholly unexpected. “We’re talking about an industry that’s very new and recent,” he says. “In that sense, we do expect some quarters to have much bigger jumps, as we are having this particular quarter.” The introduction of technologies such as the Tesla battery help make these gains possible, he said.
Guardian: George Osborne Accused of 'Disastrous' Assault on Green Agenda
Ed Davey, the former U.K. energy and climate change secretary, has accused George Osborne of putting tens of billions of pounds’ worth of private-sector investment at risk with an assault on the green agenda he pioneered.
The Liberal Democrat said the chancellor was pursuing “bonkers economics” and an ill-advised and ideologically driven campaign against renewable energy that risked leaving the U.K. hopelessly dependent in the longer term on fossil fuels such as gas.
Phasing out aid for zero-carbon homes, onshore wind farms and solar arrays are among a raft of measures introduced by the Tories which represented “disastrous” economics, said Davey in his first interview since losing his seat in parliament.
Bill McKibben Op-Ed: Physics Doesn’t Negotiate
President Obama is visiting Alaska this week -- a territory changing as rapidly as any on earth thanks to global warming. He’s talking constantly about the danger that climate change poses to the planet (a welcome development, given that he managed to go through virtually the entire 2012 election without even mentioning it). And everything he’s saying is right: we are a nation, and a planet, beset by fire, flood and drought. It’s the hottest year in earth’s recorded history. July was the hottest month ever measured on the planet.
But of course the alarm he’s sounding is muffled by the fact that earlier this year he gave Shell Oil a permit to go drill in the Arctic, potentially opening up a giant new pool of oil.