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Elon Musk Is Self-Driving Tesla Into the Ground
Five years ago, the world met the Model Y. Tesla officially unveiled its smaller crossover in March 2019 and, the next year, began to sell the car in staggering numbers. The Model Y helped Tesla tighten its grip on the electric vehicle market. By 2023 it had displaced the Toyota Corolla as the world’s best-selling car of any kind. It’s not easy to follow up a massive success. What’s worse is having no plan at all — or being chronically unable to stick to one. That’s where Tesla seems to be amid yet another shakeup at the company. This week, Tesla...
What a Vote in Tennessee Would Mean for the UAW
Current conditions: Severe thunderstorms and tornadoes are possible from Nebraska to Baltimore • It’s 109 degrees Fahrenheit in Vadodara, India, currently the hottest city in the world • Heavy rain is forecast for Indianapolis, but won’t dampen celebrations of #1 WNBA draft pick Caitlin Clark to the Indiana Fever. THE TOP FIVE1. Tennessee Volkswagen factory poised for historic unionization The Volkswagen factory in Chattanooga, Tennessee, will vote this week on whether to join the United Auto Workers, a decision that labor activists say could give the union the momentum it needs for a “legitimate comeback” after its successes last fall —...
Sexier Heat Pumps Are Hitting the Market
Quilt, a climate tech startup banking on the appeal of sleeker, smarter electric heat pumps, announced today that its products will be available to order in the Bay Area starting May 15.I first wrote about Quilt a year ago after the company raised a $9 million seed round. Its founders told me they wanted to create the Tesla of heat pumps — a climate-friendly product that prevails because of its superior design and performance, with sustainability as a bonus.“That’s the only way you win, right?” Paul Lambert, Quilt’s CEO said when I visited the company’s office in Redwood City,...
What If the Most Widely Used Climate Tool Doesn’t Work?
About six months ago, a climate scientist from Arizona State University, Stephanie Arcusa, emailed me a provocative new paper she had published that warned against our growing reliance on life cycle analysis. This practice of measuring all of the emissions related to a given product or service throughout every phase of its life — from the time raw materials are extracted to eventual disposal — was going to hinder our ability to achieve net-zero emissions, she wrote. It was a busy time, and I let the message drift to the bottom of my inbox. But I couldn’t stop thinking...
Why Oil Traders Are Not Freaking Out Today
Iran and Israel’s proxy conflict escalated into direct strikes over the weekend and oil prices have hardly budged. So far on Monday, the Brent crude oil benchmark is hovering around $89.50 a barrel, a 1-ish% dip for the day.This has been the story of the conflict so far: While oil prices rose following Hamas’s October 7 attack on Southern Israel and the beginning of Israel’s invasion of Gaza, they’re now back to where they were for much of September, and are down substantially from their summer 2022 highs. It remains to be seen how, exactly, Israel will respond to...
Tesla Is Reportedly Making Big Layoffs This Week
Current conditions: Temperatures in Sapporo, Japan, surpassed 77 degrees Fahrenheit today, earlier than ever before • Gale-force winds are blasting Britain • The weather is looking great for the Boston Marathon. THE TOP FIVE1. Tesla reportedly lays off 10% of global workforce Tesla has reportedly laid off “more than 10%” of its global workforce, according to Jameson Dow at Electrek. In an internal company-wide email, CEO Elon Musk said “this will enable us to be lean, innovative and hungry for the next growth phase cycle.” The exact headcount isn’t clear but Dow calculates a 10% cut would bring the number...
Tesla Is Reportedly Making Big Layoffs This Week
Current conditions: Temperatures in Sapporo, Japan, surpassed 77 degrees Fahrenheit today, earlier than ever before • Gale-force winds are blasting Britain • The weather is looking great for the Boston Marathon. THE TOP FIVE1. Tesla reportedly lays off 10% of global workforce Tesla has reportedly laid off “more than 10%” of its global workforce, according to Jameson Dow at Electrek. In an internal company-wide email, CEO Elon Musk said “this will enable us to be lean, innovative and hungry for the next growth phase cycle.” The exact headcount isn’t clear but Dow calculates a 10% cut would bring the number...
New York Will Soon Get Congestion Pricing — After a 150,000-Year Wait
In late March, the board that oversees New York’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority cast a final vote to implement congestion pricing. If the plan survives some last-ditch lawsuits, drivers will soon have to cough up $15 to travel into Lower Manhattan during rush hours. The MTA will get billions every year to make capital improvements, the air will be markedly cleaner, the streets notably less congested, and a proposal that was first pitched by former Mayor Michael Bloomberg 17 years ago will have finally been realized. “I often wonder what our system would have been like if we passed it back...
The Big, Flaming Problem With the EPA’s New PFAS Rules
Hindsight is 20-20, but boy have we had a lot of bad ideas. We laid lead pipes to transport our drinking water. We let our kids play in clouds of DDT. We textured our ceilings with asbestos fibers. And until this week, nothing prevented municipalities across the country from allowing cancer-causing chemicals into the water that flows from the kitchen sinks of nearly half of Americans.On Wednesday, the Environmental Protection Agency announced it would tolerate only exceptionally low levels of six perfluoroalkyls and polyfluoroalkyls — a group collectively known as PFAS, or “forever chemicals” — in U.S. drinking water....
7,000 Pages of New State Climate Plans, in 1 Helpful Chart
Late last year, I wrote about an overlooked but potentially transformative program in the Inflation Reduction Act called the Climate Pollution Reduction Grants. Administered by the Environmental Protection Agency, it offered all 50 states, plus D.C. and Puerto Rico, an initial $3 million each for climate policy planning, spurring many states to develop emissions-cutting strategies for the first time. Later, cities and states will be able to apply for competitive grants from a $4.6 billion fund to implement elements of their plans. States that accepted the planning money — i.e. all of them except Iowa, South Dakota, Florida, Wyoming, and...
Lessons from a First Time EV Owner
For the first time in my life I now own a car, and it’s electric.It took me a few weeks to narrow down my choices to a Hyundai Kona or a Ford Mustang Mach E. After much agonizing comparison, I went with the Kona. While I liked the Mach E’s sporty performance, longer range, and sizable front trunk, ultimately the Kona’s cheaper price, lighter materials, heat pump, and numerous mechanical buttons clinched the deal. After trading in a clapped out 2011 Subaru Impreza, the out-the-door sticker price for the Kona was a bit over $31,000 (though we opted to...
The Biden Administration Surpassed its Clean Energy Permitting Goal
Current conditions: Devastating flood waters are still rising near the Russia-Kazakhstan border • Severe drought in the Colombian capital of Bogota triggered water rationing measures • Coachella attendees are advised to pack a parka this weekend. THE TOP FIVE1. A quick roundup of environmental news from the Biden administration The last 24 hours saw a flurry of announcements from the White House on environmental initiatives. Here is a quick summary: Gigawatts – The Biden administration has surpassed its goal of permitting at least 25 gigawatts of clean energy projects on public lands by 2025. The Interior Department has permitted about 29...
How Green Groups Are Prepping for Trump Redux
A new Trump administration’s climate agenda will be much the same as the old one.Project 2025, the 920-page instruction manual for an incoming Republican administration from the conservative Heritage Foundation, calls for eliminating the Department of Energy’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, its Loan Programs Office, and the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) — and so did its 2017 equivalent. Every Trump budget included cuts to these programs. The Trump administration rewrote emissions standards, attempted to prevent states from enforcing more stringent guidance, and reduced the social cost of carbon. Project 2025 outlines most of these same...
Canada’s 2023 Wildfire Season Was Horrible. This Year’s Could Be Worse.
Current conditions: A searing heatwave in Thailand means even nighttime temperatures won’t go below 86 degrees Fahrenheit for all of April • The streets of New Orleans flooded yesterday • Severe weather in Georgia delayed the start of The Masters golf tournament.THE TOP FIVE1. Canada expects another ‘catastrophic’ wildfire seasonCanada is preparing for this year’s wildfire season to be “catastrophic,” following a warm and dry winter. “The temperature trends are very concerning,” said Harjit Sajjan, the country’s minister for emergency preparedness. “With the heat and dryness across the country we can expect that the wildfire season will start sooner...
Is Renewable Energy Too Cheap to Be Profitable?
When I was an analyst at the U.S. Treasury, my team’s work centered around promising private investors that we would make it easier for them to invest in renewable energy projects across the Global South. I kept hearing that our job was ultimately to make these projects “bankable.” As the logic went, “there is a sizeable universe of good projects that fall just below many private investors’ desired rate of return,” and therefore lowering the risks of investing in these “good projects” would put them within reach of private investors’ return expectations. To make decarbonization possible, we had to...
Heatmap Is Hiring a Business Development Manager for a New Vertical
The climate media startup Heatmap News is seeking an ambitious, entrepreneurial business development manager to drive the launch and growth of a new subscription-based B2B clean energy vertical. The ideal candidate will have a passion for clean energy, a deep understanding of the renewable energy landscape, and the proven ability to sell premium products in a consultative manner to a sophisticated clientele. Key Responsibilities: ● Develop and execute sales strategies to achieve subscription sales targets within the renewable energy sector. ● Build and maintain strong, long-lasting customer relationships with stakeholders in the clean energy industry. ● Stay abreast of the latest developments in clean...
The EPA is Cracking Down on Forever Chemicals in Drinking Water
Current conditions: More than 100,000 people have been evacuated in Kazakhstan and Russia due to the worst flooding in decades • The U.K. is expecting a “mini heatwave” • Multiple tornado warnings have been issued in southern Louisiana. THE TOP FIVE1. EPA will require utilities to remove ‘forever chemicals’ from drinking water In an “ extraordinary” move, the Environmental Protection Agency today announced limits on “forever chemicals” in drinking water. The rule means municipal water systems will have to monitor for six types of PFAS chemicals and remove them. “This is historic and monumental,” Emily Donovan, co-founder of advocacy group Clean Cape...
Is This a New Era of ‘Climate Capitalism’?
Can capitalism solve climate change? Wrong question, argues the author and journalist Akshat Rathi: In fact, you can’t solve climate change without capitalism. Look around the world, as Rathi does in his new book Climate Capitalism, and he says you’ll find companies and leaders who are proving that cutting carbon emissions is not just possible, but also profitable. The venture capitalist Sophie Purdom, the founder of Planeteer Capital, spends her days looking for those profitable climate companies. She says that a newer, smarter generation of climate startups is on the way. In this week’s episode, recorded earlier this month live at...
Carbon Removal’s $100 Billion Conundrum
Money seems to be pouring into the field of carbon removal from every direction. Every other week there’s an announcement about a new project. Multimillion dollar carbon removal procurement deals are on the rise. The Department of Energy is rolling out grants as part of its $3.5 billion “direct air capture” hubs program and also funding research and development. Some carbon removal companies can even start claiming a $130 tax credit for every ton of CO2 they suck up and store underground. The federal government alone spends just under $1 billion per year on carbon removal research, development, and...
A Hundred Years of Climate Data Is on the Verge of Withering Away
Kathleen Pryer did not watch March Madness this year. That isn’t unusual in and of itself — Pryer describes herself as “not a basketball person,” though that might still raise a few eyebrows this time of year at Duke University, her place of employment. But the professor of biology has been a bit distracted lately. For the past few months, she’s been on defense, fending off a loss of her own: the pending closure of the school’s herbarium.A herbarium (or plural, herbaria) is a collection of preserved plants, typically dried and mounted on sheets of rigid paper. The oldest...
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