Industrial, Commercial, Solar, Sourcing Renewables  -  September 14, 2019

Weekend reads: Game over for non-RE energy?; A car that runs forever

It's the weekend! Kick back and catch up with these must-read articles from around the web:

Why Solar Execs Say the Game Is Already Over for Non-Renewable Energy (Fortune) Solar power may currently make up less than 2% of the world’s energy mix, but the outlook of solar company executives is, uh, sunny. “What’s important is new [energy] generation, and in the US, renewables are 70% of new generation. It’s game over,” said Tom Werner, CEO of SunPower, the California-based solar company, speaking at the Fortune Global Sustainability Forum on Thursday in Yunnan, China. “That’s why big companies in electric distribution, oil and gas are flooding into renewables.” 

Divided Congress finds some common ground on climate (Houston Chronicle)  A slate of bipartisan clean energy bills are gaining momentum in Congress, potentially representing the body’s most significant action on climate change in years. From next-generation nuclear reactors to large-capacity batteries, cleaner diesel fuel to machines sucking carbon out of the atmosphere, the legislation would expand federal efforts to improve clean energy technology and get it into the marketplace after years of Republican-led log jams.

Toyota is trying to figure out how to make a solar-powered car run forever (Los Angeles Times)  Put together the best solar panels money can buy, super-efficient batteries and decades of car-making know-how and, theoretically, a vehicle might run forever. That’s the audacious goal of a project by Toyota Motor Corp., Sharp Corp. and the New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization of Japan, or NEDO, to test a Prius that could revolutionize transportation. “The solar car’s advantage is that — while it can’t drive for a long range — it’s really independent of charging facilities,” said Koji Makino, a project manager at Toyota.

Chicago startup will help test hyperlocal electric vehicle incentive in California (Energy News Network)  The city of Sacramento is preparing to test a hyperlocal electric vehicle charging program that will use a Chicago company’s blockchain software to track customer rewards. The pilot project will offer blockchain-based “tokens” for charging vehicles when there’s a surplus of solar power on the local grid. The value will fluctuate based on the amount of solar being produced within a specific substation. The project is a collaboration between the Sacramento Municipal Utility Department and a French utility. 

ENGIE Greens Power Consumption of Smart Energy Decisions' Renewable Energy Sourcing Forum (Yahoo Finance)  ENGIE North America will help the upcoming Smart Energy Decisions' Renewable Energy Sourcing Forum walk its own talk by offsetting the event's entire three days' worth of energy consumption from nonrenewable sources with Green-e® eligible renewable energy certificates (RECs).  ENGIE will supply and donate the RECs from ENGIE's new 276 MW Solomon Forks Wind Project for this September 16-18 event in Ponte Vedra, Florida.

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