Energy Efficiency, Solar, Sourcing Renewables  -  April 21, 2018

Weekend reads: Target hits solar lead; Trump vs. tech giants & more

Kick back and relax with these must-read energy stories from around the web:

Target leads the way as U.S. corporations look to go big on solar (CNBC)  American businesses are investing record amounts in solar, with the top corporate users adding 325 megawatts (MW) of installed capacity last year, according to a report. Leading the way was Target, which added over 40 MW of solar capacity to its portfolio in 2017. The retailer now has more than 200 MW of installed capacity.

Over 100 corporate giants align with UN climate goals (Euractiv)  L’Oreal and Electrolux today (17 April) joined the likes of McDonald’s and Sony in aligning their emission goals with the 2°C target of the Paris Agreement on climate change. 103 global companies have now signed up to emission reduction goals in line with what climate scientists say is required to prevent dangerous global warming, said the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi), a collaboration between CDP, the United Nations Global Compact, the World Resources Institute (WRI) and the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF).

Trump’s White House will not define sustainability standards — tech giants will (The Hill)  Even as government agencies unequivocally acknowledge climate change, the Trump White House continues to reject what the scientific community readily accepts: Climate change is likely humanity’s greatest threat, and we’re already experiencing its expensive and deleterious impacts. In the first year of his presidency, Trump has done more to dismantle existing environmental policies than any previous president. 

IRENA Roadmap Calls for Six-Fold Increase in Renewable Energy (SDG Knowledge Hub)  The International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) has released a roadmap for the global energy transformation. The roadmap shows that the adoption of renewable energy must increase dramatically to achieve the target of limiting global temperature increase to well below 2°C.

Babcock Ranch offers tours of Solar Energy Center (Florida Weekly)  “Visitors to Babcock Ranch are intrigued by the solar field and are excited to see the vast array of solar panels that power our town,” said Syd Kitson, chairman and CEO of Kitson & Partners. “We want to give everyone an opportunity to learn how solar energy is a key part of our commitment to sustainability at Babcock Ranch.”

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