Energy Efficiency, GHG Emissions, Solar, Sourcing Renewables, Wind  -  June 30, 2018

Weekend reads: U.S. EE falls behind; DHL's StreetScooter races ahead

It's the weekend! Kick back with these must-read energy stories from around the web:

DHL’s StreetScooter opens second factory as it emerges as an important EV manufacturer (Electrek)  DHL, one of the largest logistics companies in the world, started its StreetScooter subsidiary to build electric vehicles for its own fleet, but it is now emerging as an important electric vehicle manufacturer. The company is now opening a second factory to double its production capacity to “up to 20,000 electric vans per year.”  As we recently reported, StreetScooter is expanding from producing mainly for DHL’s own fleet to now selling vehicles to other logistics companies.

The US Is Losing Ground in the Race for Energy Efficiency (Industry Week)  Italy and Germany tied for first place in the worldwide energy-efficiency race, according to a biennial international scorecard released on Tuesday by the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy. France, the United Kingdom and Japan followed suit. The United States fell, from 8th in 2016, to 10th in the new ranking of the 25 largest energy-consuming countries in the world. 

Green IT can champion cuts in carbon emissions (Raconteur)  Information technology (IT) infrastructure and services permeate every function and department of a business. This means the chief information officer (CIO) is in a unique position to champion and drive sustainability within an organisation. Without efficiency measures, the information and communications technology (ICT) sector could account for 20 percent of electricity demand by 2025 and 5.5 percent of the world’s carbon emissions, according to the 2017 Total Consumer Power Consumption Forecast. 

Wind and Solar: The Adopters Win (Forbes)  Last month, the Chinese government announced the end of feed-in tariffs for wind power. This month, the country threw the global solar market into turmoil by curbing domestic capacity quotas and lowering subsidy rates for both utility and distributed-scale projects. The changes leave existing arrangements in place, and China remains committed to renewable energy development as the best means to reduce its chronic air, water and waste pollution challenges. 

2020 Tokyo Olympics Will Be Fully Powered By Renewable Energy (Ubergizmo)  It was announced earlier this month that Japan is going to launch a self-driving car service in Tokyo in time for the 2020 Olympics. The Olympic and Paralympic games will obviously be a major event for the country and it’s aiming to leverage the opportunity to make a positive impact on the way these games are conducted. The 2020 Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic organizing committee is working hard to ensure that the entire event is powered using renewable energy.

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