The Conversation: Germany’s Plan for 100% Electric Cars May Actually Increase Carbon Emissions

Germany has ambitious plans for both electric cars and renewable energy. But it can’t deliver both. As things stand, Germany’s well-meaning but contradictory ambitions would actually boost emissions by an amount comparable with the present-day emissions of the entire country of Uruguay or the state of Montana.

In an analysis published in Nature, my colleague Harry Hoster and I have looked at how Germany’s electricity and transport policies are intertwined. They each serve the noble goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Yet, when combined, they might actually lead to increased emissions.

We investigated what it would take for Germany to keep to its announcements and fully electrify its road transportation -- and what that would mean for emissions. Our research shows that you can’t simply erase fossil fuels from both energy and transport in one go, as Germany may be about to find out.

The Sacramento Bee: Wrong Statements by Lawmaker on Solar Energy Stir Backlash

The third-ranking Republican in the Indiana Senate wrongly said that a financial incentive for installing solar panels would likely disappear unless lawmakers supported his bill to revamp the benefit.

At least one lawmaker said that inaccurate testimony by Sen. Brandt Hershman during a recent Statehouse hearing led him to back the proposal. The bill would sharply curtail the benefit that homeowners, churches, businesses and schools now reap by harnessing the sun's energy.

Hershman, of Lafayette, painted a dire picture when he promoted the bill. He inaccurately stated that without changes included in his measure, everyone who currently benefits from a state "net metering" program would be kicked off once a cap was met.

BBC: Most Wood Energy Schemes Are a 'Disaster' for Climate Change

Using wood pellets to generate low-carbon electricity is a flawed policy that is speeding up, not slowing down, climate warming. That's according to a new study which says wood is not carbon-neutral and emissions from pellets are higher than coal.

Subsidies for biomass should be immediately reviewed, the author says. But the industry rejected the report, saying that wood energy cuts carbon significantly compared to fossil fuels.

The Guardian: How Drones Are Helping Design the Solar Power Plants of the Future

At the edge of a plot of muddy farmland, a few miles down the road from the University of California at Davis, an engineer takes a few quick steps across crop rows and lets go of a three-foot drone. Within seconds, the device -- which weighs less than 2 lbs. and carries a powerful camera -- ascends hundreds of feet into the cold, clear, blue sky and begins to snap detailed photos of the ground far below, including a long row of large solar panels mounted on steel poles.

This flight is just a test, demonstrated by Kingsley Chen, the drone fleet coordinator for SunPower at the solar company’s research and development center, which is under construction and about a two-hour drive northeast of the San Francisco Bay Area. The drone will enable SunPower to survey a wide region and help design a solar power farm that can fit more solar panels on a piece of land, more quickly and for lower costs than it previously could.

Street Insider: Goldman Sachs Downgrades Tesla Motors to Sell

Goldman Sachs downgraded Tesla Motors from Neutral to Sell with a price target of $185.00 (from $190.00).

Analyst David Tamberrino comments, "While we believe Tesla currently has a lead relative to OEM peers with respect to vehicle technology adoption, electric vehicle architecture, and (potentially) battery scale, our concerns are more near-term oriented with respect to operational execution on the Model 3 launch, an unproven solar business, and cash needs. Ultimately we see a delayed launch (pushing volume growth out and to the right) and FCF burn rate (necessitating a capital raise before 4Q17) to weigh on TSLA’s shares."