As the nation heads toward a Donald Trump presidency, environmental advocates and their political allies are grappling with a presence set to loom large in the nation’s policymaking. It’s a set of viewpoints that had been teetering on the edge of irrelevance under President Obama: the resurgent climate denial movement.
Over the last month, that viewpoint not only rushed back into the mainstream, but it now threatens to dominate Trump’s cabinet. He has filled his transition team and top energy and environment posts (among others) with a litany of climate science denialists who oppose government action on global warming, including former Texas Gov. Rick Perry (Department of Energy), Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt (Environmental Protection Agency), and Montana Rep. Ryan Zinke (Department of Interior).
The Washington Post: The U.S. Solar Industry Is Booming — and It Isn’t Afraid of Trump
The U.S. solar industry experienced its biggest boom yet this year, with a record-breaking 4,143 megawatts (or million watts) of solar generating capacity added in the third quarter of 2016, according to a new report. And the fourth quarter is on track to surpass it, with continued growth expected through the rest of the decade.
The optimistic new report, published by the Solar Energy Industries Association and market analysis firm GTM Research, comes at a time of mounting uncertainty for the future of renewable energy and environmental policy in the United States. President-elect Donald Trump has recently sparked major concern about among environmentalists with his nominations for heads of the federal energy and environment agencies.
Leading German energy group Innogy is combining its activities relating to electric vehicles into a new unit, seeking to benefit from renewed efforts by global carmakers to increase sales. With about 5,300 charging points in over 20 countries, Innogy already operates one of the largest such networks for electric vehicles in Europe.
The new unit, eMobility, will launch at the start of January and be headed by Elke Temme, who will report to Martin Herrmann, board member in charge of Innogy’s retail operations, the company said on Wednesday.
Scientific American: Trump Energy Pick Perry Pushed to Store Nuclear Waste in His Own State
Rick Perry, President-elect Donald Trump’s apparent choice to become U.S. Department of Energy secretary, was known for backing oil and gas development during his 14 years as Texas governor. But Perry also championed efforts to have his state store nuclear waste — an issue that will likely occupy a big part of his agenda if he is nominated and confirmed.
The department — which Perry as a 2012 presidential candidate promised to abolish, although he famously forgot its name during a debate — is charged with the politically volatile process of developing an underground repository for highly radioactive spent fuel from commercial power plants at Nevada’s Yucca Mountain, 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas.
Forget buttons; forget touchscreens. In the future we’ll just wave our hands inside the car and stuff will happen. At least that’s the idea behind BMW’s HoloActive Touch, a concept interior that uses a free-floating projection that interacts like a physical touchscreen. BMW will show the system to the public at CES 2017 in Las Vegas.
The idea is similar to a head-up display, in that a reflection makes an image appear to float in midair. With HoloActive Touch, a control pad appears next to the steering wheel on the center console and can be configured to perform various functions. A camera tracks the position of the driver’s fingertips. So you pretend to push a virtual button, and the system beeps in confirmation.
Source:greentechmedia
