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The Charging Station - Issue No.5
Hi friends,
Thinking of our community in CA this week with fires raging across the state and the resulting blackouts. Let’s get to this week’s most interesting energy news.
Data-Driven
21% - the total increase in carbon emissions if all of Britain shifted to organic food production. The rise comes mostly due to the increase in land needed to produce the same yield. (MIT Technology Review)
$78/MWh - the average cost of offshore wind according to BNEF, down 32% from 2018 and 12% from the first 6 months of 2019. (Recharge News)
Bonus: 40% of power in the UK is now renewable in large part due to more offshore wind coming online.
2 - The second climate change trial in history kicked off on Tuesday. New York's attorney general brought the suit, which alleges that Exxon misrepresented how carbon regulation would affect the company's financial outlook. (NPR)
This will be particularly interesting if it gets to the federal level. Will the SEC set strong regulations around calculating risk due to climate or around carbon/renewables accounting?
Our Latest Post
Oil & Gas is Dead, Long-live Oil & Gas - Funding the energy transition is a multi-trillion dollar problem, should we celebrate the small wins provided by big oil & gas to encourage continued investment, or chastise them for not doing enough?
Previous post: PG&E’s Shutoff: How did we get here and where do we go in the future?
Deep Dives
Two Women Joined GM More Than a Decade Ago. Their Futures Couldn’t Be More Different - Tentative labor deal aside, the transition to electric and autonomous vehicles is leaving a generation of workers behind. (Bloomberg)
Inside James Dyson’s Costly Decision to Kill His Electric Car -Dyson’s inability to produce a profitable automobile speaks volumes about the current perilous state of the electric vehicle industry, in which companies like Tesla and Chinese startup Nio are burning through billions of dollars with no sign of black ink on the horizon. (Fortune)
Switched Off
This Week’s Non-Energy Related Read
Personal note: Hong Kong is my absolute favorite city in the world. It’s vibrant, there’s something for everyone, and it was the first city I ever traveled to outside of the US. I’ve been watching the protests closely and this “60” Minutes piece is so well done.
What keeps the months-long, massive Hong Kong protests going? - Hong Kong is famous for its freewheeling capitalism. After 150 years as a British colony, the city returned to Chinese control in 1997. China promised Hong Kong partial autonomy for 50 years - with an independent legal system, and freedom of speech guaranteed. But many Hong Kongers believe the Chinese government is now chipping away at those limited freedoms, so they're demanding full democracy: the right to elect their own leaders, without interference from Beijing.
This newsletter is our side-hustle. We hope it equips you with data and insights on the energy sector to inform your decision-making process in the best way possible. If you have feedback, let us know!
Enjoy the rest of your weekend!
The Charging Station
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