Electricity from sunlight costs less, a hopeful sign for developing nations building out their power grids. From a report: In a dusty northwest India desert dotted with cows and the occasional camel, a solar-power plant is producing some of the world’s cheapest energy. Built in 2018 by India’s Acme Solar Holdings, it can generate 200 megawatts of electricity, enough to power…
Tag: subsidies
Luxembourg Wants to Solve Congestion With Free Public Transport
Starting in March 2020, public transport in Luxembourg will be free of charge. Primarily a social measure, this policy will also be implemented to decrease congestion in the capital region. From a report: Luxembourg’s public transportation system is already heavily subsidized as fares in the country are as low as $2.2 per two hours. Even so, the country has the highest…
Is Big Tech Turning New York City Into America’s Second Silicon Valley?
When Facebook decided it wanted to move 6,000 workers into Hudson Yards in New York, “existing tenants were told to move,” reports the New York Times, as “part of a rush by the West Coast technology giants to expand in New York City.” The growth in New York is occurring largely without major economic incentives from the city and state governments….
Tech Startups Face New Investor Mandate: Profits Over Discounts
The discounts and freebies many tech startups have used to lure customers– free lunch delivery, $3 beauty products and bargain taxi rides — have fallen out of favor with investors who are losing patience with the failure of these companies to turn a profit. From a report: The proliferation of subsidized products and services from venture-capital-backed startups over the past decade…
India’s Ominous Future: Too Little Water, or Far Too Much
Throughout India, the number of days with very heavy rains has increased over the last century. At the same time, the dry spells between storms have gotten longer. Showers that reliably penetrate the soil are less common. For a country that relies on rain for the vast share of its water, that combination is potentially ruinous. The New York Times reports:…
Why the Electric-Car Revolution May Take a Lot Longer Than Expected
New submitter magzteel shares a report from MIT Technology Review: A new report from the MIT Energy Initiative warns that EVs may never reach the same sticker price so long as they rely on lithium-ion batteries, the energy storage technology that powers most of today’s consumer electronics. In fact, it’s likely to take another decade just to eliminate the difference in…
FCC Bars Huawei, ZTE From Billions in Federal Subsidies
The US Federal Communications Commission on Friday voted to bar use of its $8.5 billion a year Universal Service Fund to purchase equipment and services from Huawei and ZTE. The government fund is used by multiple programs to subsidize US broadband deployment and services. From a report: In a unanimous vote during its November open meeting, the FCC approved an order…
How Lax Oversight Of Electronic Health Records Puts Patients At Risk
Plans to ensure patient safety as the nation transitioned to electronic health records have yet to come to fruition a decade later, according to a new report. From an investigation: In fall 2009, several dozen of the best minds in health information technology huddled at a hotel outside Washington, D.C., to discuss potential dangers of an Obama White House plan to…
More Than 11,000 Scientists From Around the World Declare a ‘Climate Emergency’
An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Guardian: The world’s people face “untold suffering due to the climate crisis” unless there are major transformations to global society, according to a stark warning from more than 11,000 scientists. “We declare clearly and unequivocally that planet Earth is facing a climate emergency,” it states. “To secure a sustainable future, we must change…
German Government Expands Subsidies For Electric Cars
The German government and car industry have agreed to increase joint subsidies for the purchase of electric cars on the same day automobile giant Volkswagen began production of a new all-electric vehicle. From a report: The agreement between the government and the automobile industry was reached following a Monday evening “car summit” aimed at fostering the mass production of cleaner transportation….