SoftBank's massive Vision Fund bets on Swiss startup that's using concrete blocks as batteries
SoftBank Group Corp.'s massive Vision Fund is making its first-ever energy storage bet — and it's on a rather unconventional type of battery. The fund is investing $110 million in Energy Vault, a Swiss startup that's using cranes and concrete to store energy. An electric ...
Huge Pakistan mine shows the power of coal
In the flat scrubland of Pakistan's scorching Thar Desert, hundreds of workers have been toiling for two years in the vast open pit of the Sindh Engro Coal Mining Co. Taking three-hour breaks during the hottest part of the day and living in a ...
The future of Japan's energy and environmental policies
This is the fifth and final article in a series of reports about Japan's energy policy. In the first four parts of this series, I mainly outlined the current state and challenges facing the supply side of energy. But reflecting the growing popularity of the ...
Think the European heatwave was bad? Climate already hitting key tipping points
"Shall we all just kill ourselves?" It was an odd title for a comedy night, but British stand-up Carl Donnelly has chosen an environmental theme with impeccable timing. With temperature records tumbling daily in last week's European heat wave, a crowd in an east London bar ...
Building toward large-scale use of renewable energy in Japan
The Paris agreement has accelerated worldwide momentum for strengthening global warming countermeasures. As most greenhouse gas emissions come from energy consumption, key measures to check global warming are saving energy through efficient use and transitioning to low carbon energy. For example, better fuel efficiency would ...
Japan's energy policies at a critical juncture
Japan's energy policies are at a big turning point. Due to the unforeseeable future of the energy business, utility companies have yet to embark on drastic reform. Despite the fact that irreversible, inevitable and diverse social change is underway simultaneously, the government has been ...
The U.K. offshore wind industry is to get a £100 million ($127 million) fund to spur growth in the next decade. The Offshore Wind Industry Council, run by government and industry, will invest in companies along the whole supply chain and support companies wanting to ...
Trump's coal-rich U.N. choice to step back from some climate talks
President Donald Trump's pick for ambassador to the United Nations promised Wednesday to allow climate diplomacy to move forward despite her family's fortune in coal. Kelly Craft, at a Senate hearing to confirm her for the high-profile post that has been vacant for nearly half ...
Japan to partially end feed-in tariff system for electricity from renewable sources
Japan's industry ministry plans to partially end the country's feed-in tariff program, under which electricity produced by businesses and others from renewable energy sources — such as from solar and wind — is bought by power suppliers at fixed rates, it has been learned. To ...
Nissin to use eco-friendly plant-based plastics for instant noodle cups
Nissin Food Products Co. said Tuesday that in December it will start to use eco-friendly plant-based plastics for packaging for its mainstay Cup Noodle instant ramen products. The company plans to complete the shift by the end of March 2022. Nissin aims to raise the proportion ...
The government should shake itself free from lobby groups and establish the nation as a world leader in the shift toward renewables
In energy fight in Ohio, billionaire Koch and environmentalists are on the same side
The Sierra Club and billionaire Charles Koch have found at least one thing to agree on: They hate Ohio's plan to take away renewable power subsidies and give them to coal and nuclear plants. The pair, normally at odds over energy issues, have both found ...
