Category: News

September 27 2017

Dubai Stages First Public Test of Drone Taxis

Talk about rising above the masses. Dubai staged the first public test of its drone taxi service on Monday, offering a peek at what it might—or will—be like to commute by flying car. The self-piloting, electric Volocopter is less noisy and has a smaller physical and environmental footprint than a traditional helicopter. Offering space for […]

September 27 2017

EasyJet Joins Forces With U.S. Startup to Develop Electric Plane

Thomas Seal EasyJet Plc is working with a U.S. engineering startup to develop a fully electric commercial plane within a decade, the low-cost British airline said Wednesday. Founded last year by a team of engineers and battery chemists, U.S.-based Wright Electric is setting its sights on designing an aircraft that can fly 335 miles. That […]

September 27 2017

New Political Party in Japan Aims to Phase Out Nuclear Power

Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike launched a new national party Wednesday, giving her less than a month to pull together a political force capable of repeating her local election victories over Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on the national stage. Abe announced this week he would call a general election, said to be set for Oct. 22. […]

September 27 2017

Landfill Gas for Dinner? Scientists to Cook Food From Waste

Ann Koh Imagine a world where gas emitted from landfills can be turned into edible protein that ends up on your plate as a burger or a steak. That’s what scientists are hoping for. Calysta Inc. in California and String Bio in the Indian city of Bengaluru are among biotechnology firms that have separately discovered […]

September 27 2017

Dyson to Spend £1 Billion Making ‘Radical’ Electric Car

Jeremy Kahn Dyson Ltd., best-known as a manufacturer of vacuum cleaners, hand driers and air filters, will build an electric car by 2020, founder James Dyson said Tuesday. The company is investing one billion pounds ($1.34 billion) to develop the car, plus the same sum to create solid-state batteries to power it, Dyson said. These […]

September 26 2017

Would Scrapping U.S. Subsidies for Renewable Energy Revive Coal?

Tim Loh If federal subsidies for renewables get phased out, will U.S. coal stage a comeback? In other words, will wind and solar get crowded out? That was the question posed by one industry veteran at the Platts Coal Marketing Days conference in Pittsburgh on Tuesday and here’s how a panel of experts responded: Eric […]

September 26 2017

Elon Musk’s Plan to Girdle Earth With Satellites Hits Turbulence

Elon Musk’s ambitious plan to surround the Earth with thousands of internet-beaming satellites is encountering turbulence from regulators concerned about interference with competing systems. SpaceX, the rocket startup Musk runs, filed for permission for its constellation of refrigerator-sized satellites late last year. Selling broadband from orbit is a key part of how SpaceX plans to make […]

September 26 2017

Citi Says Get Ready for an Oil Squeeze

Those in the oil market fearing a flood of OPEC supply next year will probably be better off preparing for a shortage, according to Citigroup Inc. Five countries in the group — Libya, Nigeria, Venezuela, Iran and Iraq — may already be pumping at their maximum capacity this year, Ed Morse, the bank’s global head […]

September 26 2017

Oil Rally Puts Bulls on Top, But $60-Plus Tough to Sustain

Oil bulls are back in the driver’s seat with $60 a barrel in sight, but it could be a short ride. OPEC and Russia are cutting output deeper than ever, demand is surprisingly strong and the threat of Middle East disruption looms again. Global prices have jumped more than 20 percent since June, with Brent […]

September 26 2017

California Considers Following China With Combustion-Engine Car Ban

The internal combustion engine’s days may be numbered in California, where officials are mulling whether a ban on sales of polluting autos is needed to achieve long-term targets for cleaner air. Governor Jerry Brown has expressed an interest in barring the sale of vehicles powered by internal-combustion engines, Mary Nichols, chairman of the California Air […]