Guardian: EU Green Transport Target 'May Have Increased Greenhouse Gas Emissions'

European Union renewable energy targets may have increased greenhouse gas emissions, because the dirtiest biofuels produce three times the emissions of diesel oil, according to the most complete EU analysis yet carried out.

Biodiesel made from palm oil emits more than three times as much and soybean oil around twice as much, when the crops’ effects on land use are considered, the research by the Ecofys consultancy for the European Commission found.

Europe’s aim of sourcing 10% of its transport fuel to “renewables” by 2020 -- mostly biodiesel -- will foster crop cultivation on 6.7M hectares of forests and grasslands, the paper says. When the loss of trees is factored in, such "first-generation biofuels" would generate around nearly 1B tonnes of CO2 equivalent.

Business Insider: Tesla's Model 3 Could Totally Fail -- and Here's Why It Wouldn't Matter

Tesla has created three vehicles in its short history -- the Roadster, the Model S, and the Model X.

But it's assumed that none will be more important than the mass-market Model 3, being revealed this month and scheduled to hit the streets in 2017.

It has to succeed, right? Well, no. It could be a catastrophe. But that wouldn't necessarily spell the end for Tesla.

Washington Examiner: Trump Blasts EPA for Decimating Ohio's Coal Industry

Republican front-runner Donald Trump on Saturday called the Environmental Protection Agency on Saturday a "complete disaster" that is unfairly targeting Ohio's coal and steel industries.

Trump was speaking from a rally in Dayton, Ohio, ahead of a presidential primary election on Tuesday.

"They are a complete disaster; we are going to change things around," Trump said.

Telesur: Brazil Creates Floating Solar Panels to Correct Past Mistakes

Engineers in Brazil have developed a system of floating solar panels for a part of the Amazon that was flooded and destroyed by a hydroelectric dam project in the 1980s.

The solar panels are an attempt to transform the artificial lake into a sustainable project after the Balbina dam flooded the region in 1989, in what has been considered an “environmental crime.”

The construction of the dam inundated some 2,400 square kilometers of Amazon rainforest at a high cost, which in the end had very little electricity generation capacity.

Reuters: China's Electric Car Sales to Double in 2016, Says Minister

China's production and sale of electric cars will more than double this year, the industry minister said on Sunday.

More than 300,000 electric cars were sold in China last year, Miao Wei, the head of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology told reporters on the sidelines of the annual meeting of parliament on Sunday.

The reliability, mileage and lifespan of electric batteries needs improvement, and China needs to speed up the installation of electric-car charging stations, Miao said.