Sydney Morning Herald: Greenland Ice Sheet Melting Has Started Early

In a year of startling data pointing to a warming world, the thin blue line in the chart below of Greenland's ice melt was initially dismissed as just too outlandish to be accurate. Greenland is home to the world's second-largest ice mass, containing enough water to lift average sea levels about 7 meters if it all melted.

So in early April, signs that the giant ice sheets were melting at least a month earlier than typical during the three-decades-plus of reliable records stunned scientists at the Danish Meteorological Institute.

Automotive News: Warranty Costs Reflect Tesla's Struggle With Quality

Tesla Motors Inc. CEO Elon Musk has told investors his electric-car company will stop burning cash and turn a profit this year, and corralling costs associated with quality problems will be critical to making good on that pledge.

While Tesla has trimmed its average warranty repair cost per premium electric vehicle since 2014, it still spends more than twice as much as General Motors and Ford Motor Co., according to a Reuters analysis of company data.

Intel News: German Nuclear Plant Found to Be Infected With Computer Viruses

The computers of a nuclear power plant in southern Germany have been found to be infected with computer viruses that are designed to steal files and provide attackers with remote control of the system. The power plant, known as Gundremmingen, is located in Germany’s southern district of Günzburg, about 75 miles northwest of the city of Munich. The facility is owned and operated by RWE AG, Germany’s second-largest electricity producer, which is based in Essen, North Rhine-Westphalia. The company provides energy to over 30 million customers throughout Europe.

Wall Street Journal: How Driverless Cars Could End Up Harming the Environment

The hype around self-driving cars is firing on all cylinders. Apple is reportedly building one. Elon Musk claims Teslas will be driverless in two years. Google just announced a coalition with taxi-hailing app services and automakers to steer the regulations needed for mass penetration of self-driving cars.

But it may not be all good news: There may be cons from an environmental standpoint, and the net impact of driverless cars is ambiguous.

PVTech: Solar Referendum Plan Withdrawn From Arizona Legislature

A ceasefire between SolarCity and Arizona’s biggest utility, Arizona Public Service Co. (APS), has resulted in a new deal announced Thursday that means a proposal for a referendum to ask voters about how to treat solar has been withdrawn. Instead, the two sides agreed to mediate over how solar customers are compensated for the power they produce.

Solar-leasing companies were allegedly seeking to amend the state constitution to benefit their business model, with lawmakers attempting to force changes that arguably would have harmed the solar companies. Either approach would have resulted in mitigating the authority of the Arizona Corporation Commission ruling on such matters.