Los Angeles Times: Tesla Quality Problems Could Signal Challenges With Model X and Model 3

Consumer Reports withdrew its recommendation for the Tesla Model S -- a car the magazine previously raved about -- because of poor reliability for the $100,000 electric sport sedan.

The turnabout comes after the influential consumer magazine handed the luxury car a “worse-than-average” rating in its annual report on the predicted reliability of new vehicles issued Tuesday.

The news sent Tesla Motors stock plunging as much as 10% before recovering to close off 7% at $213.03 Tuesday.

PV Magazine: Renewables Brought Down Wholesale Cost of Electricity by £1.5B

The increased role of wind and solar power in the U.K. energy mix has served to lower wholesale electricity prices by more than the overall net cost of subsidizing clean energy, a new report by independent energy company Good Energy has found.

According to the Good Energy report, which has been rubber-stamped by experts at the University of Sheffield, the wholesale cost of electricity in the U.K. in 2014 was lowered by £1.55 billion (USD $2.4 billion) thanks to the growing presence of solar PV and wind power feeding the grid.

BBC: U.N. Scientist Jacquie McGlade Criticizes U.K. Over Renewables

Cuts in support for renewable energy in the U.K. have been criticized by the U.N.'s chief environment scientist. Prof. Jacquie McGlade said the U.K. is shifting away from clean energy as the rest of the world rushes toward it.

She said the cuts in renewables subsidies, coupled with tax breaks for oil and gas, sent a worrying signal to the coming U.N. climate summit in Paris. The U.K. government says it will meet its targets on carbon emissions in the most cost-effective way.

UPI: Researchers Want Oil and Gas Drillers to Adopt Geothermal Technology

Researchers at the University of North Dakota believe geothermal energy production should be a significant part of America's future energy portfolio.

But to get the industry off the ground, proponents are looking to an industry not normally associated with renewable energy -- gas and oil drillers.

"Oil- and gas-producing sedimentary basins in Colorado, Illinois, Michigan and North Dakota contain formation waters of a temperature that is adequate for geothermal power production," researchers wrote in their new study on the subject, published this month in the journal Geosphere.

ClimateWire: Coal Trumps Solar in India

One year ago, environmentalists hailed one tiny village as the future of clean energy in rural India. Today, it is powered by coal.

Dharnai, a community of about 3,200 people in eastern India’s Bihar state, had been without electricity for three decades. So when activists with Greenpeace set up a solar-powered microgrid in July 2014, the excitement was palpable. But, residents said, the problems started almost immediately.

When the former chief minister of Bihar state visited to inaugurate the grid, villagers lined up to protest, chanting, “We want real electricity, not fake electricity!”

By “real,” they meant power from the central grid, generated mostly using coal. By “fake,” they meant solar.