Oregonian: Why SolarCity's University Solar Projects Cost Oregon Taxpayers $12 Million

The massive solar array glinting on a sun-baked hillside behind the Oregon Institute of Technology's Klamath Falls campus isn't made of precious metals.

But for what it cost Oregon taxpayers, it might as well have been.

The developer, SolarCity Corp., reported to the state that the Oregon Tech array was worth $10.3 million.

That's extraordinarily expensive compared to other projects -- either in Oregon or nationally. And for every dollar, Oregon taxpayers are covering half the cost through business energy tax credits given to SolarCity and its investors.

Reuters: Solar Energy Is on the Verge of a 'Global Boom'

One by one, Japan is turning off the lights at the giant oil-fired power plants that propelled it to the ranks of the world's top industrialized nations.

With nuclear power in the doldrums after the Fukushima disaster, it's solar energy that is becoming the alternative.

Japan is now one of the world's four largest markets for solar panels and a large number of power plants are coming onstream, including two giant arrays over water in Kato City and a $1.1 billion solar farm being built on a salt field in Okayama, both west of Osaka.

Washington Post: If Battery Tech Keeps Improving, More Homes Might Go Off the Grid

The batteries that fuel our cars, laptops and lives have rarely, even in an always-on age, been wired to America’s biggest energy users: our homes. Only a few hundred U.S. homeowners -- frustrated by their utility or seeking to go green -- have worked with a small corps of battery makers to reduce their reliance on the national grid.

But improving technology, falling prices and backing from electric-car giant Tesla could soon make the battery-powered home cheaper and easier than ever, challenging the long-held utility model of dependence on outside energy -- and revolutionizing how America flicks on its lights.

New York Times: Donations to the Clinton Foundation, and a Russian Uranium Takeover

The headline in Pravda trumpeted President Vladimir V. Putin’s latest coup, its nationalistic fervor recalling an era when the newspaper served as the official mouthpiece of the Kremlin: “Russian Nuclear Energy Conquers the World.”

The article, in January 2013, detailed how the Russian atomic energy agency, Rosatom, had taken over a Canadian company with uranium-mining stakes stretching from Central Asia to the American West. The deal made Rosatom one of the world’s largest uranium producers and brought Mr. Putin closer to his goal of controlling much of the global uranium supply chain.

As the Russians gradually assumed control of Uranium One in three separate transactions from 2009 to 2013, Canadian records show, a flow of cash made its way to the Clinton Foundation. Uranium One’s chairman used his family foundation to make four donations totaling $2.35 million. Those contributions were not publicly disclosed by the Clintons, despite an agreement Mrs. Clinton had struck with the Obama White House to publicly identify all donors. Other people with ties to the company made donations as well.

TechCrunch: Tesla’s Site and Twitter Account Hacked

The first signs of the hijacking popped up around 1:52 p.m. Pacific, when a tweet from the account declared that it was now under the control of its attackers, and the account’s name was changed from “Tesla Motors” to “#RIPPRGANG”.

A few minutes later, the account began promising free Teslas to those who followed certain accounts or to those who called a certain phone number. A quick search suggests that the number belongs to a computer repair shop in Illinois, and was presumably tweeted out to flood the number’s owner with calls.