Electrek: Apple Hires Former Tesla VP of Vehicle Engineering

Electrek...has exclusively discovered and confirmed that Apple hired former Tesla Vice President of Vehicle Engineering and former Aston Martin Chief Engineer, Chris Porritt, to work on “special projects”, and we know that “special projects” is where Apple’s Titan car project lives.

Coincidentally (or not), a recent report claimed that Steve Zadesky, the Apple executive believed to be leading Project Titan, left the company earlier this year.

If Zadesky indeed left the company, it would make newly hired Porritt Apple’s most senior “car guy” and a likely candidate to lead the Cupertino company’s electric car initiative. While his expertise could be useful in plenty of hardware engineering roles, he had a focus on vehicle dynamics, vehicle architecture and vehicle packaging throughout his long career.

CoinDesk: New York's 'Energy Czar' Talks Future of Blockchain for Energy Grids

The state of New York is working to rebuild its power grid as a distributed platform and to create incentives for the powerful utilities companies to work with upstart innovators.

An unanticipated side-effect of the effort is that the environment has proved a fertile stomping ground for LO3, a startup using the Ethereum blockchain to give people the ability to sell solar energy directly to one another.

While the state’s so-called "energy czar" Richard Kauffman said the government projects don’t intentionally foster an environment beneficial to blockchain tech, the inefficiencies of the legacy power grid are particularly ripe for disruption.

KTLA: Another Leak Reported at SoCal Gas’ Aliso Canyon Natural Gas Field

Another aging natural gas well at the Aliso Canyon storage field above Porter Ranch was found to have a leak over the weekend.

Southern California Gas Co., which spent months working to shut down a leaking well that prompted thousands of residents to relocate, told customers about the leak in a brief email.

A third-party company operates the well, said SoCal Gas, which provided a link to an incident report from the California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services.

Inside Energy: Wind Turbine Technician Is the Country's Fastest-Growing Profession

Data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics ranks wind turbine technician as the country’s fastest-growing profession. These technicians scale the tall white towers in hard hats and climbing gear, making sure those power-generating blades are spinning just right.

“I look forward to climbing up 300 feet and working on something that’s critical,” said John Crothers, who is studying to be a turbine tech at the Ecotech Institute, a technical college in Aurora, Colorado.

The number of wind turbine tech jobs is going to double in the next eight years. But the real numbers behind that are modest, jumping from 4,400 jobs to 9,200 by 2024.

The Hill: Senate Revives Its Energy Reform Bill

The Senate resumed debating its energy reform package on Tuesday afternoon after it stalled months ago amid a debate over aid for Flint, Mich., a city that has been suffering from lead contamination in its drinking water.

The bill, which would be the first major energy reform law since 2007, includes a host of policy changes aimed at updating federal policies. It touches on issues such as electric grid modernization, energy efficiency upgrades and natural gas exports, although it avoids the most controversial Democratic or Republican proposals.