Kompulsa: SpaceX Announces Hyperloop Pod Competition

The SpaceX Hyperloop Pod Competition has been announced for independent engineering teams, as well as student teams interested in building their own Hyperloop transit pods, and a 4- to 5-foot test track for them is being constructed. The contest will be conducted in two phases. In the first phase (Design Weekend), teams will submit their designs to Tesla and SpaceX judges.

The second and last phase will be the moment of truth -- the construction of their Hyperloop pod designs. In 2016, the pod designs will be tested on a 1-mile track now under construction at SpaceX’s headquarters in Hawthorne, California.

Guardian: Exxon Knew of Climate Change in 1981, Email Says

ExxonMobil, the world’s biggest oil company, knew as early as 1981 of climate change -- seven years before it became a public issue, according to a newly discovered email from one of the firm’s own scientists. Despite this, the firm spent millions over the next 27 years to promote climate denial.

The email from Exxon’s in-house climate expert provides evidence the company was aware of the connection between fossil fuels and climate change, and the potential for carbon-cutting regulations that could hurt its bottom line, over a generation ago.

Bloomberg: Dynegy’s Flexon Sees Eventual Exit From California Market

Dynegy Inc. will eventually divest from renewable-focused California and pump investment into New England and the mid-Atlantic states because the power markets there are friendlier to producers, CEO Robert Flexon said.

A glut of solar energy has crimped prices in the California market, driving them below zero at some on-peak times. Generators in the state have complained that fossil-fuel plants struggle to make money because of the market design and asked for some sort of additional payments.

U.S. News & World Report: Clean Power Plan Unaffected by Supreme Court, Says EPA Chief

The Supreme Court's decision to block a key clean air regulation last week "will not affect" the Obama administration's proposed capstone plan to rein in carbon emissions from power plants, Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Gina McCarthy said Tuesday.

"The EPA is still committed to finalizing the Clean Power Plan, so making a connection between the Mercury Air Toxics Standards and the Clean Power Plan is comparing apples and oranges," McCarthy said during an event in Washington hosted by the Christian Science Monitor. "Last week's ruling will not affect our efforts."

Motherboard: Guess Who Most Accurately Predicted the Clean Energy Market Boom

A widely circulated report from the Meister Consultants Group shows that just about no one saw it coming. The world’s biggest energy agencies, financial institutions, and fossil-fuel companies, for the most part, seriously underestimated just how fast the clean power sector could and would grow.

Meister identifies one group that got the market scenario closest to right, however, and it wasn’t the International Energy Agency or Goldman Sachs or the DOE. It was Greenpeace.