Google to Reach 100% Clean Energy in 2017; Deforestation Rises in Brazilian Amazon
An aerial view of deforestation in Brazil’s Acre state. February 2013.
Credit: Kate Evans for Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR).
Bloomberg (12/6) said Google expects to run its company, including offices and 13 data centers, entirely with wind and solar power by 2017.
The Washington Post (12/2) reported the Brazilian Amazon has experienced the highest rate of deforestation since 2008, losing 8,000 square kilometers of forest from August 2015 through July 2016, according to Brazil’s National Institute for Space Research.
The Guardian (12/2) said Myanmar’s government is working with private companies to bring electricity to the entire country by 2030, using off-grid renewable energy to reach many rural villages. As of 2014, only 16 percent of rural households had an electricity connection.
Thomson Reuters Foundation (12/5) said youth organizations in Cameroon are teaching people to turn human waste into biogas energy, providing an affordable, clean and reliable source of energy to growing populations in Buea and Bamenda.
BBC (11/30) said a new European Commission plan, if approved, would cut energy use across the bloc 30 percent by 2030 via measures to cut energy waste, increase energy efficiency and better integrate renewable energy into the power grid. It would also introduce new incentives for smart metering and empower more consumers to produce and sell electricity.
