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OK, so I was going to spend some time talking about the G20...   I mean, obviously it is important and there was some intense Energy going on in the streets of Hamburg these past few daysBut there was also a lot of unproductive things that happened, such as the burning of resident's cars. I have a good friend from Hamburg and was disappointed to hear his parents left the city for the weekend due to the protests.And while the first article in the Politics section this week draws some more direct connections between the G20 and Energy, how could anything be more important than this:China just built a solar power array that looks like a panda (Vox)Right, so that is an artistic rendering of a solar power plant in China made in the shape of a Panda, but there's a picture of the real deal in the article above (thanks Snopes!). Naturally, the name of the company is Panda Green Energy.&#160;Actually, my friend from Hamburg loves pandas, so I wrote this for him! Hope everything soon returns to "normal", whatever that means these days.&#160;Enjoy this weeks Update everyone!EventsDubai to host conference on sustainability, green energy technologies (IANS)For more about WETEX see its official websiteFinanceRenewable energy has moved ahead of thermal power sector: India Ratings (India Times)GE closes Baker Hughes deal, becomes No. 2 oilfield service provider (Reuters)Low gas, renewables prices spur Idaho Power to phase out most coal generation (UtilityDive)Cash-strapped Venezuela offers India's ONGC oil stake (Reuters)GridTesla to build world's biggest lithium ion battery in South Australia (Guardian)India's outdated electricity grid needs major upgrade (IANS)ReneSola Connects 180 MW of Distributed Generation Projects in China (EnergyTrends)LaborThe future of HR in oil and gas (McKinsey)One of the primary  themes McKinsey sees as driving HR in the oil and gas sector is managing for value and energy, which sounds like typical corporate chatter and is defined as "the idea that each employee creates ever more business value with more automation and digital tools at his/her disposal, leading to increasing returns on investment in personalized development and support for top performers to get the most out of their efforts."Transnet suspends operations in Richards Bay after community protests (ANA)Siemens inaugurates first digitalized factory in India (India Times)PipelineAlberta regulators charge Nexen Energy over 2015 pipeline spill (Reuters)Gas pipeline explosion kills 5, injures 89 in northeast China (Xinhua)Canada's new pipeline parts rules to lessen burden on operators (Reuters)Anti-ONGC stir continues in TN; no pipeline crack, says DC (India Times)PoliticsG20 public finance for fossil fuels 'is four times more than renewables' (Guardian)While these numbers are alarming, it should be noted that state-owned enterprises (SOEs) are not included in the analysis provided in the report. SOEs in China and India are investing massive amounts of money and expertise into renewables. Of course, SOEs around the world also invest 286 billion USD into fossil fuels, which, as the report notes, is four times as much money as the public finance discussed in the report. You can download it hereVietnam renews India oil deal in tense South China Sea (Reuters)The media has primarily focused on China's construction of military bases on tiny atolls in the South China Sea but these tensions are also about that access to and the transport of energy resources in the region.Power supplies hit in Hamas-run Gaza Strip as rivals 'stop' payments (AFP)Nigeria cabinet approves national gas policy (Reuters)Delhi Lt Governor for enhancing capacity of waste-to-energy plants (India Times)Tanzania passes laws on renegotiation of mining, gas contracts (Reuters)U.S. Energy Department helping power firms defend against cyber attacks (Reuters)Russians Are Suspects in Nuclear Site Hackings, Sources Say (Bloomberg)The hacking of US power plants has been persistently in the news for the past week.U.S. to speed approval for oil, gas exploration on federal land (Reuters)Court rejects Trump administration move to delay methane regulation (Reuters)TechnologyResearchers develop small device to detect spills (Energy Voice)TransportIs inequality bad for the environment? (Guardian)This is a very general article about the relationship between inequality and environmental degradation, but there are two specific cases of car and air traffic that are relevant to this section. The evidence is mounting that environmental issues cannot be resolved without simultaneously engaging with political economy. I am sure many on the listserve have rightfully been making similar arguments for years! Hopefully more people will start listening.What Happens When Carpooling Laws Suddenly Change? Chaos! (IEEE)It was a big week for Transportation news. For the scholarly article published in Science discussed in this piece see hereDriving under the influence in car powered by whisky biofuel (Reuters)This of course is one way to use draff and pot ale, but as any good brewer or distiller knows these also make great fertilizer and draff can still be used to make bread.Volvo, Betting on Electric, Moves to Phase Out Conventional Engines (New York Times)Hamburg Is Ready to Fill Up With Hydrogen. Customers Aren’t So Sure. (New York Times)When Will Electric Cars Go Mainstream? It May Be Sooner Than You Think (New York Times)Great that NYT has published this as the Bloomberg piece much of the data comes from tries to collect your personal information. Lots of excellent Energy News from NYT this week.Tesla Model 3 to Begin Production This Week, Says Elon Musk (BizVibe)And naturally he just posted pictures of the first production roll out of the Model 3 on twitterFrance to ban sales of petrol and diesel cars by 2040 (Guardian)China’s electric-vehicle market plugs in (McKinsey)BiofuelsFrance to restrict use of palm oil in biofuels (Reuters)Government to push for cut in bio-diesel tax with GST Council (IANS)Indonesia palm oil group worries EU nations will follow French restriction (Reuters)U.S. proposes cutting total biofuels requirements in 2018 (Reuters)CoalCutting China’s redundant coal power capacity would provide enough water for 27 million people in water stressed areas (Greenpeace)For a copy of the full report see hereIndian utility bets $10 billion on coal power despite surplus, green concerns (Reuters)Perry says coal-fired power plants important in US future (AP)This level of competence could only come from  "Commerce, Education and the ugh...what's the third one there let me see...oops" Rick Perry.Coal markets brace for China reaction after prices near 600 yuan threshold (Reuters)China backs hundreds of global coal power projects (AFP)Proposed law may undermine Russian coal exports (Reuters)GasPoland says more U.S. LNG supply depends on Washington (Reuters)Qatar to Ramp Up Gas Production Amid Feud With Arab Neighbors (New York Times)Gazprom to start gas supplies to China via Siberia in December 2019 (Reuters)Bangladesh LNG drive likely to hit its diesel, fuel oil demand (Reuters)Hungary joins Gazprom pipeline, as Trump touts U.S. LNG (Reuters)GeothermalAlphabet lab turns out new geothermal company for residential heating and cooling (UtilityDive)Geothermal doesn't show up very often in the media (if you know of any geothermal media sites, please send my way), but the fact that this is coming out of Alphabet seems fairly significant. You can see the original blog post about Dandelion hereHydropowerIn drastic move, China's top hydropower plants slash capacity (Reuters)Pakistan's Indus Cascade - a disaster in the making (IANS)Bill in Congress seeks to preserve the Snake River dams (AP)NuclearEDF's Fessenheim 2 nuclear reactor restart delayed until Jan 2018 (Reuters)Renewable energy surges past nuclear for 1st time in decades (AP)PetroleumOil Exports, Illegal for Decades, Now Fuel a Texas Port Boom (New York Times)Pakistan orders Shell subsidiary to pay $2.4 million for tanker blast (Reuters)76,000 liter oil spill after CN rail car derails in Illinois; cleanup expected to take days (Global News)Oddly, this spill happened last Friday, but it was not reported until the following Monday...French doctor convicted of perjury over ties to oil firm Total (Reuters)European Union-Norway crab row could fuel oil tensions in Arctic (AFP)Nigeria parliament inquiry calls ex-president Jonathan over oil block sale scandal (Reuters)Nigeria Delta Communities Demand Stake in Ex-Shell Oil Block (Bloomberg)A lot of big news in Nigeria this week, see also the note about a shift to gas exploration in the Policy section.Petrobras teams up with CNPC to finish Comperj unit (Reuters)Low oil price hurts Norway's economic case for northern drilling (Reuters)SolarRooftop Solar Dims Under Pressure From Utility Lobbyists (New York Times)Google to power Dutch data center with solar energy (Reuters)Solar Farm Brings New Use to Abandoned Nuclear Power Plant Site (EnergyTrend)When I was an undergrad at UW-Seattle we toured the Hanford Site in Central Washington as part of an Environmental Studies course about Energy Resources. At that time Hanford was covered in solar panels. I wonder what it looks like now.WindSiemens Gamesa to supply 94 wind turbines to the Netherlands (AFP)Brazil wind, solar projects stall as power demand remains sluggish (Reuters)Google to start getting Norwegian wind power by September (Reuters)Seabird tracking data could be used to assess impact of offshore wind farms (Energy Voice)Apologies, as this news article could be behind a paywall for some readers. It is worth noting that the scholarly the author uses to support basis of their argument has nothing to do with offshore wind power at all. It was published in Ecological Applications and is open access.China's Shenhua says its first offshore wind plant underway (Reuters)