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For the next week I will be attending a conference in Venice on labor and precarity in China, so comments will be sparse in this week's update.  But I am sharing some "positive solar energy" from Venice for you all. I think we need some positivity after learning about the very disconcerting news coming from the Larsen C ice shelf this week. Enjoy the update!ArchaeologyUncovering Ancient Clues to Humanity’s First Fires (Sapiens)I don't get enough opportunities to share Public Anthropology of Energy pieces, so very excited to make this our opening topic this week!FinanceCold storage: traders shift oil products out of tanks as short-term demand soars (Reuters)Britain Aggressively Courts $2 Trillion Saudi Aramco Listing (New York Times)The age of 'stranded assets' isn’t just about climate change (Reuters)Plan enables Microsoft to buy more green power (AP)Plenty of Energy+Google news out there, so not surprised to see Microsoft in the mix as wellThe waning power of the petrodollar (Reuters)OPEC oil supply is lost in a fog of data (Reuters)China sets sights on oil benchmark after years of delays (Reuters)PipelinePipelines secured as wildfires rage in western Canada (Reuters)PoliticsGaza electricity crisis: 'It is the worst I can remember – but we expect it to get worse' (Guardian)UK energy network operators face tougher price controls from 2021 (Reuters)Tamil Nadu electricity regulator award blow to Adani Green Energy (India Times)First phase of Saudi Aramco's energy industrial city complete in 2021 (Reuters)Brazil clears Petrobras, advisors of wrongdoing in 2010 share offer (Reuters)Trump administration reduces royalty rates in first U.S. oil, gas lease sale (Reuters)U.S. appeals court voids Exxon enforcement of Venezuela award (Reuters)Delhi set to undergo major power reform to 'empower' tenants (India Times)Transcript of Reuters interview with EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt (Reuters)A bit surprised to see Reuters just publish a full transcript like this, which is not exactly normal practice for them.Germany’s Siemens Says Russian Partner Violated Crimea Sanctions (Reuters)Siemens rethinks some Russian business after turbines moved to Crimea (Reuters)I actually didn't share any news about this last week because it was not clear at the time what was really happening, but it seems that there are some repercussions coming down the line.TechnologyNon-Wires Alternatives: What's up next in utility business model evolution (UtilityDive)Siemens to provide IGBT technology for Indian Railways (India Times)Waste human hair could help clean up oil spills in oceans (India Times)TransportElectric vehicles could lift UK peak power demand by 3.5 GW by 2030 (Reuters)Elon Musk talks cars, and humanity's fate , with governors (AP)China could field nearly half of new electric car models by 2020 (Reuters)BiofuelsMalaysia, Indonesia may take EU plan to curb palm oil imports to WTO (Reuters)CoalCoal mine crackdown dims prospects for Mongolia's fortune seekers (Reuters)High levels of arsenic and lead found in groundwater under a Tennessee coal-fired power plant (AP)Bosnia's 300 MW Gacko power plant back online (Reuters)Coal plan sparks ire as Myanmar struggles to keep lights on (Reuters)HydrogenNuclear to Coal to Hydrogen: Sheldon Station Blazes a Trail (IEEE)The Sheldon Station would make an outstanding historical field site to study energy transition considering how much has changed here in such a short amount of time!HydropowerCongo revamps Inga hydro project in bid to make it economical (Reuters)NuclearFrance must define possible scenarios to reduce nuclear (Reuters)French firm's fresh proposal to NPCIL for Jaitapur nuclear power plant (India Times)Dominion fights to get nuclear in Connecticut power procurement plan (Reuters)U.N. nuclear watchdog to open uranium bank that may have no clients (Reuters)PetroleumNorth Korea fuel prices surge after China cuts oil sales (Reuters)Venezuela oil exports to Cuba drop, energy shortages worsen (Reuters)Syrian army takes more oil fields from Islamic State in Raqqa and eastern desert (Reuters)Drilling for oil in disputed sea may resume this year (Reuters)This message coming right after Vietnam and India announced a joint plant to beginning drilling in the S. China Sea in the past few weeks.Peace at risk in Nigeria's oil heartlands as locals' patience wears thin (Reuters)There are a number of tension-inducing issues taking place around the intersection of Military and Energy this week.Trump administration approves Eni plan to drill offshore Alaska (Reuters)Oil Discoveries Suggest Mexico’s Bet to Open Energy Sector Is Paying Off (New York Times)Shell Pakistan says to pay fine for tanker fire that killed 217 (Reuters)The fine was 257 million rupees or 2.4 million USDExxon Mobil fined for Louisiana refinery explosion that injured four (Reuters)Statoil drills dry wells off Canada's Newfoundland (Reuters)Fire extinguished at Syncrude oil sands plant in Alberta (Reuters)U.N.experts tell Peru to halt oil talks until pollution remedied (Reuters)SolarSwitch it off on eclipse day (Nature)Hopefully this comment is not paywalled: It is a good reminder that on Eclipse Day there will be a significant drop in Solar Energy, so it would be good for us all to reduce our electricity usage during that brief period of the day in August.Hindustan Power to set up 15 solar power projects in Japan of 150 MW (India Times)Solar power really is not dominated by  the old dichotomies of North/South, East/West or even Developed/Undeveloped that "modern" discourses are so accustomed to. We still see Japanese solar projects being developed in India, but there could equally as well be India solar projects developed in Japan!As Zimbabwe’s homes go solar, its businesses lag behind (Reuters)Punjab government aims to convert farmers into power producers (India Times)In power-short Pakistan, switch to solar power hit by rumors (Reuters)ReneSola Awarded 42MW of Solar Projects in Poland's Electricity Auction (EnergyTrends)Land-Use Group Tries to Stop Oregon Solar Farm (AP)WindIn coal-focused Pakistan, a wind power breeze is blowing (Reuters)Interesting that right now in Pakistan solar is dealing with negative rumors while wind is being funded through Sino-Pakistan joint economic development agreementsFrench power giant EDF acquires wind farm projects in UK (AFP)&#160;