Analysis:
¶ “Myth-busting Germany’s energy transition” Major English-language media have been propagating a false narrative about the stunning success of Germany’s transition to renewable energy: the Energiewende. [SmartPlanet.com]
Economics and Finance:
¶ “How to lose half a trillion euros” European utilities generating with nuclear and coal are under existential threat from solar and wind generation. Coal and nuclear plants need to run at full power, and are not flexible enough to deal with rapid changes in supply and demand. [The Economist]
¶ According to the new study by academics at the Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment at Oxford University, the fossil fuel companies cannot afford to ignore the fossil fuel divestment campaigns currently spreading around the world. [Vincennes Sun Commercial]
World:
¶ Jim Yong Kim, head of the World Bank, and Christine Lagarde, managing director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), held a joint news conference in which they stressed that climate change must be the main priority of both institutions. [Truthdig]
¶ The UAE recently gave Morocco $100 million to support its program of building solar and wind power plants. This is reported to be part of a partnership to finance development projects in Morocco worth more than $5 billion over five years. [gulfnews.com]
¶ Taylor Hopkinson, a Glasgow-based Scottish renewables recruitment specialist, has seen turnover soar by 124% to £1.65 million as employment in the UK renewables industry continues to expand. [Herald Scotland]
¶ British finance minister George Osborne will sign a deal in China next week allowing a Chinese state-run nuclear power company to help build a new plant in Britain. The Chinese could then partner with France’s EDF for a planned new nuclear plant at Hinkley Point. [Business Recorder]
US:
¶ The growing popularity of the Agriculture Department’s Rural Energy for America Program, which helps farmers with renewable energy, could be its undoing. In the debate over the new farm bill, some conservative groups say the program unfairly undercuts coal. [Green Bay Press Gazette]
¶ Legislation is moving through both houses to tweak the tax code to let clean energy developers form a master limited partnership, or MLP, a type of publicly traded company structure not subject to corporate taxes. [Kitsap Sun]
¶ The US Government Accountability Office reports that potential shortage of lithium-7, mainly sourced from Russia and China, would impact 65 of the country’s pressurized water reactors. The GAO has not yet posted the report because of the government shutdown. [EV World]
geoharvey 
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