Travis Fisher, a political appointee at the Energy Department who oversaw a high-profile electricity study, is leaving the agency, according to an administration official.
Why it matters: Departures of top advisers always matter. And in this case Fisher’s time at the agency was marked by controversy surrounding Energy Secretary Rick Perry’s divisive proposal to boost economically struggling coal and nuclear power plants.
The number of hotline calls reporting suicide attempts in Puerto Rico nearly tripled after Hurricane Maria hit the region last September. The suicide rate is now the highest it's been in four years, following a historic low in 2016, according to data from Puerto Rico's Department of Health and reporting by El Nuevo Dia.
Why it matters: It will take Puerto Rico years to fully recover from the devastation of Hurricane Maria — it's already taken several months just to restore power and provide clean water to most of the island. Julio Santana Mariño, a psychology professor at Universidad Carlos Albizu, told Vox, "when you add the stress of more than five months without power, without food, living patterns change ... it makes it harder for people to manage daily life."
This chart from BP's big outlook yesterday provides a look at how their greatly increased projection of global EV adoption stacks up against some other major forecasts:
Why it matters: The contrasting outlooks show how even experts in the field can differ significantly about how quickly the electrification of transport will unfold. The pace of EV adoption is among the factors that will dictate how quickly global oil demand eventually peaks and declines, which by turn affects global carbon emissions.