Rivian, the electric truck startup, said Friday it had closed a $2.5 billion private funding round, bringing its total capital raised to date to $10.5 billion.
Why it matters: The money will help fund the company's next phase of growth, including a second U.S. assembly plant that will also include battery cell production. Reuters first reported the planned facility on Thursday.
Lucid Motors, a Newark, Calif.-based electric car maker, on Thursday failed to secure investor approval for its $24 billion acquisition by Churchill Capital Corp IV, a SPAC led by Michael Klein.
Why it matters: This is the downside of having a meme SPAC, as not enough retail investors showed up to cast votes. Churchill and Lucid seemed to know this might be coming, as they flooded Reddit and other online message boards with "get out the vote" messages.
A brief new analysis explores how the staggering Pacific Northwest heat wave led to higher summer power demand — a topic policymakers must grapple with as the planet warms.
Driving the news: The Energy Information Administration looked at demand in several regions at 5 p.m. — when northwest temperatures often peak — in the three weeks after the summer solstice.
The startup Form Energy says it has developed cost-effective battery chemistry for long-duration storage using abundantly available iron.
Why it matters: Batteries that can hold and discharge energy for many hours or days are key to enabling very high levels of intermittent renewable energy penetration on power grids.
A significant and far-reaching heat wave is poised to build across much of the continental U.S. during the next few weeks, and it could be the most expansive in the country so far during this unusually hot summer, aggravating drought and wildfires.
The big picture: Forests across the West are already burning at a scope and intensity that's unusual for this time of year. Drought data released Thursday showed that what is already the worst Western drought so far this century is only intensifying. Any additional heat will aggravate an already dire situation.
New studies show the smoke from some wildfires like the 2018 Camp fire could be even more harmful than previously believed because its noxious fumes include elevated levels of chemicals such as lead, zinc and iron, Los Angeles Times reports.
Why it matters: Hazardous chemicals in the air are linked with serious health implications for blood pressure, reproductive systems and even cancer and neurological disorders, especially in children.
The extreme heat that arrested the Western United States and Canada last month has prompted scores of young baby hawks to launch themselves from their nests, and sparked a mass die-off of marine life, National Geographic reported Thursday.
The big picture: The historic heatwave coincided with the birds' nesting season, and the newly hatched hawks found themselves without any avenue of relief other than to throw themselves from their nests, National Geographic reported.
Flooding from torrential rain in China's Henan province has killed at least 33 people this week and eight more remain missing, according to CNN.
The big picture: Flooding has displaced hundreds of thousands of people and led to at least 1.22 billion yuan (around $190 million) in damage across the province, which is home to more than 99 million people.
Clean technology companies have certainly taken notice of the Energy Department's moves to revive its loan programs office.
Driving the news: "Today we’re already averaging about $7 billion of applications a month and more are coming every day," Jigar Shah, who heads the office, tells IHS Markit in a newly posted interview.
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is laying out what it wants to see in Democrats' brewing push to mandate escalating amounts of zero-carbon electricity.
Why it matters: The K Street powerhouse is closer to Republicans, but its views could influence some moderate Democrats, so that's important given Democrats' razor-thin Capitol Hill margins.
Wildfires across parts of the U.S. and Canada are burning unusually intensely and emitting larger amounts of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere than typical during midsummer, scientists say. Massive blazes in Siberia are also adding more greenhouse gases to the atmosphere, while contributing to local air pollution.
Why it matters: The fires are thriving in areas experiencing extreme heat and drought conditions. They are both a consequence of climate change and an accelerant of global warming.
A massive, uncontained wildfire has crossed the border from Northern California into Nevada — triggering fresh evacuations, this time in the Silver State, AP reported early Thursday.
The big picture: The Tamarack Fire, south of Lake Tahoe, has razed over 68 square miles since erupting on July 4 — one of 23 blazes ignited by lightning strikes, according to the U.S. Forest Service. It's one of 78 large fires raging across 13 U.S. states.
Almost nobody is happy with the U.S.-Germany deal on the Nord Stream 2 pipeline. On the Hill, Republicans like Sen. Ted Cruz expressed outrage and Democrats like Sen. Tim Kaine voiced concern. In Europe, the Ukrainians feel bullied and the Poles disappointed.
The big picture: Ukraine and U.S. allies on the eastern flank of NATO argue the pipeline will make it easier for Moscow to isolate Kyiv and pressure Europe. They say the U.S.-Germany deal doesn't sufficiently address those concerns.
