#20 World’s first solar highway opens in France!

France has unveiled the world's first solar panel road in a small village in Normandy. 

The road, called Wattway, was inaugurated by Ecology Minister Ségolène Royal, who said earlier this year that she wanted to build 1000 km of solar panel roads in France.

Colas, part of the telecoms giant Bougyes, developed the Wattway panels over five years.

The route - financed by the state - is covered with 2,800 sq m of electricity-generating panels and crosses the village of Tourouvre-au-Perche. The electricity generated should be able to power the street lighting in the village of 3,400 inhabitants.

Expected to be used by an average of 2,000 motorists a day, the highway will now undergo a two-year testing phase.

Despite the price of silicon - a primary component of photo voltaic cells - dropping dramatically over the last 10 years, the cost of such a project is still very high. 

Marc Jedliczka, vice-president of Network for Energetic Transition (CLER), told Le Monde: “It’s without doubt a technical advance, but in order to develop renewables there are other priorities than a gadget of which we are more certain that it’s very expensive than the fact it works.”

A number of countries are experimenting with solar panels on roads. The Netherlands have 70 metres of solar road in operation since 2014 in the form of a bike path. 

Piers Barnes, a Physics research associate at Imperial College London, told The Independent that cost and durability were the two main factors impeding the development of solar panel roads.

“As cost of solar panels comes down, increasingly interesting and innovative applications will be created in places one would not otherwise consider,” he said.

He did however, add that the UK was intrinsically more expensive when it came to solar panels due to its poor levels of sunshine.

#19 Climate change could lower the quality of your coffee

What will it take for people to care about climate change? For some, the thought of a crummier cup of coffee in the morning just might do it.

A new study finds that Ethiopia, the world's fifth-largest coffee producer, could lose up to 60% of its suitable farming land by the end of this century because of climate change.

The study, published Monday in Nature Plants, found the combination of low rainfall and rising temperatures could have substantial effects on the coffee-growing areas in the country.

As temperatures steadily climb, so does the demand from coffee junkies, who might not be able to find a cup of Joe that's up to their standards.

What this means for coffee drinkers

According to a report from World Coffee Research, the demand for coffee will have doubled by 2050, but the suitable land to grow it on will be cut in half.

And the effects of climate change don't just lower how much coffee is produced -- they can also hamper its quality.

Cooler temperatures allow the coffee to ripen more slowly -- and that means more time to develop more complex flavor elements like acidity and sweetness.

But when temperatures rise, as they have slowly been doing in Ethiopia for years, the warmth causes the coffee to ripen too quickly, which means less flavorful beans.

A shift in quality is the main difference consumers will see. Even though a decline in suitable farming land would logically lead to a decline in supply, Neuschwander said it's not likely that coffee drinkers will see any hike in price.

Even if production drops in one country, such as Ethiopia, prices could drop at the same time in other major coffee-exporting countries, like Brazil or Vietnam, Neuschwander said.

#18 Google will hit a renewable energy milestone in 2017

Google will buy enough renewable energy in 2017 to power all of its operations, including its 13 data centers and offices in 150 cities. As a believer in climate change, Google said it has a responsibility as a multinational business to be a steward of the environment.

 

"What Google has tried to demonstrate is that businesses can certainly make a difference," Gary Demasi, Google's director of global infrastructure and energy, told CNN. "And it's important for us to participate." Google also describes its pursuit of renewable energy as making good business sense. In the last six years, it has seen the cost of wind and solar power come down about 60% and 80%, respectively. Google (GOOG) declined to reveal how much money it's saving/spending by using clean sources.

Google's long-term goal is to run on clean, zero-carbon energy full-time every day of the year. For now, it relies on a workaround. Google uses power purchase agreements, in which it buys renewable energy from a wind or solar energy developers, and then sells the energy back to the grid at a wholesale price. In exchange, Google receives renewable energy certificates, which it applies to the non-renewable energy it uses to power some of its operations.

So while Google isn't always directly using renewable energy, its actions lead to more clean energy than would otherwise exist. Other large companies, such as Apple (AAPL, Tech30), Amazon (AMZN, Tech30) and Walmart (WMT) have used similar arrangements to encourage renewable energy development. Google signed the first of such contracts in 2010. It said these projects have spurred $3.5 billion of infrastructure investments around the world. The company has made a significant shift to renewable energy in recent years. In 2014, 37% of its energy came from renewable. That number grew to 44% in 2015.

Source: CNNMoney (Washington)