DIRS.INFO The most relevant business & tech news

☆ Chipotle unveils sustainable-restaurant design as it aims to cut carbon footprint in half by 2030
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-11 | by ( Amelia Lucas | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Next year, more than 100 of the burrito chain's new locations will use all-electric equipment and some additional elements from the new design. Chipotle Mexican Grill on Tuesday unveiled a new all-electric restaurant design aimed at helping the company reach its goal of cutting greenhouse gas emissions in half by 2030. Chipotle isn't the only restaurant chain looking to its restaurants to cut down on greenhouse gas emissions. And a year earlier, its archrival, Restaurant Brands International's Burger King, revealed a new restaurant design that features solar panels. The company's goal to halve greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 is based on its 2019 baseline of 1.4 million tons of carbon dioxide equivalent across its supply chain and restaurants.

☆ Falling gas costs, rising carbon prices spur change in fuel dynamics
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-21 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

PARIS, Feb 21 (Reuters) - Falling gas prices over recent weeks have paired with rising coal and carbon costs to make European power generation from gas-fired power plants more economical, marking a trend reversal since coal took over as the cheaper fuel source last year. The clean-dark and clean-spark spreads are the prices paid for the operation of a coal- or gas-fired power plant respectively, when adjusted for mandatory carbon emissions permits and fuel purchases. However, the gas price would need to fall a bit more to replace more efficient coal plants, she added. Germany and other European countries relied heavily on both coal and gas power during the energy crisis last year, with coal's share of the power generation mix rebounding after mostly falling over the previous decade. The Dutch benchmark wholesale gas contract slipped to a new 17-month low on healthy supply earlier, while European carbon allowances (EUA) reached a record high over 100 euros per tonne.

☆ Google shows off more of what its ChatGPT competitor Bard can do
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-08 | by ( Jennifer Elias | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Google’s Search boss Prabhakar Raghavan shared some new examples of its new conversational technology Bard in a live-streamed event in Paris on Wednesday. Bard is Google's competitor to OpenAI's ChatGPT AI. Raghavan showed slides with new examples of Bard’s capabilities during a brief presentation. The latest examples come after Google CEO Sundar Pichai Monday publicly announced Google’s new conversation technology Bard that's powered by its artificial intelligence and would be integrated into search, which confirmed CNBC's original reporting. A recent advertisement for Google's service showed Bard offering the incorrect description of the telescope used to take the first pictures of a planet outside our solar system, for example.

☆ Bugatti just sold its last purely gas-powered car for more than $10 million
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-01 | by ( Peter Valdes-Dapena | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

New York CNN —Bugatti sold its last purely gas-powered supercar at a Paris auction Wednesday for more than $10 million, setting a world auction record for a new car. Originally a special development model that was never intended to be sold, the one-of-a-kind Bugatti Chiron Profilée sold at RM Sotheby’s Paris collector car auction for a bid of $9.5 million. The Bugatti Chiron Profilée is painted in a special color called Argent Atlantique, a hue developed just for this car. Included in that 500 have been a few variants, such as the Chiron Sport, Chiron Pur Sport and Chiron Super Sport, each with varying degrees of top speed, acceleration and cornering aggressiveness. The Bugatti Chiron Profilée has an aerodynamic wing to increase pressure on the rear wheels at high speeds.

ISLAMABAD, Jan 24 (Reuters) - Pakistan's energy ministry said on Tuesday it had restored its national power grid nearly 24 hours after a breakdown triggered the worst outage in months, highlighting the frailty of the aid-dependant nation's infrastructure. All 1,112 grid stations were back online, a senior government official told Reuters, adding that electricity would be fully restored across the country once power generation units were back up. The outage, which began on Monday morning during the peak winter season, is the second major grid failure to hit the nation of 220 million people since October, though there are partial blackouts almost daily. Residents in major cities said they now had electricity, but some areas of the country were still without power. China has invested in its power sector as part of a $60 billion infrastructure scheme that feeds into Beijing's "Belt and Road" initiative.

☆ Canada's energy jobs transition bill sparks discord in oil heartland
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-22 | by ( Nia Williams | Steve Scherer | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

FILE PHOTO: Pipelines run at the McKay River Suncor oil sands in-situ operations near Fort McMurray, Alberta, September 17, 2014. REUTERS/Todd KorolPrime Minister Justin Trudeau’s Liberal government is expected to table its long-awaited workforce transition bill this spring, ahead of economic changes expected as they pursue ambitious goals to slash climate-warming emissions. The government of Alberta, Canada’s main crude-producing province, says the legislation will dismantle the oil and gas industry that makes up 5% of Canada’s GDP. The oil and gas sector employs around 185,000 workers, making the bill a hot topic in Alberta ahead a provincial election in May. Think tank Clean Energy Canada estimates there could be 200,000 clean energy jobs created by 2030.

☆ Amazon's drone delivery unit hit with layoffs just as 10-year-old project finally launches
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-20 | by ( Annie Palmer | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +12 min

Two employees said Carbon, who replaced Prime Air co-founder Gur Kimchi, was hired to turn Prime Air into a real business with a sensible budget. Sources with knowledge of Prime Air said cuts in the drone delivery business were expected considering the division's many struggles. Monica Williams, a College Station resident, poses with a Prime Air drone at a community event in July. College Station residents also expressed concern about the prospect of drones harming the deer, foxes and birds that are native to the area. "As we continue to expand, we will update you when drone delivery is available for your household."

SINGAPORE, Jan 18 (Reuters) - General Electric's (GE.N) turbine manufacturing unit said on Wednesday it had agreed with Japan's IHI Corp (7013.T) to develop gas turbines operating on ammonia to reduce carbon dioxide emissions. GE and IHI would work to develop technology that would allow some of GE's existing gas turbine products to safely burn 100% ammonia by 2030, the companies each said in separate, almost identical statements on Wednesday. "We will focus our efforts on satisfying domestic and overseas demand for large-scale ammonia gas turbines, stimulating further demand for fuel ammonia and expanding the fuel ammonia value chain," Hiroshi Ide, president of IHI Corp said. Reporting by Sudarshan Varadhan; Editing by Bradley PerrettOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

[1/4] LNG Canada site construction activities are held, in Kitimat, Canada, September 2022. LNG Canada, in which Japan's Mitsubishi Corp (8058.T) owns a 15% stake, is set to be Canada's first liquefied natural gas (LNG) export terminal. LNG Canada has previously described this approach as only one of the options it was considering. LNG Canada has full environmental permits from both governments to use natural gas turbines for Phase 2, making it unclear what leverage governments have to force electrification. But buyers may pay more for LNG produced with lower emissions, Klein said, noting that some buyers already purchase carbon offsets for LNG cargoes.

☆ Bugatti is auctioning off its last purely gas-powered car and it's one-of-a-kind
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-23 | by ( Peter Valdes-Dapena | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

The Bugatti Chiron Profilée is painted in a special color called Argent Atlantique, a hue developed just for this car. Bugatti RimacThe Bugatti Chiron Profilée was being developed, starting in late 2020, as one of several versions of the Chiron, Bugatti’s primary model. Included in that 500 have been a few variants, such as the Chiron Sport, Chiron Pur Sport and Chiron Super Sport, each with varying degrees of top speed, acceleration and cornering aggressiveness. The Bugatti Chiron Profilée has an aerodynamic wing to increase pressure on the rear wheels at high speeds. Bugatti RimacThe French ultra-luxury car maker had previously indicated that the convertible W16 Mistral, revealed last August, would be its last gas powered car model.

☆ EVs and crypto mining seen as emerging risks for U.S. power reliability
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-15 | by ( Laila Kearney | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

NEW YORK, Dec 15 (Reuters) - The adoption of electric vehicles and rise of cryptocurrency mining pose emerging challenges to U.S. power reliability in upcoming years, the North American Electric Reliability Corporation said on Thursday. The potential growth of cryptocurrency miners, which use supercomputers to power their operations, can also "have a significant effect on demand and resource projections," NERC said. Earlier this month, the Electric Reliability Council of Texas announced a voluntary curtailment program for customers, including bitcoin mining facilities, to reduce power during peak demand periods. Non-EV energy transition measures, which rely heavily on the electrification of businesses and residences, will also add grid pressures, NERC said. That increase comes as the shutdown of coal, nuclear and natural-gas power plants outpaces the replacement of new power generation capacity.

☆ The clean energy company turning city blocks greener
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-05 | by ( Jennifer Korn | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

New York CNN Business —BlocPower, a Brooklyn-based clean energy company, is bringing eco-friendly, all-electric heating and cooling systems to older buildings in lower income communities, with the goal of reducing carbon footprints and energy bills. By replacing dated equipment like gas powered furnaces with heat pump systems, the company says it is able to dramatically change a building’s environmental footprint. Building owners that have turned to BlocPower say they see a real difference. BlocPower lowered bills, made the energy system quieter, cleaned the air and offered cooling solutions that tenants are thrilled with. “What needs to happen now is we need to shift gears and move the entire infrastructure of energy systems and buildings away from fossil fuels to clean energy,” said Baird.

☆ Gas crisis forces Italy's Ansaldo to raise $569 million in capital
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-29 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

MILAN, Nov 29 (Reuters) - Italy's Ansaldo Energia, a state-controlled supplier of power generation equipment, on Tuesday said it would raise cash and push back debt maturities after warning in August that the Ukraine crisis had hit demand for gas power generation. Ansaldo Energia is 60% owned by Italian state investor CDP Equity with the remaining 40% in the hands of China's Shanghai Electric Group (601727.SS). The capital strengthening will amount in total to 550 million euros ($569 million). As part of it, CDP Equity will convert into equity a 200 million euro loan it had extended to Ansaldo as well as 50 million euros in overdue interest payments. Like rivals, the company also had to contend with higher costs for materials used in production, energy and gas prices.

☆ China's Shenzhen Energy signs long-term LNG contract with BP
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-26 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

SINGAPORE, Nov 26 (Reuters) - China's Shenzhen Energy Group (000027.SZ) has signed a long-term agreement with oil major BP (BP.L) to buy liquefied natural gas (LNG), aiming to lock in supplies with gas-fired power generation poised to surge in the world's second-largest economy. The agreement is Shenzhen Energy's first long-term international LNG contract and its first long-term contract with BP Singapore, the Chinese company said in a statement on Friday. "To meet the demand of Guangdong province and Shenzhen city for energy security and stability, Shenzhen Energy Group is making efforts to promote the construction of gas power plants," it said. "It is estimated that around 2024, as the gas power plants go into operation, the group's total demand for natural gas will significantly rise." QatarEnergy has signed a 27-year deal to supply LNG to China's Sinopec in the longest such agreement to date, as volatility drives buyers to seek long-term supplies.

☆ Europe’s Energy Risks Go Beyond Gas
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-17 | by ( Mira Rojanasakul | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +14 min

In terawatt hours of energy per month Gas Coal 80 80 60 60 2022 40 40 20 20 Previous years since 2015 Jan. Dec. Jan. Dec. In terawatt hours of energy per month Wind Solar 60 60 40 40 2022 20 20 Previous years since 2015 Jan. Dec. Jan. Dec. In terawatt hours of energy per month Gas Coal 80 80 60 60 2022 40 40 20 20 Previous years since 2015 Jan. Dec. Jan. Dec. In terawatt hours of energy per month Wind Solar 60 60 40 40 2022 20 20 Jan. Dec. Jan. Dec. In terawatt hours of energy per month Gas Coal 80 60 2022 40 20 Previous years since 2015 Jan. Dec. Jan. Dec.

☆ Column: A gasier Asia would emit less CO2, but may lift global power costs
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-16 | by ( Gavin Maguire | Thomson Reuters | Gavin Maguire Is The Global Energy Transition Columnist. He Was Previously Asia Commodities | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +6 min

Asia coal and gas power production & emissionsTop polluter Asia relies on coal for roughly 57% of electricity production, BP Statistical Review of World Energy data shows, so switching out coal for gas offers a potential way for power producers there to cut emissions without drastically overhauling current power supply systems. Asian power firms plan to build out natural gas pipeline infrastructureHowever, power producers across the region are planning to expand existing networks and link major consumer hubs to distant suppliers. According to a Global Energy Monitor study released in February 2022, more than 70,000 kilometres (43,000 miles) of gas pipelines are under construction globally, with more than 45,000 kilometres in Asia. Global gas markets have been drastically disrupted by Russia's invasion of Ukraine since the Global Energy Monitor study was published, and surging gas prices have clearly cooled Asia's near-term appetite for gas in some areas. However, more Asian gas supplies and use will also allow power producers to lower emissions, which for many of the attendees of the COP27 talks is of greater consequence for global energy markets.

☆ European Union hopeful of striking energy deal with Argentina soon
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-28 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

BUENOS AIRES, Oct 27 (Reuters) - The European Union said on Thursday that it hopes to sign an energy memorandum of understanding with Argentina "soon," as the region looks to tackle energy supply issues triggered by the war in Ukraine. The EU's foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, told journalists during a visit to the southern country that the agreement is key because Argentina "is a budding energy power" at a time of high international prices. Argentina has one of the world's largest reserves of unconventional gas and is looking for new investments to increase its exports. "We are making progress on a memorandum of understanding for energy issues. It is a very large gas power, potentially speaking.

☆ New & Notable: Latest releases from Our Place and Breville
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-01 | by ( Christina Colizza | Christina Colizza Is An Editor For Select On Nbc News. | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +7 min

This story is part of Select's New & Notable column, where we highlight our favorite product launches, major sales, what we're buying and some of our latest recommendations and advice. New this weekOur Place, the creator of the much-loved Always Pan, is expanding its kitchenware offerings to include a new ceramic tableware set. If you’re a small-apartment dweller, or just a tiny-kitchen owner, Caraway’s new mini cookware set could be for you. Christina ColizzaI didn’t technically buy the Ooni Koda pizza oven for myself, but I plan to benefit from it. But they have been a godsend: [The lids] click into place so easily, and a single lemon lasts me weeks now.

☆ Next up for US unions: Major contracts for 700,000 workers
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-18 | by ( Chris Isidore | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +9 min

In terms of big US labor contracts, however, this is just the opening act. And as with the rail unions, members are focused on staffing shortages and scheduling problems that they say have brought many employees to a breaking point. And soon after the Teamsters contract for UPS ground workers expires, contracts for UPS pilots and aircraft mechanics become amendable. That’s a major concern for unions whose members build engines and transmissions. But that settlement did not address the looming question of what a switch to EVs will mean for union workers going forward.

☆ Kremlin set to receive $10 billion from state-run gas company Gazprom after it saw record profits this year
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-01 | by ( Matthew Loh | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Russian state-run giant Gazprom is set to give $10 billion in dividends to the Kremlin. The Kremlin owns half of Gazprom, which saw a record net profit for the first half of 2022. Sign up for our newsletter to receive our top stories based on your reading preferences — delivered daily to your inbox. Gazprom on Tuesday reported net earnings of $41.75 billion, or 2.5 trillion rubles, from the start of 2022, up from 968 billion rubles in the first half of 2021, Insider's Brian Evans reported. Russian natural gas accounted for around 40% of Europe's gas power needs before the war in Ukraine.

☆ BMW reveals its new $120,000 electric flagship
▼ + stars: | 2022-04-20 | by ( Peter Valdes-Dapena | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +8 min

CNN —Electric vehicles, with their need for lots of expensive batteries, have often trended towards luxury. Electric cars from Porsche, Mercedes, and Audi have all hit the market in recent years. The i7 is the electric version of a new generation of the BMW 7 Series flagship unveiled on Wednesday. While those other luxury brands’ electric vehicles are based on dedicated EV chassis with little relationship to their gas-powered models, BMW emphasizes adaptable engineering as its edge. Both of those iconic British brands are owned by BMW, and plan to sell only electric vehicles by 2030.

Persons: Mercedes EQS, Oliver Zipse, Mercedes, Zipse, ”, Oscar, Hans Zimmer BMW Organizations: CNN —, Porsche, Mercedes, Audi, BMW, Benz, BMW BMW, General Motors, ”, i7, Royce

☆ BMW i7 electric car revealed
▼ + stars: | 2022-04-20 | by ( Peter Valdes-Dapena | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +8 min

Electric cars from Porsche, Mercedes, and Audi have all hit the market in recent years. BMW has come out with its own electric cars like the iX and i4 and now the new i7, a battery-powered take on the brand’s new most expensive sedan. The i7 is the electric version of a new generation of the BMW 7 Series flagship unveiled on Wednesday. While those other luxury brands’ electric vehicles are based on dedicated EV chassis with little relationship to their gas-powered models, BMW emphasizes adaptable engineering as its edge. Both of those iconic British brands are owned by BMW, and plan to sell only electric vehicles by 2030.

☆ Nigeria is oil rich and energy poor. It can’t wait around for cheaper batteries
▼ + stars: | 2021-11-03 | by ( Hanna Ziady | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +15 min

But it’s coming under huge pressure from developed countries to abandon fossil fuels and shift to renewable energy in order to help save the climate. AKINTUNDE AKINLEYE/EPA-EFE/ShutterstockLike the United States, Europe and Britain, Nigeria sees a prominent role for renewable energy, notwithstanding its investments into gas power. “In Nigeria, clean energy is central to our government’s plan to transition to net-zero emissions,” Osinbajo, the vice president, continued. In Nigeria, energy poverty is itself a major driver of emissions, according to Olu Verheijen, the founder of Lagos-based energy advisory business Latimer Energy. This means that in some cases, certainly for Nigeria, gas has an important role to play in providing power.

Search resuls for: "Gas Power"

23 mentions found