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Costa Rica has reached an environmental milestone by using only renewable energy to generate power for at least the first 75 days of the year, a record for any country

Hulu is in the process of migrating its data centers to a 100% renewable energy facility in Las Vegas operated by multi-tenant data center provider Switch. The video-on-demand company says the move will eliminate 265,000 carbon tons of emissions from the environment while powering millions of stable and secure streams a week.

China has proposed building a $50 trillion global transmission system that would connect the world's wind farms and renewable energy projects. "Global energy interconnection" would solve global energy instability, climate change and environmental pollution, said State Grid Corp. of China Chairman Liu Zhenya. In such a model, clean energy sources would provide about 80% of the world's total electricity.

The Obama administration's rule leans heavily on renewable energy to meet its goal to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 32 percent by 2030, which is an increase of 2 percentage points from the draft it released in the summer of 2014. While states have two additional years until they must begin cutting emissions - 2022 instead of 2020 - they are expected to start devising ways to improve their environments, which will focus on shifting to cleaner burning fuels and away from carbon-heavy ones. "The trend we are on will get us there," says Rob Gramlich, senior vice president for government affairs at the American Wind Energy Association, in a phone interview. "As the nation moves from coal to gas, and as it adds more wind, solar and energy efficiency, we will reach that 32 percent target."

The Obama administration's Clean Power Plan rule will require states to begin cutting carbon emissions by 2022. "The trend we are on will get us there. As the nation moves from coal to gas, and as it adds more wind, solar and energy efficiency, we will reach that 32% target," said Rob Gramlich of the American Wind Energy Association. To comply, states can choose among options including boosting renewables, improving heat rates for coal-fired steam generators, and using more nuclear energy and lower-emitting natural gas. Forbes (8/4) 

Lens Technology has agreed to use 100% renewables to produce all of its products it manufacturers for Apple in China, according to the companies. The company has already signed a long-term power purchase agreement that will supply 100% of its electricity needs by 2018.

Washington DC enacted a law committing the district to 50% renewable energy by 2032. In addition, the bill lays out a program to cut electricity bills in half for about 100,000 district residents by 2032 through the use of renewables.

Clean power supplied almost all of Germany's power demand for the first time on Sunday, marking a milestone for Chancellor Angela Merkel's "Energiewende" policy to boost renewables while phasing out nuclear and fossil fuels. Solar and wind power peaked at 2 p.m. local time on Sunday, allowing renewables to supply 45.5 gigawatts as demand was 45.8 gigawatts, according to provisional data by Agora Energiewende, a research institute in Berlin. Power prices turned negative during several 15-minute periods yesterday, dropping as low as minus 50 euros ($57) a megawatt-hour, according to data from Epex Spot.

The country may be the world's largest carbon emitter, but China has the potential to become a clean energy leader. China is now the largest producer of renewable energy, generating 325 million tons of oil equivalent in 2013. Although renewables represented only 11 percent of the country's total energy production in 2014, this shift indicates the Chinese government's effort to transition its energy production mix.

The cost of electricity from wind farms in the U.S. dropped in 2014 to the lowest point yet, according to the Energy Department. Prices for utilities with power purchase agreements have declined two-thirds since 2009. Falling costs and continued advancements are ensuring that wind remains a reliable source of renewable energy, Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz said. The Hill (8/10), ReNews.biz (U.K.) (8/11) 

Announced today at Climate Week NYC 2017 in New York, global financial institutions Citi and JPMorgan Chase & Co. have joined The Climate Group's RE100 campaign with CDP, committing to source 100% renewable power across their global operations by 2020. Other companies joining the RE100 initiative are one of the fastest-growing beverage companies, Califia Farms, and UK investment management company Jupiter Asset Management. The announcements follow news last week that The Estée Lauder Companies, Kellogg Company, DBS Bank and Clif Bar & Company have also joined RE100. 110 of the world's most influential companies are now generating demand for over 150 TWh renewable energy annually - more than enough to power New York State.

The French Government passed legislation to cut the country's energy consumption 50% by 2050, reduce nuclear power production to 50% of the energy mix, and increase renewable energy to 32% of total energy consumption by 2030. The law also requires the country to reduce its carbon emissions 40% by 2030, compared to 1990 levels.

Aspen, Colo., is one of the three cities in the nation to source 100% of its electricity from renewables, according to city officials. The city uses wind, solar and geothermal sources. "It was a very forward-thinking goal and truly remarkable achievement," said city Utilities and Environmental Initiatives Director David Hornbacher. The other two cities to have met their 100% renewable energy targets are Burlington, Vt., and Greensburg, Kan. 

New York cements its position as a national renewable energy leader today with a New York Public Service Commission (PSC) order requiring that 50 percent of the state's electricity must from clean, renewable sources like solar and wind power by 2030.

The City of Atlanta has pledged to source 100% of its electricity from renewables citywide by 2035, with plans to power all city government building with renewables by 2025.

Renewable energy projects, like a hybrid wind and diesel system on San Cristobal Island, are paving the way for the Galapagos Islands' clean energy future, according to this analysis. Elecgalapagos, a utility tasked with leading the islands' transition away from fossil fuels, has set a goal to source 70% of the Galapagos' electricity from renewables in the near future. San Cristobal is home to three turbines providing about 30% of its electricity needs.

The capacity of renewable energy has overtaken that of fossil fuels in the UK for the first time, in a milestone that experts said would have been unthinkable a few years ago.

The U.K. government miscalculated the costs of renewable-energy support and is likely to overshoot its 7.6 billion-pound ($9.2 billion) annual budget by about a fifth in 2020 and 2021, according to auditors.

Facebook and Microsoft partnered with investment company Allotrope Partners to "mobilize" $50 million for sustainable energy efforts in poor communities through a finance facility. By pulling in grants and loans, the Microgrid Investment Accelerator program will fund renewable microgrid projects in India, Indonesia and Africa between 2018 and 2020.

Salesforce is now sourcing 100% renewable energy for two of its office towers - Salesforce East and Salesforce West - in San Francisco through the San Francisco Public Utility Commission's CleanPowerSF program. Salesforce is CleanPowerSF's largest commercial customer to date.

The U.S. could reduce electricity costs by $7.68 billion per year by installing 54 gigawatts of offshore wind power, according to a study supported by the Department of Energy. The goal of the National Offshore Wind Energy Grid Interconnection Study was "to identify and help address the market barriers to the large-scale introduction of offshore wind energy into the U.S. energy portfolio," according to its authors. The report said offshore wind power could be especially useful in densely populated coastal areas