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Sometime in early 2018, the EV community in the U.S. will buzz about the specific clauses in the Internal Revenue Service section code IRC 30D, better known as the “Plug-In Electric Drive Vehicle Credit.” That’s the code that allows for up to $7,500 off on federal taxes for the purchase of a new electric vehicle. It’s one that has a “sunset” clause that is specific to each vehicle manufacturer’s success. Once each manufacturer (OEM) reaches 200,000 cumulative U.S. sales of all of its EVs (from 2010 onward) the phaseout process begins. So, the more EVs an OEM sells, the quicker the credit will sunset. That mean the OEM that wins, is first to lose, but has actually won (because of their success).

The group planted tracking devices in 152 monitors and printers — classed as hazardous waste under international law — given to U.S. recyclers and found that 40 percent ended up exported, the vast majority illegally. Most ended up in Hong Kong, China and Taiwan.

Lawmakers agreed last month to extend a vital subsidy for the Silicon Valley company, one that makes its pricey power generators more attractive to buyers such as hospitals, data centers and mega-retailers. . . “It would be a great disadvantage for the customers to no longer have this incentive,” said V. John White, a lobbyist for Fuel Cell Energy, a company that produces fuel cell generators. “It would undermine the ability to make these units economically feasible.”

And while the Sierra Club report said U.S. dealerships need to improve marketing of electric vehicles, it also said this: “Our volunteers were 2 1/2 times more likely to find no EV on a dealership lot in the nine other ZEV states than they were in California.”

Through six months this year, CNCDA said sales of new, conventional hybrids accounted for about 4.5 percent of all new-vehicle sales statewide. That’s down from nearly 7 percent in 2013. The CNCDA report showed that California sales of new, plug-in hybrids and electric vehicles (EVs for short) have remained basically flat since 2014, with each segment accounting for about 1.5 percent of all new-vehicle registrations statewide. Between 2010 and 2014, plug-in and EV sales were rising.

But 13 years later, and just four years from the goal date, San Francisco continues to throw away huge amounts of garbage. The city’s waste has averaged 1,463 tons every workday over the past year, according to Recology, the city’s trash collector. There’s no penalty for not meeting the target other than, of course, a swelling landfill that’s bad for the environment and a big dent in San Francisco’s reputation as one of the greenest cities in the world.

Congressional lawmakers have launched a formal investigation into whether solar-energy companies improperly received billions of dollars in tax incentives from the Obama administration.

China has accused more than 20 additional car makers, including Nissan and Hyundai, of breaking rules on green car subsidies, according to a state media report, widening a scandal over a $4.5 billion annual payout program.

At just over 500,000 workers, advanced energy employs three times as many Californians as the motion picture, TV, and radio industry; more than agriculture, forestry, and fishing; and approaching construction. With one in every five advanced energy workers nationwide, California has the largest advanced energy industry by employment of any state in the country. Employment in California’s advanced energy industry grew 18% last year, six times the rate of statewide employment growth. Employers engaged in advanced energy business also expect to increase their workforce by 8% this year.

The story of SunEdison’s swift rise and calamitous fall, pieced together from internal documents, regulatory and court filings and interviews with more than a dozen current and former employees and advisers, shows what can happen when executive overreach meets fizzy markets. Mesmerized by the promise of high yields and fast growth, investors turned a blind eye to operational warning signs that ultimately left the company vulnerable to a rise in interest rates.

SunEdison Inc said an independent audit committee had identified several issues with the company’s cash-flow management but found no “material misstatements” in its historical financial reports.

Consumer interests wanted PG&E to nix the contract or negotiate a lower price. According to the Motley Fool investment website, Ivanpah got 20 cents/KWh in the summer of 2015 for the project’s electricity and 13.5 cents the rest of the year. That compares to the average solar system in California booking 5 cents/KWh for new contracts.

Last November, the Washington Times reported Abengoa had received at least $2.7 billion in federal loan guarantees since 2010 to build several large-scale solar power projects in the United States. There was no certainty any of the government loans would be paid back amid a collapse that dwarfed the $530 million loss to the U.S. taxpayer with the collapse of Solyndra in 2011.

But there are caveats. The federal subsidy runs out once a manufacturer sells 200,000 vehicles in the U.S. And wealthy California buyers will also miss out: Starting last week, state rebates were no longer available to single filers earning more than $250,000 a year, head-of-household filers making more than $340,000 and joint filers making a combined $500,000.

New passenger car registrations in the state increased 5.8 percent last year, while light trucks were up 19.4 percent.