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EGEB: Apple-Alcoa-Rio Tinto team up for zero-emission aluminum, a map of every turbine in the US, Uniper to convert wind into methane

Electrek Green Energy Brief: A daily technical, financial, and political review/analysis of important green energy news.

Today on EGEB, Apple, Alcoa, Rio Tinto and both Canadian federal and Quebec provincial governments invest to build the first zero-emission aluminum plant in the world. The U.S. Geological Survey publishes a map of every wind turbines in the country. German utility provider Uniper wants to produce green methane using wind power.


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Tesla Model S firmware update 5.0 brings the Wifi and better sleep, creep and towing modes

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Tesla owners should be receiving a pretty huge over the air update in the coming days which will enable a bunch of new functionality in the car. A Flickr user has updated the release notes. The biggie here is Wifi which allows the Tesla to connect to either a stationary wifi access point or tether to a mobile phone that may have a better signal than the HSPA network the Tesla attaches itself to.

Other new features include: Tow Mode, which allows you to put your car in neutral (wonder if this works in automatic car washes?), Auto screen clearing mode and accessing radio presets from the steering wheel.

Model S owners will also see improvements in Maps, Creep mode performance, additional driver profiles and another biggie: Improved power management when not in use.

The last one is huge because the Model S burns about 5 miles of charge per day in sleep mode, otherwise known as “Vampire mode”. Taking off a chunk of that will help it last a long time in storage without a recharge and stop the useless power drain.