Business & Finance

The population of Texas today stands at almost 28 million. By 2050, that number is predicted to nearly double to 55 million, with most people clustered in already-dense urban centers like Dallas-Fort Worth, Houston, San Antonio, and Austin.Over the next several decades, researchers also project an increase in the frequency and intensity of storms like Hurricane Harvey, as well as more heat, droughts, and floods.

Under the hood, Facebook — the sixth most visited website, according to Alexa — is basically a bunch of data centers. Those data centers use up loads of energy, consuming up to 50 times the energy of a typical commercial office building of the same size, the US Department of Energy says. In fact, they account for more than 95% of the energy that Facebook consumes. Urvi Parekh’s job is to make sure the energy they use is clean.

From The New York Times:

When big convulsive economic events happen, the implications tend to take years to play out, and spiral in unpredictable directions. ...

Editor's note: Fellow Kevin Kennedy has published a report, Putting a Price on Carbon: Evaluating A Carbon Price and Complementary Policies for a 1.5° World, for the World Resources Institute website. Read the Executive Summary and download the full report.