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What a difference an administration makes! Almost 200 countries ratified the Paris climate accord at COP21 in 2015, agreeing to limit the planet’s temperature increase to well below 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels and to pursue efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1.5°C. Afterward, President Donald Trump withdrew from the Paris agreement. On Friday, US President Joe Biden hosted a virtual climate summit titled the “Virtual Meeting of the Major Major Economies Forum on Energy and Climate.”

Biden spoke about the “urgency of this moment” and the need for a collective “plan to contribute to the climate ambition the world so urgently needs.”

The Power of Story to Make the Climate Crisis Relevant

Former President Donald Trump denied that the climate crisis was a reality, attacked the value of clean energy, and fired scientists in federal departments in favor of installing political friends. Taking a completely different approach, President Biden has acknowledged scientific consensus that the climate crisis poses an existential threat and implored leaders during Friday’s climate summit to take action.

During opening remarks, the President affirmed his promise that the US “would return immediately to the world stage and address the climate crisis.” With some of the most powerful economic forces in the world surrounding him, Biden expressed hope in a “silver lining” — one that would restrict global temperatures from rising to catastrophic levels through “real and incredible economic opportunities to create jobs and lift up the standard of living of people around the world.” The public opening to the Forum was a counterpoint to the otherwise private talks.

Always forthright, Biden told his audience that countries representing the Major Economies Forum account for 80% of global emissions.

The backdrop stage set was specially designed with virtual solar panel arrays as the global leaders were visible on thumbnail screens. Biden called upon the power of story and described the “damage and destruction” in the US and the destructive flooding in Europe. He zoomed in on the experience of seeing California firefighters battling powerful, widespread, and deadly wildfires more than ever before due to rising temperatures and unrelenting drought. He spoke how natural disasters like numerous hurricanes have wreaked havoc on US regions from the Gulf Coast to the Northeast.

Pledges to Do More to Mitigate the Effects of the Climate Crisis

The Biden administration has pledged to cut emissions 50% to 52% below 2005 levels by 2030 and is working to pass historic investments — to modernize what can become a more climate-resilient infrastructure and to build a clean energy future. In doing so, the administration hopes to create millions of jobs and usher in new industries of the future.

To reach such levels, Biden said the US would:

  • have a power sector free of carbon by 2035;
  • sell 50% of total cars as electric by 2050;
  • align efforts with the work of forums like Clean Energy Ministerial and Mission Innovation (which the US will chair next year);
  • focus on ocean initiatives in advance of the Our Ocean Conference in February;
  • convene a leaders-level gathering to take stock of the collective progress the countries in attendance make; and,
  • work with the European Union and other partners to launch a Global Methane Pledge to reduce global methane emissions by at least 30% below 2020 levels by 2030.

Specifically, Biden’s prodding at the Forum for participants to join a global pledge of cutting methane (aka “natural gas”) was deconstructed recently by CleanTechnica‘s Joe Wachunas. “Burning methane is currently responsible for nearly 25% of all carbon emissions in the US, and its use is growing,” Wachunas began. “Methane is also deeply embedded in many of our homes, and this will make it a challenge to extricate. We aren’t anywhere near hitting peak natural gas usage on our current trajectory.”

Methane is one of the most potent agents of climate damage, bursting by the ton from countless uncapped oil and gas rigs, leaky natural gas pipelines, and other oil and gas facilities. Although methane has a shorter lifetime in the atmosphere than carbon dioxide, it is, per unit, more than 20× as potent at warming the planet. During the Forum, Biden pointed to US efforts to plug leaks and cap abandoned wells as “big steps domestically to tackle these emissions.”

“Swift & Bold Action” Necessary beyond the Collegiality of the Climate Summit

It will take substantive effort to push through legislation to put into place the types of emissions levels that Biden outlined. China and India aren’t any better than the US, either, having yet to announce their new targets.

An area of contention at the Forum was pressure for the largest economies to assist less wealthy countries to transition to cleaner energy and to make sense of the changes to their countries that the climate crisis has created. In April, the Biden administration pledged to deliver $5.7 billion annually to these countries by 2024. During today’s Forum, Biden increased that amount by pointing to a “collective goal of mobilizing $100 billion a year.”

During a letter sent earlier this month to the climate summit’s invited guests, Biden offered the opportunity for “a focused, private discussion” to address the “profound generational challenge” posed by the climate crisis. Not to be deterred by the enormous task, Biden affirmed that the world’s largest economies possessed an “extraordinary opportunity to create a more prosperous and sustainable economy benefitting all.” Ever the negotiator and compromiser, Biden used the imperative of strengthening climate efforts so that action might be “swift and bold enough” to make a lasting impact that would “benefit […] both present and future generations.”

The invitation to Argentinian President Fernandez was posted on that country’s website.

Final Thoughts about the Climate Summit & What’s Ahead

From October 31 to November 1, the United Nations conference in Glasgow — the COP26 summit — will bring parties together to accelerate action towards the goals of the Paris Agreement and the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change. Nearly 200 nations are expected to announce more ambitious emissions-cutting targets than they had previously set in order to keep the world from overheating.

“Glasgow,” President Biden told his audience at the Forum, “is not our final destination.” Instead, countries around the world must “continue strengthening our ambition and our actions next year and throughout the decisive decade to keep us at one point — below 1.5 degrees and to keep that within reach.”

Participants at Friday’s climate summit included:

President Alberto Fernandez, Argentine Republic
Prime Minister Scott Morrison, Commonwealth of Australia
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, People’s Republic of Bangladesh
President Ursula von der Leyen, European Commission
President Charles Michel, European Council
President Joko Widodo, Republic of Indonesia
Prime Minister Mario Draghi, Italian Republic
Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga, Japan
President Moon Jae-in, Republic of Korea
President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, United Mexican States
Prime Minister Boris Johnson, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
Secretary-General António Guterres, United Nations
Special Envoy of the President and China Special Envoy for Climate Change Xie Zhenhua, People’s Republic of China
Parliamentary State Secretary at the Ministry for Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety Rita Schwarzelühr-Sutter, Federal Republic of Germany
Union Cabinet Minister of Labour and Employment, Environment, Forest and Climate Change Bhupender Yadav, India
Special Presidential Envoy for Climate Change Ruslan Edelgeriyev, Russian Federation

Image screenshot taken from YouTube during Presidential welcome remarks

 

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Tesla is bleeding AI talent to a small new robotics start-up

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2 hours ago

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November 24, 2025

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Tesla is bleeding AI talent to a small new robotics start-up


Tesla’s AI and robotics divisions are facing a significant “brain drain” as a stealth startup called Sunday Robotics emerges with a roster of engineers from Tesla’s Optimus and Autopilot teams.

We are used to seeing Tesla executives leave, especially to other AI giants, as the competition ramps up and large compensation packages are being thrown around left and right.

However, this feels different. Sunday Robotics isn’t a Fortune 500 company poaching Tesla engineers with big packages. It is a tiny startup that just came out of stealth with a funding round that would be a rounding error in Tesla’s financials.

Sunday Robotics officially emerged from stealth today, announcing $35 million in funding led by Benchmark and Conviction.

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The startup, founded by Stanford roboticists Tony Zhao and Cheng Chi (Zhao previously interned at Tesla Autopilot), has recruited an impressive bunch of senior Tesla engineering leadership.  

The list of departures includes:

  • Nishant Desai: an almost 5-year veteran at Tesla’s machine learning team working on Autopilot and FSD.
  • Nadeesha Amarasinghe: The former Engineering Lead for AI Infrastructure at Tesla. He was responsible for the massive backend systems that train FSD and Optimus. He was at Tesla for moer than 7 years.
  • Perry Jia: A key engineer on the Optimus and Autopilot programs. He spent almost 6 years at Tesla and led the data engine programs. Now, he leads Data Operations at Sunday.

This isn’t just random attrition. Sunday Robotics has effectively poached a “full stack” of robotic and AI engineers from Tesla.

They also recruited other employees from Tesla, and it wouldn’t be surprising to see more join, as Jason Peterson, a talent recruiter for Tesla’s Optimus and Robotaxi programs, confirmed that he also left Tesla in September to join Sunday.

What is Sunday Robotics?

So, what are these engineers leaving Tesla to build?

Sunday Robotics is taking a different path than Tesla’s general-purpose humanoid. Their debut robot, Memo, is a wheeled domestic robot designed for household chores such as cleaning dishes and folding laundry.  

By ditching the legs (Optimus is bipedal), Sunday claims they can focus entirely on dexterity and reliability. The robot is trained on a massive dataset of 10 million behavioral episodes, which the company claims gives it a “ChatGPT moment” for physical movement.  

The most interesting technical divergence from Tesla is how Sunday collects data.

Tesla relies heavily on VR teleoperation suits to train Optimus. Operators wear motion-capture suits and mimic tasks in a lab. It’s high-fidelity, but it’s slow and expensive. Tesla now claims to also train just on video.

Sunday Robotics has a different approach this with a $200 ‘Skill Capture Glove’. They distributed these gloves to hundreds of ordinary people (“Memory Developers”) who recorded themselves doing chores in their own messy homes.  

This allowed Sunday to crowdsource 10 million episodes of real-world data, messy kitchens, weird lighting, and cats jumping on counters at a fraction of the cost of Tesla’s teleoperation labs.

The gloves also reflect Memo’s much less complicated hands, which can make them more reliable and cheaper.

Electrek’s Take

Elon Musk is telling anyone willing to listen that Tesla is ahead of the competition when it comes to “real-world AI” and robotics.

He claims that Tesla will start producing Optimus robots in the millions of units starting next year and it will eventually “end poverty.”

Not many people who are serious about robotics take these claims seriously.

Many other companies are developing humanoid robots, and Tesla shows no evidence of being ahead of the pack, while there are still many obstacles to make them useful at scale.

A company like Sunday has a less ambitious but more realistic approach that could pay off, and it is convincing some Tesla engineers to jump ship.


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Arkansas turns on its first-ever utility-scale wind farm

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November 24, 2025

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Arkansas turns on its first-ever utility-scale wind farm

Crossover Wind Arkansas first wind farm

Photo: Cordelio Power

Cordelio Power’s 135 MW Crossover Wind farm is officially up and running in Cross County, Arkansas, west of Memphis, Tennessee. It is now officially the first operating wind farm in Arkansas.

“We are proud to announce that Crossover Wind is now generating electricity as the first utility-scale wind project in the state of Arkansas,” said Nick Karambelas, Cordelio Power’s chief development officer.

The project will deliver 100% of its power to Microsoft under a 20-year power purchase agreement. Independent power producer Cordelio says Crossover will pay about $950,000 a year to Cross County and more than $50 million to local landowners over the project’s lifetime without disrupting farming practices.

“We’re especially thankful for the strong collaboration from Cross County officials, landowners, and the broader community, which has been instrumental in bringing this project to life,” Karambelas added.

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M.A. Mortenson handled the construction, and Vestas supplied 32 US-made V-163 4.5 MW turbines. Vestas will also handle long-term operations and maintenance.

Cordelio acquired the project in late 2023 from Steelhead Americas, Vestas’ North American development arm, which started development in 2020.

Read more: Solar and wind are covering all new power demand in 2025

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Anker SOLIX C2000 Gen 2 power station hits new $679 low + PowerCore Reserve at $80, Mammotion RTK robot mowers from $649, more

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4 hours ago

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November 24, 2025

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Anker SOLIX C2000 Gen 2 power station hits new 9 low + PowerCore Reserve at , Mammotion RTK robot mowers from 9, more


We’re kicking off this week’s Green Deals with a continued Black Friday extravaganza – with this issue containing a mix of single-focus deals and massive roundups. Our headliner comes as part of Anker’s SOLIX Black Friday Sale, with the brand launching a 4-day flash sale on a small selection of power stations, including the latest SOLIX C2000 Gen 2 Portable Power Station at a new $679 low. Right behind that, we have a nice array of Mammotion RTK Robot Lawn Mowers at some of their lowest prices at Amazon and Wellbots starting from $649, as well as Anker’s popular PowerCore Reserve 60,000mAh/192Wh Portable Power Station at $80. There’s also EV charging lows from Schumacher, a massive Greenworks Black Friday roundup, Best Buy’s collection of daily deals, and much more waiting for you below. And don’t forget about the hangover deals from last week that are collected together at the bottom of the page in our latest edition of Electrified Weekly.

Head below for other New Green Deals we’ve found today and, of course, Electrek’s best EV buying and leasing deals. Also, check out the new Electrek Tesla Shop for the best deals on Tesla accessories.

Anker’s 4-day SOLIX Black Friday flash sale drops latest C2000 gen 2 power station to new $679 low ($820 off)

As part of its expanded Black Friday Sale, Anker SOLIX is offering 4-day flash savings on four different bundles, three of which are keeping the same low prices while switching up the FREE gear you’ll be getting with them, while one is actually dropping costs lower than before. That latter deal mentioned is on Anker’s new SOLIX C2000 Gen 2 Portable Power Station for $679.15 shipped, which also matches in price at Amazon. It’s been carrying a $1,499 price tag since launching at the end of October, with the discounts we’ve seen in its short time on the market having dropped costs to $799 and $749, until the brand’s Black Friday event first brought things lower to $699. Now, you can score it at an even better price, with $820 cut from the tag for a new all-time low rate. Head below for more on this unit and the others benefiting from this flash sale.

Not only does Anker’s SOLIX C2000 Gen 2 power station come as an upgrade from the legacy F2000 unit, but right now it’s even beating out that older model’s price by $120, making this deal all the better. This new model comes more compact and lighter than before with a starting 2,048Wh LiFePO4 battery capacity that can expand up to 4,096Wh with an expansion battery (which you can find bundled on the station’s landing page). There are 11 ports to choose from for your needs (5x AC, 3x USB-C, and solo TT-30R, USB-A, and car ports), with it providing 2,400W to 4,000W of max output when surging.

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There are six main ways to recharge its own battery, with an AC outlet or a gas generator putting it at 100% in 88 minutes, while utilizing its max 800W solar input gets you there in up to three hours. You can also use both AC and solar charging at the same time to hit 100% in up to 58 minutes, or if you’re driving, either use your car’s auxiliary port for up to 23 hours or the new 800W alternator charger for faster speeds.

Anker’s SOLIX Black Friday 4-Day flash sale offers:

As I mentioned, there’s the massive lineup of Anker SOLIX Black Friday deals that you can view here, with increased savings up to 70% off, free gifts, and more starting from $150.

father and daughter planting tree in yard while Mammotion YUKA Mini 500H robot lawn mower cuts grass

Upgrade your lawn care with up to 35% Black Friday savings on Mammotion RTK robot mowers from $649

During Amazon’s Black Friday Sale event, the official Mammotion storefront is offering up to 35% savings across various models of its robot lawn mowers, with prices starting lowest on the YUKA Mini 500H Robotic Lawn Mower at $649 shipped. You’d have to shell out $999 for this model at full price, which discounts have previously dropped to this same low rate twice before, while others kept costs higher at $779 or more. Picking one up here not only automates your lawn care routine, but you’ll be doing so with $350 cut from the tag at the lowest price we have tracked. Head below for all the other Mammotion robot models we’re seeing discounted for the holidays.

If you want to learn more about this model or browse the full lineup of offers we’ve collected from Amazon and Wellbots, be sure to check out our original coverage of these deals here.

anker powercore reserve power station on picnic table charging laptop and iPhone

As part of the ongoing Amazon Black Friday Sale, Anker’s official storefront is offering its popular PowerCore Reserve 60,000mAh Portable Power Station back at $79.98 shipped in both colorways, which matches the price we’re seeing directly from the brand’s website. Fetching $150 at full price and regularly seeing Prime exclusive discounts to $110, it’s during major events like Black Friday (as well as random windows throughout other months) that we often see it dip below $100 to either $90 or $80, with there having been a once-off drop to the $75 low back in July that hasn’t been seen since. You’re getting the opportunity to score it at the next-best price this holiday season, cutting $70 off the going rate and giving you quite the portable means to keep personal devices up and running.

If you want to learn more about this compact backup power solution, be sure to check out our original coverage of this deal here.

Schumacher level 1 ev charger in trunk of car
Promotional image of Greenworks tools in large garage/warehouse
Best Buy Black Friday deals of the day featuring an e-scooter, lawn mower, more

Best Fall EV deals!

Best new Green Deals landing this week

The savings this week are also continuing to a collection of other markdowns. To the same tune as the offers above, these all help you take a more energy-conscious approach to your routine. Winter means you can lock in even better off-season price cuts on electric tools for the lawn while saving on EVs and tons of other gear.


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