Buffett auctions lunch for charity
The world’s most expensive lunch will go on sale again this spring when investor Warren Buffett auctions off a private meal to raise money for a California homeless charity one last time.
Buffett, CEO for Berkshire Hathaway which owns numerous businesses including Shaw Industries, held the online lunch auction once a year for 20 years before the pandemic began to raise money for the Glide Foundation, which helps the homeless in San Francisco.
The auction has been on hiatus for the past two years. Buffett has raised nearly $34.5 million for the charity over the years. Many of the past winners have been investors who revere Buffett for his remarkable track record of finding undervalues companies and stocks to buy. The bidding starts June 12.
Amazon headquarters planned in Virginia
The Arlington County Board has given unanimous approval to Amazon’s plans to build a unique, helix-shaped tower as the centerpiece of its emerging second headquarters in northern Virginia.
Amazon announced plans last year for the 350-foot tower. It will support a second headquarters for Amazon that is expected to welcome more than 25,000 workers when it’s complete.
The helix stands out among several office towers granted approval in the redevelopment plans. The spiral design features a walkable ramp wrapping around the building with trees and greenery planted to resemble a mountain hike. The County Board approved the project at its Saturday meeting.
China promotes coal-fired power
BEIJING – China is promoting coal-fired power as the ruling Communist Party tries to revive a sluggish economy, prompting warnings that Beijing is setting back efforts to cut climate-changing carbon emissions from the biggest global source.
News reports say official plans call for boosting coal production capacity by 300 million tons this year. That is equal to 7% of last year’s output of 4.1 billion tons.
China is one of the biggest investors in wind and solar, but jittery leaders called for more coal-fired power after economic growth plunged and shortages caused blackouts and factory shutdowns. Russia’s attack on Ukraine added to anxiety that foreign oil and coal supplies might be disrupted.
DOE loan to help EV battery plant
An Australian company’s Louisiana subsidiary can get up to $107 million in U.S. Department of Energy loans to expand a plant that produces materials for electric car batteries the department said Monday.
The loan to Syrah Technologies LLC would be the Biden administration’s second clean energy loan.
The money is expected to enable the plant to produce enough graphite-based “active anode material” for about 2.5 million electric vehicles by 2040, “saving an estimated 970 million gallons of gasoline,” according to a department blog post.
It would reactivate a program last used more than a decade ago during the Obama administration to lend money to auto makers and would be the program’s first use for a supply chain project, the department said. It said previous Advanced Technology Vehicles Manufacturing loans went to Ford, Nissan and Tesla.
“Importantly, this project also provides a socially and environmentally responsible U.S. supply chain for graphite,” the Energy Department said.
Syrah’s plant is in Vidalia, a city of 4,000 on the Mississippi River about 100 miles (160 kilometers) north of Baton Rouge. It uses graphite from Syrah’s huge mine in Mozambique.
– Compiled by Dave Flessner