Painting roofs white or covering them with a reflective coating would be more effective at cooling cities like London than vegetation-covered “green roofs,” street-level vegetation or solar panels, finds a new study led by UCL researchers. Conversely, extensive use of air conditioning would warm the outside environment by as much as 1 degree C in London’s dense […]
Green Energy
Startup develops ‘screw-like’ generator that could harness largely untapped energy of waves — here’s how it works
A London-based startup called Spiralis Energy has pitched the use of its “screw-like” tidal power generator to the States of Alderney, an island in the English Channel that flows between France and England, per an article by Interesting Engineering. This comes in response to a call by the local government’s Energy Working Group, which invited proposals from […]
China is building a mammoth 8 GW solar farm
State-owned power company China Three Gorges Renewables Group will build an 8 GW solar farm as part of a nearly $11 billion integrated energy project. To put the sheer size of the 8 GW solar farm in perspective, the three largest solar farms in the world by capacity are China’s Ningxia Tenggeli and Golmud Wutumeiren […]
Google invests in BlackRock-backed Taiwanese solar developer to boost energy capacity amid AI boom
Google will partner with BlackRock to develop a 1-gigawatt pipeline of new solar capacity in Taiwan, the U.S. tech giant announced Monday in a press release as it seeks to boost energy capacity and cut carbon emissions amid the artificial intelligence boom. The deal will see Google make a capital investment, yet to be approved by […]
New research shows that solar-powered ‘resilience hubs’ in California could generate up to 8GW of power
Power outages are on the rise nationwide as climate change brings more frequent wildfires, heat waves, and severe weather events. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the state of California have both recently established funding to help communities create “resilience hubs” that rely on solar+battery systems to provide emergency power for residents. A new […]
‘Not a lab experiment’: climate tech CEO on green innovation
Microsoft co-founder and billionaire philanthropist Bill Gates has been hosting executives and entrepreneurs in London this week to boost investment in cutting-edge technologies promising big breakthroughs in tackling climate change. Among those attending is Arvin Ganesan, who worked in the Obama administration and at Apple before joining the race to develop the next generation of […]
Electric vehicles grow in the desert: Peer learning helps Sedona plan for charging infrastructure
The desert city of Sedona, Arizona, is home to less than 10,000 people but welcomes nearly 3 million visitors every year. The city knows it needs a big boost to its electric vehicle (EV) charging infrastructure to support greater numbers of tourists rolling in on EVs and to support municipal fleet electrification. Seeking ways to […]
Research shows how common plastics could passively cool and heat buildings with the seasons
Researchers at Princeton and UCLA have developed a passive mechanism to cool buildings in the summer and warm them in the winter. In an article published June 27 in the journal Cell Reports Physical Science, they report that by restricting radiant heat flows between buildings and their environment to specific wavelengths, coatings engineered from common […]
South Dakota’s largest solar farm just came online
National Grid Renewables just brought South Dakota’s largest solar farm online in Pennington County. Wild Springs is a 128-megawatt (MW) solar farm in the Southwest Power Pool, which manages the central US’s electric grid and wholesale power market. The solar farm has a 114 MW power purchase agreement with the utility Basin Electric Power Cooperative. […]
A big boost for a climate solution: electricity made from the heat of the Earth
One method of making electricity cleanly to address climate change has been quietly advancing and on Tuesday it hit a milestone. A California utility is backing the largest new geothermal power development in the U.S. — 400 megawatts of clean electricity from the Earth’s heat — enough for some 400,000 homes. Southern California Edison will […]