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 […]
Green Energy
‘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 […]
Life cycle analysis reveals mixed CO₂ benefits from green hydrogen
Green hydrogen often, but certainly not always, leads to CO2 gains. This claim is based on research published in Nature Energy by Kiane de Kleijne from Radboud University and Eindhoven University of Technology. “If you calculate the entire life cycle of green hydrogen production and transport, CO2 gains may be disappointing. However, if green hydrogen is produced from […]
Australia needs large-scale energy production—three reasons why offshore wind is a good fit
On the weekend, an area 20km off the Illawarra coast south of Sydney became Australia’s fourth offshore wind energy zone. It’s the most controversial zone to date, with consultation attracting a record 14,211 submissions—of which 65% were opposed. The zone’s declaration has inflamed fierce debate over the pathway to decarbonization, particularly in industrial regions. The […]
Strategic dam placement can balance hydropower and fish preservation
Hydropower plants need not be disastrous for fishermen and nature. For that, we need to place new dams more strategically, but also modify or even remove some existing ones. Valerio Barbarossa and Rafael Schmitt showed that with a computer model of the Asian Mekong basin. A conflict between the sustainable development goals of affordable and clean energy on one […]
Bacterial batteries that harvest energy from soil
A U.K. university spin-out has developed a bacteria-powered battery that harvests energy from microorganisms in the soil to recharge itself, with a prototype already rolled out in Brazil. Data on conditions in the field are crucial to help farmers make informed decisions and achieve the best possible yields, but powering the sensors that provide such […]
