Energy
Transitioning to a world powered by renewable energy is key to tackling climate change. Here you can find the latest good news related to our clean energy transition, covering wind, solar, green hydrogen, hydropower, and more.
Drones are helping the solar industry design more efficient solar farms
The word drone conjures many negative connotations, but in California, solar company SunPower is flying drones to maximize their solar output. The drones are being used to survey wide regions of land to help design solar farms that can fit more panels on a piece of land, more quickly and for lower Read More...
The high-stakes race to reinvent the battery is heating up
There’s a new kind of space race happening in our world right now, but unlike the flashiness that accompanied the actual race to get to outer space, this race is about something far less exciting: The battery. We know that the future will be powered by the battery, but current batteries don’t Read More...
Liquid hydrogen may be way forward for sustainable air travel
Transport makes up around 20 percent of our energy use around the world--and that figure is set to grow, according to the International Energy Agency. With sustainable solutions in mind, a new study published by eminent physicist Jo Hermans in MRS Energy and Sustainability--A Review Journal (MRS Read More...
US, Japan, Germany hop aboard hydrogen fuel cell train
The dream of a zero-emission hydrogen economy amounted to little more than pixie dust just a few years ago. But that was then and this is now. In the first part of February alone, three big stories about hydrogen fuel cells in the U.S., Japan and Germany demonstrate that the hydrogen economy is Read More...
New record: Wind briefly generates majority of electricity in southwest U.S.
On Sunday last week wind power provided 52.1 percent of the electricity for a 14-state grid in the southwest of the U.S. It was the first time that wind generated a majority of power for any U.S. grid. The new record underlines that renewables like wind energy can play a key role in an affordable, Read More...
Why new coal? Solar towers + storage beats it on all counts
The US-based developers of the world’s leading solar tower and storage technologies has expressed surprise that Australia’s federal government is pursuing “new coal” plants, saying that solar towers with storage beats coal on just about all fronts. Tom Georgis, the head of Read More...
India is set for solar success in 2017
2017 looks like it might be the best year ever for solar adoption. Initiatives are set to pick up speed around the world, including in China. Of all the nations with big plans, though, India just might have the biggest. India expects to commission 7.7 gigawatts of utility-scale solar projects this Read More...
From a hybrid microgrid in Tasmania to neighborhood batteries in Denver
A model hybrid microgrid in Tasmania is scheduled to begin operating this quarter, according to Electro Power Systems, which developed the project with Toshiba for Hydro Tasmania. The 3-MW, solar plus storage microgrid is part of the ‘Flinders Island Hybrid Energy Hub,’ designed to wean Read More...
Texas has become the unlikely champion of wind energy in America
The most Republican-dominated, oil-rich and fracking-friendly of the U.S. has found itself with the improbable status of being a national leader of wind energy. That’s right, Texas has by far the greatest wind generating capacity in the entire U.S., producing enough electricity to power 5.7 Read More...
The Uber effect on electricity
Leon Trotsky said, "You may not be interested in war, but war is interested in you." The same thing might be said about disruptive technologies. The U.S. electric system, for example, may not be interested in disruptive technology, but disruptive technology is interested in it. What Uber and Lyft Read More...