Have you given much thought to the inner workings of your stove? Me neither. Your home probably came with one already installed, and so long as you can turn it on, boil some water and simmer up a sauce, perhaps that’s reason enough not to second guess it. But if you’re cooking wi … | Continue reading
Have you given much thought to the inner workings of your stove? Me neither. Your home probably came with one already installed, and so long as you can turn it on, boil some water and simmer up a sauce, perhaps that’s reason enough not to second guess it. But if you’re cooking wi … | Continue reading
The humble water heater, like your fridge or septic tank, is the type of home technology that you only notice if and when it breaks. For most homeowners, that’s every 13 years. But if you’re on a mission to decarbonize your life, you might want to rethink your current set-up, and … | Continue reading
The humble water heater, like your fridge or septic tank, is the type of home technology that you only notice if and when it breaks. For most homeowners, that’s every 13 years. But if you’re on a mission to decarbonize your life, you might want to rethink your current set-up, and … | Continue reading
Americans love laundry. Of the common household chores, it is by far the most popular — and the most energy-intensive. Washing and drying a load of laundry every two days for a year generates roughly the same emissions as driving from Chicago to New York and back again in a gasol … | Continue reading
Americans love laundry. Of the common household chores, it is by far the most popular — and the most energy-intensive. Washing and drying a load of laundry every two days for a year generates roughly the same emissions as driving from Chicago to New York and back again in a gasol … | Continue reading
I love driving. Love it. And I am not alone. “Automobility is our national way of life,” the historian and journalist Dan Albert has written. Getting your driver’s license is as close to a coming-of-age ritual as we have; cars inspire everything from our music to our movies to th … | Continue reading
I love driving. Love it. And I am not alone. “Automobility is our national way of life,” the historian and journalist Dan Albert has written. Getting your driver’s license is as close to a coming-of-age ritual as we have; cars inspire everything from our music to our movies to th … | Continue reading
“The only thing better for the climate than buying an EV over a gasoline-powered car is buying no car at all,” the climate scientist Rob Jackson has written. But for many Americans, not having a car at all is the stuff of logistical and cultural nightmares. The average person liv … | Continue reading
“The only thing better for the climate than buying an EV over a gasoline-powered car is buying no car at all,” the climate scientist Rob Jackson has written. But for many Americans, not having a car at all is the stuff of logistical and cultural nightmares. The average person liv … | Continue reading
Let’s get this out of the way: You don’t have to turn vegetarian to make a meaningful dent in your carbon emissions. You don’t have to start eating insects or experiment with precision-fermented plant-based proteins. You don’t even have to eat less meat, necessarily. Just eat les … | Continue reading
Let’s get this out of the way: You don’t have to turn vegetarian to make a meaningful dent in your carbon emissions. You don’t have to start eating insects or experiment with precision-fermented plant-based proteins. You don’t even have to eat less meat, necessarily. Just eat les … | Continue reading
It was burrito night — I had some tortillas, salsa, guacamole and red onion in my refrigerator, but all our meat was still frozen, and I didn’t have any beans handy. So I did what any climate reporter with an interest in food systems would do and grabbed a pack of meatless “carne … | Continue reading
It was burrito night — I had some tortillas, salsa, guacamole and red onion in my refrigerator, but all our meat was still frozen, and I didn’t have any beans handy. So I did what any climate reporter with an interest in food systems would do and grabbed a pack of meatless “carne … | Continue reading
Driving less has a lot of benefits. You’ll be healthier than your vehicle-bound peers, about a third of whom don’t walk for more than 10 minutes a week. You’ll cut carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide, and methane emissions. In the process, you’ll probably realize how awful America’s pu … | Continue reading
Driving less has a lot of benefits. You’ll be healthier than your vehicle-bound peers, about a third of whom don’t walk for more than 10 minutes a week. You’ll cut carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide, and methane emissions. In the process, you’ll probably realize how awful America’s pu … | Continue reading
As a renter in a walkable city, I can’t get heat pumps or solar panels and don’t need an EV. The main thing I try to do is buy used. There’s so many vintage, consignment, and thrift stores, online used clothing and furniture marketplaces, and even name-brand businesses that recyc … | Continue reading
As a renter in a walkable city, I can’t get heat pumps or solar panels and don’t need an EV. The main thing I try to do is buy used. There’s so many vintage, consignment, and thrift stores, online used clothing and furniture marketplaces, and even name-brand businesses that recyc … | Continue reading
Current conditions: One of South Africa’s busiest highways has reopened after an unusual heavy snowfall • The streets of Cannes turned to rivers as heavy rains swept through southeast France • It will be about 70 degrees Fahrenheit and cloudy in New York City for most of Climate … | Continue reading
Paranormal: Caught on Camera is not the kind of television show you’d typically expect to read about in a research paper. Recent episodes include “Haunted Doll Bites Child” and “UFO Takes Off in Argentina”; a critic once described it as unsuitable for viewers who have developed “ … | Continue reading
After Three Mile Island, what’s next? That’s the question the nuclear industry and those who follow it were asking after news broke that Constellation Energy was planning to reboot the facility’s Unit 1, which shut down in 2019. The deal is being anchored by Microsoft, which will … | Continue reading
American steelmaker Cleveland-Cliffs cast doubt last week on the country’s most important green steel project. Chief executive Lourenco Goncalves suggested in an interview that the company was considering passing up $500 million of federal grants to build a new hydrogen-powered m … | Continue reading
Welcome to Decarbonize Your Life, Heatmap’s special report that aims to help you make decisions in your own life that are better for the climate, better for you, and better for the world we all live in. This is our attempt, in other words, to assist you in living something like a … | Continue reading
Current conditions: Cleanup efforts have begun in Italy’s washed out Emilia-Romagna region • Endangered freshwater dolphins are washing ashore at Brazil’s Lake Tefe as water levels recede due to drought • The Colorado Rockies could see some snow this weekend. THE TOP FIVE 1. Thre … | Continue reading
It’s tough out there for an electric truck. Rivian’s R1T was the showpiece that launched the company; I was blown away the moment I saw its concept version at a car show in the 2010s. But the truck’s sales are down 38% over last year as the R1S SUV becomes the brand’s signature v … | Continue reading
Since at least the 1970s, electrochemists have cast their gazes upon the world’s vast, briny seas and wondered how they could harness the endless supply of hydrogen locked within. Though it was technically possible to grab the hydrogen by running an electrical current through the … | Continue reading
Current conditions: Shanghai, still recovering from the strongest storm to hit the city in 75 years, is bracing for Typhoon Pulasan • Extreme flooding in the north of Italy has forced some 1,000 people to evacuate • It’s looking unlikely that this month will break last year’s rec … | Continue reading
The weather has never been hotter. The past few years have seen a boom in the weather prediction industry, with AI-based weather models from the likes of Google DeepMind, Huawei, and Nvidia consistently outperforming traditional models. Most of that work has been research-oriente … | Continue reading
Renewable energy just became a much more enticing investment. That’s thanks to the Federal Reserve, which announced today that it would reduce the benchmark federal funds rate by half a percentage point, from just over 5% to just below. It’s the beginning of an unwinding of years … | Continue reading
Farms are fast becoming one of the most powerful opponents to renewable energy in the United States, second perhaps only to the fossil fuel industry. And it’s frighteningly unclear how developers will resolve this problem – or if they even can. As solar and wind has grown rapidly … | Continue reading
1. Newport County, Rhode Island – I’ve learned that climate activists in Rhode Island are now using local protests to oppose NIMBYs who are challenging renewables projects. On Sept. 19, members of Climate Action Rhode Island – a local offshoot of 350.org – will be on the ground d … | Continue reading
Tariffs time, baby – All eyes are on the U.S. Trade Representative after the Biden administration locked in 100% tariffs on Chinese electric vehicle imports effective in a week and a half, and determined up next are a 50% tariff on solar cells and 25% tariff on steel, aluminum, E … | Continue reading
Tariffs time, baby – All eyes are on the U.S. Trade Representative after the Biden administration locked in 100% tariffs on Chinese electric vehicle imports effective in a week and a half, and determined up next are a 50% tariff on solar cells and 25% tariff on steel, aluminum, E … | Continue reading
While in Anaheim for RE+ last week, I met with Eric Dresselhuys, CEO of long duration iron-flow battery storage manufacturer ESS Inc. We chatted about battery fires, community buy-in, and the future of China policy. I came in expecting optimism and left feeling we need a lot more … | Continue reading
While in Anaheim for RE+ last week, I met with Eric Dresselhuys, CEO of long duration iron-flow battery storage manufacturer ESS Inc. We chatted about battery fires, community buy-in, and the future of China policy. I came in expecting optimism and left feeling we need a lot more … | Continue reading
Current conditions: Ecuador’s government-enforced blackouts will begin tomorrow night as drought threatens hydroelectric plants • Storm Boris is causing flooding in parts of Italy • Montana could see very heavy rainfall and flash flooding today. THE TOP FIVE 1. Frontier announces … | Continue reading
Geothermal is getting closer to the big time. Last week, Fervo Energy — arguably the country’s leading enhanced geothermal company — announced that its Utah demonstration project had achieved record production capacity. The new approach termed “enhanced geothermal,” which borrows … | Continue reading
What happens when artificial intelligence takes some time to think? The newest set of models from OpenAI, o1-mini and o1-preview, exhibit more “reasoning” than existing large language models and associated interfaces, which spit out answers to prompts almost instantaneously. Inst … | Continue reading
Current conditions: Thousands of firefighters are battling raging blazes in Portugal • Shanghai could be hit by another typhoon this week • More than 18 inches of rain fell in less than 24 hours in Carolina Beach, which forecasters say is a one-in-a-thousand-year event. THE TOP F … | Continue reading
Officials at the Port of Stockton, an inland port in the Central Valley of California, were facing a problem. Under pressure from California regulators to convert all port vehicles to zero-emissions models over the next decade or so, they had made some progress, but had hit a wal … | Continue reading
Current conditions: Severe flooding in west and central Africa has displaced nearly one million people • Brazil is choking on wildfire smoke that can be seen from space • Shanghai was struck by Typhoon Bebinca, the strongest storm to hit the city in 75 years. THE TOP FIVE 1. Part … | Continue reading
Regulations are probably coming for the scandal-plagued voluntary carbon market. After years of mounting skepticism and reports of greenwashing, governments are now attempting to rein in the historically unchecked web of platforms, registries, protocols, and verification bodies o … | Continue reading
When you think of a gas-guzzler, what comes to mind is probably a gigantic pickup like the Ram 1500 TRX, which gets a combined 12 miles per gallon, or a sports car like the Ferrari Daytona, which manages a less-than-impressive 13 mpg. But you may not think about a vehicle you’ve … | Continue reading
Current conditions: Extreme rainfall in the Czech Republic could trigger some of the worst flooding in decades • South America has recorded more than 346,000 fire hotspots this year • A 4.7 magnitude earthquake rattled Los Angeles yesterday, followed by several aftershocks. THE T … | Continue reading
As California goes, so goes the American car scene. This sentiment has long been true, given that the Golden State is the country’s biggest automotive market and its emissions rules have helped to drag the car industry toward more efficient vehicles. It is doubly true in the EV e … | Continue reading
Current conditions: More than 300,000 people in Louisiana are without power after Hurricane Francine • Hungarian lawmakers met in a dried riverbed yesterday to draw attention to the country’s extreme drought • An Arctic blast could bring snow to parts of the U.K. THE TOP FIVE 1. … | Continue reading
Current conditions: More than 300,000 people in Louisiana are without power after Hurricane Francine • Hungarian lawmakers met in a dried riverbed yesterday to draw attention to the country’s extreme drought • An Arctic blast could bring snow to parts of the U.K. THE TOP FIVE 1. … | Continue reading
The rapid increase in demand for artificial intelligence is creating a seemingly vexing national dilemma: How can we meet the vast energy demands of a breakthrough industry without compromising our energy goals? If that challenge sounds familiar, that’s because it is. The U.S. ha … | Continue reading