There’s a nascent, concerted effort to make Oklahoma the first state to ban new renewable energy projects. And it’s picking up steam. Across the U.S., activism against wind and solar energy has only grown in intensity, power, and scope in tandem with the recent renewables boom. T … | Continue reading
The Palisades, Hurst, and Eaton fires now spreading across Los Angeles are yet another reminder that our rapidly changing climate now acts in unprecedented ways, with hurricane-force winds, longstanding drought, and a host of other factors contributing to blazes that have so far … | Continue reading
Current conditions: It is 27 degrees Fahrenheit in Dallas, Texas, and snow is expected • The whole of England is under a cold weather health warning until Sunday • A water boil advisory is in effect for Richmond, Virginia, after a winter storm cut power to the city’s water treatm … | Continue reading
China’s greenhouse gas emissions were essentially flat this year — or they recorded a tiny increase, according to a recent report from the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air, or CREA. A third of experts surveyed by the report believe that its coal emissions have peaked. … | Continue reading
The Biden administration rolled out the pièce de résistance of its Inflation Reduction Act tax credits on Tuesday, publishing the final rules for its overhaul of the clean energy subsidies at the heart of both the bill and United States alternative energy policy going back decade … | Continue reading
President-elect Donald Trump’s first press conference after yesterday’s certification of his election win (four years to the day since the January 6, 2021 Capitol riots) was never going to be a normal one. And so it proved that Trump’s wide-ranging comments at Mar-a-Lago on Tuesd … | Continue reading
After a year of concerted hand-wringing about the growing energy needs of data centers, a report that dropped just before the holidays proposed a solution that had been strangely absent from the discussion. AI companies have seemingly grasped for every imaginable source of clean … | Continue reading
Current conditions: Strong Santa Ana winds are bringing dangerous fire threats to Southern California • Heavy rainfall triggered severe floods in Mecca, Saudi Arabia • More than 2,300 flights were cancelled in the U.S. yesterday due to extreme winter weather. THE TOP FIVE 1. New … | Continue reading
It’s a bad sign when they won’t tell you the exact numbers. On Thursday, Tesla released final production figures for 2024, which saw the EV maker post a rare year-over-year decline in sales growth. It’s likely that a slow start for the Cybertruck, Tesla’s only new model in recent … | Continue reading
There’s no quick fix for decarbonizing medium- and long-distance flights. Batteries are typically too heavy, and hydrogen fuel takes up too much space to offer a practical solution, leaving sustainable aviation fuels made from plants and other biomass, recycled carbon, or capture … | Continue reading
Americans love their public lands — particularly Americans living in the West, where easy access to the region’s undeveloped forests, mountains, rivers, deserts, and lakes is a point of identity and pride. But on Friday, in its first action as a voting body, the House of Represen … | Continue reading
Current conditions: Extreme heat in southeastern Australia triggered fire bans • More than 260 flood alerts are in place across England and Wales • A snow emergency is in effect in Washington, D.C., where lawmakers are set to gather today to certify President-elect Donald Trump’s … | Continue reading
When Donald Trump won the 2024 U.S. presidential election, the risk to recent progress on climate policy was immediately obvious: He ran on a promise to increase fossil fuel production, has a long history of denigrating renewable energy, and is hostile to anything with Joe Biden’ … | Continue reading
In one of the Biden administration’s final acts to advance decarbonization, and after more than two years of deliberation and heated debate, the Treasury Department issued the final requirements governing eligibility for the clean hydrogen tax credit on Friday. At up to $3 per ki … | Continue reading
Current conditions: A cold snap in Europe could deplete natural gas supplies • More than two feet of lake-effect snow could fall this weekend in upstate New York • Hanoi, the capital of Vietnam, has become the most polluted city in the world, prompting a push for more EVs. THE TO … | Continue reading
The first Trump administration helped advance the dream of cultivated meat grown from animal cells. The second Trump administration might try to kill the dream. Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., who could control the fate of cultivated meat in America as President-elect Trump’s nominee for … | Continue reading
Law enforcement is still investigating whether any connection exists between the deadly New Year’s attacks in Las Vegas and New Orleans, but among the eerie similarities is one curious factor in common: electric vehicles. In New Orleans, officials say a suspect now identified as … | Continue reading
Tesla reported today that it had delivered 495,570 cars in the last three months of the year, and 1,789,226 in 2024 as a whole. That represents a decline in annual sales from 2023 — Tesla’s first annual decline in more than 10 years, back when the company’s deliveries were counte … | Continue reading
Current conditions: A series of Arctic blasts hitting the U.S. could make for the coldest January since 2011 • Power has been restored in Puerto Rico after a massive New Year’s Eve blackout • Temperatures will get down to about 43 degrees Fahrenheit tonight in Barcelona, where ga … | Continue reading
Donald Trump’s nominee for Secretary of Energy, Chris Wright, is a nerd — and he’ll tell you about it. “I’m Chris Wright, and my short bio is, I started out as a science geek, I transitioned to a tech nerd, and then I’ve been an energy entrepreneur my whole life,” he told energy … | Continue reading
Happy new year! On this week’s episode of Shift Key, Rob and Jesse answer some of the questions they’ve received from readers throughout the year. Hot topics include: What happened to the Green New Deal, and is the Inflation Reduction Act part of its legacy? Should U.S. policy pr … | Continue reading
We’re now a quarter of the way through the 21st century, and it’s indisputable that climate is one of the most important stories of our time. That’s our philosophy here at Heatmap, but just about everything around us illustrates it, too — from government policy and tech to movies … | Continue reading
The end of 2024 marks the end of four of the busiest years the climate and clean energy community has seen to date. I think it's safe to say the energy transition is in full swing (despite certain opinions to the contrary), even if it's not yet on a glide path to a future that wo … | Continue reading
As Donald Trump prepares to take office (again), the future of the tax policy that underlies clean energy development in the United States has never been more in doubt. Will the clean energy tax credits survive? What about advanced manufacturing? Or will it just be the electric v … | Continue reading
My inbox and calendar have been filled all year with press releases and requests to chat about new carbon removal technologies, artificial intelligence and its attendant energy demand, novel battery designs, advances in fission and fusion, and investors’ ever-present concerns abo … | Continue reading
The rise of artificial intelligence and the associated expansion of data centers is driving surging demand for new power supply. Earlier this fall at the annual meeting of Princeton University’s Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment, Jesse sat down with a panel of exper … | Continue reading
Current conditions: Bushfires are burning out of control in Australia • The death toll from Cyclone Chido in Mozambique has risen to 94 • It is 25 degrees Fahrenheit in Cleveland, Ohio, which is home to the iconic house from the film “A Christmas Story.” THE TOP FIVE 1. A quick C … | Continue reading
It is the darkest week of the year. For the lucky folks in Miami, the day still lasts a little over 10 hours; in Anchorage, it lasts less than six. In Utqiagvik, Alaska — the economic center of the North Slope’s oil operations — there is no day at all; the sun last set on Nov. 16 … | Continue reading
Current conditions: Bosnia’s capital of Sarajevo is blanketed in a layer of toxic smog • Temperatures in Perth, in Western Australia, could hit 106 degrees Fahrenheit this weekend • It is cloudy in Washington, D.C., where lawmakers are scrambling to prevent a government shutdown. … | Continue reading
Climate change is the greatest story of our time — but our time doesn’t seem to invent many great stories about climate change. Maybe it’s due to the enormity and urgency of the subject matter: Climate is “important,” and therefore conscripted to the humorless realms of journalis … | Continue reading
Permitting reform is dead in the 118th Congress. It died earlier this week, although you could be forgiven for missing it. On Tuesday, bipartisan talks among lawmakers fell apart over a bid to rewrite parts of the National Environmental Policy Act. The changes — pushed for by Rep … | Continue reading
Heatmap Pro is an insights platform providing actionable intelligence to renewable energy developers, helping them stay informed about community sentiments and regulatory trends. We are seeking a strategic and entrepreneurial VP of Sales to lead our efforts in scaling the busines … | Continue reading
Current conditions: Temperatures across western states are between 10 and 20 degrees Fahrenheit above seasonal averages • A temple in Thailand collapsed after unrelenting heavy rain • It’s hot and humid on the remote Caribbean island of Sombrero, where a lizard that was facing ex … | Continue reading
This year has reshaped the political landscape of climate action in ways few could have predicted. From the European Parliament to the US presidency, elections have upended the alliances and leadership structures that have traditionally driven climate progress. A world that as re … | Continue reading
The Federal Reserve cut interest rates at its third straight meeting — but don’t expect as many cuts next year. The Fed indicated that it expects only two quarter-point reductions in 2025, down from the four it had forecast in September, when it began its rate-cutting cycle. The … | Continue reading
Current conditions: Very windy conditions in the UK have sent wind power generation soaring but electricity prices plummeting • Strong storms are expected to bring heavy rain and possibly tornadoes to Nashville, Tennessee • It’s cloudy in Tokyo, where Nissan shares were up on the … | Continue reading
A Great Global Calamity Five years ago this month, the novel coronavirus that would eventually become known as Covid-19 began to spread in Wuhan, China, kicking off a sequence of events that quite literally changed the world as we know it, the global climate not excepted. The mos … | Continue reading
Jennifer Granholm has long been one of the most interesting figures in the Democratic Party. A former federal prosecutor, she was the governor of Michigan from 2003 to 2011, leading the state during the Great Recession and subsequent auto bailout. Since 2021, she has been the 16t … | Continue reading
Robinson Meyer: Secretary Granholm, welcome to Shift Key. Jennifer Granholm: Thank you. Glad to be on. Meyer: So let’s start here. Can you just start by setting the scene for us for what the Department of Energy has done over the past few years, and what it has become? Because as … | Continue reading
The Department of Energy on Tuesday published the results of its nearly year-long analysis of the “public interest” impacts of U.S. exports of liquified natural gas. This represents the culmination of a contentious period that began in January, when the Biden administration annou … | Continue reading
Commonwealth Fusion Systems, the buzziest and most well-funded company in the increasingly buzzy and well-funded fusion sector, announced today that it will build a commercial fusion power plant in Chesterfield County, Virginia — a first for both the company and the world. CFS wi … | Continue reading
The Department of Energy on Tuesday published the results of its long-awaited analysis of the economic and environmental implications of expanding U.S. exports of liquified natural gas. The study was the culmination of a year-long process after President Biden paused approvals of … | Continue reading
Here’s something to chew on over the holiday break: The top of a car is wasted space. Sure, you can put a sunroof there to let in a little light and breeze or install a roof rack to take your surfboard to the beach. But for the most part, the roof is just a field of metal to keep … | Continue reading
Current conditions: A 7.3-magnitude earthquake caused major damage on the Pacific island of Vanuatu • Oil from damaged tankers is washing up on Russian beaches after a storm in the Black Sea • Hot, dry, and windy weather returns to parched Southern California. THE TOP FIVE 1. Wha … | Continue reading
The transition to clean energy is largely a shift from molecules to electrons — gasoline in the tank is out, electricity stored in a battery cell is in. It follows, then, that as the transition progresses, the balance of power in the energy industry will shift from oil and gas pr … | Continue reading
Current conditions: A rare tornado caused damage in Northern California over the weekend • Severe flooding continues in southern Thailand • It is chilly and cloudy in Washington, D.C., where lawmakers have reportedly decided not to include permitting reform in the year-end spendi … | Continue reading
Donald Trump hasn’t taken office yet, but the quarter of a billion dollars Elon Musk invested in Trump’s victory is already paying off in ways large and small. On Friday, Reuters reported that the Trump transition team is looking to scrap a National Highway Traffic Safety Adminis … | Continue reading
Every state would like to think itself singular but, truly, there is no place like Utah. The Beehive State has long fascinated outsiders; today, that attention is largely trained on Netflix exposés about the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, ballerina farmers, and Crum … | Continue reading