Current conditions: Hurricane Imelda hit Bermuda as a Category 2 storm • Storm Amy, the first named UK storm of the season, will bring heavy rains and wind to Scotland, England, and Wales on Friday • Sudan’s Ministry of Agriculture declared a state of emergency this week after th … | Continue reading
Climate tech funding has slowed in the face of federal government pushback — but it has certainly not stopped. As the administration has cranked up its hostilities against everything from electric vehicles to wind turbines, companies and investors are responding by getting strate … | Continue reading
The shutdown punishment has begun, and it’s aimed at New York City.Russ Vought, the director of the Office of Management and Budget announced Wednesday on X that “roughly $18 billion in New York City infrastructure projects have been put on hold to ensure funding is not flowing b … | Continue reading
Current conditions: Tropical Storm Imelda is set to gain intensity this week and whip the southeastern U.S. with soaking rain and storm surge • Frigid night air is forecast across northern New England • Typhoon Bualoi is flooding broad swaths of Vietnam, Thailand, and Laos.THE TO … | Continue reading
It’s been a busy few weeks for climate and energy. New York Climate Week brought hundreds of events — and thousands of people — to the city to discuss decarbonization and energy policy. The New Jersey governor’s race has raised the salience of electricity rates. And suddenly ever … | Continue reading
Most Americans say that rising electricity bills are having at least “a decent amount” of impact on their household finances, according to a new Heatmap Pro poll.The poll, which surveyed more than 3,700 registered voters last month, gives context to how electricity prices have co … | Continue reading
Current conditions: Tropical Storm Imelda is gaining wind intensity this week, bringing flooding rain and storm surge to the southeastern U.S. • Hurricane Humberto, now a Category 4 storm, is passing west of Bermuda, bringing marine hazards to the U.S. East Coast • Typhoon Bualoi … | Continue reading
The geothermal startup XGS Energy has now completed four months of tests to see whether its technology can maintain steady production of heat at temperatures above what’s needed to generate energy. Over 3,000 hours, the company monitored the drilling process and checked how heat … | Continue reading
Electricity prices are rising and voters are mad about it — two facts that might seem to add up to a political victory for Democrats. Environmental groups and elected officials alike are gearing up to use electricity prices against Trump, citing the president’s multi-pronged assa … | Continue reading
Current conditions: Hurricane Humberto has strengthened into a Category 4 storm as it makes its way northward, likely hitting Bermuda with heavy rainfall by midweek • Vietnam is evacuating thousands and canceling flights as Typhoon Bualoi makes landfall • Temperatures are surging … | Continue reading
The three letter acronym I heard the most during New York Climate Week wasn’t EPA, COP, NDC, or GHG. It was PJM. The country’s largest electricity market — the PJM Interconnection, which reaches into 13 states, including Pennsylvania, Ohio, Virginia, and Michigan — has become the … | Continue reading
The three letter acronym I heard the most during New York Climate Week wasn’t EPA, COP, NDC, or GHG. It was PJM. The country’s largest electricity market — the PJM Interconnection, which reaches into 13 states, including Pennsylvania, Ohio, Virginia, and Michigan — has become the … | Continue reading
When the Trump administration ordered work on Orsted’s Revolution Wind offshore wind project to shut down in late August, it cited national security concerns as the reason for the delay. Within weeks, a federal judge had lifted the stop work order, allowing construction to procee … | Continue reading
Solar and wind companies cite the rise of artificial intelligence to make their business cases after the United States government slashed massive tax incentives for their projects. But the data centers supposed to power the AI boom are now facing the sort of swift wave of rejecti … | Continue reading
1. Pulaski County, Arkansas – The attorney general of Arkansas is reassuring residents that yes, they can still ban wind farms if they want to.As I chronicled earlier this month, the backlash to wind energy in this state is fierce, motivated by a convergence of environmental frus … | Continue reading
This week I chatted with Wil Gehl, the InterMountain West senior manager at the Solar Energy Industries Association. I reached out in the hopes we could chat candidly about the impacts of the current national policy regime on solar development in the American West, where a pause … | Continue reading
Current conditions: Tropical Storm Humberto formed in the Atlantic and is expected to strengthen into a hurricane this weekend, bringing rip currents to Bermuda, the Bahamas, and the U.S. East Coast • Severe storms could bring winds of up to 75 miles per hours throughout the Mid- … | Continue reading
Current conditions: Tropical Storm Humberto formed in the Atlantic and is expected to strengthen into a hurricane this weekend, bringing rip currents to Bermuda, the Bahamas, and the U.S. East Coast • Severe storms could bring winds of up to 75 miles per hours throughout the Mid- … | Continue reading
Artificial intelligence is helping to drive up electricity demand in America. Energy costs are rising, and utilities are struggling to adjust. How should policymakers — and companies — respond to this moment?On this special episode of Shift Key, recorded live at Heatmap House dur … | Continue reading
When the promising and well funded sodium-ion battery company Natron Energy announced that it was shutting down operations a few weeks ago, early post-mortems pinned its failure on the challenge of finding a viable market for this alternate battery chemistry. Some went so far as … | Continue reading
A family of four pulls their Hyundai Ioniq 5 into a roadside stop, plugs in, and sits down to order some food. By the time it arrives, they realize their EV has added enough charge that they can continue their journey. Instead of eating a leisurely meal, they get their grub to go … | Continue reading
Current conditions: Hurricane Gabrielle has strengthened into a Category 4 storm in the Atlantic, bringing hurricane conditions to the Azores before losing wind intensity over Europe • Heavy rains are whipping the eastern U.S. • Typhoon Ragasa downed more than 10,000 trees in Yan … | Continue reading
If you’ll allow us to toot our own horn for a moment, Heatmap House — our first-ever daylong series of panels with the most influential voices in climate, clean energy, and sustainability, part of New York Climate Week — had everything. Senator Chuck Schumer kicked things off wit … | Continue reading
If you’ll allow us to toot our own horn for a moment, Heatmap House — our first-ever daylong series of panels with the most influential voices in climate, clean energy, and sustainability, part of New York Climate Week — had everything. Senator Chuck Schumer kicked things off wit … | Continue reading
Tom Steyer is still riding the wave.The climate investor and philanthropist told the audience at Heatmap House’s third session of the day, “Up Next in Climate Tech,” that he started his investment firm Galvanize in 2021 because “there’s a huge, powerful wave behind us.” And now, … | Continue reading
None of the speakers at Heatmap House’s second session at New York Climate Week, “Built to Scale,” minced words when it came to describing the current U.S. policy environment. The global fight to decarbonize is still happening, our guests emphasized — but it might happen without … | Continue reading
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer kicked off Heatmap House, a daylong series of panels and one-on-one conversations with investors, founders, and policymakers at New York Climate Week, with a rousing condemnation of the Trump administration’s climate policies and a call to act … | Continue reading
House Democrats introduced a new package of proposals on Wednesday taking aim at rising electricity prices. The move signals a shift in how the party plans to talk about the energy industry — and an even bigger change in how the party plans to talk about climate change in the Tru … | Continue reading
Current conditions: Typhoon Ragasa slammed into East Asia as the year’s strongest storm to date, killing 14 and leaving dozens missing in southern Taiwan and forcing more than 400,000 to evacuate in China • Hurricane Gabrielle intensified into the second major hurricane in the At … | Continue reading
Current conditions: Typhoon Ragasa slammed into East Asia as the year’s strongest storm to date, killing 14 and leaving dozens missing in southern Taiwan and forcing more than 400,000 to evacuate in China • Hurricane Gabrielle intensified into the second major hurricane in the At … | Continue reading
A new stack of electricity technologies — including solar panels, batteries, electric vehicles, and power electronics — seem to be displacing fossil fuels across China and the developing world. Are we watching an irresistible technological revolution happen? Or is something weird … | Continue reading
When John Busbee started his battery technology company in 2010, his strategy was about making just one small part that could be widely used by other manufacturers. He launched Xerion Advanced Battery Corp. at a University of Illinois startup incubator in a bid to commercialize a … | Continue reading
All summer, as the repeal of wind and solar tax credits and the surging power demands of data centers captured the spotlight, a more obscure but equally significant clean energy fight was unfolding in the background. Sustainability executives, academics, and carbon accounting exp … | Continue reading
Current conditions: Super Typhoon Ragasa, the most powerful storm in the world so far this year, made landfall over the northern Philippines as it progresses toward southern China and Taiwan • Hurricane Gabrielle is forecast to rapidly intensify into a major storm while tracking … | Continue reading
Current conditions: Super Typhoon Ragasa, the most powerful storm in the world so far this year, made landfall over the northern Philippines as it progresses toward southern China and Taiwan • Hurricane Gabrielle is forecast to rapidly intensify into a major storm while tracking … | Continue reading
Climate media startup Heatmap News is looking for an ambitious, energetic intern to support its growing newsroom on an ongoing basis.The intern’s duties will be wide and varied. They’ll assist with the nuts and bolts of maintaining a daily news operation, from attending daily sta … | Continue reading
As the United States faces its first significant increase in electricity demand in decades, the grid itself is not only aging, but also straining against the financial, logistical, and legal barriers to adding new supply. It’s enough to make you wonder: What’s the point of an ele … | Continue reading
A federal court has lifted the Trump administration’s order to halt construction on the Revolution Wind farm off the coast of New England. The decision marks the renewables industry’s first major legal victory against a federal war on offshore wind. The Interior Department ordere … | Continue reading
Comprehensive permitting reform remains elusive. In spite of numerous promising attempts — the Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2023, for instance, which delivered only limited improvements, and the failed Manchin-Barrasso bill of last year — the U.S. has repeatedly failed to overhau … | Continue reading
Current conditions: Tropical Storm Gabrielle is gaining intensity as it tracks northward near Bermuda • Thunderstorms from Tropical Storm Mario threaten floods in the American Southwest, particularly in areas scarred by wildfire • China is bracing for Typhoon Ragasa, which could … | Continue reading
Current conditions: Tropical Storm Gabrielle is gaining intensity as it tracks northward near Bermuda • Thunderstorms from Tropical Storm Mario threaten floods in the American Southwest, particularly in areas scarred by wildfire • China is bracing for Typhoon Ragasa, which could … | Continue reading
After the Los Angeles County wildfires in January, it seemed like the federal government was finally poised to do something about the decades of flawed forestry practices and land management policies that have turned the West into a tinderbox. On January 23, before the L.A. fires … | Continue reading
Current conditions: Tropical Storm Gabrielle is intensifying as it travels northwestward through the Atlantic, and may strengthen into a hurricane near Bermuda over the weekend • A trio of tropical storms — Mitag, Ragasa, and Neoguri — is barreling toward East Asia, threatening t … | Continue reading
Current conditions: Tropical Storm Gabrielle is intensifying as it travels northwestward through the Atlantic, and may strengthen into a hurricane near Bermuda over the weekend • A trio of tropical storms — Mitag, Ragasa, and Neoguri — is barreling toward East Asia, threatening t … | Continue reading
1. Indianapolis, Indiana – The Sooner state’s top energy official suggested energy developers should sue towns and county regulators over anti-renewable moratoria and restrictive ordinances, according to audio posted online by local politics blog Indy Politics. Per the audio, Ind … | Continue reading
This week’s conversation is with Barbara Kates-Garnick, a professor of practice at The Fletcher School at Tufts University, who before academia served as undersecretary of energy for the state of Massachusetts. I reached out to Kates-Garnick after I reported on the circumstances … | Continue reading
This week’s conversation is with Barbara Kates-Garnick, a professor of practice at The Fletcher School at Tufts University, who before academia served as undersecretary of energy for the state of Massachusetts. I reached out to Kates-Garnick after I reported on the circumstances … | Continue reading
National Republican political leaders are beginning to intervene in local battles over battery storage, taking the side of activists against developers. It’s a worrisome trend for an industry that, until recently, was escaping the culture clashes once reserved only for solar and … | Continue reading