The blade that snapped off an offshore turbine at the Vineyard Wind project in Massachusetts on July 13 broke due to a manufacturing defect, according to GE Vernova, the turbine maker and installer. During GE’s second quarter earnings call on Wednesday, CEO Scott Strazik and Vice … | Continue reading
We now know what a real bipartisan permitting overhaul could look like. Senators Joe Manchin and John Barrasso on Monday unveiled the Energy Permitting Reform Act, the product of months of negotiations over how to craft a sweeping change to the nation’s federal energy project app … | Continue reading
Current conditions: Torrential rain from Typhoon Gaemi brought the Philippines’ capital to a standstill • California’s Santa Barbara County is dealing with an infestation of aggressive red fire ants • Monsoonal thunderstorms could bring flash flooding to the Great Basin region th … | Continue reading
This weekend, millions of Americans were reminded that we are living in extraordinary times. At moments, it almost seemed like you could feel our place in the great continuum of history — at once stretching backward to those who came before us while also extending forward, onward … | Continue reading
This weekend, millions of Americans were reminded that we are living in extraordinary times. At moments, it almost seemed like you could feel our place in the great continuum of history — at once stretching backward to those who came before us while also extending forward, onward … | Continue reading
Jesse is on vacation until August, so this is a special, Rob-only summer episode of Shift Key. The world uses about 30 billion tons of concrete every year — more than any other material except water. It is the most ubiquitous human-made substance in the global economy. It’s also … | Continue reading
Vineyard Wind’s turbine blade failure couldn’t have come at a worse time for offshore wind. The industry is still dealing with the high inflation and supply chain issues that turned 2023 into a parade of horribles. Now opponents to American offshore wind — most prominently former … | Continue reading
It’s been just over a week since one of the 350-foot-long blades of a wind turbine off the Massachusetts coast unexpectedly broke off, sending hunks of fiberglass and foam into the waters below. As of Tuesday morning, cleanup crews were still actively removing debris from the wat … | Continue reading
Current conditions: Taiwan is bracing for Typhoon Gaemi • A volcanic eruption from Mt. Etna closed Sicily’s Catania International Airport • Data suggests Sunday was the hottest day in Earth’s recorded history. THE TOP FIVE 1. Manchin and Barrasso release bipartisan permitting ref … | Continue reading
When former President Donald Trump addressed a crowd of non-union autoworkers in Clinton Township, Michigan, last fall, he came with a dire warning: “You’re going to lose your beautiful way of life.” President Biden’s electric vehicle transition, Trump claimed, would be “a transi … | Continue reading
While the Northeast might start breathing more easily this week, the heat will intensify again in the West. Keep reading to discover what sweltering lies in store. The Pacific Northwest takes its turn in the hot seat The weekend brough intense heat to the Northwest, with many cit … | Continue reading
Kamala Harris quickly rang up endorsements from Democratic elected officials and convention delegates Sunday afternoon after President Joe Biden ended his reelection campaign, making Vice President Harris the likeliest Democratic nominee for the presidency of the United States. M … | Continue reading
Current conditions: England’s wet and cold summer has been linked to a concerning decline in insect populations • At least 11 people died in northern China after torrential rain caused a bridge to collapse • The West Coast’s record-breaking heat wave will last at least through We … | Continue reading
What is so striking, in immediate retrospect, about many of Joe Biden’s accomplishments as president is how many of them depended on him. Democrats had tried and failed for 30 years to pass a climate law through the Senate. Biden succeeded. Now Biden, the 46th president of the Un … | Continue reading
The longest presidential nomination acceptance speech in history included not one single second on climate change. That’s table stakes, though, for the party of Donald Trump. More noteworthy, perhaps: During Trump’s 92-minute speech Thursday night at the conclusion of the Republi … | Continue reading
Current conditions: A raging wildfire disrupted traffic at Turkey’s Izmir airport • The North Central Plains are on alert for severe thunderstorms • It’s about 70 degrees Fahrenheit and sunny in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, where President Biden is self-isolating with COVID. THE TOP … | Continue reading
Tonight, for the third time, Donald Trump will accept the Republican Party’s nomination for president. But this time, for the first time ever, Trump is also on track to outright win the presidential election he is involved in. He has opened a two-point lead in polling averages, b … | Continue reading
“We need a leader,” said JD Vance as he accepted the Republican nomination for vice president, “who rejects Joe Biden and Kamala Harris’s Green New Scam and fights to bring back our great American factories.” The election, he said, is “about the auto worker in Michigan, wondering … | Continue reading
Current conditions: The Acropolis in Greece was closed yesterday due to excessive heat • The Persian Gulf International Airport recorded a heat index of 149 degrees Fahrenheit • Recent flooding in Brazil exposed a 233-million-year-old dinosaur fossil. THE TOP FIVE 1. Republicans … | Continue reading
The Biden administration loves a hub. There are the hydrogen hubs, the direct air capture hubs, and now there are the tech hubs. Established as a part of the CHIPS and Science Act of 2022, the $10 billion program has so far seeded 12 such hubs across the country. Four of these ar … | Continue reading
The Biden administration loves a hub. There are the hydrogen hubs, the direct air capture hubs, and now there are the tech hubs. Established as a part of the CHIPS and Science Act of 2022, the $10 billion program has so far seeded 12 such hubs across the country. Four of these ar … | Continue reading
America is melting. Roads are buckling everywhere from Houston to Aurora, Colorado, and in June caused traffic jams in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. Last week, a New York City bridge that had opened to let a ship pass got stuck after expanding in the heat, forcing thousands of commuters to … | Continue reading
Current conditions: Torrential rain brought flash flooding to Toronto • A wildfire on the Hawaiian island of Kauai has been contained • Parts of southern Spain could hit 111 degrees Fahrenheit this week. THE TOP FIVE 1. Intense heat waves and thunderstorms torment millions of Ame … | Continue reading
Jesse is on vacation until August, so this is a special, Rob-only summer episode of Shift Key. Shipping is the backbone of the modern economy. At least 80% of all goods worldwide are shipped as ocean cargo, and the global economy rises and falls on the free movement of gigantic s … | Continue reading
After decades of research and billions or dollars in funding, nuclear fusion has produced “net energy” (more energy coming out of a reaction than was necessary to start it) in exactly two places in our solar system: Lawrence Livermore National Lab, and the sun. Even the scientist … | Continue reading
It’s a good thing most of us aren’t accountable for every single silly thing we’ve ever said, but most of us are not vice presidential running mates, either. Back in 2022, when J.D. Vance was still just a “New York Times bestselling author” and not yet a “junior senator from Ohio … | Continue reading
It’s a good thing most of us aren’t accountable for every single silly thing we’ve ever said, but most of us are not vice presidential running mates, either. Back in 2022, when J.D. Vance was still just a “New York Times bestselling author” and not yet a “junior senator from Ohio … | Continue reading
National political conventions don’t make for the best TV. Prime-time speeches are delivered by a parade of party celebrities and last for only a few minutes — typically just enough time to bash gas prices (nonsensically) and get in a few digs at the opposition. The highlight of … | Continue reading
National political conventions don’t make for the best TV. Prime-time speeches are delivered by a parade of party celebrities and last for only a few minutes — typically just enough time to bash gas prices (nonsensically) and get in a few digs at the opposition. The highlight of … | Continue reading
Current conditions: A year’s worth of rain fell in one day in China’s Henan province • A tornado reportedly touched down outside Chicago’s O’Hare Airport • The heat index could reach 110 degrees Fahrenheit today in Washington, D.C. THE TOP FIVE 1. Trump announces J.D. Vance as VP … | Continue reading
The United Nations calls 24/7 carbon-free energy generation, also known as hourly matching, “the end state of a fully decarbonized electricity system.” It means that every kilowatt-hour of electricity consumed is matched with a zero-emissions electricity source, every hour of eve … | Continue reading
On Monday afternoon, following a flurry of leaks ruling out North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum and Florida Senator Marco Rubio as Donald Trump’s pick for vice president, the former president announced Hillbilly Elegy author and Ohio junior senator J. D. Vance as his 2024 running m … | Continue reading
Few aspects of Biden’s climate law have spurred more controversy than the “three pillars” — a set of rules proposed by the Treasury Department for how to claim a lucrative new tax credit for producing clean hydrogen. Now, it appears, the pillars may be poised to fall. The Treasur … | Continue reading
The heat is not going anywhere anytime soon, so keep reading to discover how you might feel it this week. Thousands are still without power in Texas with relief efforts ongoing Shawn Schulze, CEO of the American Red Cross Texas Gulf Coast Region, has been driving around Texas to … | Continue reading
Current conditions: Russia declared a state of emergency as forest fires rage near the Black Sea • Tornado sirens sounded in downtown Chicago last night • It will be rainy and hot in Milwaukee today for the start of the Republican National Convention. THE TOP FIVE 1. RNC to go ah … | Continue reading
In the weird, wide world of energy storage, lithium-ion batteries may appear to be an unshakeably dominant technology. Costs have declined about 97% over the past three decades, grid-scale battery storage is forecast to grow faster than wind or solar in the U.S. in the coming dec … | Continue reading
Current conditions: Heavy rains triggered a deadly landslide in Nepal that swept away 60 people • More than a million residents are still without power in and around Houston • It will be about 80 degrees Fahrenheit in Berlin on Sunday for the Euro 2024 final, where England will t … | Continue reading
The Biden administration has shoveled money from the Inflation Reduction Act out the door as fast as possible this year, touting the many benefits all that cash has brought to Republican congressional districts. Many — in Washington, at think tanks and non-profits, among develope … | Continue reading
Current conditions: More than 10 inches of rain fell over nine hours in southwestern China • Wildfires are spreading in Canada, with at least 140 burning as of yesterday afternoon • The streets of Cape Town in South Africa are under water after severe storms caused widespread flo … | Continue reading
Donald Trump will announce his running mate any day now, and according to multiple reports his choice has come down to Florida Senator Marco Rubio, Ohio Senator J. D. Vance, and North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum. All erstwhile critics of Trump, they now share a fervent admiration … | Continue reading
Let’s start here: Joe Biden is losing the presidential election. He is now roughly 2 points behind Donald Trump in national polls, according to the FiveThirtyEight average. Though that may sound small, no Democrat has been further behind in the polls, at this point in the electio … | Continue reading
Driving through Death Valley National Park, tourists pass three different extreme heat warnings. Beyond the standard brown “caution” signs and the ones prohibiting hiking after 10 a.m., visitors encounter a more makeshift one warning that helicopters and other rescue options migh … | Continue reading
Current conditions: Extreme heat in Southern California is causing cars to break down on the highway • Flooding in northeastern India killed nine rare one-horned rhinos • Residents in Mount Vernon, Indiana, are waking up to debris and devastation from a violent tornado spawned by … | Continue reading
When Adam Roe hits the accelerator and sends his vintage Land Rover flying past a Porsche, he likes to imagine what the other driver must be thinking. While Roe’s ride looks the part of a restored Land Rover Series II, an off-roading, unbreakable icon from the late 1950s, the sec … | Continue reading
Jesse is on vacation until August, so this is a special, Rob-only summer episode of Shift Key. Over the past few weeks, the U.S. Supreme Court has profoundly changed how the federal government does its day-to-day work. In a series of landmark rulings, the high court sharply curta … | Continue reading
Hurricane Beryl, ahem, barreled into America’s Gulf Coast as a Category 1 storm, and whenever something like that happens the entire global energy industry holds its breath. The Gulf of Mexico is not just a frequent target and breeding ground for massive storms, it is also one of … | Continue reading
While America has been distracted by its suddenly-very-real upcoming election, two other important political stories have been unfolding across the pond. The results of last week’s parliamentary votes in France and the United Kingdom have the power to sway global climate policy — … | Continue reading
Current conditions: Some Greek islands are resorting to desalinating sea water for tourists this summer as reservoirs run dry • Tokyo residents have been warned to avoid physical activity due to a risk of heatstroke • It will be 98 degrees Fahrenheit today in Washington, D.C., wh … | Continue reading