Three years ago, Washington state legislators passed a landmark climate law that positioned the Evergreen State among the nation’s frontrunners in climate action. Now that status is at risk, thanks to an upcoming ballot initiative this November. The 2021 Climate Commitment Act in … | Continue reading
We’re used to reporting the news, not making it, but today we’ve got an announcement of our own to share: Canary Media and the Energy News Network are merging, with the goal of bringing you more of the engaging, accessible, expert journalism on the clean energy transition that yo … | Continue reading
A sodium battery plant in North Carolina, a solar panel manufacturing facility in New Mexico, and a factory building electric sports cars in Virginia are among the $2.4 billion worth of new U.S. clean energy manufacturing projects announced in August. These investments are just t … | Continue reading
Across California, the companies that are trying to build charging stations for electric trucks are being told that it will take years — or even up to a decade — for them to get the electricity they need. That’s because utilities are failing to build out the grid fast enough to m … | Continue reading
A sodium battery plant in North Carolina, a solar panel manufacturing facility in New Mexico, and a factory building electric sports cars in Virginia are among the $2.4 billion worth of new U.S. clean energy manufacturing projects announced in August. These investments are just t … | Continue reading
Canary Media’s chart of the week translates crucial data about the clean energy transition into a visual format. Canary thanks Clean Energy Counsel for its support of the column. It’s back-to-school season in the U.S., and more students than ever are headed to class on electric, … | Continue reading
California just took a big step to reduce carbon pollution from its buildings — though the state didn’t go as far as advocates wanted. Last week, the California Energy Commission (CEC) adopted a fresh set of building energy efficiency standards , the rules the state wields to red … | Continue reading
For the “OK, Bye” climate conference in Reykjavík, Iceland, in May 2023, participants flew in from Silicon Valley, London, Copenhagen, and Berlin. The event’s theme was the ocean, so the stage, decorated to look like a ship, was slung with crates, ropes, and red buoys, and the ba … | Continue reading
If the United States is entering its “green steel” era, then the last few days suggest the transition away from the sector’s coal-fueled furnaces is off to a bumpy start. Steelmaking is one of the world’s most carbon-intensive industries. Earlier this year, the Biden administrati … | Continue reading
Investors are betting big on Air Company’s efforts to cut carbon emissions from planes. The New York–based startup announced today that it raised $69 million in a Series B funding round led by Avfuel, an aviation fuel supplier, along with Lowercarbon Capital, IQT, Alaska Airlines … | Continue reading
Air conditioning is a lifesaver on hot days. It also strains the power grid, especially in big cities. Utilities and building owners alike can save money and forestall blackouts by nudging up the thermostat when a heat wave strikes, but dialing back AC use at such moments can put … | Continue reading
This story was originally published by Energy News Network . A federal grant will help four of Ohio’s largest cities collaborate on new voluntary building performance standards and a resource hub to help commercial building owners save energy and cut emissions. Cincinnati, Clevel … | Continue reading
FULLERTON, California — If the artificial intelligence oligarchs at Alphabet, Amazon, Meta, and Microsoft meet their data center expansion goals, the U.S. grid will soon strain to meet the industry’s prodigious electricity demand. That’s what has driven Miami, Florida–based Exowa … | Continue reading
This story was first published by Grist . U.S. Steel, once the world’s largest company of any kind, can take substantial credit for the growth of American industrial power in the 20th century. But in recent decades, it’s been shuttering mills and shedding workers. Now, the iconic … | Continue reading
Over the next few years, residents of select California neighborhoods may start getting phone calls and mailers from gas utilities and community organizers offering an unexpected proposition: Would you like to ditch gas and switch to all-electric appliances instead? That’s the fu … | Continue reading
Canary Media’s Electrified Life column shares real-world tales, tips, and insights to demystify what individuals can do to shift their homes and lives to clean electric power. Canary thanks EnergySage for its support of the column. Every so often in sunny Colorado, I pass by a ho … | Continue reading
This story was originally published by Energy News Network . Will Payne and Will Clear are all too aware of the skeptics. But those doubters only fuel the duo’s vision for Southwest Virginia. The former Virginia state energy office bureaucrats turned private-sector consultants ha … | Continue reading
Canary Media’s chart of the week translates crucial data about the clean energy transition into a visual format. Canary thanks Clean Energy Counsel for its support of the column. Texas has become an all-around clean energy juggernaut, thanks to its lax permitting regime, fast gri … | Continue reading
On a muggy summer day in an industrial stretch of Brooklyn, New York, Josefa Marín stood in a sea of empty aluminum cans, methodically sorting the tall green Heinekens from blue-and-silver Red Bulls and bright red Coca-Colas. She put the different brands into separate garbage bag … | Continue reading
Rural electric cooperatives, which bring electricity to the most sparsely populated parts of the country, are getting their biggest federal investment since the New Deal — and this time around, the money is going to help fight climate change. Last week, the Biden administration a … | Continue reading
This article is part of a two-part reporting project on decarbonizing aluminum production. Read our story on Kentucky's green smelter dreams here . On a muggy summer day in an industrial stretch of Brooklyn, New York, Josefa Marín stood in a sea of empty aluminum cans, methodical … | Continue reading
This story was first published by Energy News Network . A year and a half since Massachusetts introduced an optional new building code aimed at lowering fossil fuel use, climate activists are heartened by how quickly cities and towns are adopting the new guidelines. The new code, … | Continue reading
Rooftop solar, backup batteries, electric vehicles, and smart thermostats and appliances are all crucial to the energy transition in their own right. But if utilities are able to combine these distributed energy technologies together to form so-called virtual power plants , the r … | Continue reading
ASHLAND, Kentucky — When John Holbrook first started working as a pipefitter in the early 1990s, jobs were easy to come by in his corner of northeastern Kentucky. A giant iron and steel mill routinely needed maintenance and repair work, as did the coal “coking” ovens next to it. … | Continue reading
California policymakers are searching for ways to rein in the cost of expanding the state’s power grid, which is necessary to combat climate change. Experts warn they’re missing an opportunity that’s right in front of them — taking advantage of the growing number of clean energy … | Continue reading
Perhaps the only thing harder than finding a spot to park a car in New York City is finding a spot to charge a car. Electric vehicle owners in the city could soon get some relief on that second problem, thanks to a $15 million federal grant to build 600 curbside EV chargers — the … | Continue reading
The U.S. solar manufacturing industry is going through an unprecedented growth spurt. In the two years since the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) was passed, domestic capacity for producing solar modules has nearly quadrupled, according to the U.S. Solar Market Insight report releas … | Continue reading
The country that once boasted the world’s first coal-fired power plant is now set to eliminate the highly polluting fossil fuel from its power grid. In late September, the United Kingdom will shutter the Ratcliffe-on-Soar Power Station, the country’s last operational coal-fired p … | Continue reading
Colorado just got a big boost to help slash planet-warming emissions from commercial buildings. Last week, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced the state was selected to receive a $20 million grant to help implement its building performance standards — ambitious rules th … | Continue reading
This article was originally published by Inside Climate News . Jane Williams read the announcement with dismay. A Pennsylvania company was getting tens of millions of dollars in federal loan guarantees to turn plastic waste into a fuel for steelmaking, claiming the climate would … | Continue reading
California’s power system is in a difficult spot — and so are the utility customers stuck paying for it. The state’s utilities have to expand their power grids to support the shift to carbon-free electricity, and they must harden those grids to reduce the risk that they’ll cause … | Continue reading
After the courts squashed its first-in-the-nation natural gas ban, the city of Berkeley, California, has emerged with a new strategy to curb the planet-warming fossil fuel: taxing large buildings that use it. On November 5, residents of the Bay Area city will vote on a ballot mea … | Continue reading
There's a bit of a disturbing trend in the automotive world right now. Several traditional automakers are suddenly easing off the electrification accelerator in response to a perceived slowdown in EV interest and sales. Whether that slowdown is real or just growing pains, the res … | Continue reading
When Ritu Narayan, CEO and co-founder of Zum , looks at the 74 electric school buses and chargers her startup has deployed at a former industrial site in East Oakland, California, she sees a future where clean transportation and a clean and reliable grid come together. “Today mar … | Continue reading
This story was first published by Energy News Network . An array of critics came out swinging in January when Duke Energy first filed its plans in North Carolina for one of the largest fossil fuel investments in the country. But as the months have dragged on in the development of … | Continue reading
In the vast desert northeast of Las Vegas, a new solar installation will soon be assembled atop an ancient lake bed. The Dry Lake East Energy Center, a 200-megawatt solar installation with 600 megawatts of on-site battery storage, was cleared to begin construction this week by th … | Continue reading
In the vast desert northeast of Las Vegas, a new solar installation will soon be assembled atop an ancient lake bed. The Dry Lake East Energy Center, a 200-megawatt solar installation with 600 megawatts of on-site battery storage, was cleared to begin construction this week by th … | Continue reading
Solar has been gaining popularity for years now, but in 2023 the clean energy source really took off: A staggering 428 gigawatts’ worth of solar was installed worldwide last year, up by 76 percent from what was deployed in 2022, per new BloombergNEF data . That’s more than double … | Continue reading
A bill introduced in the California legislature proposes to slash hundreds of millions of dollars from programs that help schools replace worn-out HVAC systems, low-income households install batteries, and affordable housing projects deploy solar panels — all for what would amoun … | Continue reading
A startup looking to build really small nuclear reactors just announced a big new funding round. Last Energy , a Washington, D.C.–based next-generation nuclear company, announced that it closed a $40 million Series B funding round, a move that will add more financial and human ca … | Continue reading
Canary Media’s Electrified Life column shares real-world tales, tips, and insights to demystify what individuals can do to shift their homes and lives to clean electric power. Canary thanks EnergySage for its support of the column. Electrifying your home can be a struggle, especi … | Continue reading
The Texas power grid has broken new records throughout this summer — for how much electricity it has had to deliver as residents cranked up their air conditioners and for how much it has used solar power and batteries to keep grid emergencies at bay. Take last week, when temperat … | Continue reading
Xcel Energy is proposing a new approach to powering the grid in Minnesota. The utility recently told state regulators it wants to build a network of solar-powered energy storage hubs, located strategically on its grid and linked with technology so they can be operated in concert … | Continue reading
The two grid operators providing power to the Midwestern U.S. are proposing to build $1.7 billion worth of new transmission lines to bridge the “seam” between their networks. The move could unlock huge amounts of clean power and potentially serve as a template that other parts of … | Continue reading
One of the most promising new forms of clean electricity just got a significant boost. Earlier today at a U.S. Department of Energy workshop, next-generation geothermal energy startup Sage Geosystems announced that it had agreed to supply Meta , the owner of Facebook, with 150 me … | Continue reading
Making chemicals, metals, glass, and cement often requires scorching levels of heat. Today, many of those industrial processes use planet-warming fossil fuels to reach temperatures rivaling those of lava. But dozens of companies are racing to deploy novel technologies that can ha … | Continue reading