Smart Wires has spent more than a decade putting its grid-boosting technology to the test in Australia , South America , and Europe . Now, the Durham, North Carolina–based company is finally getting a crack at projects in the U.S., backed by federal funds and policies supporting … | Continue reading
This story was first published by Energy News Network . Southeastern Wisconsin and the Chicago area are emerging as major players in the national data center explosion, most notably with Microsoft’s $3.3 billion planned data complex near Racine, Wisconsin. Clean energy advocates … | Continue reading
Buildings everywhere need to get off fossil fuels in order to help the world avoid climate catastrophe. Yet owners of large commercial buildings in New York City are especially feeling the pressure: The groundbreaking Local Law 97 takes effect this year, requiring buildings of mo … | Continue reading
Wind energy development has long been stuck in the doldrums in the southeastern United States. Until very recently, nine states in the region had installed precisely zero megawatts of commercial wind capacity, even as turbines spread across every other U.S. state. Mississippi, ho … | Continue reading
Californians have a tough set of choices to make on home decarbonization. They could install rooftop solar. But that’s much less valuable than it used to be for most Californians. They could also replace their fossil-gas-fueled heating and appliances with all-electric systems to … | Continue reading
Octopus Energy has surged to the top of the U.K. electricity market with its plucky brand of clean, flexible, customer-centric energy . Now it's loading up on new investment to make a broader push into North America. The sprawling clean energy startup pulled in two new investment … | Continue reading
This story was first published by Grist . A reservoir is many things: a source of drinking water, a playground for swimmers, a refuge for migrating birds. But if you ask solar-power enthusiasts, a reservoir is also not realizing its full potential. That open water could be covere … | Continue reading
Generating clean electricity from solar photovoltaic technology is the success story of the clean energy transition so far, but entrepreneurs and investors are still plumbing the science for improved performance and cost. Startup Swift Solar banked a $27 million Series A financin … | Continue reading
In 2024, about $2 trillion will be invested in clean energy projects — a first for the rapidly expanding sector. The amount is nearly double what will be invested in oil, coal, and gas this year, according to the International Energy Agency’s new report “World Energy Investment 2 … | Continue reading
Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association, one of the largest rural cooperative utilities in the U.S., is bringing the energy transition home to its massive western service territory. It’s acquiring its first large-scale solar power plants as it prepares to shift away fro … | Continue reading
BROOKLYN, N.Y. — Elizabeth Yeampierre stood near the edge of the Brooklyn waterfront earlier this week. A vast concrete lot stretched out before her, riddled with weeds and rain puddles, as the Manhattan skyline sparkled in the distance. For years, Yeampierre has fought to transf … | 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. This article is the second in a two-part series on home batteries. In case you missed it, here’s part 1: … | Continue reading
Here are two key facts about transmission lines: The U.S. needs a lot more of them to transition away from fossil fuels; they're also incredibly difficult to build . A big part of the challenge is negotiating permits for the power lines — which typically cross hundreds of miles o … | Continue reading
Some of the biggest companies in the world have bought renewable electricity for their operations for years — and now crave something more. Amazon, Google, and Microsoft — all of which have goals to power their operations with clean electricity — have acknowledged that simply buy … | Continue reading
Every year, California’s gas utilities spend billions of dollars operating, maintaining, repairing, and replacing aging pipelines that deliver a fossil fuel incompatible with the state’s long-term climate goals. What if those utilities could just shut down their oldest and most e … | Continue reading
There’s never been a better time to electrify your home. The Biden administration has authorized billions of dollars in federal subsidies for everything from heat pumps to induction stoves. Plenty of states and utilities have incentive programs of their own, too. But just because … | Continue reading
Canary Media’s Down to the Wire column tackles the more complicated challenges of decarbonizing our energy systems. Utilities, policymakers, and clean energy advocates across the U.S. West have long agreed that a region-wide electricity trading market would be a win-win. It would … | Continue reading
Swimming pools and dry cleaners use them. So do aircraft-engine factories, textile mills, and facilities that make packaged snacks and bottled drinks. Wherever there’s a need for large amounts of steam or heat, industrial boilers and water heaters are likely to be found. Usually, … | Continue reading
Aluminum smelters are energy hogs. To make the lightweight metal, facilities need hundreds of megawatts of power running at near-constant rates, which can place a big burden on the electricity systems where these plants operate — and generate lots of planet-warming emissions if t … | Continue reading
Canary Media’s chart of the week translates crucial data about the clean energy transition into a visual format. Last year was a record year for clean energy investment in the U.S. — and this year is off to an even stronger start. In the first quarter of 2024, private investment … | Continue reading
Canary Media’s Charging Up column chronicles gender diversity and notable career moves in the climatetech sector. Got a person or event you’d like to see us cover or a hot job tip? Let us know! Sonia St-Arnaud knows a win-win scenario when she sees one Sonia St-Arnaud is presiden … | Continue reading
The best way to get people to electrify everything might be getting them to electrify something — anything at all. That’s because those who have already dipped their toes into home electrification are more likely to dive into additional projects, according to a new survey that co … | Continue reading
Two years ago, California committed $6.7 billion in state funding to protect the grid against the risk of heatwave-driven blackouts. Most of the money was directed at paying for fossil-fueled power plants and backup generators that don’t fit into the state’s clean energy plans. B … | Continue reading
Nearly a month after opening the world’s largest “direct air capture” plant in Iceland, Climeworks has unveiled a new and purportedly better version of its carbon-sucking technology — one that it plans to deploy for the first time on the U.S. Gulf Coast. On Tuesday, the Swiss com … | Continue reading
Xcimer Energy has raised $100 million to turn nuclear fusion, the source of the sun’s immense energy, into a viable way to power our planet’s electrical grid. The Denver-based startup’s ambitious goal is to develop some of the mightiest laser beams on earth in order to unleash th … | Continue reading
Gas utilities could be key to the effort to get fossil fuels out of buildings — but only if they stop investing in pipes that deliver fossil gas and instead start building pipes for clean energy. This week, a groundbreaking project meant to test that proposition is going live in … | Continue reading
An ongoing billing snafu in ComEd territory in northern Illinois has some solar companies bracing for turbulence. When the problem is remedied, community-solar subscribers will see a backlog of credits on their utility bills, but also accumulated charges for participating in the … | Continue reading
The U.S. energy industry continues to extract record amounts of fossil fuels, despite climate activists’ calls to “keep it in the ground.” But while oil and gas extraction has increased in recent years, the carbon emissions from that industrial activity have actually fallen, a ne … | Continue reading
Last week, Canary Media invited a panel of experts to talk through the ways that utilities and regulators can handle a boom in power demand from data centers and factories that’s putting pressure on U.S. power grids. Right now, major utilities in the Southeast — Duke Energy, Sout … | Continue reading
Wyoming, the nation’s leading coal-producing state , has begun the initial permitting for the construction of its largest utility-scale solar farm, by far. The state’s Industrial Siting Council approved a permit for developer Enbridge in early May to build and operate the Cowboy … | Continue reading
Solar energy continued to surge and break records across the globe in 2023, generating an estimated 5.5% of global electricity, a total of 1,631 terawatt-hours. According to the latest “ Global Electricity Review ” from energy research firm Ember, solar has been the fastest-growi … | Continue reading
It’s tariff month in Washington, D.C. The Biden administration announced a flurry of trade rulings in May aimed at activating American manufacturing while warding off Chinese and Russian influence in clean technology supply chains. President Joe Biden is ratcheting up existing ta … | Continue reading
Over the past three years, an unusually broad coalition has come together to champion a new way to finance and build community-solar-and-battery projects in California. It includes solar companies, environmental justice activists, consumer advocates, labor unions, farmers, homebu … | 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. During a power outage or in the evening hours, a home battery can have your back. Working along with sola … | Continue reading
In early May, Leah Ellis, CEO of startup Sublime Systems , stood watch as crews poured and raked concrete at a construction site in Boston. Her company’s fossil-fuel-free cement had been used to make that concrete, and the moment marked an important milestone. That’s because the … | Continue reading
The Biden administration has issued the next round of funding aimed at cleaning up the country’s school bus fleet. On Wednesday, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency awarded nearly $900 million in rebates to help more than 500 school districts buy about 3,400 clean school bus … | Continue reading
Americans who electrify their homes could reap a massive net savings of $96 billion over the coming decades, but only if policymakers ensure lower-income households aren’t left behind. That's according to a new report released Tuesday by the American Council for an Energy-Efficie … | Continue reading
Jørgen Festervoll, CEO of Heimdall Power , is happy to be taking part in the biggest U.S. deployment to date of a technology that could dramatically expand the capacity of the country’s overstressed transmission grids. He also thinks the project is just scratching the surface. In … | Continue reading
California has a unique opportunity to implement rules that could supercharge heat-pump adoption in the state, according to climate advocates. But regulators are waffling over whether to take it. The California Energy Commission (CEC) is in the midst of updating the state’s build … | Continue reading
As the United States works to slash planet-warming emissions from heavy industry, two subsectors in particular will require the biggest lift: chemical production and oil and gas systems. In 2023, the process of making chemicals — for plastics, fertilizers, cosmetics, and more — a … | Continue reading
This story was originally published by Grist . Any climate action plan that aims to quickly turn the tide of global warming has to tackle methane, which traps orders of magnitude more heat in the atmosphere than carbon dioxide in the first years after it’s emitted. For this reaso … | Continue reading
California slashed the value of rooftop solar for customers of its three biggest utilities last year — and installations of residential solar systems in the state have fallen to near-three-year lows since then. But drawing firm conclusions about how the controversial shift in net … | Continue reading
Canary Media’s Charging Up column chronicles gender diversity and notable career moves in the climatetech sector. Got a person or event you’d like to see us cover or a hot job tip? Let us know! Nicole Geneau: A clean energy Swiss Army knife Nicole Geneau is vice president of comm … | Continue reading
This story was originally published by Energy News Network . A climate trust fund proposed in Portland, Maine, would use money from the sale of city-owned renewable energy credits to kickstart further efforts to cut local carbon emissions. Portland is among the hundreds of U.S. c … | Continue reading
When the Biden administration pledged up to $1 billion in awards for two “green steel” projects earlier this year, it signaled an important step in the emerging effort to decarbonize one of the world’s dirtiest industries. Before the announcement, the United States was largely se … | Continue reading
Form Energy launched in 2017 to tackle one of the biggest problems hindering the clean energy transition: how to cheaply store renewable energy for days on end . In developing its iron-air battery, though, the company stumbled on a potential breakthrough for another notorious cli … | Continue reading
California regulators’ hostility to rooftop solar may have hit its political limit, at least when it comes to the impact on public schools. In the past few months, a host of bills seeking to reverse or amend California’s regulatory push against rooftop solar have faltered in the … | Continue reading