This story was first published by Grist . When you live far from the sprawling fields befitting utility-scale solar and wind farms, it’s easy to feel like clean energy isn’t coming online fast enough. But renewables have grown at a staggering rate since 2014 and now account for 2 … | Continue reading
With their roaring diesel engines, tugboats push, pull and guide much larger vessels into port and out to sea. They are small but mighty — and incredibly dirty , spewing huge amounts of toxic exhaust and planet-warming emissions every year. Now, however, the humble harbor craft i … | Continue reading
Electric vehicles are making serious inroads in new car sales. Nearly 1.2 million new EVs were sold in the U.S. last year, breaking yet another record. But most Americans don’t buy new cars; they buy used ones — and as it stands, the market for used EVs is in a weird place. On th … | Continue reading
This story was first published by Energy News Network . The term “clean energy” often brings to mind gleaming solar panels, spinning wind turbines or water surging through a hydroelectric dam. Few people would imagine dark salt caverns a mile underground, but these geologic forma … | Continue reading
Tesla had a disappointing quarter with its first EV sales decline in almost four years, but while inventory and pricing trends are not currently in Tesla’s favor, it does appear to have at least one sustainable advantage: its fast-charging network. Competitors may be starting to … | Continue reading
How can $20 billion in federal funding unleash hundreds of billions of dollars in private-sector financing for clean energy, transportation and housing — and expand access to all of those things for disadvantaged communities across the country? Jessie Buendia, vice president of s … | Continue reading
MENIFEE, California — For a decade, twin smokestacks loomed against the bright blue skies of Menifee, in Southern California’s Inland Empire. But the old gas combustion plant came down, and on the flat industrial site it left behind an army of batteries is now being assembled. Wh … | 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. Heat pumps are undisputed winners for the climate . But what about for your wallet? Well, it depends. Tha … | Continue reading
Martin Keighley, CEO of CarbonFree , thinks his carbon capture company offers a "unique proposition" compared to its competitors: It can actually make money, today. On Wednesday, the San Antonio, Texas-based company announced its first large-scale effort to prove that proposition … | Continue reading
This story was first published by Grist . A landfill is a place of perpetual motion, where mountains of garbage rise in days and crews race to contain the influx of ever more trash. Amid the commotion, an invisible gas often escapes unnoticed, warming the planet and harming our h … | Continue reading
For years, utilities have grappled with how to handle the ever-growing number of solar and battery systems trying to connect to the lower-voltage grids that deliver power to customers. That’s especially true for midsize projects like, say, a solar array that might adorn the roof … | Continue reading
In Arkansas, millions of acres of spindly pines and hardwood trees are logged every year to make plywood, planks and paper, a process that generates plenty of bark, sawdust and other woody waste. Still more land across the state is carpeted by low and grassy rice crops, which lea … | Continue reading
Rebates are a cornerstone of the bid to electrify the roughly 115 million U.S. homes that still need to ditch fossil-fuel equipment to meet climate targets. Utilities already offer more than an estimated $2 billion in residential efficiency and electrification rebates across Nort … | Continue reading
Last week the Biden administration awarded a whopping $6 billion to efforts to decarbonize heavy industrial sectors. About $500 million of that windfall will be allocated to projects tackling the most common source of industrial carbon emissions — generating the heat needed to ma … | Continue reading
Canary Media’s chart of the week translates crucial data about the clean energy transition into a visual format. Local policies can either help or hinder community-led clean energy solutions — but according to a new report, most states are doing more hindering than helping. This … | Continue reading
The controversial plan to require California’s three biggest utilities to start charging their customers based on how much money they make has been shelved by state regulators — at least for now. Instead, the California Public Utilities Commission is proposing a less radical — if … | Continue reading
Holtec, a manufacturer of nuclear reactor equipment, has an unprecedented plan to restart the shuttered Palisades Nuclear Plant in Michigan. Thanks to a conditional loan guarantee from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Loan Programs Office, that plan is now $1.52 billion closer to … | Continue reading
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 fundamentally changed the energy landscape in Europe, as Germany, France and their neighbors scrambled to ditch Russian fossil fuels. The effort showed how quickly a modern economy can change its energy sources when it really tries. L … | Continue reading
This story was first published by Energy News Network . Geothermal heating and cooling is emerging as a go-to technology for Minnesota school district St. Paul Public Schools as it seeks to renovate aging facilities in line with the district’s climate action plan. Minnesota’s sec … | Continue reading
A decade ago, the U.S. barely sent any of its natural gas overseas — but as of last year, it became the largest exporter of the leak-prone, planet-warming gas in the world. How did we get here? To really answer that question, we’ve got to go back in time, to an era when coal was … | Continue reading
The vision of converting coal country into a clean energy powerhouse looms large in the American energy transition. Politicians love to tout the possibility, and climate advocates see it as crucial for a just transition that avoids leaving populations behind as coal power fades a … | Continue reading
Cement-making accounts for roughly 8 percent of global human-caused carbon emissions — an enormous climate footprint that will take nothing short of a full transformation to curb. This week, the U.S. cement industry got a big jolt of federal funding to help it along that path. On … | Continue reading
Building codes are an often-overlooked tool in fighting climate change. But last week, a little-known nonprofit group that sets building codes used across most of the U.S. decided to make them a lot less helpful in that fight — largely to serve the interests of the fossil gas ind … | Continue reading
The Biden administration’s latest initiative to clean up heavy industries could usher in a new era for one of the dirtiest sectors of all: iron and steel. On Monday, the U.S. Department of Energy announced up to $6 billion for commercial-scale projects that aim to demonstrate tec … | Continue reading
U.S. factories making industrial essentials like steel, aluminum, cement, chemicals — and even household staples like ice cream and mac and cheese — are about to get a whole lot cleaner. On Monday, the Biden administration awarded $6 billion for demonstration projects that aim to … | Continue reading
Earth’s interior contains an inexhaustible supply of heat, its many layers continuously warmed by the furnace-like core of our planet. For millennia, humans have tapped into this abundance for cooking food and keeping warm. More recently, over the last century, countries have har … | Continue reading
Canary Media’s chart of the week translates crucial data about the clean energy transition into a visual format. Combating climate change is so often synonymous with reducing carbon dioxide emissions that you might forget all about the other gas that’s baking the planet: methane, … | 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! Celina Mikolajczak: Battery industry veteran and expert Celina Mikolajczak is chief ba … | Continue reading
The Ohio Power Siting Board has given the go-ahead to what will be one of the largest solar farms in the United States, despite the opposition of local governments and citizens. The gigantic $1 billion endeavor, the largest solar project in the state by far, will spread over 6,00 … | Continue reading
Ah, March. A time of change, of budding flowers and longer days — and of inescapable amounts of college basketball. Now, here at Canary Media, we don’t cover basketball. We cover the energy transition. But, you know, in a culturally relevant way. Add those facts together, and wha … | Continue reading
This story was first published by Energy News Network . A group of energy-equity advocates in Boston is launching a community solar cooperative they say could be a scalable model for both reducing carbon emissions and building wealth in disadvantaged communities. The Boston Commu … | Continue reading
An interactive data visualization brought to you by Sungrow. | Continue reading
The U.S. doesn’t need massive truck charging depots on every major highway to meet federal climate goals. It just needs enough on the right highways — the ones where electric trucks are poised to take off the earliest — at the right time. That’s why the Biden administration has l … | 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. If you've read this column even once — or ever tried to decarbonize your own home — then you're aware tha … | Continue reading
Arizona just added its biggest grid battery so far, part of a nationwide trend toward unprecedented energy storage installations this year. Grid batteries have soared from obscurity to become the second-most popular type of power plant expected to be built in the U.S. this year — … | Continue reading
The United States is facing a new energy crisis — one that could make the climate crisis even worse. After more than 30 years of falling or flat demand for electricity, electric utilities are forecasting the nation will need the equivalent of about 34 new nuclear plants, or 38 gi … | Continue reading
When U.S. aluminum maker Alcoa signed a $2.2 billion deal to gain more control of its global supply chain last week, analysts described the move as a “ bet ” and a “ gamble ” that demand for the commodity will soar in coming years — driven largely by the clean energy transition. … | Continue reading
A carbon-free grid needs batteries that can store solar and wind power for use when the sun isn’t shining and the wind isn’t blowing. But batteries don’t necessarily make power grids cleaner — not unless the power they charge up with is much lower-carbon than the power they displ … | Continue reading
Here’s one way to accelerate the clean energy transition: quadruple the energy storage projects you’re already building. Salt Lake City–based rPlus Energies made this move with its Green River Energy Center in eastern Utah. Utility Rocky Mountain Power had awarded a contract from … | Continue reading
This story was first published by Sierra , the Sierra Club magazine . Last July, a small group of rabble-rousers boarded a trio of powerboats, banners and bullhorns in hand. They were headed for the massive floating construction site of an offshore wind farm 35 miles from the eas … | Continue reading
Canary Media’s chart of the week translates crucial data about the clean energy transition into a visual format. Myths run rampant about whether electric vehicles are actually better for the climate than fossil-fueled cars. Electric vehicles run on batteries, which are made from … | Continue reading
America’s first utility-scale offshore wind farm is finally finished , marking an important milestone in what’s shaping up to be a busy year for the emerging U.S. industry. On Thursday, New York Governor Kathy Hochul (D) announced the completion of South Fork Wind , a 132-megawat … | Continue reading
This is the final installment of a three-part series examining the controversies and conflicts surrounding the future of the California Air Resources Board’s Low Carbon Fuel Standard. Read Part 1 and Part 2 . For years, environmental groups, community activists and climate scient … | Continue reading
When CarbonCapture emerged from stealth mode in 2021, the Los Angeles–based startup had a unique vision for carbon removal: small-scale, modular devices that would be hauled around the country on the back of flatbed trucks. Customers could order a few or many modules, adding more … | Continue reading
This is Part 2 of a three-part series examining the controversies and conflicts surrounding the future of the California Air Resources Board's Low Carbon Fuel Standard. Read Part 1 . Michael Wara is worried that a key California climate regulator is about to lock the state … | Continue reading
AUSTIN, Texas — America’s demand for electricity is growing for the first time in decades. Sprawling data centers are cropping up across the country to enable our hyperconnected digital lives and support emerging AI systems. The rise of electric vehicles and the switch to electri … | Continue reading
This story was first published by Energy News Network. Climate and clean-energy advocates weighing in on CenterPoint Energy’s ideas to decarbonize its natural-gas business in Minnesota applaud the effort but say it falls short of what’s needed to meet the moment. The state’s lar … | Continue reading
One of California’s marquee programs for cleaning up transportation emissions is at a crossroads. Decisions made in the next few months could set the decade-and-a-half-old Low Carbon Fuel Standard on one of two very different paths. One path, favored by fossil fuel and renewable … | Continue reading