This site uses cookies to improve your experience. To help us insure we adhere to various privacy regulations, please select your country/region of residence. If you do not select a country, we will assume you are from the United States. Select your Cookie Settings or view our Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.
Cookie Settings
Cookies and similar technologies are used on this website for proper function of the website, for tracking performance analytics and for marketing purposes. We and some of our third-party providers may use cookie data for various purposes. Please review the cookie settings below and choose your preference.
Used for the proper function of the website
Used for monitoring website traffic and interactions
Cookie Settings
Cookies and similar technologies are used on this website for proper function of the website, for tracking performance analytics and for marketing purposes. We and some of our third-party providers may use cookie data for various purposes. Please review the cookie settings below and choose your preference.
Strictly Necessary: Used for the proper function of the website
Performance/Analytics: Used for monitoring website traffic and interactions
The end of every year is a great time for taking stock of what the year has broughtincluding in terms of clean energy in the power sector. Heres a taste, from US projects, technologies, electrons, and investment, to happenings in the world as a whole.
I was invited to speak at a panel discussion last Wednesday as part of The Economist ’s annual Sustainability Week, titled “What technologies are needed to avert a climate disaster?” True to the theme, I was asked about which technological innovations would be necessary to save our planet. And yet, we aren’t.
Minnesotans are facing concurrent crises of climate change, high energy prices and inflation, and the inequitable public health impacts of fossilfuel air pollution. Renewable energy will help with all of that—but we need a grid that is designed for wind and solar instead of having to rely on expensive coal and gas plants.
Here’s a taste: Wind power , the largest single source of renewable electricity in the country, grew the most of any renewable energy source in overall generation from 2021 to 2022. Solarpower increased the most among renewable electricity sources in percentage terms, up 24 percent. It supplied 10.5 percentage points).*
Earlier this month at COP28 countries committed to transitioning off of fossilfuels and massively scaling up renewable energy instead. So you’re excused if, like me, you’re baffled by Minister Freeland’s first move in the wake of COP28: a giant new fossilfuel subsidy, via the new Canada Growth Fund.
That’s a really good thing given the central role we expect and need solar to play in a just transition away from fossilfuels. The idea is to “create best practices that solar companies, local governments, and other stakeholders can use to effectively site solar projects.”
New research from the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) confirms renewables are continuing to outpace fossilfuels on cost. They found that the share of renewable energy that achieved lower costs than the most competitive fossilfuel option doubled in 2020. C climate pathway.
The majority 6–3 decision sharply curtails the EPA’s authority to set standards based on a broad range of flexible options to cut carbon emissions from the power sector—options such as replacing polluting fossilfuels with cheap and widely available wind and solarpower coupled with battery storage.
We have long been well aware of the devastating consequences of burning fossilfuels for Pennsylvania’s ecosystems and our health. This solar PPA is a first step in transitioning to clean, affordable energy for all," said Kartik Amarnath, Mid-Atlantic Regulatory Director for Vote Solar.
But gas power plants have also played an important role in helping to maintain the overall reliability of the electricity grid by meeting peak power demands, such as on hot summer days when people turn on their air conditioners. In this plan, almost all of this coal and gas generation is replaced with wind and solar.
Chinese President Xi Jinping pledged on September 21 that his country would no longer finance coal-fired power plants abroad, making a high-profile commitment to move away from some forms of fossilfuel infrastructure less than six weeks before a pivotal global climate conference in Glasgow, Scotland. It is already 1.1
Perched at 3,730 metres above sea level in the community of Ancotanga, the Oruro solarpower plant is one of the flagship projects in Bolivia’s energy transition. million barrels of oil equivalent of useful energy that fossilfuels are expected to provide in Bolivia by 2040, according to a WWF Bolivia evaluation.
Weifang Port’s “zero-carbon” certification was primarily achieved by transitioning away from fossilfuel use, according to China Electric Power News (CEPN). It has built a wind power system to provide green energy for its operations and deployed hydrogen-powered vehicles to replace fossil-fuel-powered trucks.
I’ve written recently about why a Cap on Vegetable Oil-Based Fuels Will Stabilize and Strengthen California’s Low Carbon Fuel Standard , which addresses the bio-based diesel credits. The CI of an electric vehicle charged with solarpower is zero, and most of the biofuels fall somewhere in the middle [i].
CCS is a multi-billion dollar boondoggle that doesn’t come close to the hype, has significant safety risks, and is a substantial distraction from real climate solutions, such as building more renewable energy, increasing electricity transmission infrastructure, and developing and using storage technology. Want proof?
Most prominently, because the approach is changing from rewarding specific technologies to rewarding anything that meets the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions threshold of “clean”—hence the “tech-neutral” label—exactly how the government goes about determining whether or not something is actually eligible will be enormously important.
In order to make their portfolio more sustainable and respond to lower fossilfuel demand, oil majors are increasingly snapping up renewable energy projects as the pressure grows to take action on climate change. This has incentivized oil and gas majors such as BP, Equinor and Shell to invest in wind power generation.
The IRA gave us effective tools for cleaning up the power sector through dedicated support for the rapid and widescale deployment of renewable resources and the technologies that support them. But to bring those solutions fully to bear, we also need to force a reckoning with the problem itself. EPA decision, but it did not ground EPA.
Hydrogen may have lost the race to fuel electric cars but it looks a likely contender to replace fossilfuels in trucks, ships, planes and heavy industry. The Tokyo Olympics will be powered by a fuel with ambition – hydrogen. And it has a head start in organising imports of the fuel.
We all know that to successfully address climate change we need to phase out fossilfuels and switch to electric power. A s we transition our homes and vehicles to electric power, it’s imperative that the electricity sector be clean. Take Action: Tell Ontario to phase out polluting gas power.
I then launched Sacred Earth Solar , an Indigenous-led organization that works with communities protecting their homelands by bringing solarpower to the frontlines of the climate crisis. We work directly with communities and skilled people on the ground – electricians, solar installers, etc. –
Globalization and technological evolution have brought a massive rise in energy consumption all around the globe. To be clear on the worth of solar panels we need to understand some basics of power generation and investment in solar energy technology. Petawatt hour and in the year 2019, it was 173.3 Petawatt hour.
With several new power-intensive IT industries proposed to be established, Bhutan’s domestic demand for energy is projected to more than double in the next two years, and its winter energy deficit will worsen, officials at the Department of Industry told me. Solar energy has become competitive. Previous obstacles have been overcome.
Fossilfuels currently account for around 60% of electricity generation , a share that it aims to reduce to 35% by 2030 through the expansion of renewables, including hydropower, and in particular wind and solar. The transition away from fossilfuels has, however, been an elusive goal for Argentina to date.
We know that fossilfuels are causing the climate crisis. And we know that to avoid more climate destruction, the world must stop digging up and burning fossilfuels. Wind and solarpower, paired with energy storage and energy savings, can almost entirely replace fossilfuels – and leave our communities better off.
Yes, in some cases, fossilfuels are burned to generate the electricity used to charge electric cars, but this highlights two of electric vehicles’ many advantages. They are much more efficient than gas powered vehicles and the electrical grid is getting greener. Taking a national average of 25.1 Recently that has changed.
“Why pay for polluting energy from a dirty power plant hundreds of miles away when Pennsylvanians can just soak up the sun on our rooftops?” Small-scale solar energy, of which rooftop solar is the largest component - is growing rapidly in the United States, producing 10 times as much power in 2022 as a decade earlier.
18 PA Renewable Energy Policy Webinar - Time To Take Action On Demand: ReImagine Appalachia: Solar-Powered Faith Communities And Houses Of Worship, Saving Money And Ethical Labor PA Interfaith Power & Light, Jewish Earth Alliance Aug. Potter County To Sept. Potter County To Sept. 1 Mountain Watershed Assn.
On March 17, the Community College of Allegheny County officially “flipped the switch” to solarpower. The extensive new 543-kilowatt solar installation will produce enough electricity to power 30–40% of CCAC North Campus’s electrical energy needs. Solar (Galvanizing our Energy Transition) program. Quintin Bullock.
A solarpower field in Kawasaki, near Tokyo. Last week, regulators in the local assembly of Tokyo , the capital of Japan , ruled that all new homes constructed by large-scale homebuilders after April 2025 must install solar panels to cut emissions. Poor solar uptake. Photo credit: Reuters / Toru Hanai. By Anders Lorenzen.
It can be disruptive, and then there are new habits to adopt around the different technology. The media, owned by people who often have investments in fossilfuels, has worked against the transition. Future editions will also be able to charge off surplus solarpower and work in tandem with domestic solar systems.
16 Webinar: Why Should We Care About, Advocate For A Climate-Friendly Federal Farm Bill? 16 Webinar: Why Should We Care About, Advocate For A Climate-Friendly Federal Farm Bill?
“The Lancaster Solar Co-op is directly in line with the City’s Climate Action Plan, and we think the co-op will help City and County residents consider solar for their own homes and businesses, and to learn more about renewable energy alternatives as a community.” Megawatts of solarpower, $4.2 of lifetime carbon offsets.
Expand hydro capacity, increase intermittent renewables including wind and solarpower, create more grid scale storage, increase rooftop solar capacity on buildings, and major grid interconnection with Quebec and Manitoba to enable electricity imports. Transition the electricity supply. Protect water and green spaces.
Bill Gates hailed Bitcoin as a “technological tour de force” while Peter Thiel, the co-founder of PayPal, said that it “has the potential to do something like change the world.”. Once the mining company has paid for the solar panels, turbines, and other equipment, their energy expenditure is greatly reduced.
The other is to improve the energy structure, replacing fossilfuel sources with alternatives. Wind and solarpower can provide green electricity for those facilities, while the low local temperatures can help with cooling requirements. Neither of these will be easy for Inner Mongolia.
A small town generating its own power, a city school equipping its rooftop with solar panels, and a company building solar water heaters that help to cut energy bills: small-scale initiatives across Argentina are showing the active role people can play in building a renewable energy-powered future.
GW Of Clean Energy In PA, 4 Other PJM States Saving $1 Billion A Year [PPL included] -- DOE Invests $17 Million In 3 Projects To Strengthen Critical Minerals Supply Chain: 1 In PA, Another To PA Company, Both Coal-Related [PaEN] -- NYT: The Planet Needs SolarPower, Can We Build It Without Harming Nature?
Last week, I joined my colleagues at COP28 in Dubai , as negotiators and civil society push for a fossilfuel phaseout to meet climate goals. The industry is pushing a narrative that misleadingly calls out emissions , not fossilfuels as the problem. Source: IPCC Sixth Assessment Report.
But what you probably haven’t heard is that our grid is getting dirtier again, with fossilfuels increasing in our electricity supply from burning natural gas. The rest of our power comes from a mix of nuclear power, renewables like hydro, wind and solarpower, and biofuel. Source: IESO [link].
We also acknowledged that their ambition could be higher when it comes to tackling climate change and unleashing the potential of clean energy and technology. 31% of the population are not worried, with 16% of those not accepting that the climate is changing because of human activity such as the burning of fossilfuels.
A solar-powered charging station in Yibin, south-west China. Two-way charging could give vehicles like these the potential to stabilise power supplies by discharging stored electricity back to the grid. Photo credit: Wang Xi / Alamy. In January, China’s biggest trial of two-way charging took place in Wuxi, Jiangsu.
Hillary Clinton’s climate change plan , released last week, centers on two goals: installing 500 million solar panels by 2021, and, relatedly, adding enough electric generation capacity from renewable sources to supply all residential electricity needs. But there are other issues that she has yet to address.
A recent National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) study shows that it would take less than 1 percent of the land in the Lower 48—that’s an area comparable to or even smaller than the fossilfuel industry’s current footprint. EIA also projects US battery storage capacity to more than double in 2023.
We organize all of the trending information in your field so you don't have to. Join 12,000+ users and stay up to date on the latest articles your peers are reading.
You know about us, now we want to get to know you!
Let's personalize your content
Let's get even more personalized
We recognize your account from another site in our network, please click 'Send Email' below to continue with verifying your account and setting a password.
Let's personalize your content