While solar power is growing at an extremely rapid clip, in absolute terms, the use of natural gas for electricity production has continued to outpace renewables. But that looks set to change in 2024, as the US Energy Information Agency (EIA) has run the numbers on the first half of …
Read More »The Race for Space-Based Solar Power
Is space-based solar power a costly, risky pipe dream? Or is it a viable way to combat climate change? Although beaming solar power from space to Earth could ultimately involve transmitting gigawatts, the process could be made surprisingly safe and cost-effective, according to experts from Space Solar, the European Space …
Read More »What’s Up With These Crazy Northern Lights?
The aurora borealis is usually visible only way up north, but two weeks ago the night sky was filled with shimmering curtains of pink and green light that could be seen all the way down into the southern US. People in Texas and Hawaii got out of their cars to …
Read More »The Best Total Solar Eclipse Photos
The arrival of the total solar eclipse in the US has brought with it an impressive array of photographs as well. If you weren't able to find a spot to view the eclipse in person—or if it was stuck behind uncooperative clouds—you can at least get a sense of its …
Read More »One Couple's Quest to Ditch Natural Gas
This story originally appeared on Grist. It was produced by Grist and originally copublished with the Guardian. It's republished here as part of the Climate Desk collaboration. My wife and I live in a green, two-story colonial at the end of a cul-de-sac in Burlington, Vermont. Each spring, the front …
Read More »Millions of EV Batteries Could Retire to Solar Farms
This story originally appeared on Grist and is part of the Climate Desk collaboration. On a 20-acre parcel outside the tiny Southern California town of New Cuyama, a 1.5-megawatt solar farm uses the sun’s rays to slowly charge nearly 600 batteries in nearby cabinets. At night, when energy demand rises, …
Read More »The First Small-Scale Nuclear Plant in the US Died Before It Could Live
The plan for the first small-scale US nuclear reactor was exciting, ambitious, and unusual from the get-go. In 2015, a group of city- and county-run utilities across the Mountain West region announced that they were betting on a new frontier of nuclear technology: a mini version of a conventional plant …
Read More »The Annular Solar Eclipse Will Decimate US Solar Energy Output
Brunch tomorrow in Texas will take place under the eye of Sauron. From about 10:20 am local time in San Antonio, the sky will begin to darken with an annular solar eclipse, in which the moon crosses directly in front of the sun at a time the satellite is especially …
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