Energy
Transitioning to a world powered by renewable energy is key to tackling climate change. Here you can find the latest good news related to our clean energy transition, covering wind, solar, green hydrogen, hydropower, and more.
Iran approves $3 billion worth of foreign renewable energy investments
Iran’s Energy Minister Hamid Chitchian said earlier this week that the Finance Ministry had approved foreign investments in the country’s renewable energy industry worth $3 billion. “Iran intends to launch a large-scale project to construct renewable energy power plants over the Read More...
Renewable energy continues to beat fossil fuels
Clean energy grew at a record pace as the United States added 22GW of capacity — the equivalent of 11 Hoover Dams — to the grid from renewable sources Read More...
Taiwanese farmers turn their damaged fields into solar farms
Across the world, farmers are discovering a new "crop" they can cultivate on their fields: solar panels and windmills to generate electricity. In Taiwan, many farmers are dealing with changing soil conditions that have rendered entire fields of soil useless. That's why they are leasing their land Read More...
The world could reach peak oil in three years, thanks to cheap renewables
The world could reach peak oil and coal in as little as three years—not because either is close to running out, but because of the falling cost of solar power and electric cars and stronger climate policy. A new report from the Grantham Institute at Imperial College London and the Carbon Read More...
Ireland looks to become first country to completely divest from fossil fuels
There have been universities and companies that have completely divested from fossil fuels, but so far no country has done it. Ireland may soon be the first after a bill was passed to halt all public funding of coal, oil, and gas companies. The bill would require the nation’s massive Strategic Read More...
U.S. solar sees 25 percent jump in jobs created last year
Although president Trump may advocate coal as a means for creating U.S. jobs, it’s the solar industry that’s employing the most U.S. workers. In fact, jobs in the solar industry grew 25 percent last year to include more than 260,000 workers. The solar industry hopes the new data on job growth Read More...
Energy companies are fitting wind turbines to lampposts to make electricity
Millions of lampposts could be fitted with wind turbines connected directly into the National Grid. IT and technology firm NVT Group and Own Energy, which designed the small turbine that will be used, have formed a joint partnership that will create 25 jobs over the next year. However the firms Read More...
China doubles solar capacity and is now the world’s largest solar power producer
China has the most people—and now the most solar panels. China’s National Energy Administration has claimed the title of the world’s biggest producer of solar energy after the country announced that it had doubled its installed photovoltaic (PV) capacity last year. By the end of 2016, Read More...
Building a better microbial fuel cell
The concept behind microbial fuel cells, which rely on bacteria to generate an electrical current, is more than a century old. But turning that concept into a usable tool has been a long process. Microbial fuel cells, or MFCs, are more promising today than ever, but before their adoption can become Read More...
U.S. utilities seek sun as Trump sides with coal, fossil fuels
The plunging cost of solar power is leading U.S. electric companies to capture more of the sun just when President Donald Trump is moving to boost coal and other fossil fuels. Solar power represents just about 1 percent of the electricity U.S. utilities generate today, but that could grow Read More...