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.
British utility offers carbon neutral green gas
UK energy firm Good Energy started offering a carbon neutral gas tariff. The gas mix will contain six percent bio-methane, domestically produced out of organic material. The biogas comes from anaerobic digester sites. Other emissions resulting from gas use are compensated with carbon reduction Read More...
First solar powered aircraft completes Pacific crossing
For the first time a solar powered airplane made it across the Pacific Ocean. The Solar Impulse 2 landed successfully in California after taking off from Hawaii 62 hours earlier. The aircraft was supposed to land in Abu Dhabi by the end of last summer, from where it departed, but faced significant Read More...
Economic reality shifts Republican perspective on renewables
It's not the first time that new economic realities change political perspectives. Most Republicans in the U.S. reject any role of humans in global warming. However, a small and growing number of once-skeptical Republicans are embracing wind and solar as these clean energy sources begin to deliver Read More...
Supergrid connecting Europe and Africa will enable 100% renewable energy
A ‘supergrid’ connecting Europe to northern Africa will help both regions reach near 100 percent renewable energy capacity, the German Frauhofer Institute states in a report. The grid connection would allow countries to share electricity to balance over or under production. For instance, Read More...
French startup powers street lighting with bacteria
French startup Glowee works on a new concept for the future smart city: It aims to provide street lighting through synthetic biology. It uses the bioluminescent genetics of bacteria living in squids, inserts them in common, non-pathogenic bacteria, which are capsuled in a transparent shell. The Read More...
Cost of solar energy falls every time the sun rises
Installing solar panels on your roof is not just for tree-hugging environmentalists. The increasing ease of the process and the financial returns have made going solar practically mainstream. Washingtonians are embracing solar power in a big way. In the District, residential solar installations Read More...
San Francisco will require new buildings to install solar panels
All new buildings in San Francisco with 10 floors or less must install rooftop solar panels starting in 2017. The Better Roofs Ordinance is expected to add 50,000 solar panels and avert 26.3 million tons of carbon dioxide annually—equivalent to emissions from 5,000 cars driven for a year. San Read More...
India sees solar-based energy future that is cheaper than coal fired power
India’s energy minister Piyush Goyal embraces a renewable future. During the presentation of his new plan for renewable energy in the country, he said that energy generated from solar would now probably be cheaper than from a newly built coal plant. The plan outlines a vision for solar-based Read More...
Turn your pee into power with a fuel cell
British researchers have developed a fuel cell that produces energy out of urine. The cell uses biological processes to generate electricity, and would cost only one pound sterling. The researchers see that the fuel cell could be a lifeline to people in remote areas, generating cheap, renewable and Read More...
U.S. wind energy blew away records in 2015
U.S. wind energy output hit record levels last year, producing nearly 5 percent of the nation’s electricity, according to a new report from the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA). Employment in the sector also rose 20 percent in 2015, with 88,000 workers now employed in wind energy Read More...