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.
Oil giants need to invest heavily in renewables by 2035, says analysis
More than a fifth of investment by the largest oil and gas companies could be in wind and solar power in just over a decade, according to analysis of how global changes in energy will reshape the sector. Slowing demand for oil and forecasts of rapid growth in renewables posed both a threat and and Read More...
Google shows your neighbor has solar panels: What do you do?
What makes people decide to put solar panels on their roof? Surveys show it’s not their age, their race, their level of income, or their political affiliation. The determining factor is whether their neighbors did it first. Now Google is putting this finding into practice. Next week the Read More...
A comeback for the electricity technology once championed by Thomas Edison
More than 100 years ago scientists and business leaders feuded over the incipient U.S. electrical grid: Should it rely on alternating current (AC) or direct current (DC)? Both are used to transmit electricity—DC flows steadily in one direction, whereas AC varies direction periodically. Thomas Read More...
Solar farms are helping rural Chinese farmers get out of poverty
The harsh climate of the grasslands in China have long made it difficult for villagers to plant or herd anything. Now, thanks to new solar farms and greenhouses, residents are able to harvest light and grow crops. The abundance of sunlight produces an abundance of energy, allowing the residents to Read More...
Solar energy will soon be cheaper than any other energy source
Protecting coal jobs today makes as much sense as protecting typing pool jobs around the time personal computers caught on in the 1980s. Solar technology will destroy coal and oil as energy sources even if President Donald Trump stamps his feet, holds his breath and refuses to play with the rest of Read More...
The home of The Optimist Daily joins the clean energy revolution
We are proud to announce that the home town of The Optimist Daily team has joined the clean energy revolution: Santa Barbara, California, has become the 30th city in the U.S. to commit to transitioning to 100 percent renewable energy by Read More...
Renewable energy provides half of British electricity for the first time
This week the National Grid in the United Kingdom reported that renewable sources of energy were generating more electricity than coal and gas for the first time. Power from wind, solar, hydro and wood pellet burning supplied 50.7 percent of British energy. A tenth of the U.K.'s power was coming Read More...
Total renewable energy capacity boomed in 2016 as prices continue to drop
Thanks to plummeting costs, renewable energy capacity around the world increased by a record 10 percent. New solar power provided the biggest boost – half of all new capacity – followed by wind power at a third and hydropower at 15 percent. It is the first year that the new solar capacity added Read More...
Renewable energy push is strongest in the reddest states in U.S.
These red states are not motivated by a sudden desire to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Nor are they joining solidly Democratic New York, Washington and California in defending the Paris climate agreement that President Trump walked away from last week. Instead, their leaders see tapping the Read More...
Cheap catalysts turn sunlight and carbon dioxide into fuel
Scientists have long dreamed of mimicking photosynthesis, by using the energy in sunlight to knit together hydrocarbon fuels from carbon dioxide and water. Now, a cheap new chemical catalyst has carried out part of that process with record efficiency, using electricity from a solar cell to split Read More...