UK households are getting paid for daytime clean energy use during lockdown
It’s well-known that generating green energy can help you save money, but for some people in the UK, producing and using green energy is actually getting them paid during the coronavirus lockdown. On Sunday morning, windfarms contributed almost 40% of the UK’s electricity, while solar power Read More...
This experimental housing complex holds the key to a clean, stable grid
In the small town of Basalt, Colorado, a small housing development that was meant to stand as a bulwark against skyrocketing housing prices is now dually serving as a living laboratory for testing advanced power grid technologies. The hope is that, one day, these technologies could turn every home Read More...
Scientists have found a new, safe, and efficient way of producing hydrogen
Production of hydrogen fuel is a key goal towards the development of sustainable energy practices, but this process does not have feasible methods yet, with it currently being excessively energy- and water-intensive. Now, a team from the Tokyo University of Science believes it's found a novel Read More...
New consensus shows US solar jobs increased 167% over the past decade
Over the past decade, solar energy has gone from a niche product to a mainstream source of energy—and nothing depicts that like the meteoric rise in US jobs in the solar industry. According to The Solar Foundation, the number of US solar jobs has risen 167 percent since 2010, with a total of Read More...
Microgrids are restoring power to rural Australians after the bushfires
For years, the Optimist Daily has been a vocal advocate of microgrids for their ability to provide a reliable, low-cost source of clean energy to local areas. On top of that, microgrids are optimal because they don’t rely on a national grid and can function separately even if a national grid Read More...
Reverse solar panel could generate power at night
One of the current problems we face with solar panels is that they don’t generate electricity if the bright sun isn’t shining directly at them. This problem becomes evident when it’s night time. During the night, solar panels are simply in a standstill, and buildings have to rely on the Read More...
Google is combining the largest solar deal ever with battery storage in Nevada
Running the cloud-based computing services that companies like Google offers is extremely energy-intensive. Fortunately for us, the energy-hungry companies that run these services seem more than willing to operate their data centers without using fossil fuels. In 2017 Google switched from just Read More...
Half of the UK’s universities are now committed to divesting from fossil fuels
For years, we’ve seen environmental groups and students urge universities to divest from dirty fossil fuels. Finally, it seems those efforts are paying off. A total of seventy-eight of the UK’s 154 public universities have jumped onto the divestment bandwagon, either divesting or pledging to Read More...
This clever box brings clean energy and water to Earth’s most rural places
After 15 years of experience in the renewables industry, Emiliano Cecchini set out on his biggest mission yet: help people in the most rural places meet their basic needs of power and water. Cecchini’s mission began in 2014 when he and his collaborator Davide Bonsignore discovered just how long Read More...
A farm in New York has been powering itself using food scraps and cow manure
On a farm in upstate New York, a cheese brand is turning millions of pounds of food scraps into electricity needed to power its on-site businesses. Founded by eight families, each with their own dairy farms, Craigs Creamery doesn't just produce various types of cheddar, mozzarella, Swiss and Read More...