Los Angeles abandons plan to spend billions of dollars to rebuild gas plants
Los Angeles is making steady efforts in its swift energy transition from fossil fuels to more climate-friendly energy sources. With coal almost out of the picture, the city is now ready to part ways with natural gas too. In a move to get the city closer to its goal of 100 percent renewable energy Read More...
Politicians in Puerto Rico want to shift to 100 percent renewable energy by 2050
The Puerto Rico House and Senate are considering a bill that would transition the island to 100 percent renewable energy. After the island suffered the longest blackout in US history, Puerto Rico wants to ensure that never happens again by installing solar and wind energy systems across the Read More...
UK scientists turn coffee industry waste into electricity
Scientists have turned coffee waste into electricity for the first time, in research that could help farmers and curb pollution in the developing world. The coffee industry generates a huge amount of liquid waste during the process of turning the raw material of the tree – the coffee cherries – Read More...
The desolated scene of Chernobyl is producing energy once more
After suffering the world’s worst nuclear disaster in 1986, the land surrounding the Chernobyl nuclear plant has been devoid of human settlement and was thought to remain like this for another 24,000 years. In 2016, however, Ukrainian official came up with the idea of installing a solar farm on Read More...
Wider use of clean energy would reduce power outages during storms
In those moments when we were all experiencing “the calm before the storm,” we could not yet know the impact Hurricane Florence would have on our state, but we were certain it would be significant. In its aftermath, Florence indeed left a devastating mark on some of North Carolina’s Read More...
New, cheaper battery will boost energy storage in developing countries
Clean renewable energy requires power storage in batteries. The lithium-ion battery is the most efficient one. The technology is also expensive which limits their impact in developing countries. An innovation by a US energy company might change that. NantEnergy is developing a zinc-air battery that Read More...
Possibility: Windmills under the sea
From The Intelligent Optimist Magazine Fall/Winter 2016 There’s enough wave energy in the oceans to power the world, and scientists and businesses are finally close to harnessing it. For decades wave energy has lagged behind wind energy and solar because harnessing it is more complex. But for Jim Read More...
Nature's air filter
From The Intelligent Optimist Magazine Fall/Winter 2016 Air pollution is responsible for roughly 7 million deaths worldwide every year. Air-borne pollutants also cause heart disease, stroke, skin diseases, reduced fertility and miscarriage, and cancer. There’s a solution: Plants that clean the Read More...
Nature's air filter
From The Intelligent Optimist Magazine Fall/Winter 2016 Air pollution is responsible for roughly 7 million deaths worldwide every year. Air-borne pollutants also cause heart disease, stroke, skin diseases, reduced fertility and miscarriage, and cancer. There’s a solution: Plants that clean the Read More...
Solar Sister empowers women in Africa to sell clean, solar technologies
Distributing solar-powered lights and phone chargers where they are needed the most, while giving low-income women the opportunity to earn supplementary income—such is the vision behind Solar Sister, a social enterprise with a presence in Tanzania, Uganda and Nigeria. With 1,500 women involved in Read More...