Rolan Petty stabbed at the dirt with a boot toe and looked up at the broiling west Texas sun. “I call it farming on faith,” he said of his unirrigated cotton farm. “You just have faith that the rain is gonna come.” …Continue reading
Better Lithium Batteries to Get a Test Flight
Scientists have known for decades that lithium-metal batteries offer a powerful combination of energy density and compactness. Unfortunately these batteries also present challenges: they are difficult to recharge and they have an unfortunate tendency to burst into flame. Massachusetts-based startup SolidEnergy Systems, …Continue reading
In Texas Oil Country, Wind Is Straining the Grid
A new $8 billion electricity transmission system is now complete, but it’s already nearing maximum capacity. The Lone Star state is by far the largest state for wind power, with nearly 18,000 megawatts of wind generation capacity already built and another 5,500 …Continue reading
The Internet of Things Could Keep Dirty Coal Plants in Business
Faced with excess electricity generation capacity and plunging prices for wholesale electricity, Italian utility A2A shut down its gas-fired Chivasso plant, near Turin, in 2014. Earlier this year, though, the plant was restarted. Market conditions have improved, but the main reason the …Continue reading
Obama’s Ambitious Clean-Energy Goal Will Depend on Nuclear—and the Next President
President Barack Obama, along with Canadian premier Justin Trudeau and Mexican president Enrique Peña Nieto, is expected to announce ambitious new clean-energy goals at the “Three Amigos” summit in Ottawa this week. According to the White House, the three leaders will set …Continue reading
Seeking Answers in Space for Accurate Emissions Data
Every 99 minutes a NASA satellite orbits the planet, capturing a million measurements a day of the carbon dioxide in the Earth’s atmosphere. It’s part of an experiment that scientists hope will one day result in a fleet of satellites that reliably …Continue reading
Tesla-SolarCity Success Depends on Battery Technology That Doesn’t Yet Exist
Vowing to create “the world’s only vertically integrated energy company offering end-to-end clean energy products to our customers,” Tesla CEO Elon Musk said on Tuesday that the electric-vehicle maker plans to acquire SolarCity, the largest U.S. installer of rooftop solar arrays. Musk …Continue reading
Shifting Economic Winds Spell Trouble for Solar Giants SolarCity and Sunrun
The U.S. solar market is booming—2016 is predicted to be the largest year ever for both rooftop solar and utility-scale installations. But shifting economic forces could spell trouble for some of the largest companies in the industry. To date, growth in residential …Continue reading
Brexit Brings Chaos to Europe’s Clean-Energy Goals
U.K. voters’ decision to exit the European Union sent shock waves through world markets today, including the energy sector. The consensus from policymakers, clean-energy advocates, and analysts was that while “Brexit” will not completely derail the EU’s efforts to reduce carbon emissions …Continue reading
Wind and Solar Will Be the Cheapest Way to Generate Power by 2040
Although the prices of coal and gas will continue to scrape bottom over the next couple of decades, the cheapest form of power generation will soon be renewable energy. That’s the conclusion of the New Energy Outlook 2016 from Bloomberg New Energy …Continue reading