A banner reads “Fuera Luma” (Luma out), opposing the company managing Puerto Rico’s electric grid, at a May Day protest in San Juan on May 1, 2021.
Ricardo Arduengo/AFP via Getty Images
Four years after Hurricane Maria wreaked havoc on Puerto Rico, federal money to rebuild its electricity system is finally about to flow. But it may not deliver what islanders want.
Aerial view of the 6-megawatt Stanton Solar Farm near Orlando, Fla.
Paul Hennessy/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images
President Biden’s proposed solar power expansion would cost $350 billion in federal support over the coming decade. An energy expert explains where that money would come from and who it would help.
The process of manufacturing gallium-doped solar panels was under a patent until last year. It’s only now that this method has started to pick up steam.
Could solar power provide an alternative energy source for the web?
Wikimedia Commons
As global oil consumption drops, oil companies are pivoting to petrochemicals, and could crowd out bio-based alternatives.
Fire a set of high-power lasers at a tiny speck of hydrogen isotopes and you can initiate nuclear fusion, the process that powers the Sun.
National Ignition Facility
Scientists are working on ways to make lots of energy by converting matter into energy. The trick is keeping the process under control. One possibility is nuclear fusion – the Sun’s power source.
The California Aqueduct, which carries water more than 400 miles south from the Sierra Nevada, splits as it enters Southern California at the border of Kern and Los Angeles counties.
California DWR
Roger Bales, University of California, Merced and Brandi McKuin, University of California, Santa Cruz
Installing solar panels over California’s 4,000 miles of canals could generate less expensive, renewable energy, save water, fight climate change – and offer a solution for the thirsty American West.
Government policies sparked rapid growth and technology innovation in solar energy, wind energy and battery markets.
Michael Hall/Getty Images
Technology innovation is one of the Biden administration’s most powerful tools for accelerating progress on climate change. Recent successes in renewable energy and batteries show how this can work.
Wind turbines and fighter jets both rely on imported critical minerals.
U.S. Air Force; Dennis Schroeder/NREL
Right now, the nation is almost entirely dependent on other countries for minerals that are used in everything from wind turbines to strike fighters and satellites.
The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power’s Pine Tree Wind Farm and Solar Power Plant in Tehachapi, Calif., 115 miles from LA.
Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images
The US electricity grid is actually five regional grids, and it’s hard to share power between them. A macrogrid could bridge the gaps, making electricity cheaper and more reliable.
Houses as power stations.
Shutterstock/Studio Harmony
In a bid to ditch fossil fuels, some countries are considering carpeting deserts with solar panels.
Solar power is becoming more common for households at all income levels. These homes in Richmond, California, went solar with the help of GRID Alternatives.
GRID Alternatives
Galen Barbose, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory; Eric O’Shaughnessy, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, and Ryan Wiser, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
Solar power doesn’t have to be just for the wealthy anymore. With the right kind of financial incentives, households at all income levels can benefit from affordable clean energy.
Weak regulation and a lack of mandatory inspections have increased fire risks for the one in four homes with rooftop PV panels. Here’s what we need to do to be safer.
Thermal image of New York City’s first passive house on a -10 C degree night.
(Shutterstock)
Many Asian nations are shunning fossil fuels, presenting a huge opportunity for Australia’s renewables sector. And one massive project has stepped up to the plate.