California is considering a controversial proposal for utilities to charge customers for electricity based partly on household income. Two scholars explain how this approach could benefit everyone.
Solar panels shade grassland at Jack’s Solar Garden, an agrovoltaic farm in Longmont, Colo.
Matthew Sturchio
Solar development isn’t always good for the land, but pairing it with agriculture can produce multiple benefits.
A worker lifts a solar panel to the roof of a home in Frankfort, Ky. Small-scale solar infrastructure can deliver green energy at a fraction of the life-cycle emissions as large solar farms.
(AP Photo/Michael Conroy)
Looking to go solar? While small-scale solar delivers the best results with the least life-cycle impact, a mixed approach offers the best long-term path towards an all-electric future.
Of all Australia’s climate policies, the Renewable Energy Target has been the most effective. Why have Australian governments moved away from it, and how can they revive it?
George Cove stands next to his third solar array.
Popular Electricity Magazine, April 1910 / Low Tech Magazine
The demand for the minerals needed to build clean energy technology currently exceeds the available supply. If this issue continues, governments may find it hard to reach their clean energy targets.
Placing vertical solar panels on farming land allows for energy production and higher yields.
(Wikimedia Commons)
Giacomo Falchetta, International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA)
There’s a consensus that extreme hydrological events will increase throughout the continent. This will lead to growing issues with power system reliability.
The common pipistrelle.
Rudmer Zwerver/Shutterstock
China is a major investor in Latin America’s renewable energy and critical minerals like lithium, but countries like Chile are also taking steps to secure their own clean energy future.
A heater with a 300-litre tank can store as much energy as a home battery at a fraction of the cost. Being able to store surplus solar energy at the right times helps grid stability and cuts emissions.
Consumers must do their homework before determining whether a company is actually green.
Victor de Schwanberg/Science Photo Library via Getty Images
As the energy revolution gains pace, huge numbers of PV panels are already going to landfill. Many are still usable and even those that aren’t contain valuable materials that shouldn’t be discarded.
Agrivoltaic farming — growing crops in the protected shadows of solar panels — can help meet Canada’s food and energy needs.
(Alexis Pascaris, AgriSolar)
Canada can meet its carbon emission reduction targets, make food cheap again and open up a gigantic trade surplus with the U.S. by shading farm crops with solar panels.