Climate change

The need for emissions-free power generation, along with the ability to provide more power when and where it’s needed, is driving research and development of smaller nuclear reactors. Energy industry

Utilities recognizing the need to produce more electricity, in part to satisfy demand from data centers, may keep coal-fired units in operation longer than anticipated. A lessening of environmental regulations under the incoming Trump administration also means power generators are rethinking plans to retire their fossil fuel-burning facilities. Chris Womack, CEO of Southern Co., is […]

A fusion energy company that counts executives such as Eric Schmidt and Bill Gates among its backers has emerged from stealth, announcing $900 million in pledged funding. Pacific Fusion, whose technology builds on recent fusion advances at two U.S. national labs, is the latest U.S.-based group to join a growing list of companies working on […]

As global efforts intensify to mitigate climate change, carbon capture has emerged as a vital technology to curb greenhouse gas emissions. Power generation, a major source of global carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, is under increasing pressure to adopt technologies that reduce its carbon footprint. As highlighted by recent rulings and federal initiatives, the focus on […]

A report from a group that looks at economic conditions in the Appalachia region of the U.S. says a hydrogen hub proposed for the area already faces significant challenges. The Ohio River Valley Institute in a research brief published this month said five of the 15 originally proposed projects in the hub have been canceled, […]

President Biden signed the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) into law in 2022. The IRA is the largest public investments in renewable energy in American history and created more than 20 different tax incentives for renewable energy and related manufacturing. Certain Republic politicians have directed vitriol at the IRA. However, even if Republicans win the White […]

UPDATED (Oct. 11): The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has upgraded its G4-level “severe” geomagnetic storm watch to a G3-level “strong” geomagnetic storm warning after an anticipated coronal mass ejection (CME) arrived at Earth at 11:15 a.m. EST on Thursday, traveling at nearly 1.5 million miles per hour. The G3-level warning is now in […]

The U.S. Supreme Court has said that rules requiring power plants burning fossil fuels to reduce emissions of toxic substances can stand, dealing a blow to several Republican-led states and some power generators that had challenged the regulations. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in May of this year finalized rules on emissions of mercury, after […]

Europe is pursuing an ambitious energy transition to become the world’s first climate-neutral continent by 2050. To reach this goal, the region has set stringent targets to decrease reliance on Russian fossil fuels and increase the adoption of renewable energy across the power and transportation sectors. Significant strides are being made in developing solar and […]

A project that will demonstrate the conversion of a former coal mine in Bell County, Kentucky, into a utility-scale 287-MW pumped storage hydroelectric facility has garnered federal backing from the Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Clean Energy Demonstrations (OCED). Rye Development, a pumped storage hydropower developer, on Sept. 25 secured $12.1 million—the first tranche […]