Infrastructure as art: Jacob van Ruisdael, ‘Windmill at Wijk bij Duurstede,’ c. 1670.
Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam
Are facilities that produce necessities like energy and clean water doomed to be ugly? Not when artists and landscape architects help design them.
RossHelen/Shutterstock
How indoor solar cells could help power the Internet of Things.
Shutdown in Seattle to slow the spread of coronavirus empties the streets, March 26, 2020. Less economic activity means less revenue for utilities.
AP Photo/Ted S. Warren
The US is gradually shifting to lower-carbon energy sources, but the COVID-19 pandemic, an oil price crash and a likely recession are big speed bumps.
Solar films could turn windows into powerful solar panels.
(Pixabay)
New lightweight, efficient and ultra-thin solar technologies show promise, but it may be too soon to abandon conventional solar photovoltaics.
SHUTTERSTOCK
Sun Cable could provide Australia an alternative to the export business of coal and gas, and even reduce our export dependence on China.
How can we store energy from intermittent renewable energy sources?
Benny(I am empty)/ Flickr
Pumped thermal electricity storage turns electricity into heat and back again – which can compensate for the intermittent supply of renewables.
Australian-designed technology will soon be responsible for 50% of all solar energy produced globally.
Glenn Hunt/AAP
A technological arms race in the 80s resulted in a world-first solar cell, that today underpins half the world’s solar power.
New research shows Ontario doesn’t really need nuclear energy, and its absence would not have an impact on emissions in the province’s energy sector.
(Ferdinand Stohr/Unsplash)
Nuclear power isn’t needed to meet Ontario’s electricity needs. And the absence of nuclear power won’t have any impact on emissions in Ontario’s energy sector.
Installing solar panels on a roof.
Shutterstock/lalanta71
Solar cells make electricity directly from sunlight, but how do they do it?
Buildings at the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago, illuminated by George Westinghouse’s alternating current.
Field Museum Library/Wikipedia
Long before Apple vs. Microsoft or Facebook vs. Google, there was Edison vs. Westinghouse.
Those living off-grid may soon be thankful for the chill of the night sky.
Georgi Licovski/EPA
Don’t expect the new technology to become solar’s dark twin just yet, but it could play an important role in energy demands of the future.
Jenson/Shutterstock
Tapping just 3.7% of solar potential in countries in China’s intercontinental infrastructure programme could power the entire region.
Large scale wind farms are driving Australia’s renewable energy generation.
AAP Image/Supplied by CWP Renewables
Australia is installing renewable energy at more than ten times the global average. This is excellent news, but raises serious questions about integrating this electricity into our grids.
Valentin Valkov/Shutterstock.com
The design of the global money game is the real antagonist in the fight against climate change. But the call to arms tends to be directed at the players who have had best luck with the dice.
Wind energy has played a major role in Australia’s fulfilment of the renewable energy target.
Olivier Hoslet/AAP
The federal government this week heralded Australia’s renewable energy performance. But the outlook leaves little cause for celebration.
An all-renewable grid will mean more electricity and more transmission lines.
Russ Allison Loar/flickr
We have all the technologies needed to make the electric grid run on renewables and lower pollution. What are they and what are the barriers to adopting them widely?
Power failure. It’s gas, not wind, that’s pushing up electricity prices.
Shutterstock
An eight year study of half hourly prices finds that wind and solar generation have been pushing wholesale electricity prices down.
Aerial view of Kariba dam.
Dmitriy Kandinskiy/Shutterstock
Zimbabwe has a severe energy crisis because its major sources of electricity are struggling to keep up with demand.
Performers for the Tokyo 2020 games during the Rio Olympic Games 2016 Closing Ceremony.
Martin Ricketts/PA
Japan’s global influence has waned in recent years. Showing that renewables can decouple emissions from economic success could help the country find its niche and spark a race to power the Earth.
capitanoproductions / shutterstock
A legacy in fossil fuels is likely to help even in the era of renewable energy.