Mary Njenga, Center for International Forestry Research – World Agroforestry (CIFOR-ICRAF)
There are some big misconceptions about the charcoal sector and its role in environmental damage.
Mass. Gov. Charlie Baker signed a comprehensive energy law in 2016 that authorized the development of new offshore wind and hydroelectric projects.
Massachusetts governor’s office
Several states, including Massachusetts and Rhode Island, have developed ambitious renewable energy targets that hinge in large part on getting their power from turbines stationed in the water.
China has its eye on technological dominance.
ROMSVETNIK/Shutterstock
Deriving fuel from trees costs more than wind and solar power and it emits more carbon than coal. There are many heated debates about this kind of energy, known as forest or woody biomass.
Annual water requirements of a PHES-supported 100% renewable electricity grid would be much less than the current fossil fuel system, because wind and PV do not require cooling water.
Wind turbines are becoming as American as haybales.
MattJP
Experts expect the wind business to remain brisk in the US and abroad, on land and offshore.
Rising seas, harsher weather, rainier days. The impacts of climate change make it harder for Caribbean countries to plan their transition toward renewable energy sources.
Ricardo Rojas/Reuters
Masaō Ashtine, University of the West Indies, Mona Campus
The 2017 hurricane season showed that Caribbean nations urgently need more resilient power grids. But the effects of climate change – including more severe storms – complicate the shift to renewables.
Block Island Wind, the first offshore wind energy project in the U.S., started operation in 2016.
Ionna22
A recent survey of electric utility leaders finds that Trump administration efforts to promote coal energy and roll back air pollution regulations have had little impact on their long-range plans.
Josh Frydenberg met with state energy ministers in Melbourne the latest round of discussions over the National Energy Guarantee.
AAP Image/Luis Ascui
Will the renewable energy transition end up creating yet more greenhouse emissions, as we ramp up the manufacture of wind turbines and solar cells? Not if their manufacture is itself powered by renewables.
The coils winding facility building in France, where a global effort to build the ITER fusion energy reactor is underway.
Rob Crandall/Shutterstock.com
As fusion becomes more technically viable, it’s time to assess whether it’s worth the money because breakthroughs in the lab don’t guarantee success in the marketplace.
Solar photovoltaics are now the world’s leading source of new electricity generation.
US Air Force
Solar photovoltaics and wind power are on track to supplant fossil-fuel-based electricity generation by the 2030s. The only thing holding back the renewable revolution is politics.
Barnaby Joyce said the government building a coal-fired power station would be consistent with its existing policies.
Mick Tsikas/AAP
On Q&A, Minister for Urban Infrastructure and Cities Paul Fletcher said South Australia’s high electricity prices were “the consequence” of Jay Weatherill’s renewable energy policies. Is that right?
Grid-scale energy storage systems may make it easier to rely completely on renewable energy.
petrmalinak/Shutterstock.com
Saving power to use later lets consumers, businesses and utilities generate energy when it’s cheap and deliver it when they need it most. There’s not much of it today, but the industry is growing fast.
Solar panels sit on the roof of a home in Enkanini, on the outskirts of Stellenbosch, Western Cape, South Africa.
(Shutterstock)
Innovation in small-scale solar systems and mobile money systems is giving people in sub-Saharan Africa access to electricity at a lower cost than diesel or kerosene.