Trump has pledged to invest big in infrastructure. An analysis shows the electric grid will need hundreds of billions of dollars over the next decade just to keep things as they are.
A cyberattack on the electricity grid happened in Ukraine – could it happen here too?
Valentyn Ogirenko/Reuters
Kangaroo Island’s electricity link to the mainland needs replacing. But a new analysis shows that for roughly the same price, the island could move to independent, local renewable energy sources.
A number of coal plants in the U.S. are closing in response to competition from inexpensive and cleaner natural gas.
booleansplit/flickr
How bad are things for U.S. coal? Very bad, but that’s very good for environment. Now the question is whether other countries will cut back on coal as well.
No nukes: a 1979 rally against the construction of the Diablo Canyon nuclear plant, which is slated to shut down by 2025.
Jessica Collett/Shaping San Francisco Digital Archive
When will residential solar be cheaper than the cost of power from the grid? This point of ‘grid parity’ is a moving target but moving closer in a number of places.
There’s a good reason to connected to the electricity distribution network.
Flickr/Indigo Skies Photography
If you’re worried about rising electricity prices, then going off-grid sounds attractive. But why not create an intelligent network of solar-powerd batteries that can reduce prices for all?
Supreme Court ruling allows consumers and businesses to make money by reducing power and other grid services.
wilks_photography/flickr
The U.S. could dramatically increase solar and wind power without expensive energy storage. The key is to overlay high-voltage direct current power lines on our system of regional grids.
Could the hack that took out the power grid in Ukraine happen in the U.S.?
rainchurch/flickr
New Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau brings a very different face to climate talks in Paris. Will it project its oil extraction tradition or show global leadership on emissions cuts?
Rooftop solar panels: will they kill power companies or can they help them?
kincuri/flickr
Many utilities see rooftop solar as a threat, but solar power can actually lower the cost of power they – and their consumers – need to pay during hours of high demand.
The Supreme Court will decide a case that will have a big effect on distributed energy technology, including batteries.
Tesla
The Supreme Court hears a case that will decide whether homes and businesses can earn money from distributed energy technologies, including demand response and home battery systems.
When Facebook goes down it’s an irritation. But as the world moves its data and processing to the cloud, the potential for major loss grows ever greater.
When the sun flares, space weather is on its way to Earth.
NASA/SDO
Our power grid infrastructure on Earth is more vulnerable to space weather than previously thought – with susceptibility in more regions and even during quiet geomagnetic periods.
A first: limits on carbon emissions from power plants.
booleansplit/flickr
Despite looming legal challenges, states are devising plans to comply with limits on power plant carbon emissions – a crucial part of Obama’s climate policies.
Lots of wind blowing – often at night when there’s little demand for power.
ncbob/flickr
Smoothing out variable wind and solar is a growing problem. Instead of storing energy with batteries, utilities can adjust the power of millions of devices in buildings and homes.