James Gourley/AAP
Extreme weather is behind much of the crisis, but it will make the transition to new energy sources more complicated.
Covering roofs with solar panels could significantly contribute to decarbonising global energy systems.
MaddyBris/Pixabay
India and China are the cheapest places to install rooftop solar, while the US, Japan and the UK are the most expensive.
A banner reads “Fuera Luma” (Luma out), opposing the company managing Puerto Rico’s electric grid, at a May Day protest in San Juan on May 1, 2021.
Ricardo Arduengo/AFP via Getty Images
Four years after Hurricane Maria wreaked havoc on Puerto Rico, federal money to rebuild its electricity system is finally about to flow. But it may not deliver what islanders want.
Power cuts could happen more regularly if the grid is not updated.
Riccev/Shutterstock
A shift to heating our homes by heat pumps would put massive pressure on the electricity grid.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is seeing nothing but blue skies ahead when it comes to his policies on climate change. But will the newly re-elected Liberal government follow through?
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick
While the outcome of the 2021 federal election offered little in the way of change, it may have left Canada better positioned to make progress on reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
Joe Castro/AAP
Takeover bids for Australia’s last listed energy network companies suggest these monopolies are charging way more than necessary.
Power poles downed by Hurricane Ida in Houma, Louisiana, Aug. 30, 2021.
Nick Wagner/Xinhua via Getty Images
Building even more power poles and transmission lines won’t avert outages when major disasters strike.
ALDECA Studio/Shutterstock
Electric cars are still more resilient to price shocks than vehicles running on fossil fuels.
State-owned enterprises, such as Transnet, which runs South Africa’s ports, loom large over the economy.
Getty Images
Corruption and fraud make a few rich households richer. But the already poor and low-skilled lose their jobs and become poorer.
The solution to the country’s energy problems doesn’t belong to Eskom and the government alone.
shutterstock
Eskom’s CEO talks debt, power cuts and green energy.
Russell Hart/Alamy Stock Photo
Time-poor households, like single parent families, are caught between rising prices and unhelpful tariffs.
Solar panels on the roof of the Casa Dominguez low-income housing development in East Rancho Dominguez, Calif.
Lawrence K. Ho/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images
A decade ago, solar power was a tiny sliver of the US energy supply. Today it’s expanding rapidly – and the Biden administration wants to make it much, much bigger.
Outages left downtown New Orleans in the dark after Hurricane Ida made landfall on Aug. 29, 2021.
Michael Robinson Chavez/The Washington Post via Getty Images
Hurricane Ida left the entire city of New Orleans in the dark and renewed discussion of burying power lines. But there’s no way to completely protect the grid, above ground or below.
Without proper planning, an influx of electric vehicles could cause problems for the economy and our energy supply.
Joenomias/Pixabay
Electric vehicles are poised to take over our roads: so how do we make sure this change doesn’t exacerbate social and energy inequality?
Andrey Andreyev
At the bottom of our carbon fears is a big black problem.
Soweto residents protest over lack of electricity.
Fani Mahuntsi/Gallo Images via Getty Images
The practice of using electricity revenue surpluses to fund other municipal services is running out of road.
Le Sénégal a le taux d'accès à l'électricité le plus élevé parmi les pays les moins développés d'Afrique.
Pour parvenir à l'accès universel à l'énergie d'ici 2030, le Sénégal doit doubler son taux d'électrification, déclare l’ONU.
Renewable mini-grids are central to reducing rural communities’ dependence on diesel fuel, but a large number of these projects are abandoned shortly after their installation.
(pxfuel)
Without community involvement and ownership, renewable energy projects are doomed to fail over the long term.
Demonstrators in Johannesburg march against environmental damage done by coal.
Photo by Cornell Tukiri/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images
There is significant potential for the community trusts to improve the financial position of communities. But it’s not happening.
Electricity is vital for improving the quality of life of many in rural sub-Saharan Africa.
USAID_images/Flickr
Hybrid energy systems that combine renewable and non-renewable fuel systems could be the key to sub-Saharan Africa’s energy transition.