As the energy revolution gains pace, huge numbers of PV panels are already going to landfill. Many are still usable and even those that aren’t contain valuable materials that shouldn’t be discarded.
Agrivoltaic farming — growing crops in the protected shadows of solar panels — can help meet Canada’s food and energy needs.
(Alexis Pascaris, AgriSolar)
Canada can meet its carbon emission reduction targets, make food cheap again and open up a gigantic trade surplus with the U.S. by shading farm crops with solar panels.
The very people most in need of the cost savings from installing solar panels are missing out. Better policies are needed to make home solar systems accessible to all Australians.
To achieve low or even no electricity bills, there are three areas owners of home solar systems should focus on getting right.
Deep sea sponges and other creatures live on and among valuable manganese nodules like this one that could be mined from the seafloor.
ROV KIEL 6000/GEOMAR
Mining nodules from the deep ocean seabed could provide the metals crucial for today’s EV batteries and renewable energy technology, but little is known about the harm it could cause.
Jobs in the clean energy industry are expected to grow thanks to a historic federal investment in fighting climate change. Many of the jobs have low barriers to entry, an expert says.
Until now, a more expensive type of silicon was used to produce the highest-efficiency solar panels. Now there’s a way to use cheaper raw materials, cutting the cost of solar power for everyone.
The severe heat wave in western Canada and the U.S. Pacific Northwest, between June and July 2021 caused 1,400 deaths.
(Shutterstock)
North America’s 2021 extreme heat event should compel governments to scale innovations from leading cities and countries to advance resilient, restorative and renewable cities.
Mining and extracting metals has ecologically damaging consequences.
Shutterstock
Only 13% of US solar industry jobs are currently in manufacturing. The Biden administration hopes the sector will grow fast, but that might not be so simple.
In Lesotho, solar panels generate power for households.
Max Pixel
Sub-Saharan Africa is one of the world’s most sunlit regions. A prototype generator uses that sunlight in place of diesel to support unreliable electricity grids.
Such tension has played out over many decades between agricultural communities and coal companies. We can avoid history repeating itself if we urgently set the right policies and laws in place.