The soil in northwest Iowa is so fertile it’s referred to as “black gold.” “It’s incredibly rich, wonderful topsoil from thousands of years of silty deposits from the Missouri River,” said Luke Seaberg, a researcher at Iowa State University’s extension program. So rich that some counties restrict development on land…
As the mayor of tiny Enfield, North Carolina, Mondale Robinson has huge clean energy ambitions . Among them: building a solar farm to power the entire town of about 2,000, replacing the town’s decrepit substation to distribute those renewable electrons, and building a thermal energy network to provide heating and…
This is California Wire , a weekly newsletter from Jeff St. John on the state’s clean energy transition. Subscribe to get it every Wednesday via Substack. Welcome back to California Wire! This week, I want to dive into a topic that’s both timely and timeless: transmission lines, and how long it takes to build…
Connecticut is trying to clean up its grid with more solar energy. But a major utility’s reluctance to commit to buying power from some projects is raising questions about the prospects for success. Connecticut last month announced plans to secure 63.4 megawatts of new solar capacity from arrays to be built in New…
Households and the power grid run on alternating current. Batteries — including those in electric vehicles — run on direct current. That AC-DC divide has complicated the prospect of EVs as home backup batteries. Today, almost every commercially available vehicle-to-home (V2H) backup power system in the U.S. requires…
In restaurant kitchens around the U.S., cooks are toiling away to create mouthwatering meals, from bibimbap to spaghetti puttanesca. But their own stomachs may be roiling. That’s what Christopher Galarza, a longtime chef and co-founder of sustainable kitchen certification company EcoChef, experienced firsthand back…
For well over a year, the twin problems of rising utility bills and soaring electric demand spurred by the AI boom have consumed the energy policy debate in Virginia, the data center capital of the world. Clean energy foes — mostly Republicans — say the state’s landmark zero-carbon mandate should be scaled back or…
America’s energy supply crunch is driving a surge of federal and private investment in new electricity generation — from polluting gas turbines to cleaner developments like solar farms and geothermal plants. But gigawatts of power are already available for the taking across the U.S. economy in the form of wasted…
More than a dozen California cities and counties have been trying for months to get climate-forward building standards enacted. But they've been caught in regulatory purgatory thanks to legislation meant to address the state’s affordable housing crisis. Last year, in an effort to ease development, California hit the…
Election season is heating up, and while fewer candidates are mentioning climate change , everyone seems to be talking about energy affordability. Last year, the topic defined the contests for governor in Virginia and New Jersey, and the usually sleepy election for utility regulators in Georgia. In all those cases,…
This analysis and news roundup come from the Canary Media Weekly newsletter. Sign up to get it every Friday . This week, the Transportation Department finalized its plan to roll back fuel efficiency standards for automobiles. Automakers will now be required to achieve an average fuel efficiency of 34.9 miles per…
See more from Canary Media’s “Chart of the Week” column . The market for battery-powered trucks may be slowing in the U.S. — but globally it’s a very different story. Worldwide, sales of medium- and heavy-duty electric trucks hit a record high in the first half of this year, according to research firm…
This article was originally published on April 6, 2026, and last updated on Oct. 2, 2026. Balcony solar is one of the hottest ideas in renewable energy right now. Boosters say the systems — DIY kits that can be plugged right into a standard outlet — save users money without any need for subsidies, government…
Rules published Thursday essentially end federal grants that thousands of American farmers have long relied on to build revenue-generating solar systems on their land. The Trump administration’s changes to the Rural Energy for America Program (REAP) are its latest attempt to block solar development even as the…
California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) defied political expectations on Wednesday and signed into law a slate of energy-affordability legislation aimed at containing the utility spending that is driving up electricity costs in the Golden State. Among the bills he signed are two that will boost the use of virtual power…
This article originally appeared on Inside Climate News , a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that covers climate, energy, and the environment. Sign up for their newsletter. Apex Clean Energy and Meta have entered into a power purchase agreement that allows the technology company to financially benefit from…
Two years ago this week, Hurricane Helene’s floods nearly wiped out the little downtown of Marshall, North Carolina, about 20 miles north of Asheville. Situated along the French Broad River, an art gallery, coffee shop, restaurant, and other beloved community spaces were left without water or electricity —…
The U.S. Senate energy permitting bill unveiled Wednesday could streamline the buildout of high-voltage power lines across the country, potentially delivering billions of dollars in electricity cost savings and dramatically improving the power system’s reliability over the coming decade — if Congress manages to pass…
This is California Wire , a weekly newsletter from Jeff St. John on the state’s clean energy transition. Subscribe to get it every Wednesday via Substack. Hello, everyone! We’re back today to talk about trucks — the big and dirty ones — and what to do about them. California has around 1.8 million commercial…
The top U.S. nuclear regulator wants to make it easier to build and operate nuclear power plants in this country — without compromising public health or safety. That’s the TL;DR of a proposed rule that would reduce reporting requirements for nonemergency events, eliminate the expiration date for standard design…
Brian Martucci
56 minutes 59 seconds ago
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