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China Is Building a Solar Power Station in Space

This would take solar power to a whole new level. Front Row Seats China’s Academy of Space Technology is working on an orbital power plant that would capture solar energy in space and beam it back to Earth. The plant would be able to harness solar power even when it’s cloudy back on Earth, since its photovoltaic array would be floating high above any terrestrial weather. With plans to launch a test facility before 2025,...
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The Green New Deal Is What Realistic Environmental Policy Looks Like

The Green New Deal Is What Realistic Environmental...

In the 21st century, environmental policy is economic policy. Opinion Everyone is lining up to endorse the Green New Deal — or to mock it. Kamala Harris, Cory Booker, Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren and Kirsten Gillibrand have all endorsed the resolution sponsored by Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York and Senator Edward Markey of Massachusetts. Conservative critics predictably call it “a shocking document”...
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IEEFA U.S.: 5 ways utilities are driving the rapid expansion of solar-plus-storage

IEEFA U.S.: 5 ways utilities are driving the rapid...

Technology gains pose a major threat to baseload power providers The utility industry, broadly speaking, has a checkered history on renewable energy development, often having fought state renewable energy portfolio standards, curtailed residential net energy metering for solar and brought into question the reliability of wind and solar. But a new dynamic is at play now, especially around solar-plus-storage projects. Here,...
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Help Protect Perry State Forest from Coal Mining!

Help Protect Perry State Forest from Coal Mining!

To: Friends of Perry State Forest <friendsofperryforest@gmail.com> Thanks to everyone that joined us for our meeting on Saturday! I’m attaching notes from the meeting, which summarize what we discussed along with next steps. On Saturday, we approved an organizational structure document, which is also attached. As you know, ODNR will hold its second public meeting at 6 p.m. Tuesday, February 26 at New Lexington...
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For a Climate Reporter, a Dreaded Question: ‘Then Why Is It So Cold?’

For a Climate Reporter, a Dreaded Question: ‘Then ...

When temperatures dip, we hear it over and over. Here’s the answer — and why it matters. Times Insider explains who we are and what we do, and delivers behind-the-scenes insights into how our journalism comes together. What were the temperatures where you live yesterday? What about last week? A month ago? What were the daytime highs and lows two years ago last Tuesday? If I’ve stumped you, that’s the point. Most of us might...
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One thing you can do: Rethink the roses

One thing you can do: Rethink the roses

Another Valentine’s Day is here, and we all know what that means: paper Cupids, heart-shaped boxes of chocolates and the classic bouquet of red roses. Lots and lots of roses. This year, Americans are expected to spend $1.9 billion on flowers alone, according to the National Retail Federation. But those beautiful blooms may come with an environmental price tag. Most of the fresh flowers sold in the United States are grown in...
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Since Trump tariffs, solar jobs have atrophied

Since Trump tariffs, solar jobs have atrophied

Solar jobs slip for the second year in a row, says The Solar Foundation annual report. This week, an advocacy group called The Solar Foundation released its ninth annual solar jobs report. In 2018 the industry contracted, shedding 8,000 solar jobs, or a loss of about 3.2 percent from 2017. The solar industry employed 242,343 people in 2018, the report said. The solar industry is the largest renewable energy employer in the...
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Investigation: Clorox Selling Pool Salt Made From Fracking Wastewater

Investigation: Clorox Selling Pool Salt Made From ...

You might be shocked to learn that a Clorox product used to treat swimming pools came from fracking wastewater. Public Herald has discovered that Eureka Resources, a company based in Pennsylvania, has been treating wastewater from shale gas development — a.k.a. “fracking” — and packaging the crystal byproduct as “Clorox Pool Salt” for distribution since 2017. The way it works is fracking wastewater gets trucked to Eureka...
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Economics professor discovers concerning effects for oil and gas boomtowns

Economics professor discovers concerning effects f...

Oil and gas “boomtowns,” such as Ohio’s Belmont County, may be bearing the costs of drilling without reaping all of its benefits, according to a newly published paper by Dr. Amanda Weinstein, assistant professor of economics at The University of Akron. Weinstein, along with coauthors Mark Partridge and Alexandra Tsvetkova from The Ohio State University, researched the flow of money in energy boomtowns...
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We need an ecological civilization before it’s too late

We need an ecological civilization before it’s too...

In the face of climate breakdown and ecological overshoot, alluring promises of “green growth” are no more than magical thinking. We need to restructure the fundamentals of our global cultural/economic system to cultivate an “ecological civilization”: one that prioritizes the health of living systems over short-term wealth production.  We’ve now been warned by the world’s leading climate scientists that we have just twelve...
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Has U.S. shale oil entered a death spiral?

Has U.S. shale oil entered a death spiral?

The bad news coming out of the shale oil fields of America could all be put down to slumping oil prices. That is certainly a big factor. But as investment professionals like to say, when the tide goes out, we all find out who’s been skinny-dipping. The pattern of negative news from shale country is not just related to price, however. Oil production, it seems, is being overstated industry-wide by 10 percent and 50 percent in...
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‘Inkjet’ solar panels poised to revolutionise green energy

‘Inkjet’ solar panels poised to revolu...

What if one day all buildings could be equipped with windows and facades that satisfy the structure’s every energy need, whether rain or shine? That sustainability dream is today one step closer to becoming a reality thanks to Polish physicist and businesswoman Olga Malinkiewicz. The 36-year-old has developed a novel inkjet processing method for perovskites—a new generation of cheaper solar cells—that makes it possible...
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Dispelling the Myths: Renewables in the Grid

Dispelling the Myths: Renewables in the Grid

Around the world, renewable electricity generation by solar and wind is increasing at exponential rates, with shares approaching 50% or more in some countries. New ways to manage energy generation, transmission, distribution, and storage are being established, as well as how to best manage the integration of new renewable electricity with traditional, centralized energy sources, such as coal, gas and nuclear power plants....
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City-Sized 1,000-Foot Deep Cavity Found in Glacier, Warns NASA, Signaling ‘Rapid Decay’ of Antarctic Ice

City-Sized 1,000-Foot Deep Cavity Found in Glacier...

NASA scientists were startled when a recent exploratory mission revealed a huge and rapidly-growing cavity on the underside of one of Antarctica’s glaciers—signaling that the ice mass has been melting much faster than experts realized. The cavity is two-thirds the size of Manhattan—large enough to have contained about 14 billion tons of ice before it melted, according to a report that was published in Science Advances...
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Polar melting: ‘Methane time bomb’ isn’t actually a ‘bomb

Polar melting: ‘Methane time bomb’ isn...

Researchers cast doubt on one of the scariest ideas in climate science. It’s not news that climate science can be alarming. But in this video, climate scientists explain that one of the scariest ideas in the literature — the methane “time bomb” — turns out to be less worrisome than some have feared. “This is a call to action, not a declaration of defeat,” says scientist Ben Abbott of Brigham Young University. ‘This is...
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