renewable energy

European factory is expected to make Model Y, Model 3, and energy products for the EU and beyond—perhaps as soon as late 2020.

At least one startup may be getting close to scaling up fuel production with carbon captured from the air. But burning the fuel would still pollute.

A transition to 100 percent renewable power would require huge investments in energy storage and may need new financial systems to trade energy.

The past couple of weeks have seen the convergence of two troubling trends. Perhaps most troubling, the Scripps Institute of Oceanography released data last week from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration that concentrations of carbon in the atmosphere have reached record levels...

If electric cars are supposed to clean up the environment and reduce global warming—and they are—EV drivers would like to rely on 100 percent renewable energy to do charge. And charging networks are striving to provide it. Many, including Tesla with its Supercharger stations, are...

Researchers find that there are many more sites conducive to pumped hydro for encouraging renewable sources.

Tech giant Qualcomm sells its Halo wireless charging business to rival WiTricity. GM and Amazon could be in talks to invest in startup electric pickup-maker Rivian. A new computer model tests how a 100-percent renewable power grid would have held up to the recent polar vortex. And results of last...

There's nothing like a good polar vortex to put the power system to the test—unless maybe it's a summer heat wave. Energy consulting firm Wood Mackenzie used the opportunity of this event as a chance to measure demand on the power grid. In a detailed study of power demand during the severest...

Last week, two prominent Congressional Democrats released an outline of a "Green New Deal" that they hope will spur discussion and even commitment to eliminating fossil-fuel use. The Resolution picked up support from a wide range of other Democrats in Congress, while others expressed caution. The...

For electric-car drivers looking to emit less pollution as the drive, 2019 could be a banner year. The U.S. electric grid has been getting gradually greener as utilities replace coal fired powerplants with primarily wind and natural gas. That trend is due to reach a tipping point in 2019, according...

Americans want renewable electricity, and they want it now. That's the conclusion of a new study that has large power providers buzzing with nerves, according to a recent report on Vox. The report, done for the Edison Electric Institute and presented at a recent meeting of the utility trade group...

There's a lot of good data to be found in public reports from national labs and other government research papers, but it's not always easy to find or easy to parse. For years, federal Department of Energy collected and published that information—but it has eliminated that effort under the...

Over the years, we've noted the paucity of solid data on the intersection of home solar energy and driving plug-in electric cars. A California-only study from 2012 still gets quoted occasionally, and we continue to seek more recent and more comprehensive data. Out of a mix of curiosity and...

Drivers who buy an electric car that plugs into the power grid to recharge the battery often start to consider the source of their energy. A 2012 analysis from California, in the earliest days of modern electric cars, indicated as many as four in 10 electric-car drivers were already using or...

Today, there are roughly 750,000 plug-in electric vehicles on U.S. roads and about 3,800 powered by hydrogen fuel cells. Proponents of each type of vehicle argue strenuously that their powertrain is a better way to produce vehicles with zero emissions from the tailpipe. Electric cars can be charged...

Renewable-energy generation costs are falling like photons onto a solar panel. By 2020, it's expected all types of renewable-energy generation will be able to compete with fossil fuels on cost. That's right: saving our environment will actually save electric utilities some money, too. DON'T MISS...

For much of last year, U.S. Energy Secretary Rick Perry pursued a plan that, in essence, would prop up the financially challenged U.S. coal and nuclear industries. His proposal, submitted to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission last fall, provided financial subsidies to electric-generation...

Call it the Ikea mindset. On populated islands, space is at a premium, just like those stereotypical Swedish kitchens you see when you stroll through your local assemble-it-yourself retailer. That space restriction is a major reason fossil fuels remain a better power-generation option than...

Five years ago, an electric-utility think tank issued a dire warning to its members: Your century-old business model is ending. The continually falling costs of renewable energy generation, especially solar panels, would begin to erode utilities' business from its most profitable customers, the...

Tesla CEO Elon Musk made a bet that he'd build the world's largest lithium-ion battery in Australia in 100 days. If his company failed, Musk would personally pay for the project, but the battery is now ready for its first test ahead of full operation—and on schedule. The massive...