Photo by Juan Mt on Pexels.com The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will fine oil and gas companies for emitting excess methane – the first federal government tax ever on greenhouse gas emissions. As US gas and oil reach record levels of production, enter the EPA’s Waste Emissions Charge, which is part of the Methane…

First Solar, the largest solar panel maker in the US, today announced that it has broken ground on India’s first fully vertically integrated solar plant. The factory, which is in the south Indian state of Tamil Nadu, has an annual nameplate capacity of 3.3 gigawatts (GW) and directly employs around 1,000 people. It will…

Ford is combining olive branches and twigs with recycled plastic in a pilot to make auto parts – and the results are looking promising. Pruning olive trees during harvests creates 7 million tons of waste annually, so Ford engineers in Cologne, Germany, launched a research project called COMPOlive to explore how olive branches and…

The world added 50% more renewable capacity in 2023 than in 2022 –and that means it has a real chance of achieving the goal set by governments at the COP28 climate change conference of tripling global capacity by 2030. The amount of renewable energy capacity added to energy systems around the world reached almost…

North Carolina has published a map that shows where its first 11 National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (NEVI) Formula Program EV charging stations will be sited – have a look. The federal NEVI program allocates $5 billion over five years to help US states create a network of EV charging stations along designated Alternative Fuel Corridors made…

Developers plan to expand US battery storage capacity to more than 30 gigawatts (GW) by the end of 2024, according to the US Energy Information Administration (EIA). Planned and currently operational US utility-scale battery capacity totaled around 16 GW at the end of 2023. Developers are expected to add another 15 GW of battery…

Four more heat pump manufacturers have successfully developed cold-climate prototypes as part of the Department of Energy’s (DOE) Residential Cold Climate Heat Pump Challenge. To take part in the Challenge, manufacturers’ heat pumps must deliver 100% heating capacity without the use of auxiliary heat, with significantly higher efficiencies at 5F (-15C), and ideally operate at…

In a massive new deal, Solar giant Qcells will supply Microsoft with 12 gigawatts (GW) of solar panels over eight years. Qcells’ largest agreement ever will supply Microsoft with enough solar panels to power the equivalent of more than 1.8 million homes annually, as well as engineering, procurement, and construction services. The two companies…

The first of five planned West Virginia solar farms just came online – here’s why that’s significant for the state. 1 out of 5 new West Virginia solar farms FirstEnergy subsidiaries Mon Power and Potomac Edison have launched a solar farm on 80 acres at Fort Martin Power Station in Maidsville, West Virginia, north of…

Electricity providers Madison Gas and Electric (MGE) and We Energies just brought Wisconsin’s largest solar farm – and one of the largest of its kind in the US Midwest – online. The 300 megawatt (MW) Badger Hollow Solar Farm spans around 3,500 acres and was brought online in 150 MW phases. The second…