COP26 coal pledges face 2030-40 delays
On 1 October 2024 the United Kingdom became the first major economy to eliminate coal power entirely, closing the Ratcliffe-on-Soar station. That deadline, written into law years earlier, was met....
Energy
Analyzes e-fuels, smart charging, carbon neutrality, climate prizes, and battery innovations like aluminium electrochemistry.
Caribbean climate plan backed by Branson, Bolt
In September 2017, weeks after Hurricanes Irma and Maria tore through the Caribbean, Richard Branson and Usain Bolt stood together at the University of the West Indies in Mona, Jamaica....
The End of UK Coal Mining: From 1.2 Million Jobs to Zero
Deep coal mining in the United Kingdom ended on 18 December 2015, when Kellingley Colliery in North Yorkshire closed. Surface mining followed in August 2020 with the closure of the...
California's 100% Clean Energy Mandate: What SB 100 Means
California's SB 100, the 100 Percent Clean Energy Act signed on September 10, 2018, requires the state to source all of its electricity from zero-carbon resources by 2045. The law...
GDPR's Environmental Side Effect: Less Data, Less Energy
The General Data Protection Regulation took effect on May 25, 2018, designed to protect personal privacy. It has also, unintentionally, become one of the most effective environmental rules in the...
Aluminium batteries: when abundance meets electrochemistry
Aluminium batteries are not a single technology. They are a family of chemistries, each trying to replace lithium-ion in a specific role. The common thread is the anode material itself....
AI's Climate Paradox: Emissions vs. Efficiency Gains
The same technology helping scientists predict weather patterns and detect methane leaks is also driving a surge in power demand that threatens to undercut those gains. Artificial intelligence systems, particularly...
Siemens hit carbon neutral 2 years early
In September 2015, Siemens set a target to cut its global carbon output by 50 percent by 2020 and to become carbon neutral by 2030. The industrial group reached that...
Branson’s AC prize cuts climate impact 5x
In November 2018, Richard Branson launched a competition to reinvent residential air conditioning. The Global Cooling Prize, backed by a coalition that included the Indian government and research partners, offered...
Chargifi splits hardware and software after smart charging
Chargifi was a UK technology firm that built a cloud-managed wireless charging network for commercial venues. Its system let operators remotely monitor, control, and monetize charging spots in restaurants, hotels,...
E-fuels face high costs to scale for aviation
Electrofuels are synthetic kerosene made by combining green hydrogen with captured carbon dioxide. They are chemically identical to Jet A-1. A Boeing 777 could fill up with synthetic kerosene and...
