China brings the world’s largest floating solar power plant online
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Solar power is on an unstoppable roll and with companies bringing new capacity online every minute of every day the future of the technology looks bright Late last week, workers switched on a solar energy plant that’s capable of producing 40 megawatts of power...
Atlanta joins 26 other US cities, commits to run entirely on renewable energy by 2035
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF One by one major US cities are committing themselves to a green future and every one of them wants to run 100 percent on renewable energy by 2035. Earlier this month Atlanta lawmakers approved a resolution that puts the city on track to run entirely on...
Australia is building the world’s biggest solar farm
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF With solar technology improving in efficiency, and reducing in cost countries now seem to be racing to embrace it and the projects are getting bigger and bigger The record for the largest solar power plant keeps changing hands,. One minute it’s Africa, the next it’s...
Scientists set new solar panel efficiency record
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Solar power is now coming of age and every innovation, and every breakthrough only helps to accelerate its adoption. Turning sunlight, which is basically photons, into electricity, electrons, is a surprisingly tricky thing. While there have been experiments that have created solar arrays that can capture...
Google Project Sunroof shows off solars huge potential in the US
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Over eighty percent of homes in the US could run solar panels and if you want to wean yourself off of fossil fuels then that could be great news It sounds like an obvious thing, but if you’re a company who’s selling solar panels,...
India brings the world’s largest solar power plant online
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Solar power is now the cheapest form of electricity in 58 countries, with more capacity coming online that number’s only going to get bigger China might be largest producer of solar energy in the world, but neighbouring India is equally ambitious. In the next...
New solar panels generate electricity from rain
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF A new range of all weather solar panels could help further reduce the world’s reliance on fossil fuels and make renewable energy an even more attractive proposition. Solar panel technology has changed the way many people bring energy into their homes, but it’s always had...
It’s a monster, world’s largest wind turbine means business
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF The cost of renewable energy is beginning to fall as the technologies mature, now the world’s largest wind turbine wants to step out from solar power’s shadow Wind energy is one of the most promising renewable energy resources in the world, right after solar...
America’s largest wind farm to be built off of the coast of New York
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Over the years the uptake and roll out of wind power as a renewable energy source across America has been slow, but advocates hope that this ambitious new wind farm project will change all that. I always thought that in America it was Chicago,...
Scientists create the first carbon free supercapacitor
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Breakthroughs in supercapacitor technology will have multiple benefits, from helping to create new renewable energy grid-scale electric storage systems and faster electric vehicle charging systems. Elon Musk last year went on record to say that if anything was going to accelerate the roll out...
Google hits its ambitious 100% renewable energy target
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Renewable energy is rapidly becoming the energy of choice for many countries and companies, and as output increases and costs fall, more companies are making the switch from fossil fuels. By March this year all of Google’s datacentres and offices will be powered entirely...
Bright future, solar power is the cheapest form of energy in 58 countries
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF We aren’t at a tipping point yet but the indicators are looking good for the future of renewable power – investment and output are up and costs are down. According to a new report from some of the world’s leading analyst organisations solar power...
France opens the worlds first solar panel road to the public
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF While there are questions about the return on investment and viability of solar panel road schemes it’s important to experiment with the technology, especially as more electronic vehicles hit the roads. France has opened what it claims to be the world’s first solar panel...
Las Vegas becomes the largest US city to run solely on renewable energy
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Renewable energy is gradually moving from the shadows and into the limelight with major projects underway, or already completed, around the world, now Las Vegas is the latest in a string of cities to meet all of its energy needs from renewables On Monday,...
The worlds largest solar power plant goes online in Morocco
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Energy produced from renewable sources is finally getting its day in the sun, as more, larger renewable energy installations come online the economics of renewables keep getting better and better and the only way is up. Cracked fields stretch away towards the Moroccan desert...
Canada will phase out all coal power production by 2030
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF The Paris Climate Accord, and more accessible, feasible and affordable renewable energy technologies appear to finally spurring government to embrace new methods of power generation Canada, who recently began trials of North America’s first Tidal power generator in Nova Scotia, will close all of...
North Americas first Tidal energy turbine goes online in Nova Scotia
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Tidal energy is still more complex and more costly to deploy, support and buy than other forms of renewable energy, with this installation the companies involved hope they can bring those costs down The first tidal generator in North America has gone online this...
SolarCity and Tesla are powering an entire island with solar
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Over 1 billion people live without electricity, and the cost of reaching them using traditional energy infrastructures is prohibitive, renewables offer an affordable, and increasingly realistic alternative. With over 1 billion people on our planet still living without electricity, and billions more living with...
It’s electric, US to cover 25,000 miles of roads with charging stations
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Vehicles are the world’s second largest producers of toxic gases and carbon dioxide, the new EV corridors will help people make the switch to electric vehicles sooner. Civilisation finally looks like it’s getting serious about moving away from powering homes and cars with energy millions...
The machine making the machines, Tesla’s giant Gigafactory to go live in 2017
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF By building a vertically integrated company that has control of it’s supply chain and product R&D Musk can realise efficiencies of scale, disrupt industries and use it to catalyse the growth of his companies, namely OpenAI, SolarCity, SpaceX and Tesla. Twenty miles east of Sparks,...
