Clean Energy Today

A report from the research and consultancy group Wood Mackenzie found that, as the Middle East conflict creates volatility in global oil markets, three factors could drive EV sales higher. In fact, total EV ownership costs could reach parity with total gasoline vehicle ownership costs by 2031, the report said. But the U.S. is falling behind in EV deployment, the report said. What bold steps are ne...

Utilities are struggling to provide enough capacity to meet the needs of data centers and other large loads. To address this challenge, GridCARE performs an "MRI" of the grid and finds unused capacity in utility systems, cutting utility costs and helping avoid building fossil-fired plants. For example, for Portland General Electric, GridCARE identified 400 MW of existing infrastructure to meet the...

The Sunrise Toyota dealership on Long Island achieved 55% energy savings and reduced peak demand by 101 kW with a microgrid comprised of energy storage and solar, and is expected to ultimately cut utility costs by 90%. Guests Maria Fields and Dennis Quinn , co-founders at Sprocket Power, describe the "unpredictable and shocking" demand charges car dealerships and other businesses experience when t...

At The Great Transformation conference in Bend, Oregon in July, a panel addressed the question: How much will the creation of the new grid be in the hands of utilities versus the customers? Moderated by Elisa Wood, founder and Editor at Energy Changemakers, the panel included Cameron Brooks, executive director, Think Microgrid, Greg Castle, commercial leader, power & grid segment, Schneider Electr...

A  report from consultant Wood Mackenzie pointed to the dangers of bursts of power demand in AI data centers. ZincFive says it has an answer. The company's nickel-zinc energy storage provides short, high-power dischages for data centers to address AI power surges and also provides outage backup. The Oregon-based business has deployed 2 GW of its product, saw its annual revenue doubling from 2024 t...

In Iceland, which has vast geothermal resources, Syntholene Energy, with support from Idaho National Laboratory, is testing synfuel production that combines geothermal heat with high-temperature electrolysis. The company says its synfuel is 70% less expensive than synfuels produced using other clean energy options and could reach price parity with fossil fuels in about 10 years.  While Iceland has...

In December 2023, a winter storm hit Highland Park, Michigan, and the ensuing power outage lasted four days – a common occurrence in the community, which has a high poverty rate. Partially in response to the outages, Juan Shannon created Parker Village, with plans to provide clean, low-cost local energy to the residents, including net zero homes, two solar microgrids and an electric transportation...

Under the first-of-a-kind Oregon Power Act, data centers served by the state's two investor-owned utilities can't drive up utility bills or undermine Oregon's clean energy goals. The law has attracted interest from other states considering similar measures. While Portland General Electric and PacifiCorp are required to follow the provisions of the law, the state's public utilities do not, and in U...

Temperatures, altitude, snow, wind, sunshine and road surfaces can significantly shorten or lengthen how far an electric vehicle (EV) driver can go on a charge. Lasse Lumiaho, head of automotive at Vaisala Xweather , which provides weather data and intelligence for many Fortune 500 companies, describes a recent study about the factors that affect EV range.  Read the study here . About the guest: L...

With oil prices at the time of this interview–April 2026–close to $100/ barrel because of the war in Iran, will we see higher deployment of renewable energy and electric vehicles (EV)? Wesley Herche , co-founder of Sustainability Decoded and director of energy and sustainability solutions at Prologis, where he deploys solar, battery storage and commercial EV charging infrastructure for the world's...

Enel North America's Blue Jay Agrivoltaics project in Grimes County, Texas  spans 2,700 acres, produces 270 megawatts (MW) of solar and includes a 59-MW battery storage system. I t uses sheep for vegetation management and includes pollinator habitat, veteran-managed apiaries and drone maintenance. Jesse Puckett, director of sustainability projects and community affairs at Enel North America descri...

Millions of people are driving electric vehicles (EV) which, with bidirectional charging, can provide value to the electrical grid and back up homes and businesses during outages. What's standing in the way of unlocking these benefits? Steve Letendre, an  energy economist, senior advisor to the Vehicle-Grid Integration Council and the founder and editor of V2G News , says bidirectional charging te...

Since 2021, Public Service Electric & Gas (PSE&G), New Jersey's largest utility, has added 30,000 electric vehicles (EV) to its system, in part by offering rebates and other incentives. Before January 2026, the growth rate was double-digit, but is now flat, because of the loss of the federal EV tax credit and changes in the market. Dawn Neville, senior manager of electric transportation at PSE&G,...

Elliott Steele, a researcher at the UC Davis Wild Energy Center, is now studying how a floating solar array at the Nelson Family Vineyards in Mendocino County, Calif. affects birds. He's also studying how a 6-MW floating solar array–Califronia's largest– in Sonoma County is influencing wildlife. In Florida, he says, alligators and other animals hang out on the solar systems. Wildlife can also affe...

Nelson Family Vineyards in Mendocino County, Calif., will soon power up its floating solar system, deployed on pontoons on an irrigation pond, expecting to cut utility costs, which jumped 180% over the last three years, by about $90,000 annually. Researchers at the University of California Davis are studying how the system will affect wildlife–the focus of our next podcast, which will touch on how...

Itanna and Yosafe Murphy are working to use agrivoltaics--co-locating solar PV energy production with agricultural activities on their 160-acre farm--to provide healthy, fresh and tasty food to their community, along with STEM education and energy resilience.  In addition to agrivoltaics, the project, located in Oregon's Willamette Valley, will integrate vertical farming and hydroponics. Oregon St...

Byron Kominek , founder of Jack's Solar Garden in Boulder, Colo., an agrivoltaics site that attracts thousands of visitors annually, says hay farming doesn't pay the bills. But installing solar panels above crops and selling the solar to the utility is a revenue generator for the solar garden.   Not only can agrivoltaics--the practice of co-locating solar panels with agricultural activities-- gene...

A virtual power plant (VPP) is a collection of small-scale energy resources that, aggregated and coordinated with grid operations, can provide the same reliability and economic value to the grid as a traditional power plant, according to the nonprofit organization RMI. And VPPs can help utility customers earn money. Large energy users can earn up to $100,000 a year through CPower Energy's program,...

Tim Nesbitt, former chief of staff to Oregon Governor Ted Kulongoski, claims bragging rights for charging his Chevy Bolt EV solely with solar power on his small farm, which is carbon neutral--and sometimes carbon negative. He has 84 ground-mounted solar panels that generate 18-19 kWh daily. Batteries provide some resilience for critical systems such as the internet and refrigeration. Nesbitt's fri...

Whether you're a consumer who hoards old photos or a company that hangs onto unusable data, you're boosting data centers' energy costs. By focusing on reducing hoarded--or "junk" data--and improving efficiency, data centers can slash power consumption by 40% to 60%, according to Simon Ninan, senior vice president, business strategy, Hitachi Vantara. Ninan provides details about how data centers ca...

At the Sun Day event Sept. 21 in Portland, Ore.--a rally for clean energy--attendees shared their opinions about the Trump administration's policies targeting clean energy.  They described the energy savings and resilience they're experiencing installling solar and storage at home. One atttendee started to shed tears recalling her involvement in the first Earth Day and the clean-energy inroads tha...

Plug-in solar systems can be installed on balconies, sheds, walls and any other areas exposed to solar. Users plug them into standard wall outlets and immediately begin producing electricity. Bright Saver, a nonprofit organization that aims to make plug-in solar accessible to "everyone, everywhere," particularly to renters and those who can't access rooftop solar, seeks to overcome the legislative...

Hadron Energy says its micro modular reactors will produce power at 15 cents/kWh. How will the company make that possible? Do small modular reactors create more radioactive waste than conventional nuclear reactors? Which states have a moratorium on nuclear energy deployment? These are some of the questions my guests addressed in this podcast. Advanced nuclear reactors are seen as key to meeting so...

In rural Oregon, electricity prices are low compared to those of gasoline and diesel fuel, as low as 6 cents/kWh. EVmath is a nonprofit that aims to help rural drivers crunch the numbers on buying EVs--beginning with Oregon and Washington. The nonprofit organization wants to show rural drivers that, whatever their politics, it might make sense economically to drive EVs.  Here's an example: A gasol...