By Kapil Kajal , Interesting Engineering.  Excerpt: In a significant development for the U.S. solar industry, three manufacturers, Suniva, Heliene, and Corning, have unveiled plans to produce solar modules that will be exclusively available within the domestic market. This initiative marks a notable advancement in enhancing local manufacturing capabilities of renewable energy components. Corning is set to supply the necessary wafers and polysilicon for the modules, while Suniva will provide monocrystalline silicon solar cells. Heliene will handle the assembly of these components into finished modules. ...The wafers and polysilicon will be produced in Michigan, with the solar cells fabricated in Georgia. ...This development is particularly relevant in light of the Investment Tax Credit (ITC), a crucial element of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), which aims to encourage increased domestic production of renewable energy components and materials. The ITC offers financial in...

By Ben Cooke | Yennah Smart , The Times.  Excerpt: The milestone highlights the rapid growth of renewable energy despite political headwinds since President Trump’s re-election. ...The two renewable energy sources accounted for 17 per cent of the country’s electricity mix while coal fell to an all-time low of 15 per cent. Solar was the fastest-growing energy source, increasing 27 per cent from the year before, while wind increased 7 per cent. Gas generation continued to grow, at three times the rate of coal’s decline. The use of coal has been declining since 2007 but as recently as 2017 it was generating more than twice as much electricity as wind and solar....  Full article at https://www.thetimes.com/article/fbd63edb-9573-425f-a5b5-535ed8096b22 .

By Anupama Chandrasekaran , Eos/AGU.  Excerpt: When an intense marine heat wave sent ocean temperatures soaring in 2023 and 2024, coral reefs around the world bleached. New research on the Great Barrier Reef’s One Tree Island shows that more than 50% of surveyed coral colonies that bleached died of heat stress and starvation. And even heat-resistant corals weren’t immune. When corals are stressed by warm water, they can lose the algae that live in their tissues. This process turns the coral white, earning it the name “ coral bleaching .” Sometimes corals can recover, but if the stress is too intense, they die and eventually crumble into rubble and sand. “What we noticed in more recent times, when it gets really hot, they often die before they even fully bleach,” said marine biologist  Maria Byrne  at the University of Sydney....  Full article at https://eos.org/articles/great-barrier-reef-corals-hit-hard-by-marine-heat-wave .

By Larissa G. Capella , Eos/AGU.  Excerpt: Jasmine Saros , a lake ecologist at the University of Maine, has been studying Arctic lakes in Kangerlussuaq, Greenland, since 2013, ...in 2023, they returned to find many once-clear lakes had turned brown. ...Lake browning often results from high concentrations of dissolved organic carbon, primarily from decaying vegetation. It can also be caused by an increase in iron, typically resulting from natural processes such as weathering of iron-rich soils and rocks into the water, as well as anthropogenic influences such as agricultural runoff and industrial discharges. Data from the fifth-generation European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts atmospheric reanalysis ( ERA5 )...showed that nine atmospheric rivers had dumped precipitation over the area between September and October of 2022. Atmospheric rivers are known for transporting moisture, but they can also carry warm air. The ERA data also highlighted that September 2022 was the hot...

By Eric Beinhocker and J. Doyne Farmer , The Wallstreet Journal.  Excerpt: Since Donald Trump’s election, clean energy stocks have plummeted, major banks have pulled out of a U.N.-sponsored “net zero” climate alliance, and BP announced it is spinning off its offshore wind business to refocus on oil and gas. Markets and companies seem to be betting that Trump’s promises to stop or reverse the clean energy transition and “drill, baby, drill” will be successful. ...But this bet is wrong. The clean energy revolution is being driven by fundamental technological and economic forces that are too strong to stop. ...Our research shows that once new technologies become established their patterns in terms of cost are surprisingly predictable. ... Since 1990, the cost of wind power has dropped by about 4% a year, solar energy by 12% a year and lithium-ion batteries by about 12% a year....  Full article at https://www.wsj.com/business/energy-oil/thecleanenergyrevolution-is-unst...

By Climate Central.  Excerpt: Climate Central analyzed 55 years of temperature data and found that meteorological spring (March - May) has warmed across the U.S. from 1970 to 2024.  The spring season has warmed in 234 (97%) of the 241 U.S. cities analyzed — by 2.4°F on average.  Unusually warm spring days now happen more often. Four out of every five cities now experience at least one more week of warmer-than-normal spring days than in the 1970s.  Spring has warmed the most across the southern tier of the country, particularly in the Southwest. Spring warming can prolong seasonal allergies, worsen wildfire risk, and limit snow-fed water supplies....  Full article at https://www.climatecentral.org/climate-matters/2025-spring-package .