By The Economic Times.  Excerpt: Sheep grazing beneath solar panels not only boosts farmer profits but also leads to purer wool. This innovative approach creates shaded environments that retain moisture, thereby enhancing pasture conditions during droughts. Research highlights an increase in nitrogen levels in grasses found under panels, which contributes to improved digestion for the sheep. Nevertheless, successful integration of grazing with solar farms demands careful site planning, influenced by regional and seasonal factors....  Full article at https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/us/news/an-australian-farmer-put-sheep-beneath-solar-panels-he-reported-15-more-wool-and-green-grass-surviving-through-drought/articleshow/133296849.cms . 

By Stephanie Pappas , Scientific American. Excerpt: Forty-seven years ago U.S. President Jimmy Carter stood grinning in front of a set of 32 bulky solar panels. It was 1979, and the oil crisis had sent fuel costs skyrocketing. Carter, in response, was making the White House an example of conservation and alternative energy. “Solar energy will not pollute our air or water,” he said. “We will not run short of it. No one can ever embargo the sun or interrupt its delivery to us.” ...Even before the U.S.-Iran conflict closed the Strait of Hormuz for months, causing fossil-fuel prices to spike, solar was soaring. Last year the world added 600 terawatt-hours of solar photovoltaic generation, enough to power Canada for a year. It was the first time that a renewable source took the top slot in global supply growth. It was also the largest single-year increase for any electricity-generation technology, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA). ...Solar Is Now the Cheapest Way to Produc...

By Mira Rojanasakul and Brad Plumer , The New York Times.  Excerpt: Electric car sales are on track to hit record highs this year, with 29 percent of all new cars purchased around the world expected to be either purely battery-powered models or plug-in hybrids, according to a recent report from the International Energy Agency. That’s a sharp increase from just 4 percent in 2020. The boom in sales was somewhat unexpected. Some analysts had predicted a slower market for electric vehicles this year — until the U.S. war with Iran and the closure of the Strait of Hormuz caused oil and gasoline prices to spike. That has led to a frenzy of electric car sales in many unexpected corners of the globe. In South Africa, sales of electric cars more than quintupled in the first half of this year compared to the same period last year. In Laos, imports of battery-powered vehicles from China are soaring. And in countries as different as Australia, Colombia and South Korea, the E.V. share of total...

By Inside Climate podcast.  Excerpt: In this episode, co-host Jake Bolster sits down with reporters Georgina Gustin and Lisa Sorg to talk about the wide-ranging impacts of how America fattens animals to become the meat that people eat....  Full article/video at https://insideclimatenews.org/news/16082026/inside-climate-podcast-cash-cow-cafos/ .

By Grace van Deelen .Eos/AGU.  Excerpt: Antarctica is 600 miles (about 1,000 kilometers) from any major city, almost entirely uninhabited, and surrounded by a cold and inhospitable ocean. It might seem like the last place to expect anthropogenic pollution. But the continent’s freezing temperatures trap airborne and marine pollutants, a situation that has historically made it a sink for contaminants such as mercury, a heavy metal that can harm human and wildlife health. According to a new study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America , mercury is accumulating in Antarctica much faster thanks to increasing anthropogenic mercury emissions. Additionally, the study found the continent’s ice cap is releasing mercury faster than ever before as Antarctic ice melts in a warming climate and frees up long-stored mercury that then flows into the surrounding ocean. Together, these processes are turning Antarctica into an active source of...

By Dan Gearino , Inside Climate News.  Excerpt: Utility-scale solar leads by a mile, followed by batteries. Fossil fuels, not so much. ...368 utility-scale plants that began operation from January to June, according to data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration . The group is dominated by utility-scale solar. This is a top-heavy list, led by SunZia Wind South and SunZia Wind North in New Mexico , which went online this spring and are the largest wind farms in the country, with a combined generating capacity of 3,650 megawatts. ...the story of power plant completions in the first half of 2026 was mainly about utility-scale solar and batteries. Utility-scale solar led in the number of projects coming online, with 207, followed by batteries, with 95. ...If we look at projects in terms of generating capacity, utility-scale solar led with 11,458 megawatts, followed by batteries, 8,207 megawatts, and then onshore wind, mostly because of the SunZia projects, with 5,473 megawatts...