Posts

EIA: Renewables just hit 30% of US electricity generation

By Michelle Lewis , Elektrek.  Excerpt: Renewables accounted for 30.0% of total US electrical generation during the first third of 2026, up 2.2% year over year, according to new data recently released by the US Energy Information Administration ( EIA ), and reviewed by the SUN DAY Campaign....  Full article at https://electrek.co/2026/06/26/eia-renewables-30-percent-us-electricity-generation/ . 

Ex-NOAA employees re-create a valuable climate data site shut down by Trump

By Scott Neuman , NPR.  Excerpt: Scientists, educators, farmers and the broader public now have a new website for climate information in the United States. The site, Climate.us , launched this week and fills a void left when a government-run climate information website was shut down last year by the Trump administration. The new site was created by former employees of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) — the government's lead scientific agency for climate, weather and ocean monitoring — who worked on Climate.gov until they were laid off last year as part of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) cutbacks....  Full article at https://www.npr.org/2026/06/26/nx-s1-5869615/climate-noaa-data-trump-doge . 

Europe Is the Fastest-warming Continent and This Brutal Heatwave Shows What That Means

By Tudor Tarita , ZME Science.  Excerpt: Europe’s summer has arrived early, and it has arrived hard. Across the continent, a dangerous heatwave has closed schools, strained power grids, slowed trains, and pushed authorities to issue the highest health alerts. France recorded its hottest day ever.... Italy placed major cities under red alert warnings. Spain topped 44° Celsius while Britain, where there’s barely any households with air conditioning, braced for temperatures near 40°. Europe is warming faster than any other continent, and this recent heatwave came as a shocking reminder of the fact. ...The planet is about 1.4° Celsius warmer than it was before the industrial era. Europe is about 2.4° hotter, according to the EU’s Copernicus Climate Change Service . One reason is the continent’s geography. Land heats faster than ocean, and Europe is mostly land. ...Europe also stretches into the Arctic, which is warming even faster. As snow and ice melt, they expose darker land and ocea...

California Needs Water and Clean Power. It Might Have a Fix for Both

By Quinn Glabicki , The New York Times.  Excerpt: ...researchers, private enterprise and a public utility in the Central Valley are installing solar panels atop the man-made waterways. ...The pilot program, called Project Nexus, is testing solar canopies that researchers say could generate gigawatts of power and save billions of gallons of water by providing shade that slows evaporation. ...The project grew out of a 2021 study by researchers at the University of California, Merced, .... ...Solar-covered canals aren’t an entirely novel idea. Two were completed more than a decade ago in Gujarat, in western India. And along I-10 south of Phoenix, the Gila River Indian Community built a project in 2024....  Full article at https://www.nytimes.com/2026/06/22/climate/california-canals-solar-panels-water-nexus.html .  See also Project Nexus ; news from Governor Newsom ; and UC Newsroom article . 

Long before the Strait of Hormuz closed, this Latin American nation went green

By Constance Malleret, Christian Science Monitor.  Excerpt: Less than two decades ago, Uruguay was facing a predicament that would feel familiar to people in many countries today. Global oil prices were spiking. The small but growing country’s economy now depended on more imported fossil fuels to meet rising demands for electricity. ...These days, up to 98% of Uruguay’s electricity comes from a combination of wind, solar, hydropower, and biomass. The nation of about 3.4 million people even exports surplus energy to neighboring Argentina and Brazil....  Full article at https://www.csmonitor.com/World/Americas/2026/0621/uruguay-green-energy-crisis-hormuz . 

After nearly two decades, this massive New Mexico wind project is now powering California

By Hayley Smith , Los Angeles Times.  Excerpt: Nearly two decades in the making, SunZia — an $11-billion New Mexico wind-and-transmission project — is now online, sending new clean power to Arizona and California. Spanning 916 turbines and a 550-mile high-voltage line, the project can power 1 million homes and already has helped drive record wind generation on California’s grid. The project arrives as the Trump administration doubles down on fossil fuel investments and works to slow the development of offshore wind. The largest wind energy project in U.S. history is now online...signaling a new era for sending clean electricity across the West....  Full article at https://www.latimes.com/environment/story/2026-06-18/after-nearly-two-decades-this-massive-new-mexico-wind-project-is-now-powering-california . 

Energy Independence is Becoming Solar's Strongest Selling Point

By Alexis Abramson , Time Magazine.  Excerpt: Americans are seeking out solar , batteries, and electric vehicles at a pace unlike anything the clean energy movement has seen in fifty years. In the 23 days after the Iran war began and the Strait of Hormuz closed, requests for home solar systems paired with battery storage jumped 21% . Used EV sales reversed course sharply, rising 17% in a single quarter after hitting their lowest point since 2022.  ... Across the U.S. and globally , interest in clean energy is accelerating faster than at any point in history, and not necessarily because of anything the clean energy movement achieved on its own. Understanding why is critical. ...By 2010, after four decades of moral-based advocacy, solar still represented less than 0.1% of U.S. electricity generation. ...over a system's lifetime, today, solar generates electricity at costs comparable to or less than what utilities charge in most parts of the country. ...Gas prices set b...