By NRDC Nature's Voice Fall 2026 issue.  Excerpt: This past April marked the first time ever that wind and solar power accounted for more electricity generation than gas worldwide, with the two renewable sources responsible for 22 percent of global electricity generation versus 20 percent from gas. …just five years ago, in aApril 2021, gas accounted for nearly twice the electricity generation as wind and solar. As for the United States, May was the first month that solar provided more power than coal.  From https://issuu.com/nrdc/docs/nature_s_voice_fall_2026 . 

By James Nanzo, The Cool Down.  Excerpt: Clean energy's rise in the United States may be proving harder to slow than critics expected. One explainer by creator bonusmoles (@bonusmoles) is celebrating a milestone that would have seemed ambitious not long ago. Renewables make up more than 30% of the grid while coal continues to slide. In a TikTok video, the content creator used grid data to argue that renewable electricity continues to advance even amid political opposition."Despite Trump's best efforts to stifle renewable energy, it's still going to surpass natural gas by 2027," bonusmoles declared in the video. Among the figures cited in the video was a rise in renewables from less than 28% of the grid to more than 30%. The creator also said renewable energy grew 11% in the first half of 2026, while coal fell 11.3%....  Full article at https://www.thecooldown.com/green-tech/renewable-energy-growth-united-states-grid/ . 

By Elena Giordano , Politico.  Excerpt: Public enthusiasm for clean energy comes as the Iran war exposes Europe’s vulnerability to global oil and gas markets....  Full article at https://www.politico.eu/article/poll-europeans-back-renewables-despite-higher-energy-costs/ . 

By Tim Appenzeller , Science.  Excerpt: This year, renewables surpassed coal as a source of electricity worldwide, and solar and wind energy grew fast enough to cover the entire increase in global electricity use from January to June,  according to energy think tank Ember . In September, Chinese President Xi Jinping declared at the United Nations that his country will cut its carbon emissions by as much as 10% in a decade, not by using less energy, but by doubling down on wind and solar. And solar panel imports in Africa and South Asia have soared, as people in those regions realized rooftop solar can cheaply power lights, cellphones, and fans. To many, the continued growth of renewables now seems unstoppable—a prospect that has led  Science  to name the renewable energy surge its 2025 Breakthrough of the Year....  Full article at https://www.science.org/content/article/breakthrough-2025 . 

By  Stephen Council , SFGate.  Excerpt: California’s massive buildout of  solar panels  over the past decade has delivered vast amounts of clean energy to state residents, but with a big catch.  When the sun sets , utilities have to either turn to nonrenewable energy sources or the relatively little solar power that gets stored in the state’s batteries. But this month, California’s  battery problem  saw a major breakthrough. On June 11, the California Energy Commission officially approved the Darden Clean Energy Project, a sprawling solar farm and battery storage facility proposed for a stretch of fallow farmland in western Fresno County. Darden is the first project approved under a new fast-track permitting program, which gave the commission just 270 days to finish its environmental review; Gov. Gavin Newsom lauded the news in a  news release , writing that the state is “moving faster than ever before” to build up clean energy. Da...

By Calvin Coffee, TCD-The Cool Down.  Excerpt: Gujarat, a leading state in India, already gets nearly 60% of its electricity from renewable sources, and it's gearing up to deliver even more. According to  the Times of India , Gujarat's clean energy mix, composed of solar, wind, and hydro power, currently meets about 58% of the state's energy demand. ...even more improvements are on the horizon. The state has announced plans to invest around $3.5 billion in the next phase of its  Green Energy Corridor , a massive grid project designed to make clean power more accessible and reliable across the region. The upcoming upgrades will help move over 16,000 megawatts of renewable energy  throughout Gujarat , connecting new solar and wind zones in areas like Kutch, Banaskantha, and Jamnagar. New transmission lines and substations will ensure the system operates smoothly, even during peak demand, allowing more people to benefit from uninterrupted clean power. ...The Indian gove...

By Leo Collis, The Cool Down (TCD).  Excerpt: The National Bank of Canada is pressing ahead with lending for renewable energy projects as part of efforts to reach net-zero targets. Investment Executive  reported on the bank's commitment, which will see CA$20 billion allocated by 2030. The publication observed that this announcement comes at a time when United States President Donald Trump has indicated an intention to repeal  clean energy programs  and slow the transition to pollution-free energy....  Full article at https://www.thecooldown.com/green-business/national-bank-renewable-energy-lending/ . 

By Rocio Fabbro , Quartz.  Excerpt: Renewable energy stocks plunged following Donald Trump’s election victory Tuesday, as the sector braces for the real possibility that the president-elect actually does  “drill, baby, drill.” That resulted in a roughly  $1.3 billion windfall  for investors betting against the stocks, according to calculations by Bloomberg. Among the most shorted clean energy stocks are Plug Power ( PLUG ), SolarEdge Technologies ( SEDG ), Bloom Energy ( BE ), First Solar ( FSLR ), and Enphase Energy ( ENPH ).... A second Trump presidency is expected to give other areas of the energy sector a major boost — especially oil. The Republican has promised to expand oil drilling on his first day in office, and to do away with clean energy policies....  Full article at https://qz.com/renewable-energy-stocks-short-sellers-donald-trump-oil-1851692959 . 

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/29/business/artificial-intelligence-data-centers-green-power.html By Patrick Sisson , The New York Times.  Excerpt: Artificial intelligence’s booming growth is radically reshaping an already red-hot data center market, raising questions about whether these sites can be operated sustainably. ...The carbon footprint from the construction of the [data] centers and the racks of expensive computer equipment is substantial in itself, and their power needs have grown considerably. ...Just a decade ago, data centers drew 10 megawatts of power, but 100 megawatts is common today. The Uptime Institute, an industry advisory group, has identified 10 supersize cloud computing campuses across North America with an average size of 621 megawatts. ...The data center industry has embraced more sustainable solutions in recent years, becoming a significant investor in renewable power at the corporate level. Sites that leased wind and solar capacity  jumped 50 percen...

https://www.popularmechanics.com/science/green-tech/a45900085/portugal-renewable-energy/ By DARREN ORF , Popular Mechanics.  Excerpt: For 149 consecutive hours in November, Portugal provided a stunning example of what that could look like, as it used a mix of solar, wind, and hydropower to provide more clean energy than the entire country needed. ...Producing 1,102 GWh (according to the national grid operator Redes Energéticas Nacionais) for both industrial and residential use, the country’s renewable energy sources—a mix of wind, solar, and hydropower—provided 262 GWh more than was needed. ...This exceeds the country’s previous record—it ran for 131 hours on renewable energy back in 2019—and for 95 hours during this recent test, Portugal even exported its excess clean energy to Spain. Although the country’s  gas  plants were on standby, Portugal’s renewable infrastructure proved to be more than up for the task. ...Portugal’s 149 hours of renewable bliss is a hopeful visi...