Renewable Energy

Solar panels produced 51% of California’s electricity during the month of May. This was the first time the clean energy source produced more than half the state’s power for an entire month. But it wasn’t just a milestone for California; it was a milestone for the whole world. California was the first major economy to cross the 50% threshold for an entire month. In June 2025, Hungary produced 47% of its power with solar, but Hungary’s GDP is far smaller than that of California.

Fusion power is how the sun works. Light atomic nuclei (like hydrogen) fuse together at super high temperatures to form heavier nuclei (like helium). The process releases massive amounts of energy without producing radioactive waste or greenhouse gases. Fusion is considered to be the holy grail of clean energy. But even after many decades of intensive research, there is not yet a way to maintain the temperature, density, and confinement to have a fusion reaction go on long enough to produce continuous net-positive energy output.

During the past year, there has been growing interest in the U.S. in balcony solar: small solar panel systems that are hung up outside and send power straight into wall sockets to partially offset people’s utility bills. These systems first appeared in Germany in the late 2010s and spread through Europe when energy prices spiked because of the war in Ukraine. German households had installed more than four million systems as of last year.

For a few decades, homeowners with solar panels on their roofs have been taking advantage of net metering, which is where excess energy from their panels is fed into the grid in return for an energy credit, reducing their power bills.

The city of Manchester in Connecticut, located in Hartford County, will soon open a brand-new public library, replacing one that has served residents for nearly 90 years. The new library will be the first net zero energy library in the state.

The heatwaves that keep happening this summer are a major strain on power grids. In some places, electric school buses are helping utilities to keep the lights on and air conditioners running.

The Trump administration has been battling to stop wind power projects in the United States citing various dubious reasons such as national security, danger to birds and whales, and even cancer risks. The President has had a personal vendetta against wind energy for more than a decade since he was unable to stop a wind turbine project near his golf course in Scotland. The executive orders to halt wind-energy leases and permits last year were ultimately overturned by the courts, allowing projects such as five offshore wind projects in the Northeast to continue.

U.S. electric power consumption hit is second straight annual record high in 2025 and will rise further in 2026 and 2027. Electric grid consumption had been relatively stable between 2010 and 2021 and per capita consumption even declined over that period, but all that has changed.

Electric cars store large amounts of energy in their battery banks that is used to drive the car. But in principle, parked electric cars could be used as mobile energy storage networks. The energy in cars could be given back to the power grid – a technology known as vehicle-to-grid or V2G. Alternatively, the stored energy in a car could supply electricity directly to a home, for example during a power outage. This is V2H.

The part of the year between the chill of winter and the heat of mid-summer tends to be when renewable energy systems perform best. Longer, milder days when electricity demand is relatively low are when wind and solar power are ramping up and can account for greater shares of grid energy consumption.