Renewable Energy

A Buffalo New York apartment building has installed a battery system that stores excess energy when it is plentiful and can power the building when the grid is strained and electricity is costly. The Peace Bridge Place affordable housing complex has added a 3.75-megawatt lithium-ion battery system that can power the complex for several days.

The U.S. has nearly half a million school buses, and for most of them, school districts are struggling with record diesel prices. As of this fall, however, 10 new buses in East New York are plugging into chargers instead of filling up their fuel tanks.

Geothermal energy has historically tapped into natural volcanic reservoirs of heat. Such places are a source of continuous energy that can be used to generate electricity or provide heat. The problem is that these places are few and far between.

Meeting ambitious clean energy goals almost certainly requires the widespread adoption of battery energy storage to provide power on demand when sources like solar and wind power are not producing enough. California’s battery energy storage capacity now exceeds 21 GW, most of which has been installed in the past 7 years. By comparison, New York has only 80 MW of battery storage.

Ohio has been one of the toughest regions in country for clean energy development, particularly solar power. Permits for construction are often blocked by local political opposition rather than technical faults. Much of the opposition is based on the notion that covering fields with solar panels destroys the rural and agricultural character of local communities. Ohio residents often voice concerns that solar installations may lower home values, create glare, and cause drainage issues.

The world is in a global transition from a fossil-fuel-based energy system to a zero-carbon, renewable energy system. Renewable sources including solar, wind, hydroelectric, and geothermal power form the backbone of energy production along with nuclear power. Heating, transportation, and industrial processes are shifting to run on electricity rather than burning fossil fuels.

Hyperscalers are large technology companies that build and operate massive, globally distributed data center networks to provide cloud computing, storage, and networking services on an enormous scale. Examples include Amazon, Google, Meta, Microsoft, and Alibaba.

The offshore Revolution Wind project, located off the coast of Rhode Island, is nearing completion after nearly three years of work. The project is 95% complete, with 61 out of 65 turbines fully installed.

The elimination of federal tax credits for solar installations and electric cars have wreaked havoc with sales for these green energy technologies. The Republican Congress voted to have these credits expire at the end of last year. People raced to lock in good deals on both EVs and rooftop solar. Then, with the arrival of the new year, sales cratered – at least for a while.

An energy roundtable in Plattsburgh, New York, Friday brought together labor, utility and conservationists to discuss energy needs in the North Country