Interesting Ideas

I have been seeing LinkedIn posts about Panthalassa’s wave-powered AI data-center concept recently, and the reaction they’ve been getting is familiar. Big funding round. AI power bottleneck. Ocean energy. No grid connection. No land constraint. Autonomous machines. A new category. It had all the ingredients of a story built to ... [continued]

The post The Ocean Is Not A Server Rack: Panthalassa, Peter Thiel, And Wave-Powered AI Compute appeared first on CleanTechnica.

Someone once told me electric vehicles are just like gas vehicles but simply use electricity. This view is false for many reasons. Electric vehicles have many benefits, gas and diesel vehicles do not. The battery packs in electric vehicles can be used to supply electricity to local grids when EVs ... [continued]

The post Electric Bus Depots Used To Support UK National Grid appeared first on CleanTechnica.

Washington, D.C. — Today, the Environmental Protection Agency announced it would allow data centers, power plants, and industrial facilities to begin construction on “non-emitting” components before the project has received its necessary air permits. Donald Trump and Lee Zeldin’s EPA has been giving Big Tech and Big Fossil Fuel shortcuts ... [continued]

The post EPA to Allow Power Plants to Bulldoze Through Pollution Protections appeared first on CleanTechnica.

Cockrow Bridge in Surrey will open in the coming weeks to provide wildlife, including lizards and insects, with the ability to move between fragmented habitats

When James Herd moved near to Wisley Common 17 years ago, the heathland nature reserve was teeming with wildlife. “I’d take the dog around the common in spring and summer, and every few hundred metres I’d hear the rustle of a lizard in the undergrowth – and I’d see adders,” he says.

But over the past decade, the Surrey Wildlife Trust’s director of reserves management, who oversees the internationally important habitat, has seen that wildlife become depleted.

After a series of deaths on the beaches of Brittany, one bereaved family set out to prove the foul-smelling bloom was to blame

When her phone rang at around 5pm on 8 September 2016, Rosy Auffray was still at work. It was one of her daughters, distressed, calling to tell her that their father, Jean-René, had not come back from his daily run. Only the family dog had returned, alone and exhausted. Rosy rushed back home.

When she arrived, Rosy noticed that the dog was behaving bizarrely: she refused to walk, then collapsed under a bush. Her fur stank of rotten eggs, of overflowing sewers. Rosy knew where that smell came from: the mudflats roughly three miles from the family home in Brittany, where seaweed had been accumulating and putrefying. The soggy, decomposing seaweed stretched for miles along the shore, sometimesas much asfive feet thick, killing other plants and suffocating fish and small birds.

It is the most extracted solid material on Earth – but this extraction can threaten ecosystems and livelihoods

Malé is one of the world’s most overcrowded cities, but it faces double pressure. As well as a growing population, the capital of the Maldives is also threatened by rising sea levels. Owing to climate breakdown, its living space is shrinking.

So the justification for a land reclamation project seemed clear. Take sand from elsewhere in the archipelago and use it to build up the land available for Malé’s people. What could go wrong? After all, it’s only sand, right?

The Kenyan player has been recognised for his advocacy and grassroots work to tackle sport’s carbon footprint

“Most well-known people who talk about climate change are in North America and Europe,” says Kenyan rugby sevens star Kevin Wekesa, “but for us this is a very relevant conversation. It is not only about future tournaments or big international pledges. In Kenya, we see the effects in rising heat, cracked pitches and changing weather in communities where young athletes are growing up.”

A year before competing in his first Olympic Games at Paris 2024, Wekesa responded to Kenya’s relegation from the top tier of international sevens by offering free rugby coaching in schools across Kenya. After travelling to a school in Kirinyaga on the slopes of Mount Kenya, a wet and verdant region, Wekesa found an unplayable dry field and was forced to cancel the session. One of the students told Wekesa that conditions had been similar for two months, while another suggested the unfamiliar weather was because of climate change.

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Levels of Pfas in northern gannet eggs in Canada fell up to 74% over 55-year period of study

Levels of some of the most dangerous Pfas compounds have dramatically fallen in Canadian seabird eggs, which the authors of a new peer-reviewed study say illustrates how regulations are effective.

Researchers looked at Pfas levels in the eggs of northern gannets in the St Lawrence Seaway basin over a 55-year period. Pfas levels shot up from the 1960s through the peak of the chemicals’ use in the late 1990s and early aughts, then fell.

Hunt’s Cross, Liverpool: A survey of the roadside verge turns up 21 species including cuckoo flower and yarrow. But not everyone likes it

The impact was visceral. For days last spring I watched an army of confederates, with their uniforms of fiery gold bands and anthracite hoops, advancing up the road. They were cinnabar moth caterpillars, gathered on their host plant, common ragwort. And thanks to Liverpool city council’s observance of No Mow May, there were plenty of both in the roadside verge near my home.

But days before the month ended, the mowing team arrived, like pilgrims breaking their Lenten fast early. The ragworts and their parties of travellers were churned up and spat out. I was desolate.

Move by largest donor to environment programme poses further uncertainty for already troubled negotiations

The largest donor to the United Nations Environment Programme (Unep) is reviewing its funding to the body before its revised budget on 12 May, triggering concern among member states and NGOs.

The news could carry significance for the already troubled plastic treaty negotiations being overseen by Unep. Since 2022 countries have been struggling to agree on how to deal with the volume of plastics being produced and used, a subject widely acknowledged to be one of the most serious environmental issues of the age, but despite six rounds of talks there has been no agreement in sight.

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, the U.S. Senate voted to approve the nomination of ex-congressman Steve Pearce to lead the Bureau of Land Management by a vote of 46-45. Pearce formerly represented New Mexico in the House of Representatives and was the second nominee made by Donald Trump to lead the ... [continued]

The post Sierra Club Statement on Vote to Confirm Steve Pearce to Run BLM appeared first on CleanTechnica.

Washington, DC — On Friday, Toyota Motor reported its earnings for the fiscal year ending in March 2026. Toyota sold approximately 9.6 million units globally and touted that over 5 million units were “electrified vehicles.” While the full-year earnings from Tokyo claim “record” sales, Sierra Club isn’t buying their spin. Toyota reported a ... [continued]

The post Sierra Club: Toyota Isn’t Delivering for U.S. Families appeared first on CleanTechnica.

As the global auto industry rapidly shifts toward EVs, new analysis warns that Europe risks forfeiting a major industrial opportunity. Scaling back EU car climate rules would put a potential 34 Northvolt-sized battery factories at risk. That’s according to a new T&E report which models the ‘industrial opportunity cost’ of weakening EU ... [continued]

The post 34 Northvolt-Sized Battery Factories Could Be Lost If EU Scales Back EV Targets — Study appeared first on CleanTechnica.

London mayor talks up coalition-building, highlights his environmental record, and worries national Labour party is on the wrong track

When Sadiq Khan was first elected as mayor of London 10 years ago, Barack Obama was US president, the UK was still in the European Union and Leicester City had just been crowned the unlikely champions of the English Premier League.

In the intervening decade, Donald Trump has gone from reality TV star to two-time US president, the UK has had six different prime ministers, and Brexit has convulsed the country. London has been rocked by tragedies ranging from terror attacks to the Grenfell Tower fire.

Today we mark the formal introduction of Ford Energy. For the better part of a year, we have operated quietly to build a foundation for this business. We haven’t just been planning; we have been executing — securing supply chains, readying our manufacturing sites and aligning our technology with the massive ... [continued]

The post Introducing Ford Energy appeared first on CleanTechnica.

As dingoes vanish from parts of Australia, a new documentary is calling on governments to move away from eradication and towards solutions that benefit both farmers and animals

Carol Pettersen was a small child when her family moved deep into the bush around the Fitzgerald river, on Western Australia’s south coast. It was the 1940s, and her white father and Aboriginal mother had broken the law simply by being together. So the bush became their refuge.

In that country of mallee heath, banksias and low coastal scrub, dingoes were part of the family’s hidden world. At night, Pettersen could hear them calling through the dark; by day, she glimpsed them moving through the bush – a flicker of red fur among the trees.

Data from missions showing critically low snowpack on mountains across the west raises alarm among experts

High above the jagged peaks of California’s Sierra Nevada, the view from the cockpit is breathtaking. At first glance, the mountains appear draped in a pristine white blanket. But as the flight crew gears up for a high-stakes mission, the sensors onboard this specialized aircraft prove that looks can be deceiving.

“This is a distinct dry year,” says Tom Painter, CEO of Airborne Snow Observatories.

Hyundai electric vehicles are getting an update that enables a new FIFA World Cup 2026™ Display Theme in their infotainment systems. Well, it’s not only Hyundai EVs — a few non-EVs are getting the option as well. Also, one of the company’s EVs (one being pulled out of the US ... [continued]

The post Hyundai EVs Get Fun New FIFA World Cup 2026 Themes in Infotainment appeared first on CleanTechnica.

I just wrote an article yesterday about some reasons why BYD sales have been down this year and the potential for a huge jump in sales in coming months. There are a lot of ifs, ands, and buts … but it does seem like there’s strong potential for a big ... [continued]

The post BYD IS Aiming for Growth This Year — 13% Growth in China? appeared first on CleanTechnica.

I’ve said it before many times — even a decade ago when EV range was much lower and EV charging stations were much less abundant: range anxiety is massively overhyped and seems to plague non-EV drivers much more than EV drivers. As one reader explained it, it’s really anxiety about ... [continued]

The post Chinese EV Drivers Rolling Past Range Anxiety appeared first on CleanTechnica.