Interesting Ideas

Something most people still don’t know is that the US solar power and storage industry has gotten quite large. The US solar industry employs about 280,000 people. The energy storage industry employs another 80,000 or so. These are a significant economic engine for the United States. However, they could be ... [continued]

The post US Solar & Storage Manufacturers Flood DC To Highlight Global Leadership & Jobs appeared first on CleanTechnica.

Most EV charging happens at home, and most EV owners have single family homes where they have their own chargers. Of course, some EV owners live in condo and apartment complexes where there typically are not enough EV chargers onsite yet. Fortunately, for EV adoption, there are plenty of single-family ... [continued]

The post 2,500 New EV Chargers Planned For Apartment & Condo Complexes appeared first on CleanTechnica.

Rain overwhelms sewer system in parts of US city, while temperatures in France break May record

New York City saw flash flooding on Wednesday, as large parts of Brooklyn and Queens received about 2in (50mm) of rainfall in as little as 20 minutes. Officials said the deluge caused water to flow into the sewer system at a rate of up to 6in an hour, quickly overwhelming an aged network that was designed to accommodate just 1.75in an hour.

Residents and commuters found themselves wading knee-deep through flood water that flowed with dangerous speed in places. One video showed a woman alighting from a bus losing her footing and being dragged along by the torrent of water. Several major roads were blocked, including the Long Island Expressway, and subway services were disrupted as water spilled into stations. Large amounts of mud and other debris was left behind; videos showed bags of rubbish being swept down streets along with loose litter.

Talybont, Ceredigion: On a crisp, post-rain morning, I take a walk among bright hawthorn blossom and the glittering pools of Cors Fochno

On the edge of Talybont, the small cemetery, kempt and cared for, overlooks the coast and the wild brown swathe of Cors Fochno (Borth Bog). A burial ground is perhaps an odd place to begin a walk, but, as a friend remarked, it’s infinitely better than ending one there.

The early rain has cleared so the air is crisp and the colours deep. In the foreground, grassland fields slope away towards the wild expanse of the bog, bounded by wooded hedgerows bright with hawthorn blossom. The first cut of silage has been secured, baled and removed, and a few cattle are grazing the aftermath with interest while red kites traverse overhead. The surface of the bog, marked here and there by glittering open pools, shimmers slightly in the heat of the day. Across the Afon Dyfi, the steep-faced sand dunes of Aberdyfi are visible before the eye is drawn further off to the line of hills that defines the Llŷn peninsula.

In recent articles on XPENG, I have focused on the development of human employees who make technology possible and the technology tools that they use. However, the output of the people using automation and AI tools is what matters the most to customers. It is especially noticeable in autonomous driving ... [continued]

The post XPENG Offers More Human-Like Autonomous Driving appeared first on CleanTechnica.

As War in Iran Drives Push for Energy Security, Energy Storage Forecast Revised Upwards over Next Five Years WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. energy storage industry installed 9.7 gigawatt-hours (GWh) of new capacity in the first quarter of 2026, the strongest first quarter in the sector’s history. According to the ... [continued]

The post REPORT: U.S. Adds 10 GWh of New Energy Storage Capacity in 1st Quarter, Best Q1 on Record appeared first on CleanTechnica.

The leading quick serve restaurant chain Bojangles has just launched a new EV charging campaign to go with its new rip-and-dip Chicken Ripper sliders.

The post EV Charging Meets Chicken Rippers At Bojangles (In Other Words, The War On EVs Is Over) appeared first on CleanTechnica.

Firefighters are racing to douse flames on California’s Santa Rosa Island as experts express concern for unique habitat

On the south-eastern corner of Santa Rosa Island lies a grove of a few thousand Torrey pine trees, some of them more than 250 years old. The only other place on earth where these gnarled pines exist is in San Diego county, but biologists classify the two groves as different subspecies. So when a rare wildfire broke out on Santa Rosa Island late last week, firefighters raced to keep it from spreading into the grove, where it threatened to consign the island’s Torrey pines to extinction.

So far, they appear to be succeeding – even as the 18,000-acre fire has torched nearly one-third of the island’s surface. But biologists who have studied Santa Rosa Island’s unique ecology are watching anxiously as the fire continues to burn a part of the island that is home to six plants found nowhere else on the planet.

Temperature reaches 30.5C in Kent as amber health alerts issued before bank holiday temperatures rise

The UK has recorded its hottest day of the year so far, with temperatures reaching 30.5C in Kent as forecasters warned more extreme heat could follow over the bank holiday weekend.

The temperature in Frittenden also marked the first time since 2012 the UK has reached 30C in May, according to the Met Office.

I’ve been saying for a year or more now that the Kia EV6 has risen to the top of my list as the new or used vehicle we’d most likely buy next. I love the vehicle, as it seems to be the perfect package in all kinds of ways. I’ve ... [continued]

The post Kia EV6 Price Gets Cut to $37,900! appeared first on CleanTechnica.

Definition of green facilities made in 2022, before release of ChatGPT, says Action to Protect Rural Scotland

A Scottish government policy designed to encourage datacentres to build in Scotland could lead to a massive volume of carbon emissions being ignored, according to an analysis by a Scottish charity.

“Green datacentres” are at the heart of Scotland’s ambitions to develop economically. Enshrined in national policy, they are part of a larger, UK-wide effort to attract big AI investment to Scotland.

Most people have joyful memories of playing outside as children – and now wildlife charities are urging people to ‘rewild their inner child’

Climbing trees, squelching in mud, paddling in ponds or making dens in the woods – people’s memories of playing outside as children are often vivid and, a new poll has found, overwhelmingly positive, even those who remember falling in cowpats.

Almost 90% of UK adults had rosy memories of the excitement and the feeling of freedom that outdoor play had brought them, the survey found. However, almost half of adults now spend less than three hours a week in natural settings such as gardens, parks, fields or woods, according to the survey. For one in 10 it is less than one hour.

Charter to be adopted along river’s entire catchment from Cambrian mountains to Chepstow and Bristol Channel

The entire catchment of the River Wye has been formally recognised as a living ecosystem with intrinsic rights in a charter, a UK first that campaigners hope will help save the highly polluted river.

The charter was celebrated at a community event at the Hay-on-Wye literary festival on Sunday. It includes the right to flow, to biodiversity, to be free from pollution, to be supported by a healthy catchment, to regenerate, and the right to be represented, described as a “significant step” towards protecting and restoring one of the UK’s most beloved rivers.

Earlier this month US Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum testified with very little background knowledge about solar systems — yet that didn’t stop him from denigrating them. “All of these projects you’re describing in Nevada have one thing in common,” Burgum sneered. “When the sun goes down, they produce ... [continued]

The post Top US Official Doesn’t Know About Battery Storage — Cue The Laughter :) appeared first on CleanTechnica.

Monday predicted to be hottest May day on record by large margin, as UK braces for ‘super El Niño’ summer

Temperatures are expected to hit 35C in parts of England on Monday, in an “unprecedented” May heatwave.

The Met Office is already predicting that records will be broken. A spokesperson said: “Today will be the hottest day in May in the UK in our temperature records, with highs of 35C expected. The current May record is 32.8C. Records are usually only broken by tenths of a degree, making this heatwave unprecedented for the time of year.”

A few days ago, I looked into how much it would cost to fuel a Hyundai Santa Fe versus how much it would cost to “fuel” a Hyundai IONIQ 5. I enjoyed doing the comparison, so I wanted to do it with more models. With news that Kia has just ... [continued]

The post $1,052 to Fuel Toyota RAV4 Hybrid vs. $205 to Energize Kia EV6 appeared first on CleanTechnica.

This is probably a matter that goes under the radar for most people, and it offers potentially huge financial savings for many of them. Most of us get our electricity bill every month, pay it, and try to forget about it. Or we have autopay set up and don’t hardly ... [continued]

The post Save Money on Electricity — Get to Know Your Time-of-Use Electricity Pricing Details appeared first on CleanTechnica.

Opposition to AI and the enormous data centers it will need in the future is growing in the US, as people begin to see the risks.

The post Why AI And Why Now? appeared first on CleanTechnica.

The Martuwarra Fitzroy catchment is home to four of the world’s five sawfish species, which rely on large groundwater-fed pools to survive the dry season

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Conservationists fear a government plan to double groundwater extraction from the Martuwarra Fitzroy River catchment in Western Australia could jeopardise threatened sawfish populations.

The untamed river, which flows 700km through the Kimberley to King Sound, is considered the last stronghold for sawfish globally and is home to four of the world’s five species.

Technological interventions face huge financial or practical challenges, but there is another way

In 2019, my scientific research was nearly brought to an early end when my team and I published the bombastic statement that natural forest restoration was the “best climate change solution” available in a paper for the peer-reviewed journal Science.

I remember a colleague from the World Wildlife Fund advising me that this message represented career suicide. He argued that people would be furious because reducing greenhouse gas emissions was the most urgent priority. The revival of nature might help with 30% of our carbon drawdown needs, but you cannot stop rising temperatures without cutting emissions.