Interesting Ideas

The US startup Lunar Energy has raised another $232 million towards its goal of dominating the US home energy storage market, pushing Tesla's Powerwall out of the picture.

The post US Energy Storage Startup Moves In On The Residential Market With Another $232 Million appeared first on CleanTechnica.

Der Sonderbericht des Bundesrechnungshofs vom Oktober 2025 zur Umsetzung der Wasserstoffstrategie der Bundesregierung entfaltet ein ungewöhnliches Gewicht, weil es sich weder um eine politische Kritik noch um einen akademischen Beitrag handelt, sondern um eine gesetzlich verankerte haushaltsrechtliche Prüfung, die dem Parlament vorgelegt wurde. Der Bericht bewertet die Wasserstoffstrategie anhand der ... [continued]

The post Deutschlands Rechnungshof erklärt die vermeintliche Unvermeidlichkeit von Wasserstoff für beendet appeared first on CleanTechnica.

One expert says 2027 could be even hotter than the last three years, which have been the top three warmest on record

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Weather agencies and climate scientists have pointed to the possibility of an El Niño forming in the Pacific Ocean later this year – a phenomenon that could push global temperatures to all-time record highs in 2027.

Both the US government’s National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and Australia’s Bureau of Meteorology have said some climate models are forecasting an El Niño but both cautioned those results came with uncertainties.

Experts told the Guardian it was too early to be confident, but there were signals in the spread of sea surface temperatures in the Pacific that suggested an El Niño could form in 2026.

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Cullernose Point, Northumberland: These cliffs are always thrilling, but today is a riot of sound and damp air as we take the coastal path

The sea is still raging after yesterday’s storm, waves the highest that I’ve seen here, more ocean than North Sea. The grey-green water, full of churned up sand, is frothing and erupting against dark rocks, bursting with the force of geysers as it collides with the land.

Here at Cullernose Point, the dolerite cliffs of the Whin Sill thrust a giant wedge as they taper into the sea. It’s dramatic at all times, but today is especially thrilling, the sound all enveloping, the wind cutting, the air damp with spume.

Providers report rise in demand as companies seek mental health benefits and increased sense of community

In a growing number of workplaces, the soundtrack of the lunch break is no longer the rustle of sandwiches at a desk, but the quiet hum of bees – housed just outside the office window.

Employers from Manchester to Milton Keynes are working with professional beekeepers to install hives on rooftops, in courtyards and car parks – positioning beekeeping not as a novelty but as a way to ease stress, build community and reconnect workers with nature in an era of hybrid work and burnout.

NFU warn it could take years to restore Brexit losses despite efforts to smooth negotiations on farming and other elements of UK-EU reset

Exports of British farm products to the EU have dropped almost 40% in the five years since Brexit, highlighting the trade barriers caused by the UK’s divorce from the EU in 2020.

Analysis of HMRC data by the National Farmers’ Union shows the decline in sales of everything from British beef to cheddar cheese has dropped by 37.4% in the five years since 2019, the last full year before Brexit.

China’s aluminum manufacturing CO2 emissions likely peaked in 2024, not because production collapsed or because a single policy suddenly bit, but because the structure of where aluminum is made and how it is made changed in ways that compound over time. Aluminum is a useful material to examine because it ... [continued]

The post Why China’s Aluminum Industry May Have Reached Peak CO2 appeared first on CleanTechnica.

Stellantis announced that it is taking a $26 billion hit associated with backtracking on EVs. The vast majority of the write-down is specific to North America, where Stellantis has essentially given up on plug-in vehicles. EV production is being replaced with a return of ICE powertrains, including the “Hemi.” This ... [continued]

The post Stellantis Stumbles In A Staggering EV Retreat appeared first on CleanTechnica.

Community organiser Jon Barrett says event, inspired by the tradition Solmōnaþ, aims to reconnect people with benefits of mud

A misty, rainy day in the uplands of Somerset and the mud was thick and sticky. In some patches, just putting one foot in front of the other without plunging into the mire felt like a win.

But Jon Barrett, a community engagement officer for the Quantock Hills national landscape, had a broad grin on his face as he negotiated the ooze.

Experts say dangerous sleep apnoea affects an estimated 8 million in the UK alone, and everything from evolution to obesity or even the climate crisis could be to blame

When Matt Hillier was in his 20s, he went camping with a friend who was a nurse. In the morning she told him she had been shocked by the snoring coming from his tent. “She basically said, ‘For a 25-year-old non-smoker who’s quite skinny, you snore pretty loudly,’” says Hiller, now 32.

Perhaps because of the pervasive image of a “typical” sleep apnoea patient – older, and overweight – Hillier didn’t seek help. It wasn’t until he was 30 that he finally went to a doctor after waking up from a particularly big night of snoring with a racing heartbeat. Despite being young, active and a healthy weight, further investigation – including a night recording his snoring – revealed that he had moderate sleep apnoea. His was classed as supine, the most common form of the condition, meaning it happens when he sleeps on his back, and is likely caused by his throat muscles.

Though the political winds currently are blowing against clean, renewable electricity and sustainable transportation in the US, fortunately, in other countries, investment in such technologies continues. The UK-based startup Polaron recently raised $8 million. Racine2, an investment fund, led the raise, with co-investment from Speedinvest and Futurepresent. While the focus ... [continued]

The post AI Startup That Does EV-Related Materials Science Discovery Raises $8M appeared first on CleanTechnica.

Mergers and acquisitions will shrink number of operators from more than 100 to five or six, says Be.EV co-founder

British electric charger companies are asking rivals to buy them as they run out of cash amid rising costs and intense competition, according to industry bosses.

A wave of mergers and acquisitions is likely to shrink the number of charge point operators from as many as 150 to a market dominated by five or six players, said Asif Ghafoor, a co-founder of Be.EV, a charging company backed by an investment fund owned by Octopus Energy.

People in Niscemi struggle to comprehend loss of homes and businesses and feel disaster could have been avoided

For days, the 25,000 residents of the Sicilian town of Niscemi have been living on the edge of a 25-metre abyss. On 25 January, after torrential rain brought by Cyclone Harry, a devastating landslide ripped away an entire slope of the town, creating a 4km-long chasm. Roads collapsed, cars were swallowed, and whole sections of the urban fabric plunged into the valley below.

Dozens of houses hang precariously over the edge of the landslide, while vehicles and fragments of roadway continue to give way, hour by hour, under the strain of unstable ground.

Rising GDP continues to mean more carbon emissions and wider damage to the planet. Can the two be decoupled?

During Cop30 negotiations in Brazil last year, delegates heard a familiar argument: rising emissions are unavoidable for countries pursuing growth.

Since the first Cop in the 1990s, developing nations have had looser reduction targets to reflect the economic gap between them and richer countries, which emitted millions of tonnes of CO₂ as they pulled ahead. The concession comes from the idea that an inevitable cost of prosperity is environmental harm.

Der Sachverständigenrat zur Begutachtung der gesamtwirtschaftlichen Entwicklung in Deutschland hat gemeinsam mit dem französischen Conseil d’analyse économique bereits Abstand davon genommen, Wasserstoff als breiten Energieträger zu betrachten. Diese Neuausrichtung steht in einem spürbaren Spannungsverhältnis zu einem 400 Kilometer langen, unter Druck stehenden Abschnitt des deutschen Wasserstoff-Backbones, der weder Lieferanten noch ... [continued]

The post Wenn Europas wirtschaftspolitische Institutionen sich vom Wasserstoff abwenden appeared first on CleanTechnica.

Die deutsche Wasserstoffpipeline von nirgendwo nach nirgendwo entstand nicht aus Ignoranz oder Gleichgültigkeit. Sie entstand aus guten Absichten, die früh gefasst wurden, als Klimarisiken klar und glaubwürdig waren, praktikable Lösungen jedoch rar. In den 1990er- und frühen 2000er-Jahren hatten Regionen, die die Klimawissenschaft ernst nahmen, nur eine sehr begrenzte Auswahl ... [continued]

The post Wie frühe Klimaführerschaft Deutschland auf die falsche Wasserstoffwette festlegte appeared first on CleanTechnica.

Sales of Tesla Powerwall batteries are in danger of sputtering out, even as the company launches its own line of residential solar panels.

The post Tesla Powerwall Facing Headwinds & Nasty Comments appeared first on CleanTechnica.

Forty-odd residents of Clydach Terrace in Ynysybwl, south Wales, relieved by council buyout after years in fear of fast flooding

When Storm Dennis hit the UK in 2020, a wall of dirty, frigid water from a tributary of the Taff threw Paul Thomas against the front of his house in the south Wales village of Ynysybwl. He managed to swim back into his home before the storm surge changed direction, almost carrying him out of the smashed-in front door.

“I was holding on to downpipes to stop myself being dragged out again. It was unbelievably strong, the water,” he said.

Will the Chinese use Canada as their North American beachhead? This story has been updated with additional details and recalculation of the forecasts. As Chinese electric vehicle manufacturers look beyond Europe and Southeast Asia, Canada is quietly emerging as the most realistic entry point into North America. It combines stringent ... [continued]

The post Which of the 132 Chinese EV Automakers Will Enter Canada? appeared first on CleanTechnica.

Canada has quietly shifted into a new phase of EV focused industrial policy, not by announcing a dramatic ban or a sweeping mandate, but by changing the arithmetic that governs the automotive market. The federal government has moved away from explicit EV sales quotas and toward steadily tightening fleet average ... [continued]

The post Canada’s EV Policy Shift Is About Credits, Not Mandates appeared first on CleanTechnica.