Climate Energy
All Stories
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Meet the communities trying to take over their local electric utility
Activists say public power would lower bills and expand clean energy. But they face tough opposition from investor-owned utilities.
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![An oil well sits idle surrounded by pine trees and blue sky in rural Arkansas.]()
![An oil well sits idle surrounded by pine trees and blue sky in rural Arkansas.]()
Oil companies used to run this town. Now they’re back — to mine for lithium.
Fossil fuel companies are turning to rural communities for critical minerals, raising familiar hopes and fears.
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![An overhead shot of a grain silo set on a farm with rolling fields.]()
![An overhead shot of a grain silo set on a farm with rolling fields.]()
Why humans are putting ‘coal’ and ‘oil’ back in the ground
Startups are processing plant waste into concentrated carbon to be buried or injected underground. It’s like fossil fuels, but in reverse.
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How an oil boom in North Dakota led to a boom in evictions
New study links surge of oil workers to long-term residents losing their homes.
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Biden protected the lands surrounding the Grand Canyon. Uranium mining is happening there anyway.
There's a long, nasty history of uranium mining on Native lands, but the company says this time is different.
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![A technician walks past reverse osmosis membranes at a desalination plant in Carlsbad, California.]()
![A technician walks past reverse osmosis membranes at a desalination plant in Carlsbad, California.]()
Can carbon capture solve desalination’s waste problem?
A startup claims it can store carbon dioxide in the toxic brine produced by desalination plants.
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![Flamingoes rest in a pond near in a wind farm]()
![Flamingoes rest in a pond near in a wind farm]()
How to build renewables without threatening biodiversity? Carefully.
Researchers say coupling wind and solar farms with actual farms is a good place to start.
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![rooftop solar panels on a yellow house]()
![rooftop solar panels on a yellow house]()
Puerto Rico is using residents’ home batteries to back up its grid
The yearlong pilot could be the first step in creating a residential-storage virtual power plant larger than any in North America.
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![An overhead view of a battery farm next to the sea.]()
![An overhead view of a battery farm next to the sea.]()
A huge battery has replaced Hawaiʻi’s last coal plant
Plus Power’s Kapolei battery is officially online. The pioneering project is a leading example of how to shift crucial grid functions from fossil-fueled plants to clean energy.
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![A quaint Maine town with shingled homes sitting on the water next to small boats.]()
![A quaint Maine town with shingled homes sitting on the water next to small boats.]()
Maine towns band together to offer ‘energy navigators,’ extra funding for home energy upgrades
The program, funded by a federal grant and set to launch in mid-2024, aims to fill cost gaps and ease confusion over government rebates as residents seek to cut heating costs and emissions.
