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New fees and new tech may curb methane emissions

Mar 18, 2024
More accurate means of measurement could help curtail the greenhouse gas, a potent contributor to climate change.
In the next few years, there will be wider deployment of technology to detect and reduce methane emissions, according to Arvind Ravikumar of the University of Texas at Austin.
Christopher Furlong/Getty Images
Coal has increasingly been replaced by alternative fuel sources, like natural gas and renewables.
Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

The federal government is investing in solar. Chinese companies are getting a share of it.

Feb 7, 2024
Chinese manufacturers are building solar panel factories on U.S. soil to avoid tariffs and garner subsidies, reports WSJ's Phred Dvorak.
Subsidies in the Inflation Reduction Act are meant to offset some of the costs of manufacturing solar panels in the United States.
Rodrigo Arangua/AFP via Getty Images

The federal government wants to know how much electricity crypto uses. Crypto firms aren't happy.

Feb 5, 2024
The feds want data from crypto miners. The miners may file suit to block the request.
Crypto mining consumes as much as 2% of all electricity in the U.S., according to the Energy Information Administration. Above, a bitcoin mining operation in Rockdale, Texas.
Mark Felix/AFP via Getty Images

To put more renewable power to use, utilities are doubling down on battery storage

Jan 16, 2024
Giant batteries can extend the reach of wind and solar power — which accounted for 22% of electricity generated last year, the EIA says.
Rows of lithium ion batteries that store renewable energy. The EIA expects utility battery storage to nearly double by the end of 2024.
Patrick T. Fallon/AFP via Getty Images

Despite lifted sanctions on Venezuelan energy, don't expect a boom in oil exports

Oct 25, 2023
While demand for crude oil is high, greater investment and management would be needed to boost oil exports from Venezuela.
An oil pump in Caracas, Venezuela.
Federico Parra/AFP via Getty Images

The Biden administration is investing in hydrogen hubs, but roadblocks remain

Oct 24, 2023
The promise of hydrogen fuel is that it could cut emissions in industries that have proven difficult to decarbonize. It’s a lot of pressure for an industry that’s barely off the ground.
Inflation is pushing the costs of infrastructure, like production plants, to support the hydrogen fuel economy. Above, a hydrogen production plant in Germany.
Andreas Rentz/Getty Images

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LED bulbs are “a once in a century disrupter” 

Oct 4, 2023
The overall global market for LED illumination was around $71 billion dollars last year, according to Grand View Research. It’s expected to grow.
LED bulbs are on display at Poplar Place Hardware in Dundalk, Maryland.
Stephanie Hughes/Marketplace

High oil prices may hurt poorest Americans most

Sep 27, 2023
Tight global supply raises costs for industry and motorists, but for now, the pain is milder than it was during price spikes decades earlier.
Gasoline prices in Burbank, California, last week.
Mario Tama/Getty Images

How the 1973 oil embargo changed the way the U.S. thinks about energy

Sep 21, 2023
Fifty years ago this fall, Arab members of OPEC cut off their oil exports to the United States.
Above, an oil pumpjack in California. Then-President Richard Nixon, in a 1973 speech addressing the oil embargo, expressed the need for U.S. energy independence.
Frederic J. Brown/AFP via Getty Images