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Alaska has "gobs and gobs" of natural gas, but still may need to import it

Mar 20, 2024
It’s one thing to have plenty of gas available in the ground. But in a state as big as Alaska, it’s another thing to get the gas to where people can use it.
Enstar Natural Gas President John Sims explains how pipes and machinery pump natural gas into underground reservoirs at this Kenai, Alaska, facility, where it's stored for later.
Riley Board

Geothermal energy could be on its way to Chicago’s South Side

Mar 19, 2024
The key to building out the low-carbon energy source could be the city’s trademark alleys.
Retta Ford, left, and daughter Debra Gay attend a community meeting about geothermal power. Ford asked whether the project could affect the foundations of homes.
Juanpablo Ramirez-Franco/WBEZ
Coal has increasingly been replaced by alternative fuel sources, like natural gas and renewables.
Chip Somodevilla/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

As one new offshore wind project is approved, two others are canceled — for now

Nov 2, 2023
More offshore wind projects are being approved, but many are also running into economic and logistical challenges.
An offshore wind farm off the coast of Block Island, Rhode Island.
John Moore/Getty Images

As weather gets less predictable, hydropower dams look to new forecasting techniques

Oct 24, 2023
"Forecast-informed reservoir operations" may help planners deal more effectively with flood or drought conditions.
Dams were built during a much different climate regime from the conditions we're experiencing and expecting. Operators of the facilities are seeking ways to adapt.
Lars Hagberg/AFP via 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

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An electrical transformer shortage has big implications for housing, renewables

Sep 19, 2023
You may not think much about electrical distribution transformers, but not having them can delay entire housing developments and grid updates.
"Typically on a utility pole they’re round, and they’re at the top of the pole," said John Kirk, managing director at Embrey, a multifamily developer based in San Antonio.
Robert Nickelsberg/Getty Images

Solar a bright spot in slow progress toward U.S. renewable energy goals

Aug 30, 2023
Shipments of solar panels reached a record high last year, though most were imported. They're also getting cheaper.
Solar is projected to grow even more in the next couple of years, largely because of the Inflation Reduction Act.
Mario Tama/Getty Images

Clean energy industry faces economic headwinds

Aug 1, 2023
Inflation and rising interest rates are making it harder for some projects to get off the ground.
A ship carries wind turbine components to the Port of New Bedford.
Daniel Ackerman/Marketplace