Natural Green Antioxidant Proanthocyanidin Enhances the UV/Oxidation Resistance of Perovskite Solar Cells Through Buried Interface Modification Strategy
Researchers introduced natural grape‑seed proanthocyanidins (OPC) at the TiO₂/perovskite buried interface of perovskite solar cells, employing a combined antioxidant, passivation, and UV‑protection strategy. The hydrogen‑bond network created by OPC reduces defect states on the electron‑transport layer, suppresses carrier recombination, and promotes perovskite crystal growth. These effects lift power conversion efficiency from 22.91% to 24.79% and markedly improve long‑term stability under harsh UV and oxidative conditions. The study demonstrates a scalable route to more durable, high‑performance perovskite photovoltaics.
From Time-Based HVAC to Evidence-Based Reality
The article argues that traditional building automation systems (BAS) conflate measurement, control, and reporting, making performance data inferential rather than verifiable. It proposes adding an independent, time‑bounded evidence layer that records environmental conditions without influence from optimization logic. This governed...
The FREEDOM Act and Permit Certainty
The House has introduced the FREEDOM Act to tackle "permit certainty" by streamlining judicial review of unreasonable permitting delays or revocations and offering compensation to affected developers. The bill emerges amid Democratic resistance to any reform that doesn’t materially boost...
Heat Pump Sales Dipped in 2025. They Still Beat Gas Furnaces.
U.S. heat‑pump sales slipped in 2025, yet they still outperformed gas furnaces, with September shipments surpassing central ACs for the first time. A 2024 inventory buildup created a backlog that muted demand, while high upfront costs—median $25,000 versus half that...
Barbados to Host IDB Invest Sustainability Week 2026, Focused on Mobilizing Private Investment
IDB Invest announced that Sustainability Week 2026 will be held May 26‑28 in Bridgetown, marking the first time the event takes place in the Caribbean. The three‑day forum will convene investors, companies and project sponsors to showcase investment‑ready opportunities in resilience, infrastructure,...
Listening, Integrating and Scaling: How SENS Is Positioning for Growth in Critical Power
Stored Energy Systems (SENS) is pivoting from standalone battery chargers to fully integrated, hybrid power solutions for critical‑power applications such as data centers. The company cites market pressure to adopt multi‑vendor, high‑redundancy architectures like N+1 to 2N+1, which demand streamlined...
City’s Adoption of EUI Signals Less Reliance on Third-Party Building Certifications
Alexandria, Virginia, approved a new ordinance that lets developers meet green‑building requirements using an energy‑use intensity (EUI) metric instead of relying solely on third‑party certifications. The rule applies to commercial projects of 10,000 sq ft or larger, offering a choice between traditional...
The Rate Case for Grid Resilience: Why Climate Change Isn’t Just About Storms
Utilities are underestimating climate‑driven physical risk because reliability models still use historic weather baselines. Repath’s analysis of a €1.5 billion European grid shows that under a business‑as‑usual (RCP 8.5) pathway, average‑annual loss could shave 30.6 % off the portfolio’s gross value by 2050,...
California Power Aggregators Sign on for 50-MW Slice of Compressed-Air Long-Duration Energy Storage
Hydrostor has secured a 50‑MW offtake agreement with California Community Power for its Willow Rock Energy Storage Center, a 500‑MW/4,000‑MWh advanced compressed‑air energy storage (A‑CAES) project. The facility will provide eight hours of continuous discharge, delivering firm capacity to six...
Solar Surge: Texas Grid Roundup #88
Episode #88 of Solar Surge examines the rapid growth of utility‑scale solar in Texas, highlighting a Dallas Fed report that shows solar capacity added in 2025 matched 2024 levels despite tariffs and shifting federal policies. The show also discusses a...
AEP Contracted Large Load Pipeline Doubles to 56 GW
American Electric Power (AEP) announced its contracted large‑load pipeline will reach 56 GW by 2030, doubling from the previous quarter. Data centers account for roughly 90% of this new demand, especially in Texas, Ohio, Indiana and Oklahoma. The utility’s five‑year capital‑expenditure...
Maersk, Eurogate Plan €1 Billion Bet on Zero-Emission Bremerhaven Container Hub
Maersk’s APM Terminals and Germany’s Eurogate are negotiating a partnership that could inject up to €1 billion into Bremerhaven’s North Sea Terminal. The funding aims to fully electrify the site, power it with renewables and lift capacity from 3 million to 4 million...
Data Centers Pursue On-Site Power as Affordability Tops Utility Concerns: BofA
Data‑center developers are accelerating on‑site power projects as residential electricity rates surge 37% since 2020, prompting concerns over utility affordability ahead of the 2026 midterm elections. Bank of America analysts say developers will first secure fast‑deployable resources such as gas...
Australia Should Have CBAM on some Commodities: Review
Australia’s latest carbon leakage review recommends a carbon border adjustment mechanism (CBAM), beginning with cement and clinker imports and potentially expanding to hydrogen, steel, ammonia and related products. The review, led by ANU professor Frank Jotzo, evaluated 75 trade‑exposed commodities...
Aviramp Secures New Irish Contract
Aviramp has installed a solar‑powered, step‑free boarding ramp at Ireland West Airport in Knock. The ramp offers a gentle slope, added passenger shelter, and is designed for wheelchair users, parents with prams and other travelers with reduced mobility. Airport operations...
Mapping ‘Hard-to-Heat’ Homes in the UK
Ordnance Survey has mapped 23.6 million UK homes to create a heat‑retention index that flags properties most vulnerable to fuel poverty. The index draws on the National Geospatial Database and satellite‑derived observations, enabling granular climate‑risk profiling. Simon Navin highlighted how this...
CleanCo Opens 500MWh Tesla Megapack BESS in Queensland, Australia
CleanCo Queensland has commissioned the Swanbank Battery, a 250 MW/500 MWh grid‑scale storage system built with Tesla’s Megapack technology at the former Swanbank coal‑power site near Brisbane. The AU$330 million project, funded by the Queensland Renewable Energy and Hydrogen Jobs Fund, began testing...
Singapore Mulls Keeping Carbon Tax at Low End of Target
Singapore’s finance minister said the city‑state may keep its carbon tax near the low end of the $50‑80 per tonne range slated for 2030, after noting a slowdown in global climate momentum. The current levy sits at S$45 (~$35.60) per tonne, already...
France Scales Back Renewables, Keeps Nuclear Amid AI Power Surge
Link: https://t.co/VlV8K8X7eR 🇫🇷France set out a new energy law after years of wrangling on Thursday which slashes its wind and solar power targets and drops a mandate for state-run firm EDF to shutter nuclear plants. Summary France has cut its 2035 wind and...
California Grid Demand Falls as Rooftop Solar Offsets EVs
California grid electricity demand continues to decline despite 2.5 million EVs and lots of data centers in the state 2026 Demand on CAISO grid down 1.84% v '25; 1.22% v '24; and 2.27% v '23 Due to growth in behind-the-meter roof PV,...
Energy Insiders Podcast: Why Batteries Are Getting Bigger and Marrying Solar
The Energy Insiders podcast featured Sam Reynolds, head of Octopus Australia, outlining plans to construct the country’s largest battery and the rise of solar‑battery hybrid projects. He explained how falling storage costs and grid‑balancing needs are driving batteries to scale...
All‑Economy Planes Won’t Halve Aviation Emissions, Warns Expert
If we made every airliner all-economy - could that slash aviation's emissions by 50%? Not so fast, argues RAeS Head of Research Naomi Allen, who warns against 'easy wins' to sustainability #avgeek https://t.co/tOVFLw7vLK https://t.co/bNd4bey0XQ
The Little Battery that Could Pave the Way for Ageing Coal Generators to Be Shut Down on Schedule
Australia’s renewable rollout hinges on grid‑forming inverters, a technology that can mimic the inertia and fault‑current support traditionally supplied by large synchronous condensers. Early results from the 25‑50 MW Darlington Point battery, built with these inverters, show it can stabilise frequency...
Australia’s Home Battery Boom Risks Locking Households Into Closed Ecosystems
Australia’s home battery market has surged past 210,000 installations, spurred by the federal Cheaper Home Batteries scheme. Tech entrepreneur Simon Hackett warns that most of these systems are locked to proprietary software, preventing third‑party control. The scheme only requires VPP‑readiness,...
‘The Cost Declines in Lithium-Ion Tech Provide Very Attractive Pricing’: ASL on NSW’s Recent 12GWh LDES Tender
New South Wales awarded a 12 GWh long‑duration energy storage (LDES) tender exclusively to lithium‑ion battery systems, highlighting the technology’s cost advantage over pumped hydro. ASL’s technology‑agnostic methodology normalises asset lifespans, allowing batteries with 20‑year horizons to compete on a 50‑year...
GENERAL Inc. Adds New AIRSTAGE Heat Pumps
GENERAL HVAC Solutions America introduced two new multi‑zone heat‑pump models, the AIRSTAGE Aquila and Aquila XLTH, expanding its H‑Series R‑32 lineup. The Aquila delivers up to 23 SEER2, 10.5 HSPF2 and heats to 5 °F, while the XLTH reaches 23.5 SEER2, 11.5 HSPF2 and operates...
Coal Giant’s First Gigawatt-Scale Battery Charges up, Guided by some In-House Algorithms
AGL Energy has begun charging and discharging its first gigawatt‑scale battery, the 500 MW/1,000 MWh Liddell project located beside the de‑commissioned Liddell coal plant. The battery will be commissioned in two 250 MW/500 MWh stages, with the first expected within two months and the...
Electricity Prices Rising by Double the Rate of Inflation. Data Center Demand Means No Relief Ahead, Analysts Say
Electricity rates surged 6.9% in 2025, more than double the 2.9% inflation rate, driven largely by AI‑powered data centers. Goldman Sachs warns that data centers will account for 40% of electricity‑demand growth, keeping prices elevated through the decade. Households face...
Paléo Festival Scores Green Energy First for Switzerland
Switzerland’s Paléo Festival Nyon has become the first outdoor music event in the country to operate its own solar farm. The 470‑square‑metre installation, featuring 261 photovoltaic panels, will generate roughly 100,000 kWh per year—covering at least half of the festival’s electricity...
Trump Orders Pentagon to Prioritize Coal Power Purchases for Military Facilities
President Donald Trump issued an executive order directing the Pentagon to prioritize coal‑fired electricity for military installations, framing it as a national‑security measure to bolster grid reliability and on‑site fuel security. The order calls for long‑term power purchase agreements with...
Ohio’s Data Centers Tighten Natural Gas Balance
The data center driven surge in Ohio's electricity consumption has contributed to tighter natural gas balances. For the 12-months ending in October, 2025, Ohio's natural gas consumption was 3.7 bcf/d, near an all-time high, driven largely by demand in the...
Monitoring Made Inverters More Essential to Solar Project Performance
Solar inverter manufacturers have turned inverters into intelligent power‑management platforms with granular monitoring across loads, storage, EV chargers, and the grid. Companies such as Enphase and SMA now deliver module‑level data, temperature and irradiance metrics, and AI‑driven predictive maintenance. This...
Plus Power Brings Online 350-MWh Cross Town BESS in Maine
Plus Power has commissioned the 175‑MW, 350‑MWh Cross Town Energy Storage facility in Gorham, Maine, marking the largest battery energy storage system on the ISO New England grid. The plant uses 156 Sungrow PowerTitan modules on a five‑acre site adjacent...
Cooling Construction Workers with Human-Centric Tech, with Tiffany Yeh, MD Co-Founder & CEO of Eztia Materials
In this episode, Dr. Tiffany Yeh, MD, co‑founder and CEO of climate‑tech startup Eztia Materials, discusses the urgent heat challenge facing construction workers and how human‑centric cooling technologies can protect them. She explains the science behind Eztia’s HydroVolt material, its...
Restoring Water to Arid Lands: Rethinking Dams and Soil in the MENA and Global South
Water scarcity in the MENA region and the Global South is driven more by land‑management failures and centralized hydraulic policies than by climate alone. Large dams, while symbolising progress, exacerbate evaporation losses and sedimentation, undermining long‑term water security. Healthy soils...
Anthropic To Help Pay For Data Centre Grid Costs
Anthropic announced it will cover the grid costs associated with its AI data centres, partnering with utilities to estimate and offset residential electricity price hikes. The company will also finance infrastructure upgrades, invest in new power generation, and implement demand‑response...
IIAs 2026 | Copeland’s Site Expansion in Cookstown, Northern Ireland
US‑based climate‑tech firm Copeland announced a £19 million expansion of its Cookstown, Northern Ireland factory, adding a new production line for heat‑pump compressors. The investment, the most impactful small‑sized project in Europe according to the 2026 Investment Impact Awards, is projected...
IIAs 2026 | Smart Solar Technologies’ Solar Module Factory in Stara Zagora, Bulgaria
Smart Solar Technologies, a Turkish cleantech firm, announced a €122 million investment to build a solar cell and module factory in Stara Zagora, Bulgaria. The plant will target 1,500 MW of wafer, cell and module output and is expected to generate more than...
Australia’s Clean Energy Transition Has Been Powered by People. Solar for Renters Is the Next Chapter
Australia’s clean‑energy push, highlighted by the Cheaper Home Batteries Program, has driven rapid rooftop solar adoption, yet renters—over one‑third of households—remain excluded. Solar Citizens and a coalition of 72 groups have campaigned for a solar‑for‑renters framework, testing public consensus through...
A Firm Capturing Carbon at NYC High-Rises Tackles Canadian Gas Pipelines
CarbonQuest, a Spokane‑based startup, is expanding its carbon‑capture technology from New York high‑rise boilers to gas‑fired engines that power compressors on Canadian pipelines. The company secured a $4.1 million grant‑backed contract with Tourmaline to install a containerized vacuum pressure swing absorption...
Economics Has Failed on the Climate Crisis. This Complexity Scientist Has a Mind-Blowing Plan to Fix That
Complexity scientist Doyne Farmer proposes a $100 million global economic simulator that models every firm individually, starting with the energy sector’s 30,000 companies and 160,000 assets. By replacing perfect‑rationality and equilibrium assumptions with simple, adaptive agents, the model promises forecasts that...
China's CO2 Em
NEW ANALYSIS: China's CO2 has now been 'flat or falling' for 21 months * Down in 2025 * Still below Mar 2024 * Clean energy wave a key factor If this is China's peak (TBC) it's the climate story of the century so...
Ascott Prioritises Operational Efficiency in Decarbonisation Drive
Ascott is shifting its sustainability focus from guest‑facing gestures to system‑level operational improvements, targeting cooling efficiency, refrigerant discipline, and maintenance quality. The 2024 CarbonClear Initiative standardises energy audits and sets property‑level targets, using utility data and sub‑metering for verification. These...
Electric Cars Make up 3.5% of Jan Sales
🇮🇳About 3.5% of total passenger cars sold in January 2026 in India were electric (these are actual cars and do not include two- and three-wheelers).
Green Financing of Airports – Swedavia’s New Framework Casts Light on Global Developments
Swedavia, Sweden’s state‑owned airport operator, unveiled a green‑bond framework to fund airport infrastructure through public‑private partnerships. The model ties financing to ESG criteria, requiring projects such as terminals, car parks and people movers to meet strict environmental standards, often incorporating...
Texans Use More Power, Paying 28% More Per Capita
Despite CA having 2x the elec price as TX, Texans pay 28% more per cap for elec yearly because TX uses 2.7x the elec per cap as CA (vs 2.1x in 2001, so nothing to do with weather) even with...
Grid Batteries Displace Fossil Gas, Australia Leads
HEY FRIENDS A rare treat: I'm talking about something not only good but so good that it makes the cynics and climate delayers look amusingly silly. Big grid batteries are pushing dirty, expensive fossil gas out of the power grid,...
Fertilizer Matters EP42: China’s Green Ammonia Expansion
In this episode, Argus analysts Huijun Yao and Dinise Chng examine the rapid expansion of China’s green ammonia sector, highlighting the policy incentives, renewable‑energy integration and key projects slated for 2026‑2027. They detail which wind and solar farms will power...
Heat Pumps Cut Gas Use Even with Gas‑generated Electricity
Most people don’t know this: Heat pumps REDUCE gas consumption even if running 100% on electricity from a gas fired power plant. More here in my piece for @CarbonBrief 👇 https://t.co/rKlRE0ug1S https://t.co/DTnKDp9lZp
Upside Robotics Is Reducing Fertilizer Use and Waste in Corn Crops
Upside Robotics secured a $7.5 million seed round to scale its solar‑powered autonomous fertilizer robots for corn. The robots, driven by proprietary algorithms, have already cut fertilizer use by 70%, saving roughly $150 per acre. After testing on 70 acres in...