Hyperscale Growth Shifts Inland as AI Drives Power Demand
AI‑driven workloads are reshaping U.S. hyperscale data‑center growth, moving new builds inland where power is abundant. Texas and the Midwest, which already host about a third of existing capacity, are projected to capture over half of the upcoming development pipeline. Operators are favoring larger, power‑dense campuses—average capacity of new sites will be roughly double that of current facilities. While Northern Virginia remains the largest cluster, the expansion focus has shifted to inland markets such as Abilene, Mount Pleasant, and Kansas City.
Ameresco to Install Rooftop Solar on Miami-Dade County Buildings
Ameresco has secured a performance‑savings contract with Miami‑Dade County to design and install rooftop solar photovoltaic systems at the Miami‑Dade Children’s Courthouse and the E.R. Graham Building. The agreement also includes comprehensive interior and exterior LED lighting retrofits for both...
Massachusetts Senate Advances Bill to Limit Personal Driving Miles
The Massachusetts Senate voted 4‑1 to advance Senate Bill S.2246, directing the state Department of Transportation to set binding targets for cutting vehicle‑miles‑travelled (VMT) and establishing a new council to promote public‑transit use. Lawmakers argue the measure is essential for...
‘We Are Being Asked to Drain Our Reservoirs so a Sheriff Can Generate a Picture with Bigfoot’: An Ex-Programmer’s Brutal...
A former programmer, Mr. Hollingsworth, delivered a viral speech in Ravenna, Ohio, denouncing a proposed AI data center’s massive water and power demands. He highlighted the plan to siphon five million gallons of water daily and questioned the promised local...
Skyeton Unveils Zero‑Emission Fuel‑Cell Drone, Aiming for 20‑Hour Flights
Skyeton announced that its hybrid Raybird (ACS‑3) fuel‑cell drone has entered combat service with over 10 hours of flight time, and plans to extend endurance to 20 hours using on‑site green‑hydrogen generation. The move could reshape both military and civilian...
Coastal Republicans Back Offshore Wind Despite Trump Opposition
In this week's Current Climate newsletter: 🌬️Trump hates offshore wind. Republicans in coastal states don’t 🔋A Google spinout is using AI to create better batteries 🌿MIT’s Kate Brown on the environmental impact of grassy lawns https://www.forbes.com/sites/current-climate/2026/04/13/trump-hates-offshore-wind-coastal-republicans-dont/
U.S. Grid Mix Shows Renewables Overtake Natural Gas for First Time
U.S. grid data released this week revealed that renewable sources supplied a greater share of electricity than natural gas for the first time, with renewables accounting for roughly 34% of generation versus 33% for gas. The milestone reflects accelerating wind...
Cambodia Leverages 60% Renewable Power and ASEAN Grid Links to Hedge Against Global Shocks
The Asian Development Bank highlighted that more than 60% of Cambodia’s electricity now comes from renewable sources and its expanding role in the ASEAN power grid will act as a buffer against external economic shocks. The outlook underscores a model...
X-Energy Files IPO for SMR Venture, Eyes $2.3 Trillion Market
X-Energy has submitted a draft registration statement to the SEC for an IPO under the ticker XE, positioning its Xe-100 small modular reactor technology to serve a projected $2.3 trillion market. Backed by Amazon, Dow and other investors, the company aims...
Vertiv Acquires Prefab Enclosure Maker BMarko
Vertiv announced the acquisition of BMarko Structures, a South Carolina‑based maker of prefabricated and containerized data‑center enclosures. While financial terms were not disclosed, BMarko brings more than 500,000 sq ft of custom‑engineered modular structures to Vertiv’s Infrastructure Solutions business. The deal is...
As States Spend Millions to Woo Data Centers, Colorado Is Having a Reckoning
Colorado’s north Denver neighborhood, already among the nation’s most polluted ZIP codes, is confronting a new data‑center complex built by CoreSite. The facility’s 14 diesel generators, classified as carcinogenic, sit beside affordable housing, a health clinic and a senior‑living project,...
Maine Set To Become First State With Data Center Ban
Maine is poised to become the first U.S. state to impose a temporary ban on new data‑center construction, halting projects statewide until November 2027. The bill, already cleared by lawmakers, also creates a council to develop guardrails that protect residents from...
Farming Under Solar: How Agriphotovoltaics Can Transform Rural Livelihoods in India
India’s solar capacity has surged to roughly 150 GW, largely through ground‑mounted farms that consume valuable agricultural land. The resulting tension between energy expansion and farmer livelihoods has prompted interest in agriphotovoltaics (Agri‑PV), which co‑locates solar panels and crops. Early pilots,...
AMD: Memory, Not Compute, Is the Next Bottleneck in AI Data Centers
AMD’s latest blog highlights memory—not compute—as the emerging bottleneck in AI data centers, emphasizing that data movement now drives performance and power limits. The company promotes LPDDR5X, a low‑voltage mobile memory now adapted for servers, claiming superior performance‑per‑watt compared with...
$266B in Building Carbon Costs Saved Thanks to BACnet, Study Shows
A University of New Hampshire study commissioned by ASHRAE finds that BACnet‑enabled building automation systems have avoided 1.4 billion tons of CO₂ since 1995, translating to roughly $266 billion in avoided climate costs. The model projects an additional 2.06 billion tons could be...
Amazon Opens up Its Cloud Emissions Data
Amazon Web Services has unveiled a redesigned Sustainability console that gives customers direct access to detailed cloud emissions data. The dashboard aggregates carbon footprints across all three emissions scopes, offers monthly visualizations, and includes an API for seamless integration into...
Chinese OEMs Dominate 2025 Wind Market
Chinese turbine manufacturers captured 78% of the 176 GW of global wind capacity added in 2025, driving a record 45% year‑on‑year growth. China became the first country to install more than 100 GW in a single year, with nine domestic OEMs occupying...
How Foresight Prevented $100M in Delays and Cut Reporting Overhead by 90% for a Global Data Center Portfolio
Foresight, an AI‑driven portfolio assurance platform, helped a multinational data‑center operator avoid roughly $100 million in construction delays and slash reporting overhead by about 90 %. By consolidating fragmented project data into a single real‑time dashboard, the solution gave executives visibility into...
Isle of Wight to Deploy 1,500 EV Chargers
The Isle of Wight Council has awarded char.gy, with installer Joju, a contract to deploy more than 1,500 public curbside electric‑vehicle chargers across the island. The project is backed by roughly $2 million in funding from the UK’s Local Electric Vehicle...
Hillwood, PowerHouse Advance $20B Joliet Data Campus as Midwest AI Buildout Accelerates
On March 19, 2026, Joliet’s city council voted 8‑1 to annex roughly 795 acres for a $20 billion AI‑scale data‑center campus backed by Hillwood and PowerHouse. The 24‑building, 6.9‑million‑sq‑ft campus will eventually host up to 1.8 GW of power, positioning it among...
From Risk to Resilience: Securing Continuity in UK Data Centers
UK data centers, designated as critical national infrastructure, face mounting resilience challenges. Growing cyber threats, unpredictable power supply, and aging cooling systems are compounded by AI-driven high‑density workloads that exceed legacy capacity. Recent incidents—including a four‑day outage at Defra’s data...
Zwitterions Are The Key To New Solid-State Batteries
Oak Ridge National Laboratory scientists have engineered a polymer electrolyte infused with zwitterions that enables ion transport up to 10 billion times faster than conventional solid matrices. By fine‑tuning the zwitterion content to an optimal 80 % blend, the material forms self‑assembled...
Cool Cities Lab Heat-Mapping Tool Helps Cities Target Relief Where It’s Needed Most
World Resources Institute’s Cool Cities Lab, an open‑source heat‑mapping platform, launched in March and is now active in more than 20 cities worldwide. The tool provides block‑level data on temperature, humidity and thermal comfort, allowing municipalities to model the cooling...
How HVLS Fans Work with HVAC Systems to Improve Building Efficiency
HVAC systems consume roughly 35% of a building’s energy, and many facilities still run outdated, oversized equipment that creates temperature stratification and inefficiency. In large spaces, uneven air distribution forces HVAC units to work harder, raising costs and emissions. Adding...
Sri Lanka Urges Daytime EV Charging to Ease Grid Pressure
Sri Lanka is urging electric‑vehicle owners to shift charging from night to daytime to ease a 300 MW evening load spike. The country’s grid relies heavily on a 900 MW coal plant and about 1,000 MW of diesel capacity at night, while solar...
IRENA: Incentivise Renewables Deployment to Minimise Impacts of Global Energy Shock
The International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) released a policy advisory urging governments to speed up renewable‑energy deployment to shield economies from volatile fossil‑fuel prices. The agency estimates the EU has avoided about $67.8 billion in fuel costs thanks to recent solar...
EU Commission Backs Renewables and Nuclear to Shield Europe From Fossil-Fuel Gulf Turmoil
The European Commission, led by President Ursula von der Leyen, is accelerating a dual push for renewable energy and nuclear power, especially small modular reactors (SMRs), to shield Europe from supply shocks sparked by the Iran‑related conflict in the Strait...
Singtel's Nxera and Telekom Malaysia Top Out Data Center in Johor
Singtel’s Nxera data‑center arm announced the topping‑out of the structural phase for its new Johor facility, the first 64 MW segment of a 280 MW campus designed for high‑intensity AI workloads. The joint venture with Telekom Malaysia, TM Nxera, expects the initial phase...
AWS Launches "Project Houdini" To Speed up Data Center Construction - Report
Amazon Web Services announced Project Houdini, a program that shifts most data‑center construction into a factory environment. The initiative uses 45‑foot modular “skids” pre‑installed with power, cooling, cabling, lighting, fire‑suppression and security, allowing sites to be ready in two to...
Santa Monica Breaks Ground on $56m Zero-Emission Bus and Charging Project
Santa Monica has launched a $56 million zero‑emission bus program, backed by a $53.3 million state grant, to expand its battery‑electric fleet and build overhead gantry chargers. The initiative will support up to 195 electric buses and aims for a fully zero‑emission...
Oman’s Naqaa Sustainable Energy to Lead 500MW Botswana PV Project—Reports
Omani renewables firm Naqaa Sustainable Energy has been appointed lead developer for a 500 MW photovoltaic plant in Botswana, the country’s largest solar project to date. The plant, slated for the Maun region, will incorporate an integrated battery energy storage system....
Iron Mountain Tops Out Chennai Data Center, India
Iron Mountain celebrated the topping‑out of its Chennai CHN‑1 data center, a 23.2 MW facility that will go live later this year. The campus, built on a 4.3‑acre site in Ambattur, will eventually host two buildings delivering a combined 42 MW of...
Solar Generation to Rise 17% This Summer: EIA
The U.S. Energy Information Administration projects solar generation will rise 17% this summer compared with 2025, outpacing wind and helping meet peak demand. Overall electricity sales are expected to grow 1.2% in 2026, while coal output will fall about 10%...
Estonian Solutions Support Cruise Industry’s Green Transition
Estonia is presenting a practical, state‑backed maritime transition ecosystem at Seatrade Cruise Global 2026, featuring a $29.3 million retrofit fund, smart‑port digital tools, and a suite of local companies offering green technologies. The initiative focuses on retrofitting existing cruise ships with efficiency...
U.S. Sabotages Green Tech, China Set to Dominate
The US is turning it's back on green technology while creating the market for it. This combination is next level sabotage. If the point is to take us out of the next economy, it's working. China’s Electrostate Is Poised to Win...
IEA Partners with Governments to Bolster Energy Security
Excellent conversation with Helima Croft @CroftHelima at #ACFrontPage event in Washington on the key implications of the current energy crisis and how @IEA is working with governments around the world to support energy security in these challenging times https://t.co/JlWidtSqCK
Redwood Materials Scales Second‑Life Battery Storage to Power 24 Data Centers
Redwood Materials, the battery‑recycling firm founded by former Tesla CTO JB Straubel, announced a rollout of its second‑life energy‑storage system to 24 data centers, adding 20 MW of solar power and 12 MWh of repurposed EV batteries. The move marks the company’s...
Ex‑programmer's Viral Rant Spotlights AI's Environmental Toll
A viral speech from an ex-programmer opposing a new Ohio data center highlights the growing backlash against the real-world environmental and economic costs of powering AI https://t.co/VFHijZDu8i
Controversial Soda Mountain Solar Threatens Bighorn Sheep
No solar project in California more controversial than Soda Mountain. It would harm bighorn sheep. The developer is an oil company. Just 1,500 feet from Mojave National Preserve. Should CA approve it anyway? My latest for CLIMATE-COLORED GOGGLES: https://t.co/nHm7TLYZB1
CNOOC's Tianjin Heavy‑Equipment Plant Becomes China’s First Zero‑Carbon Factory
China National Offshore Oil Corporation’s Tianjin offshore equipment base secured zero‑carbon certification, marking the first heavy‑equipment plant in China to achieve such status. The factory leverages a digital‑twin system, solar and wind power, and carbon‑offset purchases to slash energy use...
AI Surge May Finally Boost Carbon Capture Economics
Interesting look via @axios' @AmyAHarder about whether the AI boom can finally create escape velocity for carbon capture in the power sector. Big tech has lots of money but the economics are still tough. Link in next post. #energy #climate...
Cambridge Student Housing Construction Begins to Meet Passivhaus Standards
Owlstone Croft: "Morgan Sindall Construction has started construction of student housing at the University of Cambridge, which will be built to Passivhaus standards." #passivhaus #passivehouse https://t.co/qUiokSlgju https://t.co/6SFSNr2WoW
Halocell Energy, Sofab Inks Advance Perovskite Collaboration
Halocell Energy and U.S. startup Sofab Inks have demonstrated that perovskite modules using Sofab’s Tinfab electron transport layer retain roughly 100% of their normalized efficiency after 1,300 hours of accelerated light and damp‑heat exposure. In contrast, comparable control devices lost...
Oklo Inc. Eyes Upcoming Earnings as Analysts Flag Buy Opportunity Amid $10 Trillion Nuclear Surge
Oklo Inc. will release its next quarterly earnings early next month, and analysts argue the filing could spark a buying wave. The company, valued at under $9 billion, is positioned to capture a slice of a $10 trillion nuclear renaissance driven by...
PJM Proposes Adding 14.9 GW with Bilateral Contracts, Central Procurement
The PJM Interconnection is proposing a one‑time, two‑phase backstop procurement of up to 14.9 GW to address projected capacity shortfalls driven by data‑center growth. Phase one would run bilateral contracts between generators and large loads from September to March, followed by...
US Data‑Center Delays Threaten Cloud Capacity for E‑commerce Giants
Nearly 50% of the United States' 2026 data‑center projects are delayed or cancelled, jeopardizing the cloud infrastructure that powers large e‑commerce sites. Analysts cite permitting roadblocks, community pushback and supply‑chain shortages as the main culprits, while $700 billion in hyperscaler capex...
Wah Kwong Unit Lines up Green Methanol Supply Deal
Wah Kwong’s fuel subsidiary Venture Energy has signed a supply agreement with Shanghai Shenji Energy to import ISCC‑certified green methanol, with first deliveries slated for the first half of 2026. The methanol, derived from municipal waste, crop residues and livestock...
Cork Airport to Deliver Ireland’s Largest Solar-Powered Carport
Cork Airport announced Ireland’s largest solar‑powered carport, a 1.7 MW structure with 3,696 photovoltaic panels slated for completion in August 2027. The carport will generate about 1.5 GWh of renewable electricity each year—roughly 20% of the airport’s power needs—and cut CO₂ emissions by...
Greengine Deploys World’s First Vertical Algal Biofilm Carbon Capture & Utilization Unit
Greengine Environmental Technologies has installed its G‑Urban Tree 100x, the world’s first vertical algal biofilm carbon capture unit, at Engineers India Limited’s Gurugram campus. The solar‑powered, modular system uses patented VABT™ technology to capture about 2.25 tonnes of CO₂ annually, equivalent...
Gadkari Sees Farmers as Future Energy Providers to Reduce Import Dependence
Union Minister Nitin Gadkari told farmers at the Unnat Krishi Mahotsav that they should expand beyond food production to become suppliers of bioenergy, ethanol, compressed natural gas and hydrogen. He highlighted the untapped revenue from agricultural residues and stressed the...