Quinoxaline‐6,7‐dicarboxylate‐based Photothermal Polymers Inspired Multifunctional Hydrogels for High‐Efficient Solar‐Driven Water Purification
Researchers have created three new conjugated polymers that serve as photothermal agents in a hydrogel platform. The optimized polymer PDPP‑SeQ delivers a photothermal conversion efficiency of 26.71 % and enables a water evaporation rate of 10.18 kg m⁻² h⁻¹, the highest reported for organic systems. Integrated into a polyethyleneimine/polyvinyl alcohol hydrogel, the material simultaneously produces a modest 55 mV electric output without compromising evaporation performance. The resulting SAG‑Se device is portable, cyclable, and capable of removing a broad range of water contaminants.
Boosting Activity and Stability for the Alkaline Hydrogen Oxidation Reaction via Surface Reconstruction of Cu‐Ni Core–Shell Electrocatalysts Through Oxygen Intercalation
Researchers have developed a surface‑reconstruction method that uses nitric‑acid etching to modify Cu‑Ni core‑shell electrocatalysts for the alkaline hydrogen oxidation reaction (HOR). The process removes a Ni‑rich surface layer, intercalates oxygen into the top ~10 atomic layers, and redistributes Cu,...
The Energy Transition Has Its Own Strait of Hormuz
The clean‑energy transition is reshaping global energy chokepoints, moving vulnerability from oil‑laden sea lanes to the supply chains of critical minerals. Recent crises, such as the Iran war, have highlighted how dependent nations are on these new bottlenecks in refining,...
KEP Engineering Says Its Wastewater Solutions Enable Industries to Save 90-95% of Water
KEP Engineering Services announced its integrated wastewater solutions can recover 90‑95% of industrial wastewater, dramatically cutting fresh water usage. The portfolio combines effluent treatment plants, zero‑liquid‑discharge (ZLD) systems, multi‑effect evaporators and condensate‑integrated gas recovery to enable near‑total water reuse in...
Iran War Could Spur Europe to Double Down on Renewables — Again
The Iran war has halted Qatar’s liquefied natural gas output, sending EU gas prices soaring and reviving the bloc’s energy‑security alarm. EU energy chief Dan Jørgensen urged member states to accelerate renewable construction, echoing the post‑Ukraine‑invasion push. Between 2021 and 2025...
Nation's Largest Urban Battery to Take Center Stage Near San Francisco
Arevon has broken ground on the Cormorant Energy Storage Project in Daly City, a 1‑gigawatt‑hour, 250‑megawatt battery built from 250 Tesla Megapack 2 XL containers on an 11‑acre urban lot. The facility, slated to start operating in about a year, will be...
Global Energy Crisis Reinforces Indonesia’s 100 GW Solar Push, but Hurdles Persist
President Prabowo Subianto reaffirmed Indonesia’s ambition to add 100 GW of solar capacity within three years amid Middle‑East energy‑security concerns. Solar currently accounts for only 1.7 % of the power mix, while renewables total 16 % and coal 36 %. The rollout faces regulatory...
Vietnam’s REE Unveils Investment Plan for Offshore Wind, Floating Solar
Vietnam’s Refrigeration Electrical Engineering Corporation (REE) announced a $1 billion investment to boost its renewable‑energy portfolio to about 3,000 MW by 2030, more than doubling its current 1,200 MW capacity. The strategy centers on offshore wind, near‑shore wind and floating solar, building on...
U.S. Biofuels Target Could Fuel Destruction of Tropical Rainforest
President Trump announced an EPA rule that raises the Renewable Fuel Standard to 27 billion gallons of biofuel by 2027, including a 60 percent jump—about 9 billion gallons—in biomass‑based diesel. The United States does not produce enough vegetable oil to meet the new...
Sponsored: Power Is Now the Growth Constraint: What Data Center Executives Must Rethink in 2026
Data center growth is increasingly limited by power availability, with interconnection queues, grid congestion, and ESG pressures turning electricity from a cost line‑item into a strategic constraint. Executives are seeing traditional utility procurement models falter at 20‑400 MW scales, prompting board‑level...
Dominion SC IRP “Doubles Down on Costly Fuels” — Sierra Club Analysis
Dominion Energy South Carolina’s 2026 Integrated Resource Plan leans heavily on fracked‑gas and keeps coal plants operating well beyond typical retirement dates. The filing shows the Wateree and Williams coal units slated for retirement no earlier than 2032‑2047, while the...
‘Phytocapture’ From Kazakhstan Research Institute Helps Trap Airborne Dust Near Gold Mine
China's Zijin Mining will spend $500 million to build a processing plant in Kazakhstan after acquiring RG Gold for $1.2 billion. RG Gold, now part of Zijin, has planted over 100,000 Scots pine trees across 20 hectares to capture dust from its Raygorodok open‑pit...
Rooftop Solar Now Accounts for One Fifth of Puerto Rico’s Generation Capacity
Rooftop solar now supplies roughly one‑fifth of Puerto Rico’s total generation capacity, overtaking natural gas as the island’s second‑largest source. Distributed solar accounted for 81% of all new capacity added between 2016 and 2025, bringing the installed rooftop base to...
Portuguese Companies Launch Project to Transform Fishing Waste Into CO2 Capture Technology
Portugal’s NOVA.ID.FCT has launched the AERO2cycle consortium to convert fishery by‑products—scales, skin, bones—into biochar‑based aerogels that capture carbon dioxide. Funded by the national science foundation and partnered with universities in Portugal, Spain, and Italy, the initiative targets a pilot‑scale technology...
No, Iran War Won’t Boost Clean Hydrogen – Except in China
The Iran war is unlikely to ignite a lasting green‑hydrogen boom in Europe, as past energy shocks have shown that investment hinges on sustained high gas prices—a condition that rarely persists. BloombergNEF notes that the EU is on track to...
Southwest Power Pool Announces Expansion of Service Territory
Southwest Power Pool (SPP) officially expanded its service territory on April 1, 2026, becoming the first regional transmission organization to operate across both the Eastern and Western Interconnections. The expansion now covers roughly 732,000 square miles in 17 states, serving about...
Chemists Make Hydrogen From Breadcrumbs in Groundbreaking Reaction that Could Replace some Fossil Fuels
Chemists at the University of Edinburgh have demonstrated a hybrid bio‑catalytic process that turns bread crumbs into hydrogen for hydrogenation reactions. By pairing E. coli that ferment waste‑derived glucose with a palladium catalyst, the team achieved a 94% yield of the...
The Charts Are Showing Solar Stocks Will Keep Soaring After a Strong Start to the Year
Solar-focused Invesco Solar ETF (TAN) has surged 16% year‑to‑date and 62% since President Trump’s return, outperforming most sectors. Technical analysis shows the fund trading between $52 and $60, with MACD and RSI turning positive, indicating a likely continuation of the...
Terabase Energy Invests in Automation and Engineering to Streamline Solar Construction
Terabase Energy’s upgraded Terafab V2 system has completed field testing and is now ready for commercial deployment, using AI‑assisted robotics to assemble and place solar panel‑tracker modules on‑site. The automated line can process assemblies in two‑minute cycles, potentially delivering 20 MW...
Georgia Power Breaks Ground on 1 GWh BESS Near Existing Solar Site
Georgia Power has broken ground on a 260 MW battery energy storage system with just over 1 GWh capacity adjacent to its existing solar farm near Wadley, Georgia. Burns & McDonnell will build the BESS, targeting completion in 2027. The storage will capture...
Global Solar Additions Reached Record 511 GW in 2025, Says IRENA
IRENA reports a record 511 GW of solar added in 2025, representing 75% of the 692 GW of renewables capacity installed worldwide. Total renewable power capacity reached 5.14 TW, about 49% of global installed power. Asia supplied 74.2% of new renewable capacity, while...
Cookstoves with SIM Cards Are Reviving a Contested Carbon Credit
Carbon markets have been shaken by a $250 million fraud and methodological flaws that let cookstove projects claim excessive credits. A new metered methodology, approved by Gold Standard and the Integrity Council, uses SIM‑equipped stoves to record real‑time usage, addressing over‑optimistic...
How Toroidal Transformers Eliminate the Hidden Inefficiency in Your Power System
Toroidal transformers use a solid, gap‑free ring core that keeps magnetic flux confined, delivering roughly 40% lower energy loss and up to 80% less magnetic leakage than traditional E‑I designs. The tighter flux path also reduces heat, extending service life...
Earth Month Giveback: BLUETTI and Leave No Trace First Bio-Based Power Station Initiative
Clean‑energy company BLUETTI has renewed its partnership with the nonprofit Leave No Trace, launching the Bio‑Based Elite 100 V2 Giveback initiative. The program pledges a $1 donation for every Bio‑Based Elite 100 V2 power station sold through September 30, 2026, supporting...
Wind Turbine Giant to Invest over $10bn in Green Fuels Projects
Chinese wind turbine maker Mingyang announced plans to pour more than $10 bn into renewable energy, green hydrogen and ammonia projects in Ethiopia. The pledge was disclosed by the Ethiopian Investment Commission following a business forum that secured over $13 bn in...
Strategic Decarbonization Can Aid Green Goals While Improving Maintenance
Tenants are increasingly demanding sustainable building features and are willing to pay higher rents for them, prompting owners and facilities managers to align decarbonization with broader asset strategies. A new CBRE‑RMI‑ULI report argues that treating decarbonization as a separate initiative...
Carbon Upcycling Technologies Raises $10M To Advance Low-Carbon Cement Systems
Carbon Upcycling Technologies announced a $10 million financing round led by ATEL Ventures to commercialize its low‑carbon cement platform. The capital will fund the company’s first on‑site carbon capture facility at a major cement plant in Mississauga, slated to begin operations...
Denver Considers Data Center Moratorium as It Aims to Reduce Water Use by 20%
Denver city officials are weighing a one‑year moratorium on new data center construction as part of a broader effort to slash municipal water consumption by 20% over the next twelve months. The measure follows recent restrictions that require restaurants to...
Wind and Solar Power Delivered Record Share of UK Electricity in 2025
UK renewable electricity reached a record 52.5% of the power mix in 2025, driven by wind, solar and biomass generation. Wind power alone supplied over half of total renewable output, while solar saw notable growth despite seasonal constraints. The government’s...
Polestar Launches Recycled Battery Content in Two Models
Polestar announced that the battery packs in its Polestar 2 and Polestar 3 models will contain at least 50 % recycled cobalt, marking the first rollout of circular battery material in its lineup. The initiative is part of a broader circularity strategy that...
LONGi Launches Integrated Solar-Plus-Storage Strategy
Chinese PV leader LONGi unveiled its integrated solar‑plus‑storage solution, LONGi One, shifting from multi‑vendor architectures to a single‑partner model. The offering combines LONGi’s back‑contact solar panels with its 5S storage platform, featuring the OneBank 2.0 AC/DC solution for utility projects and...
How Cities Can Encourage Faster, Cheaper Rooftop Solar
Cities across the United States are inflating residential solar costs by up to $7,000 due to cumbersome permitting, inspection bottlenecks, and outdated utility interconnection rules, according to a new report from Environment America and Frontier Group. Installers are increasingly bypassing...
Former Exodus Data Center in Sydney, Australia, to Be Replaced with 70MW Facility
Digital Realty announced plans to demolish its legacy Exodus data center in Sydney and build a new 70 MW, 23,375 sqm multi‑story facility at 23‑25 Waterloo Road. The project, slated for a 1.2‑hectare site in Macquarie Park/North Ryde, could cost up to AU$700 million (about...
Solar Companies Donate System to St. Jude Dream Home Giveaway
Solar industry partners Tigo, Greentech Renewables, and GOAT Solar donated a 5.72‑kW solar system for the 2026 St. Jude Dream Home in California’s Coachella Valley. The package includes a 3.8‑kW Tigo EI inverter, Tigo TS4‑A‑O MLPE devices, and installation services,...
PERC Module Prices up 20% in the US, as Overall Module Prices Remain Constant
PERC (mono) solar modules jumped 20% in the United States, reaching $0.33 per watt between November 2025 and February 2026, while the overall average module price barely moved to $0.285/W. In contrast, TOPCon modules slipped to $0.28/W, making them cheaper than PERC...
Investment Group Acquires Stake in TotalEnergies’ German Energy Storage Portfolio
TotalEnergies has sold a 50 % stake in its 800‑MW German battery storage portfolio to Allianz Global Investors for about €500 million (≈$577 million). The portfolio comprises 11 projects under construction, delivering 1,628 MWh of capacity and slated for commercial operation within two years....
650-V Bidirectional GaN Could Rewrite the Power-Conversion Playbook
Renesas introduced the TP65B110HRU, a 650‑V bidirectional GaN switch, at APEC 2026. The device merges a d‑mode GaN chip with silicon MOSFETs, offering 110 mΩ on‑resistance, a 3‑V gate threshold, and ±20‑V gate margin. Its true bidirectional operation enables single‑stage 500‑W solar...
Watering Smarter, Not More: A Modern-Day Robotic Divining Rod
University of California‑Riverside researchers have created a robotic system that maps soil moisture at the individual tree level in citrus orchards. By measuring electrical conductivity and integrating data from existing moisture sensors, the robot generates detailed moisture maps that guide...
Innergex Commissions 13.2MW La Cense Wind
Innergex Renewable Energy and partner EOLFI have completed commissioning of the 13.2 MW La Cense onshore wind farm in France’s Oise region. The facility, consisting of four 3.3 MW Nordex N117 turbines, is expected to produce about 33 GWh of electricity per year...
North Sea Carbon Capture Projects Showing Steady Progress
Carbon capture and storage projects in the North Sea are moving from experimental pilots to commercial operations. Legacy gas producers such as Equinor, TotalEnergies and Shell are leading initiatives like Northern Lights, Northern Endurance Partnership and Porthos, each targeting multi‑megaton...
Ireland Must Accelerate Offshore Energy Production
Ireland aims for up to 37 GW of offshore renewable capacity by 2050, relying heavily on floating wind in its deep Atlantic waters. The government’s climate and industrial strategies earmark billions of euros—roughly $327 billion—in the National Development Plan, but current port...
Inside Sweden’s Policy U-Turn: Q&A with the Government’s Nuclear Lead
Sweden has abandoned its nuclear phase‑out, lifting the ban on new reactors and unveiling a roadmap that adds 2.5 GW of large‑scale capacity by 2035 and aims for 8.2 GW by that year. The government introduced a state‑backed financing scheme covering the...
Jet2 Achieves Fuel and Emissions Savings with Lightweight Paint
Jet2.com has begun applying AkzoNobel’s lightweight aircraft paint to more than 80 of its planes, delivering a weight reduction of over 20 kg per aircraft. The paint saves roughly a quarter‑million litres of fuel each year, cutting carbon emissions by more...
Reject Talen-Energy Capital Power Plant Deal, PJM Market Monitor Tells FERC
Federal regulators are being urged to reject Talen Energy’s proposed purchase of about 2.6 GW from Energy Capital Partners because the deal would amplify Talen’s market power in the PJM Interconnection. Monitoring Analytics warns the acquisition could pull capacity out of...
Boralex Secures $202m Ontario BESS Financing
Boralex and Six Nations of the Grand River Development Corporation have closed a CAD $202 million financing package (≈ US$147 million) for the 125 MW/500 MWh Oxford battery energy storage system in Ontario, slated for commercial operation in 2027. The deal, funded by Canadian Imperial Bank...
Digital Realty’s Aaron Binkley Outlines Heightened Focus on Data Center Energy Efficiency
Digital Realty’s sustainability chief Aaron Binkley highlighted the company’s intensified focus on energy‑efficient data centers as AI‑driven workloads surge. The firm is expanding its clean‑energy portfolio while adopting liquid‑cooling technology to curb water use. Binkley emphasized that transparent ESG reporting...
Radisson Hotel Group Raises Net-Zero Ambition for 100 Hotels, Sets 2030 Goal
Radisson Hotel Group announced a 2030 ambition for all 100 of its hotels to achieve net‑zero status, expanding the Verified Net Zero Hotels pilot that currently operates in Manchester and Oslo. The initiative targets full elimination of Scope 1 and 2...
Kaunas Airport Pioneers Use of Hydrogen Powered Truck
Lithuania’s Kaunas Airport successfully trialed a 10‑ton hydrogen‑powered heavy‑duty truck, completing roughly 100 km of apron, runway and taxiway cleaning without emitting CO₂. The test is part of the EU‑funded Interreg Baltic Sea Region BSR HyAirport project, which also sees similar pilots...
Improving Recycling Rates for Cell-to-Pack Battery Systems
The Fraunhofer IPA‑led ‘Difference’ project targets the low recyclability of Cell‑to‑Pack (CTP) battery designs, which replace traditional modules with directly integrated cells. By focusing on robot‑assisted, laser‑based disassembly, the consortium aims to separate adhesives, foams and metals efficiently. The initiative,...
China Inland Waterways Set for Zero-Carbon Push Under New Partnership
Wah Kwong NatPower and Huzhou Wuxing Ruituo Energy have signed an MOU to build zero‑carbon inland shipping corridors in China, starting with the Hangzhou‑Jiaxing‑Huzhou stretch of Zhejiang province. The partnership will install electric vessel charging stations and battery‑swap facilities, linked...