renewable energy

<strong>South Africa Suffers Energy Crisis as Aging Coal Plants Fail</strong>

South Africa Suffers Energy Crisis as Aging Coal Plants Fail

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has declared a National State of Disaster over the country’s worst-ever rolling blackouts. Many customers have been without power for as much as 12 hours per day to keep aging coal-fired power plants — the backbone of the country’s electricity network — running. Ramaphosa called the power crisis “an existential […]

Join our newsletter

The best of EcoWatch, right in your inbox. Sign up for our email newsletter!

    Biden’s State of the Union Criticizes Big Oil Profiteering, Says Oil Will Be Needed for ‘at Least Another Decade’

    Biden’s State of the Union Criticizes Big Oil Profiteering, Says Oil Will Be Needed for ‘at Least Another Decade’

    President Biden touted the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act and criticized Big Oil profiteering while saying oil would be needed “for at least another decade” in his State of the Union address Tuesday night. Connecting the devastation wrought by across the country by “record floods, droughts, storms and wildfires” to climate change, Biden touted […]

    <strong>BP Scales Back Climate Targets as Profits More Than Double</strong>

    BP Scales Back Climate Targets as Profits More Than Double

    Oil and gas giant BP has scaled back plans to reduce its production of fossil fuels by 2030 after it saw record annual profits that more than doubled to $27.7 billion last year. Gas prices soared following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, bolstering the company’s earnings. BP now plans to increase its oil and gas production […]

    Nearly 5,000 Solar Panels Added to Longest Dam in Switzerland

    Nearly 5,000 Solar Panels Added to Longest Dam in Switzerland

    Switzerland’s longest dam — also the highest dam in Europe — has now been adorned with nearly 5,000 solar panels. The added solar panels help provide additional energy, particularly during the winter months. The 2.2 megawatt project, called AlpinSolar, will provide about 3.3 million kilowatt hours of electricity per year, with half of that energy […]

    54% of New Electric-Generating Capacity in U.S. Will Be Solar in 2023, EIA Says

    54% of New Electric-Generating Capacity in U.S. Will Be Solar in 2023, EIA Says

    A new report from the U.S. Energy Information Administration expects 54% of new electric-generating capacity in the U.S. to come from solar energy for 2023. Developers are planning to add 54.5 gigawatts of new utility-scale electric-generating capacity to the country’s power grid this year, most of it being solar, according to EIA’s Preliminary Monthly Electric […]

    Germany Can Meet Its Energy Needs With Earlier Coal Exit, Report Finds

    Germany Can Meet Its Energy Needs With Earlier Coal Exit, Report Finds

    Germany is in the midst of a debate about when it will stop using coal. While the current coalition government under Social Democrat Chancellor Olaf Scholz wants to phase out the highly polluting fossil fuel by 2030, states in the country’s east want to maintain an earlier, less ambitious target of 2038. Now, a report […]

    Berkeley National Lab Unveils Easier, Less Expensive Battery Recycling Method

    Berkeley National Lab Unveils Easier, Less Expensive Battery Recycling Method

    Scientists at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) have revealed a new battery material, which they call the Quick-Release Binder, to make battery recycling easier and more affordable. While lithium-ion battery use is expected to grow elevenfold from 2020 to 2030, materials in these batteries, like lithium, cobalt and nickel, are in increasingly limited supply, […]