#clean-energy

#clean-energy

The Iran war has once again shown our drive for clean power is essential for our energy security so we can escape the grip of fossil fuel markets we don't control.

At the center of the dispute are eight dams and reservoirs on the Columbia and Snake Rivers in the Pacific north-west that have created devastating obstacles for salmon and steelhead unable to breach their deadly turbines or navigate through the large, warm, artificial pools.

I obviously don't agree with that because we were elected to stand up for the British national interest, Miliband said in an interview at the International Energy Agency ministerial meeting Wednesday.

Octopus Energy Generation is investing nearly $1bn in Californian clean technology projects, deepening its exposure to the US energy transition and accelerating plans to deploy $2bn across the country by 2030. The funding, channelled through Octopus-managed funds, spans carbon removal, heat battery technology and solar-plus-storage infrastructure, reinforcing the company's strategy of backing next-generation decarbonisation assets in advanced markets. Octopus will support two California-based carbon removal companies focused on grassland restoration and reforestation, converting degraded land into high-quality carbon-absorbing assets.

January 26 marks the International Day for Clean Energy, an initiative aimed at raising awareness and mobilizing action for an inclusive transition from fossil fuels, such as coal, oil, and natural gas, to power generation systems with lower greenhouse gas emissions and fewer pollutants. The term "clean" signals a fundamental shift away from extractive, finite, and exhaustible energy sources toward systems based on renewable resources or on capturing energy embedded in natural processes.

Food carts are a staple of New York City dining, dispensing everything from dosa and doner kebabs to dogs and dim sum in short order. But no matter how enticing the aroma of a cart's food, the smelly gas generators that keep the lights on threaten to put customers off their meals. Cart owners and customers may not have to suck on fumes much longer.

Coal power generation fell in China and India for the first time since the 1970s last year, in a historic moment that could bring a decline in global emissions, according to analysis. The simultaneous fall in coal-powered electricity in the world's biggest coal-consuming countries had not happened since 1973, according to analysts at the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air, and was driven by a record roll-out of clean energy projects.

iShares Global Clean Energy ETF ( NYSEARCA:ICLN) delivered a 49% return over the past year, nearly tripling the S&P 500's 18% gain. The fund tracks approximately 100 global companies in renewable energy, utilities, and clean technology. With $1.9 billion in assets and a 0.39% expense ratio, ICLN provides broad exposure to solar, wind, fuel cells, and electric utilities positioned to benefit from surging power demand.

Two years ago, a $575 million battery factory planned in St. Louis, Missouri, was set to be the first large-scale lithium iron phosphate (LFP) facility in the U.S. This November, after the Trump administration withdrew a grant for the project, it was cancelled -becoming one of more than 50 major clean energy projects to be scrapped or scaled back in 2025.

The acquisition, announced Monday, is intended to give Alphabet's Google access to more power generation for its data centers as aging US grids struggle to meet power demand that's booming for the first time in decades thanks to artificial intelligence, new factories and overall electrification of the economy. Google took a minority stake in the energy provider last year by entering a partnership with Intersect to build big energy plants next to data center campuses, Bloomberg previously reported.

But China has now raced far beyond the flirtation stage. It's rolling out fleets of autonomous delivery trucks, experimenting with flying cars and installing parking lot robots that can swap out your E.V.'s dying battery in just minutes. There are drones that deliver lunch by lowering it from the sky on a cable. If all that sounds futuristic and perhaps bizarre, it also shows China's ambition to dominate clean energy technologies of all kinds,

It's a massive growth engine for the U.S. economy and brimming with once-unimaginable investment and experimentation. The tech and energy industries - and perceptions of them - are shifting fast and often in counterintuitive ways. The big picture: AI sucks up most of the media and public attention. But our energy landscape is also changing at an unprecedented clip to power that AI.

More than 1,000 Amazon employees have signed an open letter expressing serious concerns about AI development, saying that the company's all-costs justified, warp speed approach to the powerful technology will cause damage to democracy, to our jobs, and to the earth. The letter, published on Wednesday, was signed by the Amazon workers anonymously, and comes a month after Amazon announced mass layoff plans as it increases adoption of AI in its operations.

PETER LEYDEN: We're living in an extraordinary moment in history. We are at a moment here in 2025 where we have world historic game-changing technologies now starting to scale. Artificial intelligence, clean energy technologies, bioengineering, all here. We're at the cusp of a potentially a great era of progress. But America and the world itself are going through huge contortions. Old systems of the past are collapsing, and new systems of the future are still to be born.

Suleyman identifies three areas where humanist superintelligence could have a transformative impact. The first is the personal AI companion, designed to assist people in their learning, productivity and well-being, without replacing human connection. The second is medical superintelligence, capable of delivering expert-level diagnostics and treatment, expanding global access to healthcare. And the third, clean and abundant energy, where AI would facilitate scientific discovery, resource optimization and development of sustainable generation technologies.

The attorneys general of more than a dozen states on Thursday sued the Trump administration over the termination of $7 billion in funding intended for affordable solar energy projects across the U.S. The coalition, which also included the District of Columbia and other stakeholders, argued in the lawsuit that the Environmental Protection Agency's cancellation of the Solar for All program violated the law governing federal agencies and the constitutional separation of powers.

Aerospace engineer KR Sridhar always dreamed big: He used to work with NASA on technology to convert carbon dioxide into oxygen to support life on other planets or let humans breathe air on Mars. But as the Soviet Union fell and the space race slowed, Sridhar pivoted to providing clean energy technology for the rising global middle class. He cofounded Ion America in 2001-renamed Bloom Energy five years later-with a focus on fuel cells that deliver cleaner, on-site, off-grid power.

There's been a lot going on and we almost forget that the federal government is approaching its third week of shutdown. The administration has used the time to cancel and pause billions in grants in the places you might guess. Tony Romm and Lazaro Gamio for the New York Times have the analysis.

Six years after Donald Trump allegedly wrote a suggestive birthday note to Jeffrey Epstein, the current US president put his name to something that now seems almost as shocking: a letter calling for action on the climate crisis. In 2009 Trump, then a real estate developer and reality TV personality, was among a group of business leaders behind a full-page advertisement in the New York Times calling for legislation to control climate change, an immediate challenge facing the United States and the world today.

Google has unveiled plans to invest an additional £5 billion in the UK over the next two years, in a move it says will help expand the country's artificial intelligence economy, create thousands of jobs and accelerate breakthroughs in science and technology. The announcement coincides with the state visit of US President Donald Trump, during which major technology and energy deals are expected to dominate the agenda. The investment will include significant spending on Google's infrastructure, research and engineering teams, as well as support for Google DeepMind, its London-based AI arm. The company said the expansion would generate 8,250 " new AI-driven jobs " in Britain.