There's nothing like a good polar vortex to put the power system to the test—unless maybe it's a summer heat wave. Energy consulting firm Wood Mackenzie used the opportunity of this event as a chance to measure demand on the power grid. In a detailed study of power demand during the severest week of this 2019 Polar Vortex, from Jan. 27 to... Polar vortex tests viability of renewable power
There's nothing like a good polar vortex to put the power system to the test—unless maybe it's a summer heat wave. Energy consulting firm Wood Mackenzie used the opportunity of this event as a chance to measure demand on the power grid. In a detailed study of power demand during the severest week of this 2019 Polar Vortex, from Jan. 27 to... 
Last week, two prominent Congressional Democrats released an outline of a "Green New Deal" that they hope will spur discussion and even commitment to eliminating fossil-fuel use. The Resolution picked up support from a wide range of other Democrats in Congress, while others expressed caution. The deal would require the U.S. to eliminate all... 
![Mulan wind farm [CREDIT: Global Climate Budget 2018]](https://images.hgmsites.net/tmb/mulan-wind-farm-credit-global-climate-budget-2018_100682097_t.gif)
For electric-car drivers looking to emit less pollution as the drive, 2019 could be a banner year. The U.S. electric grid has been getting gradually greener as utilities replace coal fired powerplants with primarily wind and natural gas. That trend is due to reach a tipping point in 2019, according to numbers by the Energy Information Agency at... 
Sit down before you read this. Good. With all the dire warnings about climate-change coming from the most recent studies—from the Fourth National Climate Assessment released on Black Friday to an October report by the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change which showed that catastrophic effects could hit by 2040—the latest news... 
Americans want renewable electricity, and they want it now. That's the conclusion of a new study that has large power providers buzzing with nerves, according to a recent report on Vox. The report, done for the Edison Electric Institute and presented at a recent meeting of the utility trade group, shows that 70 percent of Americans said they want... 
Over the years, we've noted the paucity of solid data on the intersection of home solar energy and driving plug-in electric cars. A California-only study from 2012 still gets quoted occasionally, and we continue to seek more recent and more comprehensive data. Out of a mix of curiosity and desperation, we turned to our (far from unscientific)... 
![Photovoltaic solar panel installation on house, Fremont, California [image: Shiva Singh]](https://images.hgmsites.net/tmb/photovoltaic-solar-panel-installation-on-house-fremont-california-image-shiva-singh_100615724_t.gif)
Drivers who buy an electric car that plugs into the power grid to recharge the battery often start to consider the source of their energy. A 2012 analysis from California, in the earliest days of modern electric cars, indicated as many as four in 10 electric-car drivers were already using or considering the addition of home solar panels to... 
Today, there are roughly 750,000 plug-in electric vehicles on U.S. roads and about 3,800 powered by hydrogen fuel cells. Proponents of each type of vehicle argue strenuously that their powertrain is a better way to produce vehicles with zero emissions from the tailpipe. Electric cars can be charged at home overnight, and electricity in many areas... 
A majority of the photovoltaic solar panels used in the U.S. are imported from such countries as China, Malaysia, South Korea, Thailand, and Vietnam. Now, environmentalists and energy analysts worry that the new 30-percent tariff on solar-panel imports announced last Monday by President Donald Trump may stymie the rapidly growing clean-energy...