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North Carolina — like much of the U.S. — is in a high-stakes race to protect consumers and the climate from the data center boom. Without preventative measures, the energy-hungry facilities threaten to spike electricity prices and prompt a huge buildout of polluting fossil-fueled power plants. Now, after lots of…

The Trump administration says one of the world’s biggest natural gas–fired power plants will come to Ohio. But financial risks, permitting hurdles, and uncertainties about the project’s access to equipment have critics doubting when — and if — the plant will come online. The U.S. Department of Commerce unveiled the…

In Washington state, the Trump administration’s crusade to force aging coal plants to stay online is meeting resistance from lawmakers — and confronting the reality that the state’s power grid is doing just fine without coal. On Monday, the Department of Energy issued its second 90-day emergency order demanding the…

Around the country, community solar has emerged as a way to bring clean, affordable power to people who aren’t able to access rooftop solar, primarily because it’s too expensive or they aren’t homeowners. But in California, a widely supported plan to get subscription-based multi-megawatt solar-battery projects off…

This story was produced by Grist and co-published with The Texas Observer . Sign up for Grist’s weekly newsletter and for the Texas Observer’s weekly newsletter . In the far corner of the Crockett County Senior Center, 75-year-old Cynthia Flores almost always has a puzzle going. She and her friends sort…

Last year, Southern California’s air regulators rejected landmark rules that would have encouraged the switch from polluting gas heaters to electric heat pumps in the smoggiest region in the country. Now, environmental and public health advocates are pressing state and local officials to investigate whether…

The war in the Middle East has spurred the largest oil disruption in history . The Strait of Hormuz, a choke point for much of the world’s oil and gas supply, is functionally closed . Oil prices are hovering around $100 a barrel. Many Americans are seeing the fallout in the form of higher prices at the gas pump. But…

This analysis and news roundup come from the Canary Media Weekly newsletter. Sign up to get it every Friday. California made itself a rooftop solar leader — and now it’s undoing that legacy. Sure, sunny skies have played a big role in getting Californians to install panels at their homes. But for years, the state…

See more from Canary Media’s “Chart of the Week” column . California and Texas are far ahead of the pack when it comes to grid batteries. But another state is seeing storage expand quickly as it looks to store more of its abundant, cheap solar power for later. Arizona saw blistering growth in utility-scale…

The Trump administration is pushing to revive the U.S. nuclear industry — but slow-moving talks with the developer of the nation's flagship nuclear reactor have prompted officials to explore alternatives. Last May, amid surging demand for more electricity, President Donald Trump issued a flurry of executive orders…

Wouldn’t it be nice if you could just buy a pair of solar panels at Walmart in the morning and plug them in on your deck in the afternoon — in the span of a few hours, setting yourself up to produce clean energy that will lower your electricity bill? But that’s not an option for most Americans right now. For one…

One of the most promising low-carbon cement startups, Sublime Systems , has hit a major roadblock in its efforts to scale up production. The startup said this week that it had laid off about two-thirds of its workforce, having already paused construction in December on its forthcoming commercial-scale facility in…

Across the country, state lawmakers are considering ways to address the risks posed by the explosion of power-hungry data centers. They have proposed an array of bills to impose moratoriums on data center development, revoke tax breaks, force data centers to pay for new energy infrastructure, and enact other…

House Bill 15, a major energy law that blocked utilities from owning and operating electricity generation, cruised through Ohio’s legislature last year with nearly unanimous support from both parties. Now, draft legislation aims to carve out an exception to the popular law and allow utilities to build, own, and…

Base Power , the Texas-based home-battery juggernaut, just revealed how it’s spending some of the $1 billion it raised in October. The startup’s plan is to build one of the nation’s largest fleets of home batteries, for a cooperative utility outside Dallas–Fort Worth. Cleantech startups and advocates alike keep…

All five offshore wind farms being built in the U.S. are on track to hit key construction and operational milestones this month — even as the Trump administration continues its campaign to halt their development. Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind, a 2.6-gigawatt project near Virginia Beach, Virginia, is expected to…

Lots of Americans are electrifying their cars and homes, enticed by the prospect of lower bills , cleaner air , and less planet-warming pollution . But all that new electric equipment creates a serious challenge: It requires bigger, better infrastructure to manage the increased flow of electrons, from the electrical…

This story was originally published by Grist . Sign up for Grist’s weekly newsletter . Mike Fleming was always interested in geothermal energy — how it works, how sustainable it is, and how efficiently it can heat homes and businesses. But Fleming, who has a decade of experience drilling wells in New England,…

Last spring, when the Second Harvest Food Bank of Northwest North Carolina installed a giant solar array on its new headquarters in Winston-Salem, leaders of the project hoped it would inspire other nonprofits to follow suit. Sure enough, it has done just that. A 400-kilowatt solar array is now being built at the…

Breaker boxes can be a hidden stumbling block for households looking to go electric. Many of these devices are too small to support the electrical needs of a home plus the addition of an EV charger, a heat pump, and other power-hungry appliances. But upgrading them can take lots of time and money. Smart electrical…