Energy

Aerial view of multiple large, square solar panels positioned at an angle on a solar farm.

Energy

Energy powers civilization. Developing technologies that can deliver abundant, sustainable energy is the challenge of our time and the promise of our future. Failure is not an option.
Featured
“Stopping climate change” is the wrong goal
Anything that matters to humans should be under our control. The climate matters—so we should control the climate.
What is The Great Progression: 2025 to 2050?
We have a historic opportunity to harness AI and other transformative technologies in order to make a much better world in the next 25 years.
These red-hot “green jobs” could help Gen Z cope with its eco-anxiety
“Green” jobs that help combat the climate crisis are on the rise, according to the World Economic Forum’s Future of Jobs 2025 report.
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Innovation chief says “pressure test” your pet hypothesis. It’s guaranteed to be wrong.
His grandfather, a member of Oppenheimer’s atomic bomb team, foresaw the potential of nuclear energy to power cities – not destroy them. Today, Astro Teller is on a mission to harness innovation for good. Here’s how he’s doing it.
Lab-grown cotton is on its way to consumers
Cellular agriculture startup Galy has signed a deal that will make its lab-grown cotton available to consumers for the first time.
A fusion rocket designed to travel 500,000 mph is under construction
British startup Puslar Fusion is developing a fusion rocket it says will travel 500,000 mph, expanding our reach throughout the solar system.
The world needs hundreds of thousands more offshore wind turbines – where will they all go?
The huge expansion of offshore wind farms required to meet net zero targets may be achievable, if we can find the right place to put them.
Using electric water heaters to store energy could do the work of 2 million home batteries
As we work towards fully electric households, have we overlooked a key enabling technology, the humble electric water heater?
Lab-grown meat is finally approved in the US. Here’s how you can get some.
Two startups from California have received regulatory permission to begin selling lab-grown chicken in the US.
California will begin backing intentional burns to control wildfire
After decades of suppression, California is now supporting prescribed burns and cultural burns.
Toyota claims it will double the range of EVs in less than 3 years
Toyota’s been a bit behind the EV game, but claims game-changing batteries and new EV models are on the way.
Tesla Superchargers will soon work with Ford and GM EVs
Ford and GM vehicles will be able to use the 12,000 Superchargers in early 2024, helping potentially set a new charging standard.
Can “terraforming” turn Mars or the moon into Earth 2.0?
Terraforming — the hypothetical process of making another place “Earth-like” — offers the hope of turning Mars or the moon into Earth 2.0.
AI is riding to the rescue on wildfires
AI-powered systems designed to detect, confirm, and detail wildfires at the earliest possible time may help firefighters tame infernos in the West.
How years of fighting every wildfire helped fuel the Western megafires of today
The current approach to fire management poses unnecessarily high stakes for forests. Here’s why fighting every fire does more harm than good.
Why EV growth in US could be much faster than expected
Consumer preferences and technological trends suggest that most buyers will be ready to choose an EV by 2030.
Desertification is destroying fertile land. Here’s how we’re fighting it.
Desertification is destroying once-fertile land at an alarming rate, but desert greening techniques are making degraded soil bloom again.
New “tandem” solar cell breaks world record
A new tandem solar cell containing layers of silicon and perovskite has demonstrated an unprecedented efficiency of 33.7%.
Here’s how growing plants on the Moon could benefit Earth
Making plants grow on the Moon could be instrumental in helping gardens to grow greener on Earth in the face of climate change.
AI is going to revolutionize the weather forecast
A tech startup in San Francisco is going to change how the world sees the weather.
These 4 charts show the unstoppable growth of solar
Solar is growing fast enough to displace fossil fuels from the entire global economy before 2050, but infrastructure needs to keep up.
Westinghouse’s small nuclear reactor could power the future
Westinghouse Electric Company has unveiled a small nuclear reactor based on the same tech as a larger reactor already in operation.
World’s first thermal energy storage “gigafactory” opens
Israel’s Brenmiller Energy has opened what is believed to be the first thermal energy storage gigafactory in the world.
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