Soil is arguably the most critical factor involved in any plant’s life cycle. It serves many roles, including anchoring a plant in place, storing and supplying nutrients, breaking down organic matter, and insulating the plant. These are just a few of the many functions soil performs for a single plant.
The U.S. Army Just Took a Historic Step to Break China’s Rare Earth Dominance
The U.S. Army has placed REalloys at the center of America’s drive to rebuild its heavy rare earth supply chain, selecting the company to build and operate the first-ever commercial critical mineral processing operation on a U.S. military installation. REalloys plans to build a heavy rare earth processing complex at the Tooele Army Depot in Utah capable...
Oklahoma Leads the Way on Geothermal
It’s always difficult to make predictions, as Yogi Berra said, especially about the future. However, looking back across the history of humanity, it is safe to say that the world will need more energy in the years and decades ahead, as it has steadily used more energy year after year in the past.
Aalo Atomics’ Test Reactor Reaches Criticality at INL, Fourth DOE-Authorized Advanced Reactor by July 4
Aalo Atomics’ Aalo-X Critical Test Reactor (CTR)—dubbed “Project First Light”—has reached criticality at Idaho National Laboratory (INL), marking the fourth Department of Energy (DOE)–authorized advanced reactor startup under the federal push to accelerate reactor testing and demonstration. The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) said July 6 that Aalo’s test reactor, which DOE referred to as...
Trump Energy Department hits its target on small nuclear reactors. Now comes the hard part.
The Trump administration announced Wednesday that three advanced nuclear reactors built by U.S. companies had reached key operational milestones, meeting its July 4 goal to advance the nascent technology it hopes will revolutionize the power sector. A reactor from Houston-based Deployable Energy became the third during Trump’s term to reach criticality, in which it produces...
This Dublin-based Firm is Harnessing AI to Optimize Building Energy Systems
Recent heatwaves across Western Europe are highlighting the growing need for reliable and efficient climate-control infrastructure. limate infrastructure firm Trane Technologies is helping address this challenge through its energy optimization services powered by artificial intelligence. A leading provider of heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) systems, Trane’s innovative roster of energy-efficient technologies reduce energy consumption, improve efficiency, and enhance operational resilience across a wide array of facilities, from data centers and hospitals to residential buildings.
Verogy Starts Work on Solar Facilities at Municipal Landfills
A Connecticut-based developer of distributed energy resources said it has begun construction on solar power installations at four municipal landfill sites in that state. Verogy, a West Hartford-headquartered group and distributed energy integrator focused on commercial, industrial, and utility-scale projects, on June 16 said each project is participating in Connecticut’s Non-Residential Renewable Energy Solutions (NRES) program. The NRES...
Switch Bioworks Advances Microbial Fertilizer to Corn Trials
Switch Bioworks is moving its engineered microbial fertilizer into U.S. field trials, giving the company a practical test for technology designed to reduce dependence on conventional nitrogen fertilizer. The San Carlos, California-based biotechnology company has received authorization from the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to begin advanced research and development field trials across multiple...
Fusion, A Down to Earth Moonshot Worth Taking
The term “moon shot” was launched in the 1940s, according to research by the Oxford English Dictionary. “The real result of all the work which would have to go into the moon shot,” Rotarian magazine wrote in 1949, “would be the knowledge of how to build and operate rockets of such size.”








