"Unlike wind turbines or solar arrays, electricity production from geothermal doesn’t rely on weather conditions, making it extremely reliable. And for this reason, the U.S. military is showing more interest in geothermal technologies to harden its facilities against power grid outages and cyber-attacks."
Clean hydrogen is driving the next Gulf Coast energy boom
"Over in southern Mississippi, Hy Stor’s vision operates on a similarly grand scale. The company, with just a dozen full-time employees, has acquired rights to nearly 70,000 acres across several counties in a state with almost no renewable power installed today. In just the first phase, Hy Stor will add around 2.7 gigawatts of electrolyzers, powered by twice that capacity of onshore wind, solar and geothermal. This off-grid design ensures that the hydrogen will be clean, a commitment that attracts customers who are serious about decarbonization, CEO Laura Luce told me."
This Georgia refinery is making low-carbon jet fuel from alcohol
"The ribbon-cutting event drew attendance from U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack and Department of Energy officials, as well as the company’s top financial backers. The Microsoft Climate Innovation Fund invested $50 million and Bill Gates’ Breakthrough Energy awarded a $50 million grant, both in 2022, to support construction of the first-of-a-kind facility."
Can scientists save your morning cup of coffee?
"Temperatures are rising and rainfall patterns shifting across South America, central Africa and South-East Asia, where most of the world’s coffee is grown. By the end of the century between 35% and 75% of the coffee-growing land in Brazil, the world’s biggest producer, could be unusable, according to a recent paper published in Science of the Total Environment by Cássia Gabriele Dias, an agricultural engineer at the Federal University of Itajubá, in Brazil."
Prodigy and Westinghouse Targeting Launch of eVinci Floating Nuclear Plant in Canada by 2030
"Prodigy underscores flexibility will be a key driver for the emerging FNPP market. But rather than developing reactors, its approach is to partner with leading SMR vendors to offer a standardized, scalable, and fully transportable nuclear power plant system—essentially by linking expertise in three mature industries: nuclear, maritime, and transport."
Hate Your Heating Bill? The New Heat Pumps Could Help
"A heat pump is a home heating and cooling system with an outdoor compressor that extracts the tiny amount of heat energy that exists in cold outdoor air, concentrates it and then pumps it indoors using a refrigerant and a heat exchange system. From there, fans circulate warm air throughout the house through ducts or units similar to wall-mounted radiators."
The University of Illinois Wants to Build a Mini Nuclear Reactor. Here’s Why
"The university has a history with nuclear power: It operated a reactor on the campus for research purposes, for almost four decades until 1998. Now it is exploring a smaller and safer microreactor concept that could be built quickly and relatively cheaply in a factory, rather than a traditional reactor which takes years to construct and costs billions of dollars."
Green Horizons: Three Climate Solutions Set to Flourish in 2024
As we step into 2024, these three climate solutions are ready to create pathways to lower emissions and promote economic development.
AI is Streamlining Permitting for Solar Projects Across the U.S.
Artificial intelligence is well poised to play a crucial role in optimizing and expediting the deployment of innovative, trailblazing solutions.
SMR Developer X-Energy Completes Canadian Pre-Licensing Milestone, Projects Look Promising
"The reactor system employs a seamless process wherein more than 200,000 fuel pebbles are gravity-fed and continuously rotated through the core. The innovative fuel cycle enables uninterrupted operation for up to 60 years, according to X-energy. Helium circulates within the core, absorbing immense quantities of heat without becoming radioactive. This superheated helium is then employed to convert water into steam, subsequently propelling a turbine to generate a constant supply of carbon-free electricity."









