Hourly load in Electric Reliability Council of Texas territory averaged a record 74.5 GW the week of Aug. 22, the Energy Information Administration said in a Sept. 3 report, shortly after ERCOT reached a new peak demand record of 91 GW on July 22. “Sustained high temperatures have contributed to persistently high electricity demand in...
Amid Severe Drought, Water Solutions Companies are Stepping In to Optimize Scarce Water Resources
Leveraging Xylem's 'smart sewer' technology, the community of South Bend, Indiana, was able to save around $400 million in planned infrastructure spending... roughly one billion gallons of polluted water are now prevented from contaminating the St. Joseph River every year.
Long-term enhanced geothermal test begins in Utah
A four-month test of enhanced geothermal systems performance, aimed at derisking the technology to ensure its commercial viability, began in Utah earlier this month, according to the Frontier Observatory for Research in Geothermal Energy. The test is an “extended circulation” which will allow the FORGE team to “evaluate reservoir performance under continuous flow” over the...
A Stronger El Niño Is Putting Crop Forecasting to the Test
Across major farming regions, crop conditions are shifting quickly as rainfall and temperature patterns become more uneven. Too much rain is creating problems in some places, while others are dealing with persistent dryness.
US nuclear fuel facility set for 50% expansion with 24 new centrifuge cascades
Urenco plans to expand uranium enrichment capacity at its U.S. facility in New Mexico by nearly 50 percent, adding 2.1 million separative work units (SWU) to support rising domestic demand for nuclear fuel. The multi-billion-dollar project will install 24 cascades of gas centrifuges at the National Enrichment Facility in Eunice. The first cascades are scheduled...
Record-setting geothermal bid signals rising interest in federal leases
A June geothermal lease sale held in New Mexico by the Bureau of Land Management netted more than $16.5 million, making it the second-highest-grossing sale in BLM history, while the top bid set a federal record of $701 per acre. Forty-seven parcels sold at an average of $107 per acre, more than triple the $32...
AI Mapping Links Drones and LiDAR for Smarter Orchard Robots
Researchers at Chonnam National University in South Korea have developed an artificial intelligence mapping method that combines drone imagery with ground-based LiDAR data to improve how agricultural robots locate themselves and navigate commercial orchards. The work targets a familiar problem in agricultural automation. Orchard canopies can interfere with satellite positioning, while repeated rows and similar-looking...
How EarthOptics Is Digging Deeper Into Soil Health
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.









