Tag - solar

 
 

SOLAR

The law will require scrap metal dealers to verify the identity of sellers during transactions.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Mar 11, 2025
Japan moves to curb metal theft with new identity check laws
Metal theft has surged in recent years, driven by rising copper prices.
A tank holds untreated waste from plutonium production at the Hanford Nuclear Reservation, a site that was integral to the nation’s nuclear arsenal after World War II, north of Richland, Washington, in March 2023.
ENVIRONMENT / Energy
Mar 11, 2025
Most contaminated U.S. nuclear site is set to be the largest solar farm
Plans to transform Hanford had just begun inching forward when U.S. President Donald Trump started his second term.
India, the world’s third-biggest emitter, wants to more than double clean-power capacity to 500 gigawatts by 2030. That won't be easy.
ENVIRONMENT / Energy
Mar 10, 2025
Eyeing short-term savings, India’s utilities put green energy boom at risk
A federal auction model that helped the country add more than 130 gigawatts of renewables projects over the past decade is under threat of circumvention.
A herd of sheep move across a solar farm in Haskell, Texas, on Dec. 2, 2024.
ENVIRONMENT
Mar 4, 2025
Sheep grazing under solar panels help U.S. farmers to survive crop-price slump
Instead of plowing fields, Raines spent the year ferrying his flock of sheep to solar farms, to munch on the grass that grows around the gleaming panels.
Hidetaka Ishii, an official at the Chiba Municipal Government, says close coordination with private-sector operators is key for regional decarbonization efforts.
ENVIRONMENT / Energy / OUR PLANET
Mar 2, 2025
Japan’s climate heroes show potential and limits of local initiatives
Chiba and others show the potential for local areas to accelerate the energy transition, as well as the challenges of building locally driven, carbon-free energy models.
Visitors attend the Myanmar Power and Solar Energy Storage Expo 2025 in Yangon on Jan. 10. Power outages are common across Yangon, a result of rolling blackouts scheduled by the country's junta government.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Feb 2, 2025
Seeking light in dark times four years after Myanmar coup
The country has fossil fuel reserves and strong potential for renewables but is crippled by instability, investor flight, a lack of infrastructure and other problems.
Workers construct an array of solar panels for a floating photovoltaic solar energy farm near Cottbus, Germany, in August 2024.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jan 30, 2025
Red tape and rare earths: EU 'compass' charts economic future
The publication of the "competitiveness compass" aims to mark a change of tack toward a more business-friendly Brussels.
U.S. President Jimmy Carter and then-California Gov. Ronald Reagan greet each other before their U.S. presidential debate in Cleveland, Ohio, in October 1980.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 9, 2025
What if Reagan's vision had been more like Carter's?
Yes, Carter had his share of missteps, but he was way, way, way ahead of his time on clean energy.
Solar panels, which typically last 20 to 30 years, will begin to reach the end of their service life in the next decade.
JAPAN
Jan 5, 2025
Disposal of used solar panels emerging as challenge in Japan
The annual amount of solar panels discarded as waste is seen peaking at some 500,000 tons in the early 2040s, putting a major strain on industrial waste treatment facilities.
China's solar industry, hit hard in 2024 by overcapacity and financial losses, is expected to recover in 2025 with tighter market conditions and a 25% revenue growth forecast.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 24, 2024
Here’s the best climate news you missed this year
There are plenty of positive trends out there once you peer past the alarmist headlines.
The flag of China is seen next to the elements of gallium and germanium on a periodic table.
BUSINESS / Markets
Dec 23, 2024
Tiny but vital metal markets rush to adjust to Chinese clampdown
Beijing this month slapped a ban on U.S.-bound exports of gallium, germanium and antimony in a tit-for-tat move in a technology trade war.
China’s solar industry is seeking to emulate OPEC’s cartel model, but differences in technological innovation, market dynamics and centralized control by Beijing complicate such efforts.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 20, 2024
An OPEC for solar power isn’t going to work
Geological advantages are perpetual, but technological advantages can quickly become obsolete.
Employees at SunSource Energy inspect solar panels installed at a food processing plant in Greater Noida, India, on Nov. 21.
ENVIRONMENT / Energy
Dec 2, 2024
Glittering dreams: India's big push for solar power
India is building what it boasts will be the world's largest renewable power plant, an emblem of a determined push to boost solar energy.
Workers install solar panels at the Khavda Renewable Energy Park of Adani Green Energy in the village of Khavda, in India, on April 12.
BUSINESS / Tech
Nov 28, 2024
Adani allegations cast light on barriers to India's ambitious solar drive
India's states are unprepared for a rapid rise in renewable generating capacity, lack adequate transmission infrastructure and storage.
A Toshiba film-based perovskite photovoltaic module on display at the Toshiba Energy Systems & Solutions booth at Smart Grid Expo in Tokyo on Feb. 28
JAPAN / Science & Health
Nov 26, 2024
Japan considers promoting the use of perovskite solar cells for energy
The plan is part of work to expand the use of renewable energy sources by supporting the introduction of next-generation technologies.
A farmer cleans solar panels in a field in the Baluchistan region of Pakistan.
ENVIRONMENT / Energy
Nov 25, 2024
Surprise solar boom in Pakistan helps millions, but harms grid
The rise of solar in Pakistan has many benefits, but a rapid and unregulated boom also threatens to weaken the country’s utilities and destabilize the fragile economy.
An electrical substation in Tokyo. Japan's total power generation fell to its lowest in more than a decade in the year through March.
JAPAN / Society
Nov 22, 2024
Japan’s power output falls to lowest in more than a decade
The total amount of electricity generated fell 1.6% year on year to 985.4 terawatt hours in the 12 months to March.
Investigators from the Tokyo Metropolitan Police raid a metal shop in Koga City, Ibaraki Prefecture, on Monday.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Nov 18, 2024
Four shops raided in Japan for allegedly buying stolen cables
By October, Tokyo's Metropolitan Police Department had arrested seven members of a Thai group for stealing copper cables from solar power plants.
A Sardinian miner helmet, painted with the logo of Sardinia region, in Carbonia, west of Cagliari, Italy. Sardinia relies largely on coal for its electricity.
BUSINESS / Markets
Nov 18, 2024
Locals revolt against renewables in Italy's coal-fired island, Sardinia
The island a prime location for wind and solar power but intense investor interest has spooked locals who say Sardinia is being exploited.
Solar panels installed along the coastline of Minamisoma, Fukushima Prefecture. Due to the relative ease of starting solar power generation, mega solar power plants have been installed rapidly across the country.
JAPAN
Nov 11, 2024
Japan to mandate solar panel recycling when lifespan ends
The number of panels reaching the end of their lifespans is projected to start rising sharply in the mid-2030s.

Longform

Professional cleaner Hirofumi Sakurai takes a moment to appreciate some photographs in a Gotanda apartment whose occupant died alone.
The last cleanup: Life and death in a lonely Japan