Tag - solar

 
 

SOLAR

U.S. President Donald Trump signs one of five executive orders related to the oil pipeline industry in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington on Jan. 24, 2017.
BUSINESS / Markets
Nov 7, 2024
From oil to EVs, here’s how Trump’s victory affects energy
The prospect of a Trump-era pullback from some policies promoting emission-free energy has already helped spark a slide in shares of renewable power firms.
Chinese solar panel manufacturer Trina Solar's facility in Thai Nguyen, Vietnam, on Aug. 30
BUSINESS / Tech
Nov 4, 2024
Chinese solar firms, ever-nimble, go where U.S. tariffs don't reach
Chinese solar firms have repeatedly sidestepped tariffs to dominate the global markets despite U.S. efforts over more than a decade to rein them in.
Amazon is seeking to source more clean power agreements in Southeast Asia and India.
ENVIRONMENT / Energy
Oct 12, 2024
Amazon prefers renewables in Asia as nuclear still elusive
While Asia remains one of the most challenging geographies to acquire green power, it’s the region with the greatest potential.
A worker inspects solar panels in Gansu Province, China, in 2013.
BUSINESS / Tech
Sep 16, 2024
China’s U.S. solar plants undermine domestic push, report says
The report comes amid increasing scrutiny of Chinese investment in U.S.-based manufacturing of the solar tech key to the transition away from fossil fuels.
Solar panels and wind turbines at a power plant in Hami in China's Xinjiang region. The U.S. and other countries have described China’s actions against Uyghurs in the Xinjiang region, a key cog in the cleantech supply chain, as a genocidal campaign aimed at erasing an entire culture.
ENVIRONMENT / Energy / OUR PLANET
Sep 16, 2024
How China’s dominance of solar and batteries is impacting Japan’s energy transition
China has thrown its industrial might behind cleantech, putting Japan in a tough spot as it weighs human rights concerns against its climate targets.
A Rapidus factory construction site in Chitose, Hokkaido, on July 24. The plan to ramp up renewable energy usage in the region to 60% by 2030 is part of a larger concept known as “Hokkaido Valley.”
JAPAN / Society / Regional Voices: Hokkaido
Aug 26, 2024
Hokkaido more plugged in to renewable energy than rest of Japan
The local government aims to raise its share of renewable energy to 60% from the current 40%, but Hokkaido's grid needs to be upgraded first.
Solar cell panels over the water surface of Sirindhorn Dam in Ubon Ratchathani, Thailand. Four countries in Southeast Asia including Thailand account for more than 40% of solar module production capacity outside of China.
BUSINESS / Markets
Aug 21, 2024
Southeast Asia’s solar boom threatened by U.S.-China trade tension
Chinese firms that set up shop in the region over the last decade are being accused of skirting U.S. import levies on their home market.
A fisher on his way to inspect fish pens in Laguna Lake in the Philippines. About 13,000 people depend on the lake for their livelihoods, according to the Laguna Lake Development Authority.
ENVIRONMENT / Sustainability
Aug 12, 2024
Philippines fishers worry solar farm on lake will hurt incomes
A group of fishers is opposed to the government's plan to place solar panels atop Laguna de Bay, one of the country's biggest sources of freshwater fish.
Power lines on the highway between Shanghai and Suzhou, China, on Oct. 23, 2023
BUSINESS / Tech
Aug 12, 2024
China rapidly expands battery fleet but needs to start using it
China’s new energy storage capacity jumped to 44 gigawatts at the end of June, a 40% increase from the start of the year.
David Keith believes that by intentionally releasing sulfur dioxide into the stratosphere, it would be possible to lower temperatures worldwide, blunting global warming.
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
Aug 3, 2024
This scientist has a risky plan to cool Earth. There’s growing interest.
David Keith believes that intentionally releasing sulfur dioxide into the stratosphere may lower temperatures worldwide, blunting global warming.
As metal prices rise, so do cases of theft, with more and an increasing number of metal cables being stolen from solar power plants in Japan.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Aug 1, 2024
Japan's solar plants see over 9,000 cases of cable theft since 2023
The survey were the first to be conducted by the National Police Agency on the situation, at a time when metal prices are rising.
A solar farm in Shilin, China. Last year, China installed more solar panels than the United States has in its entire history.
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
Jul 19, 2024
Why the era of China’s soaring carbon emissions might be ending
The biggest factor in the shift is changes to how China produces its electricity.
The Illuminate USA solar panel plant in Pataskala, Ohio, on Monday
ENVIRONMENT / Energy
Jul 18, 2024
Many U.S. solar factories are lagging, except for those China owns
Chinese companies will have at least 20 gigawatts' worth of annual solar panel production capacity on U.S. soil within the next year.
A pumped energy storage facility and a wind turbine at Kibbutz Maale Gilboa, Israel, on July 9
WORLD
Jul 18, 2024
How 'energy islands' could help Israel build resilience for wartime
Israel's microgrid pilot, which will be complete sometime in the next year or two, will run in parallel to large stockpiles of diesel, coal and generators.
A bull statue stands outside the Shenzhen Stock Exchange building in Shenzhen in September 2019.
BUSINESS / Markets
Jul 9, 2024
China’s plenum promises cues for commodity bulls and bears
China is the world’s biggest importer of commodities and its dominant supplier of clean energy, so decisions taken in Beijing ripple across the world.
A solar farm in Switzerland. Solar power is leading the power’s sector’s transformation, with investment in the area set to reach $500 billion this year.
ENVIRONMENT / Energy
Jun 6, 2024
Clean energy spending set to reach twice that on fossil fuels, IAEA reports
Nonetheless, continued spending on coal, gas and oil remains at a level that’s too high to conform with global climate goals.
Nawaf Al-Osimy, chief technical officer of the Jazlah Water Desalination plant, which draws vast quantities of water from the Persian Gulf and makes it drinkable, in Jubail, Saudi Arabia, on March 4.
ENVIRONMENT / Energy
May 30, 2024
Saudi Arabia eyes a future beyond oil
The kingdom is trying to juggle its still-vital petroleum industry with alternative energy sources like wind and solar as it faces pressure to lower carbon emissions.
Shipping containers at the port in Ningbo, China, March 27, 2024. The U.S. and Europe are trying to catch up to China’s lead in industrial policy, a rival skilled in using all the levers of government and banking to dominate global manufacturing.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
May 28, 2024
How China pulled so far ahead on industrial policy
In 2022, Beijing accounted for 85% of all clean-energy manufacturing investment in the world, according to the International Energy Agency.
A 2-megawatt solar farm in the city of Fukushima. “Megasolar” refers to farms with a minimum output of 1 MW of electricity — enough to power around 300 homes for a year.
ENVIRONMENT / Energy / OUR PLANET
May 26, 2024
‘Megasolar’ is a dirty word in Japan. Where do solar projects go from here?
Vocal campaigns are pushing back against projects as dangerous eyesores, but "dual-use" approaches and community engagement may offer a solution.
Solar panels on Dave Duttlinger's farmland that he leased to Dunns Bridge Solar in Wheatfield, Indiana
ENVIRONMENT / Energy
Apr 27, 2024
As solar capacity grows, some of America's most productive farmland is at risk
The solar industry is pushing into the U.S. Midwest, drawn by cheaper land rents and wide-open fields.

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