The clean energy boom is a rural jobs bonanza

Jun 10, 2024
Clean energy is exploding in the U.S., bringing high-paying jobs to the rural areas that often produce it.
Student Benjamin Sussman practices safe climbing on a 20-foot ladder in Sterling, Colorado. When he's a technician, he'll need to climb 300 feet or more to maintain turbines.
Rae Solomon

Wyoming, long known as a top coal producing state, makes a big move into wind energy

Jul 31, 2023
A new power line project will transfer Wyoming wind to supply parts of the Southwest with electricity. Wyoming’s focus on renewable energy is a shift from its history with fossil fuels.
Wyoming’s Republican Governor Mark Gordon attended the ground breaking ceremony. Despite the state’s fossil fuel history, he said this project is needed to address climate change.
Caitlin Tan/Wyoming Public Media

As Texas uses more renewable power, it bets on batteries to keep the lights on

Jun 8, 2023
They help when the sun isn't shining and the wind isn't blowing but everyone's AC is on full blast.
A wind energy plant in Dawson, Texas. As the state leans into renewable sources of energy, it's also been expanding its battery capacity.
Mark Felix/AFP via Getty Images

Growth of solar energy and battery capacity yields sunny forecast for the industry

Feb 6, 2023
The federal Energy Information Administration predicts that more than half of the new capacity added to the electric grid this year will be solar.
"Now, there's more incentive and more availability of locations to build new solar projects," an Energy Department spokesman said.
Drew Angerer/Getty Images

Should the U.K. government nationalize the wind?

Oct 18, 2022
The opposition Labour Party recently proposed a publicly owned company to invest in renewable energy.
Offshore wind power supplies roughly 14% of the U.K.'s electricity needs yet the British government owns little of its generating output.
Oli Scarff/AFP via Getty Images

What will the clean energy transition look like?

Oct 28, 2021
The road to a clean, affordable and reliable power grid won’t be straightforward.
"If you look at where wind and solar need to be placed in this country, it's mainly in the Midwest, and your demand centers are on the coasts," said Gary Kruse, managing director of research at Arbo.
Spencer Platt via Getty Images

Keeping the world's largest offshore wind farm on track

Oct 18, 2021
Ahead of the COP26 summit in Glasgow, the BBC’s climate editor takes stock of one of the U.K.’s most promising green energies: wind.
Rough weather in the North Sea makes it a great place to install wind turbines.
BBC

For public good, not for profit.

A gust of wind energy blows through the U.S.

Aug 25, 2021
Last year was a record year for installation of wind energy equipment, partially benefiting from five years straight of federal tax credits for producers.
A windfarm is seen near Palm Springs, California, in December 2006. Wind energy is the country's largest renewable energy source, but on-again, off-again tax credits have hindered turbine manufacturing.
Gabriel Bouys/AFP via Getty Images

Fishing industry says offshore wind projects could sink its business

Jul 5, 2021
Commercial vessels say they may need to quit some areas altogether as turbines are constructed.
Scallop bags from the Furious are offloaded and weighed at the Gambardella warehouse on the Stonington Town Dock.
Harriet Jones

Nation's first mega-offshore wind project stalled for additional study

Sep 13, 2019
A federal delay in the nation's first large-scale offshore wind farm has analysts wondering if this could stall overall momentum for offshore wind power in the country.
A rendering of offshore wind turbines.
Courtesy of U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management