#Renewable energy

#Renewable energy

There's something romantic about sailboats that still speaks to us in this hyper-connected age. The idea that you can harness nothing but wind and water to glide across the ocean feels almost magical. But here's the reality check: even the most old-school sailor needs power these days. Your GPS has to stay on, your radar needs juice, those navigation lights aren't optional, and let's be honest, nobody wants to lose their phone charge mid-voyage.

Poland's power system faced its largest cyberattack in years in the last week of December that also followed a different pattern, the country's energy minister said on Tuesday.

Clean energy technologies have become more affordable around the world. Yet for many countries in the Global South, the cost of transitioning to a low-carbon economy remains disproportionately high. But not because the equipment is more expensive: in fact, solar and wind components are often imported at comparable prices around the world, as global manufacturing scale and trade have helped standardize hardware costs. Instead, the disparities in financing costs reflect the way the global financial system fails to adequately capture, differentiate and price risk.

The share of renewables in German power production almost stagnated in 2025, data showed Monday, as concerns grow about a shift away from green policies under conservative Chancellor Friedrich Merz. The figure had increased strongly in previous years as Europe's biggest economy aims to reach a goal of green power accounting for 80 percent of its energy mix by 2030.

Around the world, CBAM has faced strong criticism. India and China describe it as "green protectionism," arguing that it puts unfair pressure on developing economies. At the same time, the EU has not yet created dedicated funding to help exporters in lower-income countries adapt. Without this support, the mechanism may not achieve the desired results. What about consumers? Although CBAM is mainly aimed at industry, its ripple effects will reach consumers in the EU.

The Rhine is the second-longest river in Western Europe, discharging about 100,000 cubic feet of water a second into the North Sea. It snakes through the Swiss Alps and makes up large sections of Germany's western border with France, spreading out across a major delta in the Netherlands before emptying into the ocean. It's also an enormous, largely untapped resource for clean power.

I grew up in a small place called Tana, where there were just 12 children in my school class. Of the five of us who were Sami, two came from families of reindeer herders. At the time, I believed the rest were Norwegian. Later, I learned that everyone in my class was Sami. Their parents had been pressured to hide who they were.

California's planet-warming pollution shrank by 3% in 2023, one of the largest year-over-year reductions the state has seen, according to a report by nonprofit Next 10. The state's use of cleaner fuels in heavy-duty transportation, like big rigs, and its deployment of battery storage and solar energy drove this climate progress, in large part. While the transportation sector comprised the state's largest category of emissions, accounting for roughly 38% of emissions in 2023, it also saw the largest percentage decrease in emissions of any other sector, falling by 4.6%.

A federal judge on Monday struck down Donald Trump's executive order blocking wind energy projects, saying the effort to halt virtually all leasing of windfarms on federal lands and waters was arbitrary and capricious and violated US law. Judge Patti Saris of the US district court for the district of Massachusetts vacated Trump's 20 January executive order blocking wind energy projects and declared it unlawful.

(Image credit: Getty Images) Floating solar panels are a growing trend around the world, and the UK seems to be cottoning on to their potential. The government has just approved the largest floating solar panel project in Barrow in an attempt to generate cheap energy. The project promises to solve one of the biggest problems with large-scale solar projects, the amount of land that they take up, meaning solar panels could become even more viable across the UK.

China's carbon dioxide emissions have plateaued in 2025, indicating the country may have reached a peak after years of being the world's top emitter. The plateau reflects how China's record-setting build-out of wind and solar power and rapid expansion into electric vehicles has tempered fossil-fuel emissions, according to the nonprofit Center for Research on Energy and Clean Air. China accounts for around one third of all global greenhouse gas emissions, although historically the U.S. has emitted more carbon.

TikTok, one of the world's most popular social media platforms, announced Wednesday that it will build its first data center in Latin America in Brazil, near the city of Fortaleza. The project represents a $38 billion investment. The Chinese company's supercomputers, which have revolutionized the internet with their short videos that are followed by hundreds of millions of users, will be operational in 2027 and will be powered exclusively by 100% renewable energy, according to a TikTok statement.

For hours, millions of residents remained in the dark as the government worked to restore power to an area that spans from the westernmost province of Pinar del Rio to Mayabeque, just east of Havana. Throughout the morning, officials sought to reassure the public that electricity would soon be restored. Following the power outage in western Cuba, the workers at [the Ministry of Energy and Mines] immediately began restoration efforts, which are already under way,

Colombian Bitcoin and crypto mining company Horeb Energy reveals 2.5 cents per kWh of green biogas energy in the North Santander region of the Latin American country. The company has achieved energy prices 50% lower than the North American average of 3.5 to 6 cents per kwh for Bitcoin mining operations, through a strategic alliance with multinational energy company Veolia. Authorized in 1853 by Napoleon III to help build out public water works infrastructure in France, Veolia is a global leader in environmental services focused on water, waste, and energy solutions. Today in Norte de Santander, Colombia, the company operates critical facilities dedicated to biogas valorization and solid waste management - a common problem in Colombia and Latin America in general, known for massive landfills. Veloia also operates the "Centro Inteligente de Gestión Ecológica" - CIGE Guayabal landfill, a pioneer in biogas systems development in the region.

When I arrived in Reykjavík, Iceland, last March, a gravel barrier, almost thirty feet at its highest point, had been constructed to keep lava from the Reykjanes volcano from inundating a major geothermal power station not far from downtown. So far, it had worked, but daily volcano forecasts were being broadcast on a small television at the domestic airport where I was waiting to take a short flight to Akureyri.

Can you imagine someone giving you $170,000 (129,000)? What would you buy? Can you imagine getting another $170,000 one minute later? And the handouts then continuing every minute for years? If so, you have a feel for the colossal cash machine that is Saudi Arabia's state oil company Aramco, the world's biggest producer of oil and gas last year. That tidal wave of cash keeps the authoritarian kingdom afloat,