Today (2017 C.E. - 2025 C.E.)

This archive spans the years 2017 through 2025, a period marked by rapid advances in clean energy, medicine, technology, and social equity. It collects documented breakthroughs, policy wins, and scientific achievements from the present era. If you want evidence that progress is real and ongoing, this is where to look.

CalTech Space Solar array, for article on space solar power

World-first space solar demonstration beams power from orbit to Earth

By / / Good News For Humankind

Space-based solar power just crossed from theory into reality: a Caltech team has, for the first time, beamed energy from orbit down to a receiver on Earth. The signal arrived at a rooftop in Pasadena exactly when, where, and at the frequency engineers predicted — proof that the precision needed for a future full-scale array is achievable. The demonstrator weighed just 50 kilograms and used flexible, lightweight arrays never before flown for this purpose. The eventual vision is enormous and far from cheap, but the appeal is simple: panels in space see no night and no clouds. If this technology matures, clean power could one day reach communities far beyond the grid’s reach.

Inside a steel plant, for article on New Zealand emissions reduction

New Zealand announces $140m project to transition its major steel plant from coal to renewable energy

By / / Good News For Humankind

New Zealand is putting $140 million toward swapping out the coal furnaces at its largest steel plant — a single project that will shrink the country’s total emissions by a full 1%. The Glenbrook plant currently burns coal to turn iron-rich sands into steel, but a new electric arc furnace will melt recycled scrap instead, drawing power from a grid already running on roughly 80% renewables. By 2027, the switch is expected to cut 800,000 tonnes of carbon a year — more than every other government-funded emissions project combined. Heavy industry has long been called the hardest sector to decarbonize, and this is exactly the kind of proof-of-concept the rest of the world needs.

Coal mining, for article on India coal plant pause

India pauses plans to add new coal plants for at least five years

By / / Good News For Humankind

India just hit pause on new coal. The country’s Ministry of Power won’t consider new coal-fired power plant proposals for at least five years, opening the door for renewables to take on more of the load. India already ranks fourth globally for installed wind and solar capacity, and the updated plan aims to push non-fossil sources to 57% of the energy mix by 2027. To handle the swings of sun and wind, planners are pairing the buildout with 51.5GW of battery storage by 2030. For the world’s third-largest emitter, a pause like this is more than a planning tweak — it’s a signal that the future of electricity for 1.4 billion people is being written in renewables.

Library aisle, for article on Illinois book ban law

Illinois set to become first U.S. state to end book bans

By / / Good News For Humankind

Illinois is poised to become the first U.S. state to outlaw book bans, with House Bill 2789 heading to Governor JB Pritzker’s desk and set to take effect January 1. Rather than criminalizing censorship, the law ties state funding to a clear standard: public libraries and schools must either follow the American Library Association’s Library Bill of Rights or adopt their own written policy against book bans. It’s a creative answer to a real problem — Illinois alone saw 67 attempts to remove books in 2022. As challenges multiply nationwide, often targeting works by LGBTQ+ authors and writers of color, Illinois offers a model other states could borrow: protecting the freedom to read by making censorship costly, not just controversial.