Clean & renewable energy

This archive tracks real progress in clean and renewable energy — from solar and wind expansion to grid upgrades and policy wins. Each story focuses on what’s working, where, and why it matters for people and the planet.

Aerial view of Canberra, Australia's capital city, with Lake Burley Griffin and the parliamentary axis visible

Australian Capitol Territory becomes first state in Australia to ban conventional cars

By / / Good News For Humankind

Australia’s Capital Territory is sending a clear signal to the rest of the country: the fossil-fuel car has an end date. The region surrounding Canberra wants at least 80% of new light vehicles sold there to be zero-emission by 2030, as a stepping stone to the full 2035 ban. Interest-free loans up to $15,000 and registration fee exemptions are already helping residents make the switch today. When a high-visibility jurisdiction at the heart of national politics demonstrates this transition is manageable, neighboring states face far less risk in following — and that ripple effect is exactly how national change begins.

Lake in Switzerland

Switzerland builds the world’s largest water battery to store surplus renewable energy

By / / Good News For Humankind

Nant de Drance represents something genuinely exciting: proof that we can store renewable energy at a scale that changes how entire continents manage their grids. Tucked 2,000 feet inside the Swiss Alps, the plant holds 20 million kWh by moving water between two mountain reservoirs — absorbing surplus solar and wind, then releasing it as hydropower within minutes when demand spikes. It can supply roughly 900,000 homes and acts as a rapid-response buffer for Switzerland and neighboring European countries. Projects like this show that the hardest engineering problems in the clean energy transition are solvable.

Wind-blown sand streaming across desert dunes, evoking sand as an energy storage medium

World’s first commercial sand battery begins energy storage in Finland

By / / Good News For Humankind

Sand-based thermal energy storage is stepping out of the lab and into real communities, and the implications reach well beyond Finland. A steel tank packed with ordinary sand captures surplus wind and solar energy as heat, then pipes warmth through a district heating network serving homes and public buildings — at under €10 per kilowatt-hour, using no rare materials. With nearly half of Scandinavian homes already connected to district heating, this technology has a ready path to scale. For communities facing long, cold winters, affordable heat storage like this could become a quiet cornerstone of the clean energy transition.

Helicopter flying over a scenic bay with city and mountains at golden hour

Airbus flies first helicopter with both engines burning 100% green fuel for the first time ever

By / / Good News For Humankind

Sustainable aviation fuel just powered both engines of an Airbus H225 helicopter at the same time — a first for any rotorcraft, anywhere. Earlier tests had only run SAF in one engine at a time, so flying twin engines on 100% SAF marks a real leap toward proving the fuel works under the demanding, variable loads helicopters face. Airbus says SAF at full concentration can cut CO₂ emissions by up to 90% compared to conventional jet fuel, and the company is aiming to certify 100% SAF across its commercial aircraft and helicopters by 2030. For missions like search and rescue or medical evacuation, where batteries can’t yet deliver, this is one of the most promising paths to cleaner skies.

Roller coaster loop with suspended gondola cars photographed from below against blue sky

China builds world-first full-function space solar verification tower

By / / Good News For Humankind

Space solar power just cleared a milestone that researchers once thought was still years away. China’s test tower at Xidian University is the first facility anywhere to run the complete chain — concentrating sunlight, converting it to electricity, and beaming that power wirelessly to a ground receiver — all in one integrated system, completed roughly three years ahead of schedule. It’s a research milestone, not a power plant, but proving the full system works in one place gives scientists a permanent platform to push the technology forward.

Auckland skyline with Sky Tower rising above the harbor at dusk, New Zealand's largest city

New Zealand passes landmark climate legislation, helping switch to EVs

By / / Good News For Humankind

New Zealand’s sweeping 15-year emissions plan shows what climate legislation can look like when it’s built to last — with near cross-party backing making it harder for future governments to unravel. Central to it is a “scrap and replace” program giving lower- and middle-income families real help trading older vehicles for electric or hybrid ones, tackling the equity problem that typically leaves cleaner cars out of reach. Greener buses, trams, and cycling infrastructure round out the approach, recognizing that fewer car trips matter as much as cleaner ones. It’s a model other countries will be watching closely.