Clean & renewable energy

This archive tracks real progress in clean and renewable energy — from solar and wind expansions to grid breakthroughs and policy wins. More than 850 articles document what’s working, where it’s scaling, and who’s driving the shift away from fossil fuels. If you follow energy news for signal rather than noise, this is a useful place to start.

Industrial pipes and infrastructure at a coastal energy facility for an article about carbon capture and storage, for article on fusion plasma record, for article on fusion plasma record, for article on fusion endurance record

U.K. commits £21.7 billion to carbon capture and storage across two industrial clusters

By / / Good News For Humankind

Carbon capture and storage gets a major boost as the UK commits up to £21.7 billion over 25 years to build CCS infrastructure across two historic industrial regions. The investment targets HyNet in the North West and the East Coast Cluster near Teesside, expected to create 4,000 direct jobs and support up to 50,000 long-term. Initial projects will remove more than 8.5 million tonnes of CO₂ annually while helping hard-to-decarbonize industries like steel, cement, and chemicals stay competitive. The UK’s North Sea geology offers an estimated 200 years of storage capacity, giving this commitment rare real-world credibility.

Rows of solar panels under a blue sky for an article about China CO2 emissions and renewable energy growth, for article on China CO2 emissions

China’s CO2 emissions fall for the first time as renewables surge past coal

By / / Good News For Humankind

China’s carbon dioxide emissions declined in 2024 for the first time on record, marking a potential turning point in the global fight against climate change. Driven by an extraordinary surge in wind and solar power, clean energy now generates more electricity in China than coal and gas combined. China alone installed roughly 300 gigawatts of new solar capacity last year, more than the entire United States has ever built. Because China accounts for nearly 30 percent of global CO2 emissions, this shift could accelerate worldwide emissions reductions years ahead of previous projections.

Rooftop solar panels on suburban houses in bright sunlight, for an article about England's solar panel mandate for new homes, for article on solar panel mandate

England to require solar panels on all new homes by 2027

By / / Good News For Humankind

Solar panel mandate on new homes in England marks a significant shift in how the country approaches energy and housing. Starting in 2027, housebuilders will be legally required to install rooftop solar on virtually all new construction, with homeowners expected to save more than £1,000 annually on energy bills. The policy supports the U.K.’s goal of decarbonizing its electricity grid by 2030 and signals the government’s commitment to staying the course on net zero despite growing political debate. Across 1.5 million planned new homes, the cumulative impact on household finances and grid demand could be substantial.

Solar panels and wind turbines generating power on open land for an article about U.S. clean electricity

Fossil fuels fall below half of U.S. electricity for the first time on record

By / / Good News For Humankind

U.S. clean electricity reached a historic milestone in April 2025, when fossil fuels dropped below 50% of American electricity generation for the first time since the coal-powered grid emerged in the 1800s. According to energy research firm Ember, coal, oil, and natural gas fell to roughly 47% of total generation, with wind, solar, hydro, and nuclear powering the rest. This shift was driven by a 90% drop in wind and solar costs since 2010, triggering sustained investment now visible in real grid output. The milestone matters because it breaks the long-held assumption that fossil fuels are the inevitable backbone of modern electricity.

Industrial pipes and infrastructure at a coastal energy facility for an article about carbon capture and storage, for article on fusion plasma record, for article on fusion plasma record, for article on fusion endurance record

France runs fusion reactor for record 22 minutes

By / / Good News For Humankind

A fusion reactor in southern France has kept a hydrogen plasma stable for 1,337 seconds — more than 22 minutes — beating the previous record by roughly 25%. The WEST Tokamak pulled this off using just 2 megawatts of heating power, and crucially, without damaging the reactor’s interior, which is the part that has tripped up so many earlier attempts. The data feeds directly into ITER, the much larger international fusion project being built nearby. Net energy gain — the real threshold for practical fusion — still hasn’t been reliably crossed, and this milestone doesn’t change that. But each stable second brings the dream of clean, limitless energy closer to something the world can actually build.

Industrial pipes and infrastructure at a coastal energy facility for an article about carbon capture and storage, for article on fusion plasma record, for article on fusion plasma record, for article on fusion endurance record

China sets new fusion endurance record of over a thousand seconds

By / / Good News For Humankind

Fusion energy took a real step forward this month: a reactor in China held superheated plasma stable for 1,066 seconds — more than 17 minutes, and over double the 403-second record the same machine set in 2023. The Experimental Advanced Superconducting Tokamak in Hefei pulled it off after engineers doubled the system’s power output while keeping the reaction from collapsing, which is the hardest part of fusion research. Sustained stability like this is exactly what a future fusion plant would need to actually generate continuous electricity. Findings from EAST will also feed directly into ITER, the massive international reactor rising in southern France. It’s a reminder that the dream of clean, nearly limitless energy is being built one patient breakthrough at a time.

A heat pump unit on a home exterior, representing U.S. heat pump sales growth supported by the Kigali Amendment

Heat pumps outsell gas furnaces in the U.S. for the second year running

By / / Good News For Humankind

Heat pump sales have now surpassed gas furnace shipments in the United States for two consecutive years, with more than 4 million units sold in 2023 alone — a milestone that is beginning to look like a permanent market shift. Driven by federal tax credits under the Inflation Reduction Act and additional state-level rebates, Americans are increasingly choosing electric heating over fossil fuels. This matters because home heating accounts for roughly 10% of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions, and unlike gas furnaces, heat pumps grow cleaner automatically as the electrical grid adds more renewable energy. The two-year streak signals that economics, policy, and technology have aligned in ways that rarely reverse.

Solar farm in the desert, for article on Abu Dhabi largest solar plant

Abu Dhabi to build world’s largest solar energy project

By / / Good News For Humankind

Abu Dhabi’s new solar plant will run 24 hours a day, delivering up to 1 gigawatt of steady baseload power even after sundown — something no solar facility has done before at this scale. The secret is a massive 19-gigawatt-hour battery system that soaks up sunshine during the day and releases it through the night and on cloudy days. Once it comes online in 2027, the $6 billion project is expected to power roughly 750,000 homes and dwarf the current record holder, a 3.5-gigawatt plant in China. The bigger story is what it proves: solar can behave like a reliable, always-on power station, reshaping how grid operators everywhere think about renewable energy.

Solar farm from above, for article on India solar capacity additions, for article on India solar capacity

India adds record 24.5 GW of solar in 2024

By / / Good News For Humankind

India’s solar boom hit a new high in 2024, with 24.5 gigawatts of new capacity added in a single year — more than double the year before. A big part of that growth came from rooftops: 700,000 households installed panels in just 10 months, helped along by a new government subsidy aimed at lower-income families. Off-grid solar nearly tripled, bringing electricity to rural communities the main grid has long struggled to reach. India’s total renewable capacity now sits above 209 gigawatts, nearly rivaling Germany’s entire power system. What makes this milestone resonate beyond India is the pairing of massive utility-scale projects with solar that actually reaches ordinary homes — a model the rest of the world’s clean energy transition could learn from.

New York

New York City to get a $3 billion, 80,000-acre offshore wind farm

By / / Good news links

New York City will soon be getting its own personal offshore wind farm. The Empire Wind 1 project just received a US$3 billion project financing package and is expected to go online in 2027, powering roughly half a million borough residents. A turbine-laden 80,000-acre plot of Atlantic Ocean – which is nearly half the size of NYC – could generate 810 MW if running efficiently at its designed capacity. That is around 3.19 TWh per year or roughly 6% of NYC’s overall consumption. Empire Wind 1 will be the first offshore wind project to connect directly to NYC’s electrical grid.