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 large solar farm, for article on Gulf solar projects

Qatar and Saudi Arabia announce four mammoth new solar projects totaling 7.5GW

By / / Good News For Humankind

Solar power is gaining serious ground in the Gulf, with Qatar and Saudi Arabia together unveiling four new photovoltaic projects totaling 7.5 gigawatts — enough capacity to power several million homes once online before 2030. That two of the world’s biggest oil producers are pouring this much into sunlight says something striking about where the economics now point. Saudi Arabia is aiming for half its electricity from renewables by decade’s end, and Qatar is building in parallel, joining neighbors like the UAE and Morocco already deep into their own clean energy buildouts. When petrostates start constructing gigawatt-scale solar, it’s a signal the global energy transition has crossed a threshold that even the old fossil fuel order can no longer ignore.

Helsinki, for article on air-to-water heat pump

World’s largest air-to-water heat pump to warm 30,000 homes in Finland

By / / Good News For Humankind

Helsinki’s new heat pump can warm 30,000 homes on renewable electricity alone, even when winter temperatures drop to -4°F. Built by MAN Energy Solutions for Finnish utility Helen Oy, it’s the largest air-to-water heat pump in the world, and it uses carbon dioxide as its refrigerant instead of the harmful gases most pumps rely on. Once it switches on for the 2026–2027 heating season, it’s expected to cut around 26,000 tonnes of CO2 each year compared to fossil-fueled heating. Cold cities everywhere have been waiting for proof that district heating can go fully renewable without sacrificing reliability through deep winters. If Helsinki’s machine delivers, it offers a blueprint Scandinavia, Central Europe, and beyond can actually follow.

clean energy concept, for article on wind and solar energy

Wind and solar energy production in U.S. surpasses coal for the first time in history

By / / Good News For Humankind

Wind and solar quietly outproduced coal across the U.S. for the first seven months of 2024, the longest such stretch ever recorded by the Energy Information Administration. What makes this moment different is that renewables held the lead straight through summer, when air conditioners push the grid to its limits. In Texas and California, grid operators credited wind, solar, and battery storage with keeping the lights on during record-breaking heat. The shift has been a long time coming: U.S. wind capacity has grown from 2.4 gigawatts in 2000 to more than 150 gigawatts today. It’s a hopeful signal that the clean energy transition is becoming structural, not seasonal — and that what’s working here can work elsewhere too.

Charging an EV, for article on municipal fleet electrification, for article on tailpipe emission standards

Major new commitment from nearly 350 mayors to accelerate U.S. electric vehicle transition

By / / Good News For Humankind

Nearly 350 U.S. mayors just pledged to electrify at least half their city vehicle fleets by 2030, from police cruisers to garbage trucks to buses. They’re also committing to grow public EV charging fivefold by 2035, with 40% of those new chargers going to neighborhoods that have long breathed the dirtiest air. The bipartisan Climate Mayors network behind the pledge has grown from three founders a decade ago to more than 750 mayors representing close to 60 million Americans. When cities buy electric at this scale, they don’t just clean up local streets — they send a signal that reshapes what manufacturers build, proving that climate progress can move forward city by city, even when Washington stalls.

And nine more of humanity’s social change milestones from the week of July 1 – 7 2024 C.E., for article on China renewable energy

Wind and solar capacity overtake coal in China in historic first

By / / Good News For Humankind

China renewable energy just hit a milestone that seemed unthinkable a decade ago: combined wind and solar capacity has officially surpassed coal, with the country on track to reach 1,200 GW of installed clean power by the end of 2024 — six years ahead of its own national target. The pace is staggering. Since 2020, China has added more than 100 GW of wind and solar every single year, and in 2023 alone it installed a record 293 GW. Coal generation actually dipped year-on-year in May and June of 2024 as renewables picked up the slack. When the world’s largest energy consumer crosses a threshold like this, the global math on climate genuinely begins to change.

Fervo Energy geothermal plant, for article on enhanced geothermal power purchase agreement

World’s biggest geothermal power purchase agreement completed in western U.S.

By / / Good News For Humankind

A Utah geothermal project just secured what developers are calling the world’s largest geothermal power purchase agreement — a 15-year deal to deliver 320 megawatts of always-on clean electricity to Southern California Edison, enough to power roughly 350,000 homes. Fervo Energy’s Cape Station plant uses horizontal drilling borrowed from the oil and gas industry to circulate water through deep hot rock, unlocking geothermal power in places where it was never viable before. First electrons are expected to flow in 2026, with the rest coming online by 2028. For a clean grid that needs to run when the sun sets and the wind stops, this kind of steady, weather-proof power may be the missing piece — and a signal that geothermal is ready for prime time.

Rows of offshore wind turbines at sea for an article about EU wind power, for article on EU renewable electricity

E.U. surpasses 50% renewable power share for first time ever in first half of 2024

By / / Good News For Humankind

Renewable energy just hit a milestone Europe has never seen before: in the first half of 2024, clean sources generated exactly half of the EU’s public electricity, the first time the bloc has crossed that line. Add nuclear into the mix and three-quarters of Europe’s power came from low-carbon sources, up from 68 percent the year before. Germany pushed even further, with wind alone supplying 34 percent of its public grid. What makes this hopeful isn’t just the number — it’s the pace. Europe blew past its 2030 renewable targets years ahead of schedule, suggesting the clean energy transition can move faster than policymakers, or skeptics, dared to imagine.

Aerial view of a geothermal power facility surrounded by tropical landscape for an article about Indonesia coal phase-out, for article on India coal capacity share

Coal’s share of power capacity in India drops below 50% for first time since 1960s

By / / Good News For Humankind

Coal now powers less than half of India’s electricity capacity for the first time since the 1960s — a quiet but historic line just crossed by the world’s most populous country. Renewables made up nearly three-quarters of the new capacity India added in the first quarter of 2024, and the country has already hit its 2030 goal of sourcing half its power from non-fossil sources, six years ahead of schedule. India has also climbed from ninth to third in global solar generation in less than a decade, behind only China and the United States. It’s a vivid reminder that when ambition, policy, and investment line up, energy transitions can move faster than almost anyone expected.

Offshore wind turbines, for article on offshore wind tender

Denmark plans massive 10GW offshore wind tender to insure against “Putin’s black gas”

By / / Good News For Humankind

Denmark’s new offshore wind tender — the largest in the country’s history — guarantees at least 6 gigawatts of new capacity across six wind farms, with room to grow past 10 GW if developers take up the option. That alone would more than triple Denmark’s existing offshore wind fleet and is projected to cover all of the country’s electricity needs, with surplus left over for export and green hydrogen production. Two of the farms must demonstrate a net positive impact on marine biodiversity, and turbine blades must be recyclable — a first for Danish tenders. It’s a hopeful signal that Europe’s pivot away from fossil gas can be fast, ambitious, and built with the ocean in mind.

Wind turbines amid clouds, for article on E.U. wind power, for article on renewable electricity generation

Seven countries now generate 100% of their electricity from renewable energy

By / / Good News For Humankind

Renewable energy now powers more than 99.7% of electricity in seven countries: Albania, Bhutan, Nepal, Paraguay, Iceland, Ethiopia, and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Each one leaned into what their landscape offered — Himalayan rivers, volcanic heat, massive shared dams — and built their grids around it. They’re the leading edge of a wider shift, with roughly 40 countries now sourcing at least half their electricity from renewables. Stanford’s Mark Jacobson puts it plainly: no miracle technologies are needed, just focused deployment of wind, water, and solar. These seven nations are quiet proof that a modern society running on clean power isn’t a distant goal — it’s already happening, and the rest of the world is catching up.