Renewables now exceed all other forms of new power generation
According to the International Energy Association, the global growth of renewable energy capacity reached historic levels in 2015.
Climate crisis
Germany is building the world’s first wind turbines with built-in hydroelectric batteries
Wind blows. Water falls. But for the first time, one is now powering the other. Engineers in Germany are storing water for hydroelectricity inside wind turbines allowing the towers act like massive batteries once the wind stops blowing.
Bill Gates is heading a $1 billion clean energy venture fund
He’s got several billionaire pals on board.
Nearly two dozen of the world’s most successful business leaders, entrepreneurs, and venture capitalists will invest up to $1 billion in a fund led by Microsoft-co-founder Bill Gates that aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to almost zero by financing emerging clean energy technology.
Fossil fuel divestment funds double to $5 trillion in a year
The value of investment funds committed to selling off fossil fuel assets has jumped to $5.2tn, doubling in just over a year.
India’s Cochin International becomes world’s first fully solar-powered airport
Cochin International, in the state of Kerala, transformed a patch of land previously reserved for cargo handling into a 12-megawatt solar plant. This energy source – now featuring more than 46,000 solar panels – provides all the power the airport needs and even generates surplus for the state. Costing less than $10 million USD, the project likely recouped all development costs within the first five years of operation.
France says new roofs must be covered in plants or solar panels
According to a new French law approved on Thursday, rooftops on new buildings in commercial zones across France must either be partially covered in plants or solar panels.
U.S. sets staggering record with 191% growth in solar power installations in 2016
A new report shows that in the third quarter of this year alone, enough solar panels to generate 4,143 MW of electricity were installed in the United States. This boom in installations contributes to the prediction that coal is a fading industry, and will never return to its former grandeur.
Construction begins on Block Island Wind Farm, the U.S.’s first-ever commercial offshore wind project
The five-turbine, 30 MW project was developed by Deepwater Wind, now known as Ørsted US Offshore Wind. Construction began in 2015 and in late summer 2016 five Alstom Haliade 150-6MW turbines were erected. Operations were launched in December 2016.
Pacific Islands nations adopt Suva Declaration on Climate Change
In an unprecedented action, Pacific Island national leaders called for “the implementation of an international moratorium on the development and expansion of fossil fuel extracting industries.”
Norway will pay Liberia $150 million to stop deforestation
Liberia is a global diversity hotspot, home to the last remaining viable populations of species including western chimpanzees, forest elephants and leopards.