Climate & Energy
Emissions, renewables, grids and energy consumption.
Why Dismantling the National Climate Assessment Defies Bipartisan Public Will
The Trump administration's dismantling of the National Climate Assessment and federal climate research portals contradicts widespread bipartisan public support for transparent environmental data and leaves communities vulnerable to extreme weather.
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Invisible Infrastructure: Embedded Climate Choices and What AI in Mental Health Care Teaches Us About Trust
Carbon offsets are disappearing into the background of transactions the same way AI is embedding itself into therapeutic workflows — and both face identical trust gaps between adoption and genuine consumer acceptance.
Utilities Don't Need More AI Pilots. They Need Them to Survive Contact With the Grid
The power and utilities sector is moving past AI experimentation toward grid resilience and operational efficiency. A sober look at where generative AI actually helps, where it stalls, and why security can't trail the rollout.
Why a Forest Software Startup Put Carbon Credits in Second Place
Vibrant Planet's Land Tender platform helps forest managers plan around wildfire and ecosystem services before touching the carbon-credit market. The ordering says something about where climate software actually earns trust.
AI Won't Fix Climate Change, but It Can Buy Us Warning Time
AI weather models are getting genuinely sharp. That's a reason to build the unglamorous institutions around them, not a reason to outsource the climate problem to a machine.
Texas Halts Data Center Power Connections as AI Boom Overwhelms Grid Capacity
Texas halts new data center power connections as AI demand overwhelms the grid — what this means for AI hardware architecture and infrastructure planning.
Swiss Solar Railway Pilot: Scaling Renewables Between the Tracks
A pilot project in Switzerland integrating photovoltaics on railway lines demonstrates how Space.com: NASA, Space Exploration and Astronomy News engineering principles can optimize terrestrial clean energy.
Earliest Evidence of Right-Handedness in 550-Million-Year-Old Spriggina Fossils
New analysis of over 100 exceptionally preserved Spriggina floundersi fossils from the Ediacaran Nilpena site demonstrates population-wide right-bending preference—earliest known evidence of behavioral handedness and lateralized nervous systems in bilaterian animals.
The AI Emissions Trap: Why Google and Amazon's Net-Zero Pledges Are Running Into a Wall
Both companies' latest sustainability reports reveal carbon emissions surging as AI-driven data center expansion collides with their climate commitments — and the path to net-zero just got far more expensive.
We Can Take Power From a Plasma: Realta Fusion’s Direct-Electricity Breakthrough
Realta Fusion powered a lightbulb using electricity harvested directly from fusion plasma—the apparent first by any private company—and showed how skipping steam turbines could slash the path to net-positive fusion.
The Hidden Carbon Cost of Your AI Requests
A granular breakdown of how AI infrastructure—beyond energy use—is driving emissions spikes at Google and Amazon, and why their net-zero pledges are unraveling under the weight of semiconductor manufacturing, data center construction, and Scope 3 emissions.
The Battery Wars Are Moving From Your Driveway to Your Wall
Residential energy storage is exploding — Lunar Energy's AI-powered home batteries are turning homeowners into grid participants, while GM bets on a dual chemistry strategy that could reshape both EVs and the grid.