Explore the Energy section of The Pulse for in-depth coverage of clean power, storage solutions and emerging technologies.
A few weeks ago, the federal government cut a deal that made headlines across the country. Nearly a billion dollars in refunded fees went to a…
The regional power grid in Cochise County, Arizona, is under pressure due to extreme temperature shifts between hot days and cool nights. Solar farms do a…
In an empty ocean, at least 18 km off the Portuguese coast, a lone wind turbine sat on top of rolling waves. The structure itself did…
Picture the Moon not as a cold rock but as the largest power station in the solar system. A company that has been building things since…
Fifteen miles off the coast of Massachusetts, a renewable energy installation saw a structural failure that had to be treated like an emergency. The first part…
Picture the seabed off the coast of Taiwan: flat, sandy, and almost empty. For millions of years, the stretch of ocean floor near Miaoli County held…
An unassuming field lay before a dimming Connecticut winter sky. Heavy mud stuck to boots traveling over a thin layer of gravel on the narrow road.…
On a reservoir in the Arizona desert, something new is floating on the water. Rows of dark solar panels ride on rafts where only the sky…
The idea sounds almost too good to pass up. Take the Sahara, one of the sunniest places on Earth, and cover it in solar panels. Endless…
The rivers along the East Coast of the United States see a burst of activity in spring as millions of fish make their ancient migration journey…
Wind turbines are usually easy to spot. They tower over vast areas of land and can be seen from great distances. At night, another identifying feature…
Picture a steel cable thicker than a human thigh being hauled up through cold North Sea water onto a Norfolk beach. That is exactly what happened…
Ecologists are being forced to reevaluate green energy’s footprint after a new study published in The Journal of Wildlife Management. Wind farms are designed to supply…
Floating solar farms are exposed to some of the harshest weather conditions in the North Sea. High waves, strong winds, and constant motion make offshore engineering…
From the air, it looks like a mistake. A vast field of dark blue panels stretches across the surface of a wide lake in eastern China.…
Researchers in Texas discovered something unusual about three wind turbines standing together. They each generate electricity by turning into the wind. The team found that one…
Picture the Sun for a moment: a ball of fire so enormous that a million Earths would fit inside it, burning at temperatures the human mind…
A marine research vessel instigated a deep-sea reconnaissance dive targeted at a pioneering floating wind farm. The work-class ROV enabled an unprecedented look at deep-sea ecosystems…
Fish moving towards a hydroelectric dam will likely encounter significant difficulties. Hydroelectric dams generate electricity. However, these structures create barriers to migration routes used by fish…
Stand in the middle of Abu Dhabi’s western desert on a July afternoon and the ground can climb past 150 degrees Fahrenheit. Nothing lingers in the…
Off the Orkney Islands in Scotland, tidal currents rip through narrow channels at more than 8 knots — fast enough to capsize an unprepared vessel and…
Picture a robot that looks like a mini beluga whale or dolphin, gliding around the ocean. It has a super important job. It looks almost effortless…
Picture a structure taller than the Eiffel Tower, floating freely in open ocean 43 miles from the nearest coastline. No seabed anchor holds it upright in…
School buses are trading diesel for heavy-duty batteries. They are quieter, cleaner, and really efficient. But these yellow giants are no longer just delivering kids. They…
From a plane window on the way into Orlando, something strange appears in the green fields below. A shape made of dark panels stares back up…
Picture the most famous prison in America, alone on a rock in San Francisco Bay. Cold water surrounds it, and the mainland glitters just over a…
Imagine the coldest, windiest, most remote place a person can work, and then imagine keeping the lights on there. This is Ross Island, a speck of…
The largest lake in California was accidental. The Salton Sea was once a playground for Hollywood stars. But now, it’s a toxic wasteland that’s been steadily…
Florida is a mixed bag, known for sunshine and hurricanes. And also for high power bills. One couple in Lake Wales decided that they weren’t going…
On the edge of a small South Carolina town, a lake stretches across 2,250 acres of pine shadowed shoreline. Most people who drive past it see…
New Jersey is famous for its productive farmland and lush green fields. Now, the Garden State is going green in a new way. Large-scale clean energy…
Picture the fence at the edge of a typical backyard. It has been standing there for years, doing one job: marking where the property ends. It…
Every single day, the Arizona sun quietly lifts millions of gallons of water straight off the surface of the state’s canals. It rises into the dry air and…
Picture two million miles of road. Every interstate, every highway, every freeway on the planet, stitched together into one unbroken ribbon of asphalt stretching around the…
155 wind projects across Texas, Colorado, Washington, and other states are frozen — the Pentagon says turbines could interfere with military radars and complicate missile detection.…
Imagine cutting your dependence on the power grid. It sounds great, right? Most people install home energy systems to cut their monthly electricity bills. But one…
Stand close enough to a spinning wind turbine and you feel it before you hear it. A low, rhythmic pulse moves through your chest, so deep…
One family’s quiet Maryland afternoon was interrupted by a strange scratching sound in the backyard. They followed the noise straight to their solar panels. Underneath were…
In the farm country of western India, a long irrigation canal runs straight toward the horizon. Over one stretch of it sits something you would not…
Imagine coming home to a gang of animals wrecking your deck. That’s exactly what happened in a quiet town in the Californian mountains. And wind turbines…
Picture two big solar farms sitting in the middle of southern Minnesota farm country, panels tilted toward the sky, humming with electricity. The ground between the…
Modern technology does best in a clean landscape. The infrastructure and vegetation don’t mix well. In Massachusetts, solar farms are battling to control a growing problem…
Solar panels are a major upgrade for homes in Phoenix. They work brilliantly in the heat of the desert and cut energy bills significantly. But they…
Stand at the waterfront edge of Sunset Park, Brooklyn, and you are looking at a 73-acre stretch of cracked pavement, rusting sheds and an old shipping…
For generations, cattle have ruled the Flint Hills of Kansas. Now, the horizon on the ocean of grass is different, with 50 wind turbines rising above…
Parts of the waterway got covered by solar panels, but there was a reason beyond simply generating electricity. The obvious benefit was that the design used…
The turbine versus birds debate is still raging on. We want to use wind power to fight climate change, yet environmentalists are up in arms about…
Satellites orbiting high above Illinois recently picked up a pattern that wasn’t there before. The night air is changing above the state’s wind farms. It can’t…
The sun rises fast over the high desert of New Mexico, and when it does, the pronghorn move. They follow ancient routes across the shortgrass plain,…
Electricity floating on water sounds like science fiction, right? But this is the reality on a calm reservoir in Albania, and it’s not your standard solar…
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