Posts in the 'Energy + Climate Change' category
U.S. solar power is booming, poised to grow 12% nationally this year, but so far, Virginia hasn’t been a big part of the boom. With only 775 megawatts of installed solar capacity, solar represents about 1% of Virginia’s electricity consumption. That’s enough to power ...
There’s both good and bad news from the latest report tracking progress on Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 7, a global goal to achieve universal access to energy by 2030. The good news: The number of people without electricity access globally has dropped, ...
The $6,000 Electric Vehicle: The Power of the Used Car Market to Bring Electric Vehicles to Everyone
Transportation is the fastest growing source of carbon dioxide emissions and fossil fuel demand worldwide. That makes zero-emission vehicles a prerequisite for a sustainable future. But while our glittering electric future is often defined by the sci-fi innovations of companies like Tesla and Rivian, the ...
The world is vastly underestimating the benefits of acting on climate change. Recent research from the Global Commission on the Economy and Climate finds that bold climate action could deliver at least $26 trillion in economic benefits through 2030. This ground-breaking research, ...
Corporations have driven much of the recent U.S. investment in renewable energy, collectively procuring more than 16 gigawatts of new capacity since 2014, enough to power roughly 5 million homes for a year. Commercial and industrial energy users represent more than 60% of U.S. ...
The largest and highest-consuming cities in the world have carbon footprints equal to those of small countries. This is the finding of a study surveying the carbon footprint of cities worldwide. Half the world’s population lives in cities, but just 100 cities ...
Around the world, grassroots movements like Extinction Rebellion and Fridays for Future are sounding the alarm about the climate crisis, and government representatives are responding to the call: national parliaments and cities have declared climate emergencies, the Green New Deal is gathering support in ...
At Connect Karo 2019, WRI India’s seventh annual conference on sustainable urban development in India, experts across sectors agreed on one big thing: the future of mobility is electric. This marks a rapid evolution of opinion since last year’s Connect ...
The emergence of the Green New Deal has inspired unprecedented activism and lively debate about the future of climate action in Congress and the relationship between climate policy and a broader economic and social equity agenda. So far, it’s only been talk, since ...
When a city decides to transition from fossil fuels to clean energy, headlines follow. But the work has only just begun. Cities have many options for generating and purchasing renewable electricity, each of which comes with distinct benefits and challenges. ...
Cities in the global south today face a complex challenge: like all cities, they need to reduce carbon emissions, but they also need to expand access to energy. Around the world, 1.1 billion people currently lack access to electric cooling ...
Mayors from cities across the U.S. are stepping up and committing to broad and inspirational action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and decarbonize local energy systems. This leadership is especially critical given lack of federal climate action, but translating a ...
Electrification is a key step to creating low-carbon cities. Replacing fossil fuel-powered vehicles, stoves, furnaces with electric alternatives reduces emissions and creates a host of other benefits. But not all cities are equally suitable for electrification. In some cases, electrification is ...
Cities are currently both climate-culprit and climate-victim. They are already responsible for 70 percent of global energy-related greenhouse gas emissions and 65 percent of global energy demand; they could easily account for more than three-quarters of electricity use by 2030. ...
The UN climate summit in Katowice, Poland (COP24) is seen by many as the most important climate negotiation since 2015, when 196 countries created a vision for a zero-carbon future by adopting the landmark Paris Agreement. This year’s summit is the ...
