The huge Ivanpah solar plant is part of a push to expand renewable energy on U.S. federal land. The developer took steps to relocate a population of the threatened desert tortoise.
Categories: Energy, Environment, National Geographic, Technology • Tags: BrightSource, California, Ivanpah, Mojave, Solar
Over the past 13 years, California has added more than 15,000 megawatts of natural gas-fired electricity generation, which helped ensure supply when a heat wave hit this summer.
Categories: Energy, National Geographic
To manage a surplus of intermittent power in the Pacific Northwest, scientists propose underground compressed air storage in porous volcanic rock.
Categories: Energy, National Geographic, Science, Technology
Much of the petroleum produced in California over the past 150 years has sprung from a jumble of rocks known as the Monterey shale formation. To some, the costs of using advanced technologies to unlock oil that remains tightly bound in the Monterey appear too high. Landscapes atop the shale include habitats for protected species such as the San Joaquin Kit fox, the California Condor, and blunt-nosed leopard lizard.
Categories: Environment, National Geographic, Science
The path toward cleaner cars will be walked in tiny steps. There’s a place for all-electric and even semi-autonomous vehicles, but tweaks to designs that burn gasoline will deliver much of the fuel-economy gains expected in the coming decades.
Categories: Energy, Mobility & Transport, Smithsonian, Technology
Two years after the accident at Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi, can the nuclear renaissance regain its momentum?
Categories: Energy, Smithsonian
Bicycles, pedestrian-friendly plazas and walkways, new bus lines, and parking meters are combining to transform parts of Mexico City from a traffic nightmare to a commuter’s paradise.
Categories: Mobility & Transport, National Geographic, Sustainable Cities
By analyzing thousands of photographs of a forest canopy less than 40 miles outside London, researchers were able to estimate carbon uptake over a two-year period based on the leaves’ hues.
Categories: Environment, Science, Technology, The New York Times
Less than a week before Christmas, you can still find gifts that are both enjoyable and on the greener side.
Categories: Environment, Lifestyle, The New York Times
Josie Garthwaite