Texas has refused to join interstate electrical grids and railed against energy regulation. Now it’s having to answer to millions of residents who were left without power in last week’s snowstorm.

In the pursuit of a greener and cleaner planet, there's been an almost religious focus on whether a new piece of tech or innovation is environmentally sustainable in the long run. Hence, we've now ended up with electric cars, hydrogen fuel cells, more efficient plastic recycling, and materials that are friendlier to the planet. It's all pretty positive and forward-thinking, but at times, you get something that's completely unexpected. For example, a way to convert your stinky sweat into usable electrical energy.

The productivity of the garden — part of the university’s Community School and Garden program ― provided encouraging results for Barron-Gafford’s research on “agrivoltaics”: growing food and generating solar energy on the same land. As renewable energy ramps up, the concept could at once help fulfill the need for land on which to build new solar installations while also helping farmers stay afloat in the face of converging stressors.

President Joe Biden has promised to replace the United States government’s fleet of roughly 650,000 vehicles with electric models as the new administration shifts its focus towards clean energy.

Struggling luxury car brand Jaguar will be fully electric by 2025, the British company said Monday as it outlined a plan to phase out internal combustion engines. Jaguar Land Rover (JLR), which is owned by Indian conglomerate Tata Motors, hopes the move will help turn around the fortunes of the 86-year-old Jaguar brand, which for many epitomises class but which has struggled in recent years.

In a country where over 80% of residents live in public housing, a government commitment to sustainable urban design could have huge implications. And when it's a tropical country where convenience and air conditioning are a way of life, the impact could be greater still. It is the first with centralized cooling, automated trash collection and a car-free town center.

Disposable face masks used to prevent the spread of Covid-19 could be recycled to make roads, a new study suggests. Researchers at RMIT said they had developed a road-making material by combining shredded single-use masks and processed building rubble. They said it would both meet civil engineering safety standards and help tackle the vast amount of waste generated from Covid protective equipment.

Cities are becoming bigger and more resilient, but to truly thrive they need a stronger, smarter and greener energy system. We recently spoke with André Burdet, head of product management & strategy at Hitachi ABB Power Grids’ Grid Integration business, to find out how renewable energies, transportation and digital networks are evolving to address the need.

The COVID-19 pandemic has revealed an “interdependent” world with “huge issues of inequity,” said Sunita Narain, director general of the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE). Without addressing these realities, “we cannot deal with the virus, and it’s the same with climate change.” “Health, clean energy, equity, and economic recovery all go together. To create the better future we’re all striving for, to ignore one is to weaken the others. So we must move forward… intentionally including everyone, especially the most vulnerable,” said Norman.

Hundreds of hills across the UK could be transformed into renewable energy “batteries” through a pioneering hydropower system embedded underground. A team of engineers have developed a system that adapts one of the oldest forms of energy storage, hydropower, to store and release electricity from gentle slopes rather than requiring steep dam walls and mountains.

The world got a little bit greener when the lights of the Empire State Building flickered to life this year: For the first time, the beloved skyscraper and 13 other office buildings owned by the same company were powered solely by wind. Empire State Realty Trust will announce Wednesday a major purchase of wind power from Green Mountain Energy and Direct Energy, making it the nation’s biggest real estate user of entirely renewable energy.

It might not be the most obvious way of reducing your carbon footprint, but how you save, invest and give away your money can make a difference to the climate. For most people, banks are the places that most frequently deal with their money. But many banks are also well-documented financiers of the climate crisis.