Evading a wave in Houston after Hurricane Harvey hit on Aug. 25. Credit Brendan Smialowski/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images NEW ORLEANS — Climate change made the torrential rains that flooded Houston after Hurricane Harvey last summer much worse, scientists reported Wednesday. Two research groups found that the record rainfall as Harvey stalled over Texas in late August, which totaled more than 50 inches in some areas, was as much as 38 percent higher than would be expecte

California state capitol, Sacramento A California lawmaker will propose a bill next month that will ban the sale of gasoline-powered vehicles in the state beginning in 2040. Assemblymember Phil Ting, a Democrat representing much of the Bay Area, said he plans to introduce the bill when lawmakers return for the next legislative session in Sacramento. “Until you set a deadline, nothing gets done,” Ting said. “It’s responsible for us to set a deadline 23 years in advance.” Accor

Panasonic is looking to hire more workers for its portion of the giant Tesla solar panel plant at RiverBend in South Buffalo. (Derek Gee/Buffalo News) Published December 4, 2017 Panasonic hopes to have slightly more than 300 people working by the end of the year at its portion of the Tesla solar panel factory. The company, which began making solar modules at the sprawling RiverBend factory in late summer, is getting ready to expand its production to include solar cells in the

Keene Valley, New York. Credit: Matthew Novak New York Governor Andrew Cuomo signed a bill to create a statewide energy storage target, making New York the fourth state in the country that will have such a target, Greentech Media reported. The bill to establish an energy storage deployment program was passed unanimously by the legislature five months ago. Cuomo signed it last week. Under the new law, the New York Public Service Commission has until January 1, 2018 to determin

Google is officially off-setting 100% of its energy usage with either wind or solar power. The company signed contracts on three wind power plants in recent days to bring them over 3GW of production capacity. Google’s energy infrastructure investments have totaled over $3.5 billion globally, with about two-thirds being in the US. Per an announcement made via Twitter and the LinkedIn page of Sam Arons, Google’s Senior Lead, Energy & Infrastructure at Google: 535 MW more wind b

5.3-Megawatt Solar Array Will Meet 85 Percent of Gore’s Electricity Needs Project Supports the Governor’s Ambitious Goal of 50 Percent Renewable Energy by 2030 The New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA), the Olympic Regional Development Authority (ORDA) and Borrego Solar today announced the completion of Gore Mountain Ski Resort’s 5.3 megawatt solar array in Washington County, the largest solar installation dedicated to a ski resort in the nation

China’s push to become a major maker of solar panels has driven down global prices by close to 90 percent over the past decade. Credit Adam Dean for The New York Times SAN FRANCISCO — With President Trump vowing to get tougher on trade, troubled American makers of everything from steel tubing and aluminum foil to washing machines have lined up to ask Washington for protection from foreign rivals. But Mr. Trump’s first big international trade fight could be over solar panels.