
Offshore wind planners engage with maritime industry
Turbines at the Deepwater Wind array off Block Island, R.I. Department of Energy photo. Offshore wind power planners are coming to grips with potential user conflicts in the New York Bight, where state officials in New York and New Jersey want to develop vast arrays of wind turbines by 2030. Nearly 6 gigawatts (GW) of power could potentially flow to shore from existing federal leases and additional areas on the continental shelf, under those ambitious plans. That would be rou

Sea Level Rise Is Accelerating: 4 Inches Per Decade (or More) by 2100
Satellite data confirm what computer models have warned for years: Oceans are rising faster as the planet warms, and coastal communities face increasing flood risk. Rising sea levels increase the risk of storm surge flooding in coastal cities like Charleston, South Carolina, shown here after Hurricane Matthew. Credit: Brian Blanco/Getty Images The rate of sea level rise is accelerating so fast that some coastal communities could confront an additional 4 inches per decade by t

How a Solar Microgrid Is Helping an Indigenous California Tribe Achieve Community Resiliency
The Chemehuevi microgrid will provide about 85 percent of the community center's energy usage. Photo Credit: GRID Alternatives With this year’s major storms cutting power for millions of Americans for days—and in the case of Puerto Rico, months on end—the question of how we make our electrical grid and our communities more resilient is on a lot of people’s minds. But for people who live in remote communities where electricity has always been unreliable, or even nonexistent, r

Tesla to partner with NY utility company on battery storage system
Orange and Rockland Utilities, a utility provider that is part of Consolidated Edison, Inc., recently submitted a proposal to collaborate with Tesla in the creation of a battery storage solution for New York residents. With the system in place, O&R expects its customers to see up to a 70% reduction in the demand charges on their electricity bills. The Consolidated Edison utility provider submitted the proposal for the project on February 6 to the New York Public Service Commi

A Spy’s Guide to Climate Change
A Cape Town resident collecting water in January. Credit Joao Silva/The New York Times The Trump administration is seeking to withdraw the United States from the international accord reached in Paris in 2015 to fight climate change. It is trying to rescind regulations on the issue. It has even scrubbed mentions of global warming from government websites. Yet its attempt to suppress the facts has not entirely succeeded, with federal agencies continuing to issue warnings, inclu

The 10 States With the Most LEED Certifications
The U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) released the annual list of the Top 10 States for LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design), the world’s most widely used green building rating system. The list ranks states in terms of certified square feet per resident in 2017. The list draws attention to states throughout America that are making significant strides in sustainable design, construction and transformation at the building level and opens up conversations aroun

Big solar farm eyed for land in Massena, Norfolk, Brasher
Solar farm Enfield, NY (Photo credit: BlueRock Energy A large-scale solar farm under consideration for St. Lawrence County on land in the towns of Massena, Norfolk and Brasher would provide hundreds of temporary construction jobs and three to four permanent jobs. North Park Energy, LLC, which is a wholly-owned indirect subsidiary of NextEra Resources, LLC, North Side Energy Center, plans to develop, construct and operate a solar energy center to have a maximum generating capa

New York could be headed for the country's most ambitious energy storage goal
With a new energy storage bill and the governor’s recent announcement, New York could set a goal above 1.5 GW by 2030. New York State could be on its way to crafting the most aggressive energy storage goal in the country. The target is still a work in progress, but based on Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s (D) recent announcement and interviews with analysts, it could be set above 1,500 MW by 2030. “I think the target would be higher than 1,500 MW,” Conor Bambrick, air and energy director