

Smithtown buys electric cars, offers free charges to public
Town purchases two Chevrolet Bolts and will install a charging station the public can use for free for at least two years. The Chevrolet Bolts reportedly go 238 miles per charge. Photo Credit: Bridget Fetsko Smithtown will take delivery of two all-electric cars in coming weeks and will install a vehicle charger behind Town Hall by early summer, providing free charges to electric vehicle drivers for at least two years, officials said. “The town plays a role in showcasing alte


Under Trump's Tariffs, The US Lost 20,000 Solar Energy Jobs
U.S. Solar Jobs by Year Chart of the National Solar Jobs Census 2018SOLARJOBSCENSUS.ORG 2016 was the best year on record for solar energy in the United States. A report from the U.S. Department of Energy at the time showed that solar energy was responsible for a much larger share of employment in the electric power sector (43%) than the whole of the fossil fuel industry combined (22%). With such robust numbers, it seemed as though solar energy, and renewables more broadly, we


Plug Power expected to create 80 jobs with Eastman Business Park expansion
Rochester, N.Y. – Dozens of jobs are expected for our area as an Albany County-based business expands its presence to Eastman Business Park. Plug Power, Inc., which provides alternative energy technology, will invest $3.7 million to create a Membrane Electrode Assemblies facility at the business park. The state says this, in turn is expected to create about 80 jobs. The company acquired the Rochester-based American Fuel Cell last year. It has also announced a $2.8 million inv


Plummeting insect numbers 'threaten collapse of nature'
The rate of insect extinction is eight times faster than that of mammals, birds and reptiles. Photograph: Courtesy of Entomologisher Verein Krefeld The world’s insects are hurtling down the path to extinction, threatening a “catastrophic collapse of nature’s ecosystems”, according to the first global scientific review. More than 40% of insect species are declining and a third are endangered, the analysis found. The rate of extinction is eight times faster than that of mammals


The Tiny Swiss Company That Thinks It Can Help Stop Climate Change
Two European entrepreneurs want to remove carbon from the air at prices cheap enough to matter. Christoph Gebald, left, and Jan Wurzbacher, the founders of Climeworks, at their plant in Hinwil, Switzerland.Credit Luca Locatelli for The New York Times Just over a century ago in Ludwigshafen, Germany, a scientist named Carl Bosch assembled a team of engineers to exploit a new technique in chemistry. A year earlier, another German chemist, Fritz Haber, hit upon a process to pull

Emissions from the U.S. electric power sector projected to remain mostly flat through 2050
Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration, Annual Energy Outlook 2019 EIA’s recently released Annual Energy Outlook 2019 projects that the U.S. electric power sector emissions of sulfur dioxide (SO2), nitrogen oxides (NOx), and carbon dioxide (CO2) will remain mostly flat through 2050, assuming no changes to current laws and regulations. SO2 and NOx emissions from the U.S. electric power sector have declined over the past several decades, largely because of the phased im

Congress retains most energy programs in 2018 Farm Bill through fiscal year 2023
Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration, based on Food, Conservation, and Energy Act of 2008; Agricultural Act of 2014; Agricultural Improvement Act of 2018 On December 20, 2018, the Agricultural Improvement Act of 2018 (2018 Farm Bill) was signed into law, continuing federal support to a number of renewable electricity and bioenergy-related programs. Authorizations in the 2018 Farm Bill cover fiscal years (FY) 2019 through 2023, during which time energy programs will