Energy

Energy secretary talks U.S. plan to boost solar production

5:13pm June 11, 2022

The Biden administration announced actions this week that could triple solar manufacturing by 2024. NPR's Cheryl W. Thompson speaks with U.S. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm about the plan.

National

A Minnesota town wants to replace its coal plant with solar. Some locals aren't happy

5:30pm May 27, 2022

by Kirsti Marohn

The renewable energy industry is growing quickly in the U.S. as utilities transition from fossil fuels to cleaner energy, like wind and solar power. In some places, renewable energy faces opposition.

A worker carries used drink bottles and cans for recycling at a collection point in Brooklyn, New York. Three decades of recycling have so far failed to reduce what we throw away, especially plastics.

We never got good at recycling plastic. Some states are trying a new approach

1:32pm May 27, 2022

by Matthew Schuerman

New York is the latest, and largest, state to consider charging product-makers to dispose of their packaging. But lawmakers are clashing over how much to involve industry in creating a new system.

Black or brown hydrogen is extracted from coal. Gray hydrogen is made by heating natural gas. Both create carbon dioxide. Blue hydrogen captures about 90% of that carbon dioxide and stores it, usually underground. Green hydrogen uses renewable energy to s

Hydrogen may be a climate solution. There's debate over how clean it will truly be

10:18am May 27, 2022

by Reid Frazier

The federal government plans to build several hydrogen hubs around the country. The goal is to find a cleaner replacement for fossil fuels. But there are challenges in how hydrogen is produced.

World News

Lithuania has become the 1st European country to stop using Russian gas

5:38pm May 26, 2022

by Rob Schmitz

As Russia's war in Ukraine enters its fourth month, European countries are scrambling to wean themselves off of Russian gas. The Baltic nation of Lithuania has become the first to do so.

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High inflation is taking a toll on energy and housing markets

4:27pm May 24, 2022

High inflation is weighing on the U.S. economy and raising the risk of a recession. Here's how energy and housing markets are being affected.

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A view of the business tower Lakhta Centre, the headquarters of Russian gas monopoly Gazprom in St. Petersburg, Russia, on April 27. Russia has halted natural gas exports to neighboring Finland.

World News

Russia has cut off its natural gas exports to Finland in a symbolic move

12:58pm May 21, 2022

by The Associated Press

The move came just days after the Nordic country announced it wanted to join NATO and marked a likely end to Finland's nearly 50 years of importing natural gas from Russia.

Russian-backed Donetsk militia fighters man "Gvozdika" (Carnation) self-propelled artillery vehicles to fire toward a Ukrainian army position outside Donetsk, in territory held by the separatist Donetsk government in eastern Ukraine, Friday. Fighting has

Russia-Ukraine war: What happened today (May 20)

4:54pm May 20, 2022

by NPR Staff

A roundup of key developments and the latest in-depth coverage of Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

National

Much of the U.S. could see power blackouts this summer, a grid assessment reveals

7:34am May 20, 2022

by Laura Benshoff

A grid reliability report says power outages are likely in parts of the Midwest, California and Texas. The Western drought and a mismatch between supply and peak summer demand are some reasons why.

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Veronica Stovall, left, helped her father, Joseph L. Davis, apply for a federally-funded energy-efficiency program in 2021. It turned up significant repair needs.

A low-income energy-efficiency program gets $3.5B boost, but leaves out many in need

4:28pm May 19, 2022

by Laura Benshoff

The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act adds the funds over the next five years to help Americans save on energy their bills. But many of homes are in such poor condition they do not qualify.

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