Interesting Ideas

UPDATE May 27: BLUETTI’s Kickstarter campaign for the new FridgePower battery backup system is coming to an end and they sent along the following couple of updates: The Milestone: We’ve officially surpassed $2M in funding; it’s now the Final 72 Hours (campaign ends May 31). Final Pricing: Solo at $819 ... [continued]

The post The BLUETTI FridgePower: Real-World Review — UPDATES appeared first on CleanTechnica.

Germany is a leading clean energy nation, and it is making progress with electrification of transport. The latest milestone it has achieved is that over 200,000 public EV charging points have been installed. A little more than 149,000 are slow chargers, and a bit more than 51,000 are fast chargers. ... [continued]

The post Over 200,000 EV Public Charging Points In Germany Now appeared first on CleanTechnica.

I’ve been following the African electric motorcycle sector for almost 10 years now, from the time of early pilots to present day commercial rollouts and ramp-ups in production. The sector was always going to flourish in the long term based on several factors: A large addressable market of over 30 ... [continued]

The post Africa’s Electric Motorcycle Manufacturers Get Ready for the Next Phase as Adoption of Electric Motorcycles Accelerates appeared first on CleanTechnica.

Washington, D.C. — Today, Sierra Club released a new analysis and interactive dashboard that shows the staggeringly high energy burden low-income households are facing across the country. Sierra Club’s analysis shows that low-income households face the heaviest energy burdens. The Department of Energy defines a high energy burden as spending 6 percent or more of income ... [continued]

The post Low-Income Families Bear Highest Energy Burden — New Analysis appeared first on CleanTechnica.

EV batteries are getting a blended silicon-carbon anode makeover from the UK firm Nexeon, which has just attracted Honda as a new strategic investor.

The post Honda Pursues New Blended Silicon-Carbon EV Batteries appeared first on CleanTechnica.

Industry figures warn of national security risk and call for ministers to address impact of extreme weather, inflation and Iran war

Britain is “sleepwalking into a food crisis” caused by extreme weather, inflation and the impacts of the Iran war – and the government is failing to take the threat seriously, food experts have said.

Farmers are facing severe strain from the current heatwave following a dry spring, with many crops likely to yield less as temperatures rise beyond their tolerance. Livestock are also suffering heat stress and there is a rising risk of wildfires. Economic losses are likely to be measured in the hundreds of millions of pounds.

INDIANAPOLIS — NIPSCO GenCo recently signed a 12-year contract with Halldor Energy Company to power new Google (Michigan City) and Amazon data centers with its Merom coal-fired power plant. The Michigan City data center would be Google’s first in the country to contract for a coal plant’s capacity, to Sierra Club knowledge– ... [continued]

The post Merom Coal Plant to Power Google & Amazon Data Centers; Hoosiers at Risk for Footing the Bill appeared first on CleanTechnica.

In the last century, industrialized farming has killed off delicious food – but a brigade of chefs, breeders and farmers are fighting to bring it back

Bill Tracy is clearly not one to brag, but after a while, it seems he just can’t help himself. “I did come up with something absolutely amazing actually,” he says softly. “Really quite amazing.”

Tracy has spent the last 40 years in the fields of Wisconsin as one of the US’s leading sweetcorn breeders, tasting up to 300 ears a day in search of the perfect corn that might one day sizzle on barbecues across the country.

Global temperature record could be broken as soon as 2027, with El Niño expected later this year

A record-breaking hot year is almost certain by 2030 as the climate crisis intensifies, the UN’s World Meteorological Organization has warned.

With an El Niño event expected later this year, the global temperature record could fall as soon as 2027.

Researchers are working to create new drought-resistant varieties of the ingredient that gives Czech pilsner its character

It is the country that drinks more beer per capita than any other but in the last few years Czechia has been hit by droughts and heatwaves, which make it harder to grow the Saaz hops, one of the key ingredients that goes into the country’s world famous beer.

At the Hop Research Institute, however, scientists are working to create new, climate-resilient hop varieties that have shown promise in overcoming Czechia’s heat and its strict traditionalism.

The WasteBar food truck hopes the eye-catching deal will change people’s attitude to waste in the Netherlands

Using cigarette butts to buy buttery Dutch pancakes? That is the deal one food truck is offering at festivals in the Netherlands as a way to get people thinking about litter.

Cigarette butts are the most common form of plastic waste in the world, with more than 4.5tn butts produced every year. In the Netherlands the estimated figure is in the hundreds of millions.

By Wanjiru Kamotho-Mureithi The recent instability in the Gulf region has reminded African countries and the world of a familiar yet painful vulnerability; oil-dependent economies face recurring crises they cannot control. Kenya offers a clear illustration of this dynamic. Nearly all the country’s fuel is imported, with the nation spending ... [continued]

The post When Oil Shocks Hit Home: Why Africa’s Buses Must Go Electric appeared first on CleanTechnica.

Chery Automobile-backed joint venture Electric Mobility Technologies is preparing to enter Japan’s tightly regulated kei-car market with a compact electric vehicle scheduled for launch in 2027. Operating under the EMTA brand, the Singapore-based venture will compete with BYD and its upcoming Racco kei EV as Chinese automakers push deeper into ... [continued]

The post Chery to Enter Japan Through an Autobacs Partnership appeared first on CleanTechnica.

As summers become hotter, air conditioner sales are booming. If you’re looking to invest, here’s what to consider

When a heatwave struck the UK this week, Jon Connorton, a software developer, began monitoring temperatures inside his east Hampshire terrace house. With some rooms reaching close to 40C, it was time to deploy the air conditioner. “We just wheel it out in emergencies,” he said. “We were having trouble sleeping.”

Connorton and his wife have a portable air conditioner. These plug-in devices cool interior air by removing heat from it and blowing that heat outside, typically via a large hose slung from a window or door.

Datacentres used 22% of country’s electricity last year, pushing up household bills, study suggests

Energy demand by datacentres in Ireland has added hundreds of euros to household electricity bills in a pattern that could be replicated across Europe, according to a report.

Ireland’s growing number of datacentres last year used 22% of the country’s electricity, more than all urban homes combined, according to the Central Statistics Office. The equivalent figure in the US and UK is 6%.

Energy specialists say abandoning net zero and increasing oil and gas drilling would cause more instability for Britons

• UK politics live – latest updates

Abandoning net zero and drilling for more oil and gas in the North Sea would be a massive setback for the UK and would not help the economy, leading experts have said in response to claims by the former prime minister Tony Blair.

“This is a bizarre intervention to make during the worst May heatwave on record and when the Iran crisis is providing yet more evidence of the enormous costs of oil and gas,” said Ed Matthew, the UK programme director at the E3G thinktank. “Clean energy is cheaper energy – it protects our bills from prices skyrocketing, its running costs are virtually zero, and it doesn’t cause climate change which threatens economic collapse ... The government should ignore Blair’s ideological nonsense and focus on what works.”

Joel de Mowbray’s salvage scheme began as a small milk float converted into a logging vehicle – now he’s part of Tipping Point East, a massive site designed to divert valuable waste materials to builders that need it

Joel de Mowbray reached breaking point with UK construction in south London in 2020. He was working on a lovely building project, part of Lambeth council’s scheme to make streets more pedestrian-friendly. De Mowbray was installing a public wooden seating area in an underused stretch of street.

“The council were doing treeworks the entire time we were building, felling trees right next to us,” he says. “But we had to go to Ashdown Forest for our supplies. That felt bonkers to me: they were creating the exact material we needed next to our site.”

Following this series of fuel cost comparisons between electric car models and comparable gas car models, here’s a comparison of the Ford Escape and the Ford Mustang Mach-E. Naturally, with all of these comparisons, there are many assumptions to make and you can make assumptions that fit you and your ... [continued]

The post $1,538 to Fuel Ford Escape vs. $235 to Energize Ford Mustang Mach-E appeared first on CleanTechnica.

With early tests suggesting the presence of crude oil, the Caribbean island has begun to debate whether it could justify becoming a producer

Jamaica is closer than ever to drilling for oil. Tests on samples from the seabed off the Caribbean island’s south coast earlier this year identified hydrocarbons, which suggest the presence of crude oil below ground.

Jamaica imports all its fuel, which costs about $1.5-2bn (£1.1bn-1.5bn) annually, depending on global oil prices. It is a persistent drag on an economy that generated $4.3bn from tourism, its biggest earner, in 2024.

The US Army has been slow to adopt EVs, but the combination of range extender hybrids and crewless, robotic applications could provide an opening.

The post Maybe, Just Maybe, The US Army Wants EVs After All appeared first on CleanTechnica.