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Fossil fuels built Houston into an energy capital. Can it lead the clean energy transition?

Sep 13, 2023
With the aid of workers, technology and cash from the oil and gas industry, new companies offer a glimpse of a post-fossil fuels future.
An oil refinery in operation with the Houston skyline in the background. Fossil fuels continue to enrich the Texas economy, but some see the need to respond to the climate crisis.
Brandon Bell/Getty Images

The clean energy transition is underway. But where will the workers come from?

Aug 29, 2023
Finding and training workers to install solar panels and maintain electric vehicle charging stations is a massive undertaking.
Language written into the Inflation Reduction Act prioritizes trades with apprenticeships for subsidies. This means  worker scarcity is unlikely in higher-paid, higher-skilled fields.
Mario Tama/Getty Images

Nonprofit lenders compete to distribute $27 billion for greenhouse gas reduction projects

Aug 14, 2023
The money, mandated by the Inflation Reduction Act, will be invested in heat pumps, electric vehicle infrastructure and other systems.
Grants from the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund can go toward initiatives like boosting electric vehicle infrastructure.
Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

Clean energy industry faces economic headwinds

Aug 1, 2023
Inflation and rising interest rates are making it harder for some projects to get off the ground.
A ship carries wind turbine components to the Port of New Bedford.
Daniel Ackerman/Marketplace

Wyoming, long known as a top coal producing state, makes a big move into wind energy

Jul 31, 2023
A new power line project will transfer Wyoming wind to supply parts of the Southwest with electricity. Wyoming’s focus on renewable energy is a shift from its history with fossil fuels.
Wyoming’s Republican Governor Mark Gordon attended the ground breaking ceremony. Despite the state’s fossil fuel history, he said this project is needed to address climate change.
Caitlin Tan/Wyoming Public Media

New energy projects are coming to small towns. Where will workers live?

Jul 11, 2023
The Biden administration is eyeing nuclear as one solution to ‘clean’ energy, but as a new nuclear plant moves into a rural community in Wyoming, there's another challenge — housing shortages for workers.
Kemmerer, Wyoming is known for both its prehistoric fossils and its fossil fuel industry.
Caitlin Tan for Marketplace

"Made in America" policy can actually hurt the U.S., economist says

Adam Posen agrees with the goals of boosting green energy and keeping China at bay. But he says protectionism won't achieve them.
One example of industrial policy is subsidies for companies doing work in clean energy, like the kind that the Inflation Reduction Act provides.
Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images

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Taking stock of Big Tech and Russian energy with Europe’s Competition Commissioner

Sep 21, 2022
The BBC’s Victoria Craig speaks with Margrethe Vestager about Big Tech and the green energy initiatives.
Margrethe Vestager, the European Commission's competition chief.
Dursun Aydemir/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images

Some African countries are benefiting from EU members' search for new energy sources

Jul 19, 2022
South Africa has seen a boom in coal exports. But critics say European countries shouldn't keep feeding their coal habit.
The European Union will stop importing Russian coal in August. Above, coal storage for the coal-fired power plant of the German energy supplier Steag in Duisburg, Germany.
Ina Fassbender/AFP via Getty Images

Sustainable fuel for planes is closer than you may think

Feb 17, 2022
Still, it will take greater regulation to popularize its use. "Voluntary goals don't work," one expert told us.
Carl Court/AFP via Getty Images