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Energy

The way to reach clean geothermal heat? Fracking.

by Caleigh Wells
Dec 13, 2024
Hydraulic drilling – also known as fracking – can help capture this heat, which can turned into electricity.
Instead of capturing gas to burn, fracking could capture heat to turn into electricity. Above, a shale fracking site in Marianna, Pennsylvania.
Nicholas Kamm/AFP via Getty Images
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Renewable diesel finds a growing market

by Elizabeth Trovall
Dec 3, 2024
The biofuel made of vegetable oil and animal fat is primarily used on the West Coast. But it's more expensive to produce than regular diesel.
Renewable diesel, made of old cooking oil and animal fat, is increasingly fueling big rigs and heavy-duty vehicles.
Justin Sullivan/Getty Images
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Smart thermostats and virtual power plants make the most of excess energy

by Elizabeth Trovall
Nov 8, 2024
These tools help lower peak demand as our economy is increasingly electrified.
A virtual power plant in Texas would use smart thermostats to cool homes when demand — and prices — are lower, and raise the temperature when they are higher.
Gina Ferazzi/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images
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"Make Me Smart” Newsletter

Big Tech goes nuclear

by Ellen Rolfes
Oct 18, 2024
Plus: AI slop is all over Spotify, and a tiny island is making bank off “.ai” websites.
Constellation Energy (CC BY-SA 4.0)
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Taller, slicker data centers could be the future

by Kai Ryssdal and Sofia Terenzio
Oct 1, 2024
Data centers are getting taller and slicker as they move closer to urban and suburban areas.
A construction crew works on a CloudHQ data center in Ashburn, Virginia.
Nathan Howard/Getty Images
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How We Survive

The U.S. military looks at electrifying the sky

by Kai Ryssdal and Sophia Paliza-Carre
Sep 26, 2024
One example is Joby Aviation’s electric “air taxi.”
"Marketplace" host Kai Ryssdal sits in a flight simulator for an electric aircraft made by Joby Aviation.
Sophia Paliza-Carre/Marketplace
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Our old electrical grid is limiting how much wind and solar power we can use

by Caleigh Wells
Sep 17, 2024
It isn't easy to upgrade a 20th-century system of transmission lines, generating stations and home outlets for 21st-century needs.
Solar and wind power generate direct current, which must be converted to alternating current to "play well" with the existing electrical grid, historian Julie Cohn says.
Joe Raedle/Getty Images
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Demand for generators grows amid Texas outages. But who can afford them?

by Elizabeth Trovall
Sep 9, 2024
The price of a generator can range from hundreds to many thousands of dollars, putting them out of reach for the most vulnerable.
Extreme weather means blackouts are a part of life in Texas. But for low-income seniors and others in need, buying a generator to operate an air conditioner or medical equipment may be out of reach.
Brandon Bell/Getty Images
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Government stockpiles of metals, materials could aid clean energy transition

by Daniel Ackerman
Sep 4, 2024
Leaders in Washington have been busy replenishing U.S. stockpiles for war. But they may be more likely to be used in battling climate change.
Some materials used by the defense industry could play a role in wind and solar facilities battling climate change. Above, workers move the blade of a wind turbine.
Robert Nickelsberg/Getty Images
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One coal town seeks to transition after its power plant closes

by Reid R. Frazier
Aug 16, 2024
As coal plants around the country are retired, communities have to fund ways to rebuild.
Many cities historically dependent on coal-fueled power plants have to plan for a more renewable future.
Brandon Bell/Getty Images
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