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Energy

A Warmer World

What will the clean energy transition look like?

by Kai Ryssdal and Richard Cunningham
Oct 28, 2021
The road to a clean, affordable and reliable power grid won’t be straightforward.
"If you look at where wind and solar need to be placed in this country, it's mainly in the Midwest, and your demand centers are on the coasts," said Gary Kruse, managing director of research at Arbo.
Spencer Platt via Getty Images
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The challenges of getting oil companies to decommission California's aging offshore oil rigs

by Caroline Champlin
Oct 7, 2021
While some lawmakers look to stop new drilling, the existing rigs are continuing to operate.
California brown pelicans fly near offshore oil rigs after sunset on July 21, 2009 near Santa Barbara, California. Shutting down California's offshore oil rigs could prove costly.
David McNew/Getty Images
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"Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room"

20 years later, echoes of Enron's energy deregulation in California, Texas

by David Brancaccio and Rose Conlon
Sep 30, 2021
In California, energy companies gamed the markets and ushered in large-scale blackouts in 2000-2001, incidents that have Enron's fingerprints all over them.
David McNew/Getty Images
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The renewable energy transition has companies looking out to sea

by Julia Simon
Sep 27, 2021
Nodules on the ocean floor are rich in cobalt, nickel, manganese and copper. But deep-sea mining has raised environmental concerns.
Courtesy of GSR
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Texas' efforts to fix electrical grid may not be enough to prevent future blackouts

by Andy Uhler
Sep 13, 2021
The state's decision nearly a century ago to go it alone when it comes to electricity still has ramifications today.
Justin Sullivan/Getty Images
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California's battery-supported grid off to a slow start

by Caroline Champlin
Jul 13, 2021
California’s grid operator hoped new battery storage could prevent rolling blackouts. Installation has been delayed.
The sun shines over towers carrying electical lines in South San Francisco, California.
Justin Sullivan/Getty Images
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Coal use rises as natural gas prices spike

by Andy Uhler
Jul 7, 2021
Long term, coal isn't a good option as an energy source. But the competition between coal and natural gas is what matters now.
Although the U.S. and other developed nations still use carbon-heavy coal in electricity production, the industry is declining.
Sean Gallup via Getty Images
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Big Texas energy companies may become more powerful after historic winter storm

by Dominic Walsh
Mar 29, 2021
Consolidation in the Texas energy sector could make a few companies "too big to fail," some say.
Several inches of snow blanketed most of Texas on Feb. 15. In the Denver Heights neighborhood of San Antonio, residents woke up to rolling blackouts that eventually turned into a multiday outage.
Dominic Walsh
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Shelf Life

The natural gas well that changed everything

by Daniel Yergin
Sep 15, 2020
In this excerpt, Daniel Yergin writes about a man’s determination to extract gas from underground rock denser than concrete.
Natural gas is flared off at a plant outside of Cuero, Texas.
Spencer Platt/Getty Images
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What might PG&E — and its customers — get from partnering with Tesla?

by Andy Uhler
Jul 30, 2020
They've broken ground on a battery facility that could help the utility meet state energy storage requirements.
The more efficient storage facility should make it cheaper for PG&E to produce energy, which should, eventually, trickle down to ratepayers.
Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images
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