Energy
Daily Comment
The Next Power Plant Is on the Roof and in the Basement
A Department of Energy report promotes a new system that could remake the energy grid.
Annals of a Warming Planet
Dimming the Sun to Cool the Planet Is a Desperate Idea, Yet We’re Inching Toward It
The scientists who study solar geoengineering don’t want anyone to try it. But climate inaction is making it more likely.
Elements
How Food Powers Your Body
Metabolism, which unleashes the energy in what you eat, may be nature’s most electrifying invention.
U.S. Journal
Could Coal Waste Be Used to Make Sustainable Batteries?
Acid mine drainage has long been a scourge in Appalachia. Recent research suggests that we may be able to simultaneously clean up the pollution and extract the minerals and elements needed to power green technologies.
Q. & A.
Cutting Off Putin’s Pipelines to Europe
An import ban on Russian energy may be the most effective way to stop the war in Ukraine. But could the E.U. handle the shock?
Daily Comment
This Earth Day, We Could Be Helping the Environment—and Ukraine
Even as we watch the horrors daily inflicted on the Ukrainians, we have not been asked to change our daily habits in any way to be of help to them.
Annals of Innovation
The Renewable-Energy Revolution Will Need Renewable Storage
Can gravity, pressure, and other elemental forces save us from becoming a battery-powered civilization?
Our Columnists
The Case for an Immediate Energy Embargo on Russia
An aide to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky argues that halting the purchase of oil and gas is the surest way to stop Vladimir Putin’s military machine.
Daily Comment
A Better Idea Than Releasing Oil from the Strategic Reserve
It’s time to do away with the S.U.V. loophole.
Essay
In a World on Fire, Stop Burning Things
The truth is new and counterintuitive: we have the technology necessary to rapidly ditch fossil fuels.
Our Columnists
The Economic Challenge and Climate Opportunity in Supporting Ukraine
Putin’s dependence on oil-and-gas exports presents a chance to make the U.S. less beholden to fossil fuels and the autocratic governments that control them.
A Reporter at Large
Can Germany Show Us How to Leave Coal Behind?
The country embarked on an ambitious plan to transition to clean energy, aiming to lead the fight against climate change. It has not been easy.
Annals of a Warming Planet
The Millions of Tons of Carbon Emissions That Don’t Officially Exist
How a blind spot in the Kyoto Protocol helped create the biomass industry.
Dept. of Science
Energy, and How to Get It
All of us know people who have more energy than we do, but the science of the phenomenon is just coming into view.
Annals of Science
Can Nuclear Fusion Put the Brakes on Climate Change?
Amid an escalating crisis, the power source offers a dream—or a pipe dream—of limitless clean energy.
Daily Comment
It’s Climate Week Again, but the Calendar Is Running Out
A slow transition away from carbon will be costlier than a fast one, but each year that we keep spewing carbon is a year in which fossil-fuel companies’ current business models stay intact.
Daily Comment
Joe Biden’s Solar Plan and the Prescience of Jimmy Carter
The best time to plant a solar panel was forty years ago—but Biden is trying hard to make up for lost time.
Daily Comment
The International Energy Agency Issues a Landmark Statement About Fossil Fuels
Our hope for a livable world rests on a series of crucial sentences.
Annals of a Warming Planet
Do We Actually Need More Gas Stations?
Resistance rises to Costco’s plans for mega stations.