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It looks like the Batmobile, works on solar energy, and could be the future of cars

Sarah Kaplan Aaron Steckelberg Jane Hahn

February 25, 2021 |

The Washington Post |

Multi-Media |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, San Diego, California

Aptera Motors, a California-based startup, is poised to roll out the first mass-produced solar vehicle this year: for $25,900. The car is a three-wheel, aerodynamic electric vehicle covered in solar cells that can provide energy to drive about 40 miles. The model is not 100 percent efficient with some energy lost in its electrical current conversion and in its drive system, but the creators say it is four times more effect than an average electric vehicle. Still, when the company started taking preorders, they sold out of its first 330 vehicles in 24 hours.

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Ten years after Fukushima: could new fuels make nuclear power safer?

Michael Allen

February 23, 2021 |

Physics World |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Urbana, Illinois

After the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster, scientists are looking for ways to ensure the future of nuclear power is safer. One possibility is improving the protective barrier that surrounds the fuel pellets. They coated the fuel road with chromium and in tests, the new coatings performed well. However, modeling suggests that the chromium-coating might not provide enough time to stabilize a power plant during a meltdown. Still, these materials have started to appear in commercial nuclear reactors and could help reduce fuel waste and save money.

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How Vermont's Energy Efficiency Utility Is Helping Businesses Sweat the Small Stuff

Chad Small

February 23, 2021 |

Next City |

Text |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, Bennington, Vermont

To make their restaurant more energy efficient and to cut its carbon footprint, The Publyk House utilized the services of Efficiency Vermont, a publicly funded energy efficiency utility. As part of their Deep Energy Retrofit program, the utility helped install insulation, LED lighting, and high-efficiency appliances at the restaurant, allowing them to save 50 percent on energy in two years. Since the start of the program, 10 businesses have been able to cut their energy consumption in half.

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“Power Companies Get Exactly What They Want”: How Texas Repeatedly Failed to Protect Its Power Grid Against Extreme Weather

Vianna Davila Jeremy Schwartz Kiah Collier

February 22, 2021 |

The Texas Tribune |

Multi-Media |

Over 3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Texas

After winter storms and freezing temperatures in 2011 and 2014 caused power plants in Texas to shut down, the state’s energy regulators failed to adapt the state’s electric grid for future extreme weather events. Experts say the state’s deregulated energy market, failure to weatherize facilities, and a lack of action from lawmakers to update the power grid caused millions of customers to lose power during the deadly 2021 winter storm.

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The Texas Freeze: Why the Power Grid Failed

Katherine Blunt Russell Gold

February 19, 2021 |

Wall Street Journal |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Texas

By relying on the market to give energy suppliers' incentives to keep the power going during extreme weather events, a historic cold snap in Texas revealed cracks in the state’s free-market energy system, which left millions powerless during the storm. Critics of the state’s system say “the alphabet soup of Texas energy oversight bodies” led to inaction and there was a lack of preparation from plant owners to ensure that they could continue to operate in extreme heat and cold temperatures.

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To maximize emission cuts, this Boston campus gets its power from the Midwest

Sarah Shemkus

February 18, 2021 |

Energy News Network |

Text |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, Boston, Massachusetts

Boston University is getting all of its electricity from a wind farm in South Dakota, which should cover its annual energy needs of 205 million kilowatt-hours. Some energy advocates say the higher education institution should have purchased their renewable energy locally, but the university says their main goal was to maximize its reduction in greenhouse gas emissions. They hope to share their model with other “large energy buyers” and use the wind farm as an educational and research opportunity for students.

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Strengthening Communities and Shifting Power in Pursuit of a Just Transition

Iris M. Crawford

February 10, 2021 |

Yes! Magazine |

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1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Georgia

Two climate coalitions led by BIPOC have strengthened their communities by empowering diverse stakeholders to address social inequities. The coalitions are engaging and centering the voices of Black, Indigenous and people of color and providing the resources needed to advocate for environmental and climate justice. The model is being replicated across the South.

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Norway's Electric Car Triumph Started With an '80s Pop Star

Will Doig

February 08, 2021 |

Reasons to be Cheerful |

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800-1500 Words

Response Location: Norway

After Norwegian pop band A-ha made headlines for using an electric vehicle in 1989, the government began implementing incentives for people to drive the cars. These perks made electric vehicles so popular in the Scandinavian country that they had to start scaling some of them back. Still, by the end of 2020, nearly 90 percent of all cars sold were rechargeable.

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Floating Wind Turbines Buoy Hopes of Expanding Renewable Energy

Sarah McFarlane

February 06, 2021 |

Wall Street Journal |

Text |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: Scotland

Hywind Scotland is the world's first commercial wind farm using floating wind turbines to generate power for about 36,000 homes a year. This approach — which is being seriously looked at by several countries seeking to reduce their carbon emissions and oil-and-gas companies wanting to expand into renewable energy — allows wind farms to work in deeper waters where there is often stronger winds.

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An Architecture Firm's Push to Build Net-Zero Apartments—on a Budget

Russell Gold

February 05, 2021 |

Wall Street Journal |

Text |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Apartments at Front Flats, a new residential building in Philadelphia, is powered by 492 solar panels that are wrapped around the building. The point: to demonstrate that developers can design buildings that are energy-efficient and be built at an affordable cost. It’s not clear yet if the building is “net zero” in terms of producing as much energy as it consumes, but residents are paying only $40 a month for utilities.

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