Topic: fossil fuels
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The Dirty Secret Behind Your AI Tools
The rapid expansion of artificial intelligence is driving increased natural gas extraction, as tech companies build energy-intensive data centers near gas fields and use on-site fossil fuel power generation to meet their electricity demands. This trend raises significant environmental and social ...
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Incoming El Niño to Bring Wildfires, Floods, and Severe Heatwaves
Scientists warn that an intensifying El Niño, combined with long-term warming from fossil fuel combustion, will worsen heatwaves, droughts, and floods, creating risk of unprecedented weather extremes. El Niño, a natural warming of the tropical Pacific Ocean, temporarily raises global surface temp...
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Wildfire smoke poses greater prenatal risk than human pollution
Wildfire smoke is erasing decades of progress from the Clean Air Act, with a new University of Maryland study showing it offsets prenatal air quality gains for unborn babies, increasing risks of premature birth and low birth weight. The research, published in Frontiers in Environmental Health, fi...
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Solar Overtakes Hydro on US Grid After 35% Surge
Solar power generation in the US grew by 35% in a year, surpassing hydroelectric power for the first time and highlighting a major shift toward renewables. US electricity demand increased significantly in 2025, driven by trends like electric vehicle adoption, heat pumps, and energy-intensive data...
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Store Solar Energy for Months, Release Heat on Demand
Solar heating faces a key challenge: storing solar heat long-term is much harder than storing solar electricity, which is crucial for decarbonizing heating systems. A promising solution is molecular solar thermal (MOST) energy storage, which captures solar energy in chemical bonds for later heat ...
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Trump Administration Renames National Renewable Energy Lab
The Trump administration renamed the National Renewable Energy Laboratory to the National Laboratory of the Rockies, signaling a shift in identity for the clean energy research institution. Officials stated the change aligns with a broader "energy addition" strategy, moving beyond a primary focus...
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Ex-Gates Climate Lobbyists Launch New Firm
The Clean Economy Project, founded by former Breakthrough Energy staff, believes clean energy will soon be cost-competitive with fossil fuels. It was established after Breakthrough Energy dissolved its policy team, citing difficulties in achieving policy progress during the Trump administration. ...
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Al Gore's AI Tracks 660 Million Polluters
Climate Trace, an AI initiative co-founded by Al Gore, monitors air pollution from over 660 million global sources, providing public data on PM2.5 to increase transparency and identify pollution impacts. The project was inspired by a community fight in Memphis and uses AI to track pollution plume...
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Big Tech Eyes Data Centers in Orbit
Data centers, especially those for AI, are rapidly increasing energy consumption and emissions, threatening climate goals and prompting consideration of space-based alternatives. Influential tech leaders like Sam Altman and Jeff Bezos are exploring orbital data centers to leverage continuous sola...
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Big Tech's AI Climate Claims Lack Proof
Tech companies' claims that AI will significantly reduce global emissions by 2030 are based on unverified, non-peer-reviewed consulting reports, not robust scientific models. Google's promotion of AI as a climate solution contradicts its own rising corporate emissions, driven by the energy-intens...
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Al Gore: China's Climate Progress 'Surpassed All Expectations'
China has become a dominant force in renewable energy, reshaping global climate leadership and exceeding projections. Despite inconsistent U.S. policies, global momentum for sustainability is growing, driven by technological advances and clean energy investment. Challenges include rising energy d...
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Trump: Tech Giants to Pay for Power in Deals Next Week
President Trump announced a "rate payer protection pledge" requiring major tech companies to build or finance new electricity generation for their expanding AI data centers, with a formal signing event planned for March 4th. This mandate addresses surging electricity demand from data centers, whi...
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Inside the QuitGPT Movement and Africa's EV Future
Nuclear power is seeing a resurgence as a carbon-free energy source, though high costs and long construction times for traditional reactors are driving innovation toward smaller, safer advanced designs. Major social media platforms like Meta and TikTok have agreed to independent assessments of th...
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Trump, Governors Push Tech Giants to Fund Power Plants
A bipartisan coalition of governors and the Trump administration are urging the PJM Interconnection grid operator to launch a special auction, offering 15-year contracts to encourage investment in new power plants to meet surging demand from AI and data centers. The proposal centers on making dat...
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Meta's Massive Solar Buy: 1 GW in a Single Week
Meta has secured nearly one gigawatt of solar power through three agreements, reinforcing solar as a key energy source for its AI operations and sustainability goals, with total acquisitions exceeding three gigawatts this year. The company's contracts include 385 megawatts from Louisiana via envi...
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EPA in Crisis: Turmoil and Leadership Challenges
The EPA is experiencing significant operational chaos and confusion, with selective furloughs of employees while a core group continues advancing the administration's deregulatory agenda favoring fossil fuel industries. Communication breakdowns have led to staff discovering colleagues' furloughs ...
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