Articles

Carbon-free buildings

Building electrification and fast, affordable construction can coexist

Opponents of gas bans and all-electric building requirements say they’ll make housing unaffordable. That doesn’t have to be true.

By Kathryn Krawczyk . 8 August 2025
Clean industry

Tech giants look to low-carbon cement to curb their huge climate impact

Cement startups Sublime Systems and Brimstone both announced new partnerships with data-center developers and operators — even as federal funding dries up.

By Maria Gallucci . 8 August 2025
Carbon-free buildings

San Francisco fast-tracks all-electric standard for major renovations

With the state set to pause code updates in October, the city is racing to close what some saw as a loophole in its existing all-electric building code.

By Alison F. Takemura . 8 August 2025
Solar

Chart: Rooftop solar set to struggle under GOP tax credit repeal

President Donald Trump’s budget law will make rooftop solar more expensive starting next year. A lot less solar will be installed as a result.

By Dan McCarthy . 8 August 2025
Solar

Trump administration says it's axing $7B program for low-income solar

EPA chief Lee Zeldin claims the “big beautiful bill” allows funds for the Solar for All program to be rescinded. Advocates say that’s false and promise to sue.

By Jeff St. John . 7 August 2025
Fossil fuels

Ohio finally ends subsidies for two scandal-linked coal plants

Under the state’s infamous HB6 law, customers had to pay over half a billion dollars to keep the two 1950s-era plants running. A new law ends the subsidies this month.

By Kathiann M. Kowalski . 7 August 2025
Utilities

California lawmakers have a radical idea for lowering electricity bills

Two bills would replace $15 billion in utility power-grid investments with cheaper public financing — a new approach to cutting sky-high electricity rates.

By Jeff St. John . 7 August 2025
Solar

Trump looks to kill 'Solar for All' just as it starts to deliver

The $7B program builds low-cost solar projects to slash bills for nearly 1 million families and help bolster the grid. The Trump administration is trying to end it.

By Jeff St. John . 6 August 2025
Long-duration energy storage

Used EV batteries could upend the race for long-duration storage

Redwood Materials says second-life batteries are the cheapest form of long-duration storage. If true, battery startups are in trouble — and renewables are in luck.

By Julian Spector . 6 August 2025
Electrification

This Massachusetts town banned gas — and housing boomed anyway

Critics say stringent, pro-electrification building codes and restrictions on natural gas will impede housing developers. A Boston suburb is proving them wrong.

By Sarah Shemkus . 6 August 2025