Our Global Future in the 21st Century is based on "The Third Industrial Revolution" which finally connects our new ICT infrastructure with distributed energy sources that are both renewable and sustainable
Project InnerSpace and the XPrize foundation will launch a contest to remove technical bottlenecks and revitalize supply chains for geothermal’s aboveground parts.
Geothermal energy is rapidly advancing in the U.S. and globally, thanks to the arrival of next-generation technologies and skyrocketing power demand from data centers. Yet as more companies drill down deep to harness Earth’s heat, the industry is poised to hit a major snag on the surface.
Geothermal power plants rely on “turbomachinery” — turbines, heat exchangers, and other components — to generate and deliver electricity. But the limited supply chain and high cost of that equipment threaten to delay the industry’s efforts to supply huge amounts of clean electricity around the clock, according to Project InnerSpace, a geothermal research and advocacy organization.
Most Virtual Power Plants (VPPs) rely on customers’ solar and batteries. Xcel says its utility-owned alternative can do a better job in Minnesota — but critics question the cost.
Back in the summer of 2024, Minnesota utility Xcel Energy proposed a novel approach to building virtual power plants, the networks of rooftop solar systems, home batteries, and other energy equipment that can operate in tandem to reduce strain on the electric grid.
Instead of working with other companies to cobble together solar arrays and batteries at homes and businesses — the traditional model for VPPs — Xcel wanted to install, own, and control those devices itself, using its grid expertise to deliver a better bargain for its customers at large.
Now, a year and a half later, the plan is in — and clean energy advocates, solar industry groups, and state agencies say it doesn’t live up to Xcel’s promises.
We have been discussed for a long time electrification of heavy transport how a technological extravaganza was born, a kind of futuristic whimsy reserved for holidays, corporate presentations and promotional videos.
But no: the truly extravagant thing at these high altitudes is to continue to defend that a country like Spain continues to depend on diesel trucks to transport the vast majority of its goods over relatively short distances, based on extinguishing imported fuel, emitting pollutants and accepting cost fluctuations beyond our control.
Rational, efficient and strategically intelligent This is exactly the opposite: electrify internal road transport and reinforce it with a railcar where it can be heard.
The interesting thing is that this conversation is not supported by abstract promises, but above real experience of use.
Most residents may not be familiar with the Withlacoochee Regional Water Supply Authority, yet it plays a crucial role in our community. This authority is responsible for producing our long-term regional water supply plan, funding water conservation efforts, and owning Citrus County’s largest water production facility. Since 2016, I have had the privilege of serving on this board, and while most meetings focus on routine discussions of data, trends, permits, plans and conservation, Wednesday’s meeting was notably different.
Upon reviewing the agenda before the meeting, I came across a troubling item that had not previously been brought to my attention. The Class I landfill in Sumter County, known as Heart of Florida, is in the process of constructing a well with the intent to permit the injection of, presumably treated, landfill leachate deep underground. Leachate is the contaminated liquid that accumulates at the bottom of landfill cells, produced by rainwater and landfill contents.
Citrus County is diving into a new effort to grow marine life, boost tourism and bring residents into the science behind it all.
And the project is already gaining outside support.
The initiative, called “Race to the Center” – or Race2 – would build a series of artificial reefs about 20 miles offshore at the county’s Fish Haven 1-East site, a designated area set aside for creating fish habitat and new fishing and diving spots.
But this isn’t just about dropping concrete into the water. It’s a real-time experiment to see what works best beneath the surface.
A sweeping plan to build 21 gigawatts of solar plus batteries on 136,000 acres could be a lifeline for Central Valley farmers facing devastating water shortages.
Environmental laws are evolving from prioritizing human benefits to recognizing nature’s intrinsic rights; this is reflected in the small but growing number of countries that grant legal personhood to natural entities.
The need to protect populations from environmental harm or contamination is not new. Whenever human welfare was imperiled, those in power within most ancient civilizations passed laws to address these issues.
History is replete with examples of this. For instance, there is evidence of the Indus Valley Civilization (c. 3000–1300 BCE) adapting to climate change, and early imperial China enacting protective laws, showing they were not “indifferent to environmental concerns.” In 2550 BCE, Mesopotamia achieved the world’s first water treaty between city-states—the agreement is now housed in the Musée du Louvre in Paris. Meanwhile, the Roman Empire excelled in engineering and passed legislation to support public health and hygiene. Aqueducts carried fresh water into the cities while the CloacaMaxima, a vast sewer system in Rome, managed wastewater.
Over the past year, major US tech companies have spent more than $350bn on AI-related infrastructure, with projections of over $400bn for 2026. This far exceeds the spending of any other nation — most notably China, where total investment is closer to an estimated $100bn. For many in the West, it may be reassuring that we have companies bold enough and capital markets deep enough to dominate a spending contest. If artificial intelligence is — as prophesied — the one ring to rule them all, then it would seem the west has the future in hand.
That is the optimistic story. Yet there is another possibility: that Silicon Valley’s obsession with AI could mean winning the AI race but losing a broader contest for economic pre-eminence. That follows because the US has gone all-in on AI, while China is spreading its bets across several plausible futures. It all depends on the bet on AI being the right one.
“Rivers don't recognize borders—and neither do the fish that depend on them," said one researcher. "The crisis unfolding beneath our waterways is far more severe than most people realize, and we are running out of time."
Who should pay for upgrades to the high voltage transmission network?
For this episode of the Local Energy Rules Podcast, host John Farrell is joined by Gabe Tabak, assistant general counsel for the American Clean Power Association.
Listen to the full episode and explore more resources below — including a transcript and summary of the episode.
HANOI, Vietnam, March 21, 2025 (AP) — The war in Iran is exposing the world’s reliance on fragile fossil fuel routes, lending urgency to calls for hastening the shift to renewable energy.
Asia, where most of the oil was headed, has been hit hardest, but the disruptions also are a strain for Europe, where policymakers are looking for ways to cut energy demand, and for Africa, which is bracing for rising fuel costs and inflation.
More than 90% of new renewable power projects worldwide in 2024 were cheaper than fossil-fuel alternatives.
As hedge funds buy up land to obtain water rights, a libertarian state representative from Arizona has proposed a seemingly radical solution to the water crisis. Is he right?
When members of the Colorado River Water Users Association, or CRWUA, descended on Caesars Palace for their annual conference in December, few showed much enthusiasm for Las Vegas’s popular diversions. Attendees mostly bypassed the slots and roulette tables, the magic shows and nightclubs. The sole planned excursion on offer—an early morning jaunt to Hoover Dam—was the definition of a busman’s holiday. This was not a decadent bunch. They were serious-minded people dealing with a monumental problem. Some called it an emergency; even the most sanguine considered it a crisis.
The EV manufacturer is supported by a robust online community. But Elon Musk’s politics and overblown hype about Full Self-Driving are turning some loyalists away.
After years of false starts and amid an acute regional energy crunch, large-scale onshore wind power could finally take off in Maine in 2026. Utility regulators in five New England states are considering developers’ proposals to build up to 1.2 gigawatts of onshore wind capacity in Maine’s far north, following a deadline for bids earlier this month.
The coordination between Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Vermont — all of which have ambitious clean energy goals — means this procurement is more likely to succeed than those that have fizzled out in years past, said Francis Pullaro, president of clean-energy industry association RENEW Northeast.
“The states have come together, and that’s a pretty impressive accomplishment on their part,” he said. “We’re in a much better position now that we have the states going into the process having conferred.”
One of the purported advantages of self-driving car tech is that every car can learn from one vehicle’s mistakes. Here’s how Waymo puts it on its website: “The Waymo Driver learns from the collective experiences gathered across our fleet, including previous hardware generations.”
But in Austin, Waymo’s vehicles struggled for months to learn how to stop for school buses as drivers picked up and dropped off children. An official with the Austin Independent School District (AISD) alleged that the vehicles had, in at least 19 instances, “illegally and dangerously” passed the district’s school buses while their red lights were flashing and their stop arms were extended rather than coming to complete stops, as the law requires.
In early December, Waymo even issued a federal recall related to the incidents, acknowledging at least 12 of them to federal regulators at the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), which oversees road safety. According to federal filings, engineers with the self-driving vehicle company had “developed software changes to address the behavior” weeks before.
Sixty-six members, covering approximately 70% of global trade, have adopted a pathway to bring into force the WTO Agreement on Electronic Commerce through interim arrangements while continuing to work towards its incorporation into the WTO legal framework of rules, co-convenors announced on 28 March at the 14th Ministerial Conference taking place in Yaoundé, Cameroon.
This Manatee Appreciation Day, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) is sharing the springtime reminder that Florida’s manatees are starting to naturally disperse from their winter refuges. Boaters and other watercraft users are advised to go slow and look out below for the slow-moving mammals when on the water.
During this time of year, manatees are more likely to be present in rivers, canals and nearshore waters. Manatees overwinter in Florida springs, power plant discharges and other warm-water sites, and will gradually disperse from these winter habitats as water temperatures rise each spring.
With this seasonal increase in movement, people are more likely to cross paths with manatees when on the water. To help protect manatees and prevent collisions, go slow when on the water and follow all manatee protection zones regulations, while keeping an eye out for them underneath the surface. Spotting manatees in the water can be challenging, to make it easier to see them, wear polarized glasses and watch for visible snouts or manatee “footprints” – large circles on the water that are indicators that manatees are below the surface. If you encounter manatees, admire from a distance and always give them plenty of space.
The Trump administration is paying a French energy company a billion dollars to not build two wind farms off the coasts of North Carolina and New York. It’s stupidity on a truly grand scale.
He is paying TotalEnergies a billion dollars to do natural gas investments it is already doing.
A total stop to hostilities in the Middle East is needed to halt a “health crisis unfolding in real time”, the World Health Organization’s chief in the region has said.
Hospitals and other healthcare facilities must be treated as “safe havens”, urged Dr Hanan Balkhy, the WHO’s regional director for the Eastern Mediterranean.
She said officials were updating guidance and preparing in case of any impact on nuclear sites, and that attacks on water desalination plants would be “a disaster”.
The region’s 22 countries and territories include Iran and the Gulf states, as well as Gaza, Sudan, Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Citrus County Commission Chairwoman Diana Finegan is pushing for stricter limits on clear-cutting, arguing that widespread tree removal by developers is harming neighborhoods and prioritizing profit over long-term community value.
Earlier this month, county commissioners unanimously directed staff to update land development regulations for new projects. The proposed changes aim to ensure that builders preserve as much of the natural landscape – such as trees and existing land features – as possible when creating subdivisions or developing property.
Finegan elaborated on her position during a recent Citrus County Chronicle editorial board meeting. When asked whether the county should prioritize protecting natural landscapes or maintaining housing affordability, she pushed back on the idea that clear-cutting reduces home prices.
Finegan said she believes that argument is misleading.
The National Institute of Standards and Technology has released its highly anticipated standards for how to protect encryption from future quantum technologies.
Why it matters: China and other foreign foes are likely already collecting encrypted U.S. secrets with the hopes of breaking into them once quantum computers' technology catches up.
What's happening: On Tuesday, NIST formally approved three post-quantum cryptography standards, marking an important first step in protecting government and critical services from encryption-breaking quantum.
IBM researchers developed two of the three standards in collaboration with industry and academic partners.
The third standard was co-developed by a researcher who has recently joined IBM.
Apple, Meta, Google and some other companies are already implementing these standards.
WASHINGTON, D.C. (March 20, 2026) – The Schools, Health & Libraries Broadband (SHLB) Coalition, Benton Institute for Broadband & Society, National Digital Inclusion Alliance (NDIA) and MediaJustice today filed a joint brief in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit defending the Federal Communications Commission's (FCC) Universal Service Fund (USF) against a renewed legal challenge brought by Consumers' Research and other petitioners.
The brief filed today in Consumers' Research v. FCC (No. 25-60535) urges the court to reject Consumers’ Research’s arguments that Sections 254(c)(3) and 254(h)(2) of the Communications Act violate the nondelegation doctrine, among other arguments.
Bluepeak, a leading provider of high-speed fiber internet across Oklahoma, North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota, Texas, and Wyoming, is proud to announce its expansion into East Grand Forks, Minnesota.
The Chinese automaker is racing ahead of global competitors—but don't expect to see those gains in the US anytime soon.
Somehow, the whole thing got even faster. Earlier this month, Chinese automaker BYD announced that its Flash Chargers, first rolled out a year ago, can now charge some electric vehicle batteries from around 10 to 70 percent in five minutes, and from 10 to full in about nine. That’s more than 600 miles of range in the time it takes to order a cappuccino and leave a nice tip.
The new BYD chargers can add miles super quickly because they deliver up to 1,500 kilowatts (kW) per charge. Compare that to the 350 kW “hyper-fast” chargers seen more typically in the US, which can top up 80 percent of a battery in 15 to 25 minutes, and the full thing in closer to 40.
Today’s episode features guest host Michael Upshall (guest editor, Charleston Briefings) who talks with Brewster Kahle, Founder & Director, Internet Archive.
Brewster says that back in the 1980’s he believed that everything would eventually become digital. He dreamed of building a Library of Alexandria where humanity’s knowledge would be freely accessible. In this conversation, he talks with Michael about his work building early search technologies at the MIT Artificial Intelligence Laboratory.
In 1983, he helped create Thinking Machine Corporation, a pioneering supercomputer manufacturer. In 1996, he founded Alexa Internet, a web traffic analysis and ranking company that was eventually acquired by Amazon. He then launched The Internet Archive, which now contains over a trillion archived web pages and works with thousands of libraries around the world to preserve digital content.
Brewster says he believes the internet should be a global, open library that supports learning and that compensates content creators fairly. He also talks about some lawsuits against publishers, controlled digital lending and the importance of open access for the future.
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