A high-resolution satellite-based map reveals global solar and wind deployment patterns, highlighting untapped potential in high-irradiance regions and offering a strategic tool for accelerating industrial decarbonisation efforts. The Global Renewables Watch platform , a collaboration between The Nature Conservancy, Microsoft’s AI for Good Lab and satellite provider Planet , has produced the first high-resolution, temporal map of terrestrial solar and wind installations, offering industrial decarbonisation planners a new tool to visualise how solar capacity is spreading across landscapes. According to the dataset assembled by researchers led by Robinson, Ortiz and Kim, based on PlanetScope imagery from Q4 2017 to Q2…

Research from Heriot-Watt University highlights the urgent need for coordinated policies and investments to address distribution challenges that could undermine billions of pounds in clean-energy investment, even as hydrogen production technologies surge forward. Research from Heriot-Watt University’s Edinburgh Business School warns that a shortfall in hydrogen transport infrastructure risks undermining billions of pounds of clean‑energy investment, even as production and end‑use technologies advance rapidly. According to the study, published in the journal Sustainable Futures, hydrogen production, storage and fuel‑cell technologies are accelerating at roughly twice the rate of distribution infrastructure. The researchers analysed 777,000 patents and 1.3 million citations spanning…

Advances in stainless steels and nickel alloys, coupled with supportive policies and innovative drilling techniques, are driving geothermal energy’s rapid expansion into decarbonising heat and power sectors, highlighting the critical role of material choice in project longevity and cost-effectiveness. Stainless steels and corrosion-resistant alloys are becoming a quiet enabler of geothermal’s accelerating commercialisation, underpinning projects from low‑temperature district heating schemes to nascent superhot‑rock developments. As operators push into more chemically aggressive brines, deeper reservoirs and engineered systems, material selection is emerging as a deciding factor in plant longevity, maintenance costs and bankability. The challenge is familiar to industry engineers: geothermal…

Researchers at MIT have created a novel concrete mix, ec³, capable of storing electricity, promising scalable, low-cost energy reservoirs integrated into buildings and urban surfaces, with potential to transform decarbonisation efforts. Researchers at MIT have taken a familiar structural material and given it a new role: storing electricity. Building on earlier work to make cement electrically active, the team’s electron‑conducting carbon concrete, known as ec³, is being developed so walls, floors and foundations can act as integrated energy reservoirs for buildings and infrastructure. According to MIT researchers, the material is a blend of cement, water, ultra‑fine carbon black and an…

The European Commission is preparing a groundbreaking proposal to mandate that key clean energy technologies be manufactured within the EU, aiming to strengthen local industry, reduce dependency on China, and reshape the continent’s industrial landscape amid rising competition and supply chain vulnerabilities. The European Commission is preparing a proposal to require that key green technologies bought through public procurement be manufactured in the European Union, a measure aimed at strengthening local industry and cutting reliance on Chinese imports, according to a report by Newsbytes. The draft would initially require battery systems purchased by governments to be assembled within the EU…

Cities facing soaring peak demand from electrified transport, heating and digital services must navigate complex, costly upgrades and regulatory reforms to ensure resilient, sustainable urban energy systems by 2045. The transformation of urban electricity systems is rapidly moving from projection to policy imperative. Cities already account for roughly 60-70% of global economic output and 55-60% of the world’s population, and the concurrent electrification of transport, heating and digital services is reshaping both the magnitude and the temporal profile of electricity demand. According to the analysis published by Power Info Today, urban systems built to serve peak loads of 1,000–2,000 MW…

China’s electricity demand hit a historic high in 2025, driven by rising consumption and unprecedented expansion in clean energy capacity, marking a pivotal moment in its transition towards a low-carbon power system amid ongoing industrial and infrastructural developments. China’s electricity system reached a landmark scale in 2025, as demand and clean‑energy buildout together reshaped the nation’s generation mix and grid operations. Annual consumption hit 10,368.2 TWh in 2025, a 5% year‑on‑year rise that, according to the National Energy Administration, makes China the first single country to exceed 10,000 TWh of annual power use. The NEA said the services sector and…

India’s cement industry is recognising the crucial role of Carbon Capture, Utilisation and Storage (CCUS) in balancing sector growth with its net-zero ambitions, amid policy, infrastructure, and economic challenges shaping its pathway. Cement’s path to deep decarbonisation in India is increasingly framed as a problem of scale, policy and shared infrastructure rather than of technology alone. The industry has made measurable gains through energy efficiency, alternative fuels and clinker substitution, but those levers are constrained: process emissions from limestone calcination account for roughly 60–65% of sectoral CO2 and cannot be eliminated by fuel switching or renewable energy. According to industry…

Innovative thermal storage technologies and integrated system architectures are key to overcoming temporal mismatches in renewable energy deployment, enabling significant progress towards net zero emissions in heating and industrial processes. The decarbonisation of thermal energy systems, covering domestic hot water, building space conditioning and industrial process heat, has emerged as one of the most urgent and complex challenges in the transition to net zero. Thermal end‑uses account for roughly half of global final energy demand and include both continuous loads that cannot tolerate interruption and temporally flexible loads that can be shifted by hours or days. According to the analysis…

As India scales AI across sectors, researchers warn of significant environmental impacts due to energy use, water consumption, and e-waste, urging policy measures to align digital growth with ecological sustainability. India’s push to scale artificial intelligence across health care, agriculture and industry is reshaping productivity, but it also carries a growing and under‑recognised environmental bill that threatens climate and resource goals unless checked now. The lead analysis by ForumIAS warns that rapid AI adoption expands energy demand, water use, electronic waste and raw‑material extraction, while related studies and policy reviews make clear these impacts are large, poorly measured and likely…