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Nesjavellir geothermal power station in Iceland with steam rising from its plant buildings

Updated

How geothermal energy works, and why EGS is finally taking off

A geothermal power plant makes electricity by pulling heat out of the ground and using it to spin a turbine, the same basic principle behind a coal or gas plant, minus the fuel and the smokestack.
Rooftop solar panels at Ala Moana Center in Honolulu, Hawaii

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How Hawaii became the US leader in rooftop solar

Hawaii solar leads the US. Nearly half of Oahu's single-family homes have rooftop panels, and 92% of new Honolulu systems come with a battery.
Wind turbines of the Roscoe Wind Farm rising over farmland in West Texas

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How much of US electricity comes from wind power

US wind power supplied about 10% of American electricity in 2025, and new capacity keeps coming through 2029, but the tax credit is on a deadline.
Hand connecting a compressed natural gas nozzle to a car's fuel inlet

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Where natural gas vehicles are common, and why the US never caught on

Natural gas vehicles number in the millions in Iran, China and Pakistan but never caught on in the US, even with fuel that costs less than gasoline.
High-voltage transmission towers carrying power lines across open land

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How much wind and solar can the grid handle

How much wind and solar can a grid handle? The duck curve shows where the limit bites, and NREL modeling puts a reliable US grid at 60% to 80%.
An oil refinery at Anacortes, Washington

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How big are fossil fuel subsidies in the US and worldwide

Worldwide fossil fuel subsidies hit $620 billion in 2023 under the IEA, or $7 trillion under the IMF, plus what US oil and gas tax breaks cost.
Coal-fired power plant with cooling towers and coal yards in Tianjin, China

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China’s electricity generation by source

China electricity generation by source has shifted fast since 2013, and wind and solar capacity now tops coal's. See the current mix, and the US comparison.
A digital smart electricity meter mounted on a home

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What the smart grid is and how utilities get paid

What the smart grid is in 2026, and how demand response and New York's Reforming the Energy Vision changed who pays to keep the power grid running.
A Marcellus shale natural gas drilling rig and well site in rural Pennsylvania

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How much water does fracking use?

How much water does fracking use? A typical horizontal shale gas well takes about 5.1 million gallons, and per-well use has climbed as wells got longer.
The Le Bourget conference center outside Paris during the COP21 climate summit in 2015

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What the UN climate summits have achieved since Copenhagen

COP30 closed in Belém without a binding fossil fuel deal. See what the UN climate summits have delivered since Copenhagen, and what comes next.