01
Why US coal power keeps declining
US coal plant closures slowed to their weakest pace since 2010 in 2025, but coal's grid share and mining jobs kept on shrinking anyway, EIA data show.
Energy Infrastructure
13 stories
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02
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%.
03
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.
04
Why oil prices swing so much, and how much OPEC still controls
A look at oil price history shows crude swinging from $147 a barrel to negative prices, while OPEC's own share of the market keeps shrinking.
05
Does battery energy storage undercut the energy return of wind and solar?
Battery energy storage is scaling fast on the US grid. What a 2014 net-energy argument got wrong, what's changed, and what batteries still can't do.
06
Where China’s electricity comes from in 2026
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.
07
What capacity factor is, and why it differs so much by energy source
Capacity factor is a power plant's real output as a share of its maximum. US nuclear plants run above 92%, and utility-scale solar about 23%.
08
Electricity prices around the world, by country
Household electricity price per kWh by country in US dollars, where the US ranks, and why German and British homes pay more than twice as much.
09
Power density and how much land each energy source needs
Power density measures the watts each energy source produces per square meter, and it explains why wind and solar need more land than gas or nuclear.
10
What a capacity market is, and why it’s driving up your electricity bill
A capacity market pays power plants for availability. PJM's price rose more than 11-fold in two years, driven by data centers, and it lands on bills.