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Energy

Some Hope Wildfires Will Change Australia's Relationship With Coal

Jan 23, 2020
Widespread bushfires are creating new calls to end the country's dependence on fossil fuels. But fossil fuel extraction is big business for Australia, the world's largest coal exporter.
NPR
Environment
Levi Draheim, 11, wears a dust mask as he participates in a demonstration in Miami in July 2019. A lawsuit file by him and other young people urging action against climate change was thrown out by a federal appeals court Friday.

Kids' Climate Case 'Reluctantly' Dismissed By Appeals Court

Jan 17, 2020
The court said the nearly two dozen young people who were trying to force action by the government on climate change did not have standing to sue. The judges said climate change is a political issue.
NPR
Business
Microsoft has announced new, more ambitious climate change targets for the coming decades.

Microsoft Pledges To Remove From The Atmosphere All The Carbon It Has Ever Emitted

Jan 16, 2020
The tech giant, which says it has been "carbon neutral" for years, is vowing to go "carbon negative" — by cutting emissions, planting trees and investing in new carbon removal technology.
NPR
Economy
The Navajo Generating Station shut down in November 2019. The West's largest coal-fired power plant provided $12 million in yearly royalties to the Hopi Tribe.

Hopi Look To Tourism, Ranching For Income After Coal Power Plant Closure

Jan 14, 2020
The coal power plant that provided about 80% of the Hopi Nation's budget closed last month. Tribal leaders are now trying to figure out how to replace the revenue, which was their economic lifeline.
NPR
Energy
The Blue Lake Rancheria microgrid powers a number of buildings on the reservation and helped provide necessary energy during county-wide power outages.

California Reservation's Solar Microgrid Provides Power During Utility Shutoffs

Jan 11, 2020
California utility PG&E continues planned power outages to prevent its equipment from sparking wildfires. One Native tribe's solar-powered microgrid is proving to be a lifeline for rural communities.
NPR
Energy
Jack George, an employee at Royal Lighting, looks at chandeliers using incandescent light bulbs at the store in Los Angeles. A federal judge is allowing California to enforce updated efficiency standards that will affect such specialty lightbulbs.

California Will Enforce The Energy-Efficient Lightbulb Rule Trump Wants To Reverse

Jan 01, 2020
California and other states are challenging the Trump administration over its reversal of standards for energy-efficient lightbulbs.
NPR
Our Across America team took a tour of a fracking facility with SRC Energy's Julie Tannehill, their completions engineering manager and Mike Eberhard, SRC's chief operating officer.

From Texas To Minnesota: 1A Across America In 2019 (Rebroadcast)

Jan 01, 2020
1A Across America has done a lot in its first year. Find out where the team heads next.
NPR
Business
A fallen PG&E utility pole lays on a property burned during a wildfire. The company has several settlement deals meant to clear liabilities stemming from fires sparked by its equipment.

Judge Approves PG&E $24.5 Billion Plan For Wildfire Victims And Insurance Companies

Dec 17, 2019
The beleaguered utility faces others obstacles such as winning California Gov. Gavin Newsom's approval for its restructuring plan and a bid by hedge funds to gain control of the company.
NPR
Environment
The Monastery of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel in Washington, D.C. is the new host of a 151 kW community solar garden. The panels will provide roughly 50 nearby households with green energy.

Powered By Faith, Religious Groups Emerge As A Conduit For A Just Solar Boom

Dec 15, 2019
The solar industry may be booming, but clean energy's financial perks still aren't reaching communities that need them most. Religious institutions are stepping up to bridge the gap.
NPR

The News Roundup - International

Dec 13, 2019
Elections around the world, Greta Thunberg is TIME's person of the year and a jacket, purchased and returned.
NPR
Host Joshua Johnson speaking with Mike Eberhard, SRC's chief operating officer, at an oil and natural gas extraction site in Weld County, Colorado. (Photo Credit: Amanda Williams/WAMU)

From Texas To Minnesota: 1A Across America In 2019

Dec 11, 2019
1A Across America has done a lot in its first year. Find out where the team heads next.
NPR
Law
Environmental activists rally outside of New York Supreme Court in October in Manhattan, the first day of the trial accusing ExxonMobil of misleading shareholders about its climate change accounting.

Exxon Wins New York Climate Change Fraud Case

Dec 10, 2019
The state's attorney general argued that the oil giant misled shareholders about the financial risks from climate change.
NPR

How To Live On A Disappearing Island

Dec 04, 2019
Climate change is making Isle de Jean Charles an unlivable place in Louisiana.
NPR
Business
Bernadette Demientieff of the Gwich'in Steering Committee participates in a December 2017 event in Washington, D.C., at which advocates pushed Congress to protect the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge from oil development.

As Climate Warnings Grow Dire, Energy Companies Face A 'New Frontier Of Threats'

Dec 02, 2019
Natural disasters, protests and stark scientific reports are heightening concern over climate change. And companies are under pressure from banks and investors to green their corporate images.
NPR
Asia

Turkish Valley Home To Human Settlements For Millenia Soon Will Be A Lake

Dec 01, 2019
In southeastern Turkey, an ancient town that has long been associated with the region's Kurdish heritage is slated to be flooded by a massive dam project on the Tigris River.
NPR
The Salt
Peter Melnik, a fourth-generation dairy farmer, owns Bar-Way Farm, Inc. in Deerfield, Mass. He has an anaerobic digester on his farm that converts food waste into renewable energy.

Chew On This: Farmers Are Using Food Waste To Make Electricity

Nov 30, 2019
Dairy farmers in Massachusetts are using food waste to create renewable energy. Each farm produces enough to power about 1,500 homes. This helps prevent the release of methane, a greenhouse gas.
NPR
Environment
Commercial air travel currently accounts for just about 2.5% of global carbon emissions, but those emissions are rising fast.

Choosing Not To Fly Home For The Holidays, For The Climate's Sake

Nov 27, 2019
Carbon emissions from global air travel are rising fast, and U.S. passengers make up the largest share. But some are vowing not to fly at all, motivated by guilt and concern for the environment.
NPR
Planet Money

What's Wrong with the Saudi Aramco IPO?

Nov 26, 2019
The most profitable company in the world was supposed to make its international debut, listing public shares for the first time at a valuation of $2 trillion. Now it's staying local. What happened?
NPR
Environment And Energy Collaborative
Jeff Anderson worked at the LEDVANCE lightbulb factory in St. Marys for more than 20 years. He is considering a career change to heavy equipment operator.

Lighting Industry's Future Dims As Efficient LED Bulbs Take Over

Nov 25, 2019
More efficient lightbulbs are cheaper and longer-lasting than ever. But while that's good for consumers, it can be tough for an industry that's also facing shifting regulations.
NPR
Energy
A gas-lit flame burns on a stove. A California restaurant organization is suing Berkeley over the city's ban on natural gas, which is set to take effect in January, 2020.

California Restaurant Industry Group Sues Berkeley Over Natural Gas Ban

Nov 21, 2019
A restaurant industry group says a shift to electric stoves will change the cooking process and harm businesses that have helped make Berkeley a culinary capital.
NPR
Energy
Oil prices are down amid weak demand, and investors no longer seem willing to write the industry a blank check.

As Oil Prices Drop And Money Dries Up, Is The U.S. Shale Boom Going Bust?

Nov 20, 2019
The boom that helped make the U.S. the world's largest oil producer could be ending. Oil prices are down amid weak demand, and investors no longer seem willing to write the industry a blank check.
NPR
Energy
Gov. Gavin Newsom tours the Chevron oil field west of Bakersfield, where a spill of more than 800,000 gallons flowed into a dry creek bed in McKittrick, Calif. in July 2019.

California Governor Cracks Down On Fracking, Requires Audits And Scientific Review

Nov 19, 2019
Gavin Newsom's initiatives follow a massive oil release from a Chevron facility in Kern County suspected of being caused by a high-pressure steam process for releasing oil from underground rock.
KNPR
Newscast headlines

Electric Vehicle Charging Station opens Off I-15 In Nevada

Nov 16, 2019

LAS VEGAS (AP) — Electric vehicle owners have a new place to charge batteries on the heavily-traveled freeway between Las Vegas and Los Angeles.

State and local officials on Thursday marked the start of use of two rapid chargers at a Terrible’s Road House service station in Jean.

NPR
Environment And Energy Collaborative
Kevin Ross, president of the Scottish Plastics and Rubber Association, in front of the INEOS Grangemouth refinery and chemical plant.

The U.S. Natural Gas Boom Is Fueling A Global Plastics Boom

Nov 15, 2019
America is now the world's biggest exporter of ethane, a part of natural gas that's a building block for making plastics. That's helping fuel the fast-growing global plastics industry.
NPR
World
A child plays near communist-era apartment blocks in Hoyerswerda, Germany. After the collapse of the communist East German government that had redeveloped the area into an industrial hub, factories shut down and coal production declined. The population h

In German Coal Country, This Former Socialist Model City Has Shrunk In Half

Nov 07, 2019
Thirty years after the Berlin Wall fell, Hoyerswerda is struggling to thrive, a far-right party has gained popularity and many residents worry about the future when Germany phases out coal.

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