Stories by Melissa C. Lott

A German company wants to turn server farms into “distributed cloud heaters.” By spreading computing power across a number of buildings, the company believes that it can provide reliable computing services while increasing the energy efficiency of these notoriously wasteful centers.

Agriculture is highly dependent on the climate. Global food supplies are already feeling the impacts of changing global rainfall and temperature patterns resulting from climate change.

A panel of judges has struck down the environmental clearance for a proposed 3.6 GW coal-fired power plant in Tamil Nadu, India. The decision by the National Green Tribunal responded to an appeal by local villagers who cited concerns about water and air pollution in this already polluted area.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency might be preparing to unveil a major air pollution rule change shortly after midterm elections.

The promise of self-driving vehicles has brought with it high expectations and enthusiasm. But, we might not be quite ready to hand over the wheel.

The recently announced Demand Management Program by ConEd includes significant incentives for both thermal and electricity storage technologies.

A team of scientists has transformed E.coli bacteria into a propane factory. In their Nature magazine article, researchers from the University of Turku (Finland) and Imperial College (United Kingdom) described a new metabolic pathway for producing propane from Escherichia coli (E.coli).

A student team from the University of Houston swept this year's U.S. Department of Energy Clean Energy Business Plan Competition. With their innovative (and proprietary) approach to recycling a pair of critical rare earth materials, the REEcycle team introduced the energy industry to an innovative way to turn waste into a domestic stream of rare [...]

"The future of cities and energy efficiency could be a very bright one - but we have to get there," said MIT Professor Dr. Amy Glasmeier at today's launch of the 2014 Women in Clean Energy Symposium in Boston.

As the share of enewables in Germany's electricity mix approaches 30%, the country's power grid appears to be going strong. According to data released Friday by the Bundesnetzagentur (Germany's grid regulator), the country's power grid remained one of the world's most reliable in 2013.

Land-constraints and a massive nuclear shutdown have intensified the debate over where to put new electricity generation capacity in Japan.

Petroleum product exports are on track for another banner year, with total exports climbing to a 3.7 million barrels per day (bbpd) average for 2014 from just under 3.5 million bbpd in 2013. However, on the East Coast, imports for some fuels increased by almost 50% in the first half of 2014.

Some energy efficiency improvements could cost lives by increasing indoor radon exposure and the resulting risk of developing lung cancer. According to an article in the British Medical Journal, energy efficiency improvements could reduce home energy use and greenhouse gas emissions (which could lead to many health benefits).

Driverless cars came to the forefront of transportation discussions this weekend when General Motors CEO Mary Barra announced her company's plan to add "hands-free and feet-free" driving capabilities to some 2017 models.

Hundreds of millions of tires reach the end of their first life each year in the United States. The majority of these tires are recycled into road paving materials, plastic additives, and other useful materials.

This week, the Austin City Council approved a resolution that brings solar to the foreground in Texas. And, perhaps most interestingly, they did so because it made business – and not just environmental – sense in current energy markets.

On Sunday night, wind power in the United Kingdom supplied more electricity than domestic coal, biomass, and hydropower (combined) and set a new record for maximum hourly output.

  China has become an icon for global air quality discussions – with its infamously horrible airpocolypses leading to widely publicized health impacts on the local population including widespread headaches, respiratory distress, and anxiety.

In the U.S., much of the energy dialogue has been around the inherent risk in depending on other countries to meet its energy needs. But, in Luxembourg – a country that imports essentially ALL of its energy supply – “energy security” takes an even more prominent role.

The shale boom has been a big force in the energy industry in the United States. Not only has it had a significant impact on the country’s economy, it has managed to touch all of the energy sectors.

Hydraulic fracturing (“fracking”) has flipped the global energy discussion on its head. Over the past five years, the world has watched the U.S.

Carbon Capture and Sequestration (CCS) could be a key technology option in reducing carbon dioxide emissions from the world's fossil fuel power plants.

Today, the Plugged In writing desk is pleased to announce that Robert Fares will be joining the discussion here on Plugged In for the next few months as a regular contributor.

This Westinghouse advertisement was published in The Literary Digest on November 30, 1918. The text reads as follows: Westinghouse ELECTRIC UTILITIES FOR THE HOUSEHOLD Fuel and Labor Many are the steps that electrical appliances save, and many the tasks they lighten.