Stories by Robert Fares

Amprius has developed a new manufacturing technique that will enable mass production of its ultrahigh-density silicon nanowire lithium ion batteries

The Tennessee Valley Authority plans to build the first U.S. small modular nuclear reactor facility, paving the way for the next generation of nuclear power in the United States.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has developed a tool to project how climate change will affect sea level at hundreds of different locations across North America

In 2014 the U.S. flared about $600 million worth of natural gas. Capturing that gas could produce enough electricity to power 3.5 million households

Texas will add nearly 12,000 megawatts of new wind and solar capacity by the end of 2017, and introduce new electricity market mechanisms to ensure reliability into the future

Mexico is expected to add lots of new natural gas and renewable energy generation as its electricity market transitions to competition

A "Hype Cycle" curve developed at Carnegie Mellon University shows us how far various technologies have to go before they can compete with lithium ion

The U.S. Supreme Court upheld the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission's authority to set uniform rules for "demand response," indicating that we will see greater competition in electricity markets going forward

Wind provided 40 percent of Texas’s electricity for 17 straight hours one windy day in December

Low oil prices, more renewables, and finally some progress on energy and climate policy 

Extremely favorable economics caused a rising tide of solar that strained Hawaii's tiny grid—but Hawaii's economics and grid are outliers, not the rule

Analysis by one of the world's leading financial institutions estimates the cost-emissions tradeoffs of different electricity futures in Germany and California 

Late last week, President Obama formally rejected TransCanada's request to build the Keystone XL pipeline, indicating the pipeline had become more important politically than practically.

The U.S. Supreme Court will decide the fate of Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) Order 745, which establishes uniform rules for customer engagement in U.S. electricity markets. 

California's grid operator has called for unprecendented "super off-peak" electricity rates during the hours when solar energy is most plentiful.

A bill mandating half of California's electricity come from renewable sources by the year 2030 is headed to Governor Jerry Brown's desk. Can California source half of its electricity from renewable energy without threatening reliability or increasing costs?

Inexpensive, large-scale energy storage is often thought of as the "holy grail" for renewable energy, but recent research indicates it would actually increase carbon emissions from the U.S. electricity system by displacing natural gas generation with dirtier coal power

The Obama adminstration's Clean Power Plan will use EPA's authority under the Clean Air Act to limit carbon emissions from U.S. power generation. That is if the plan can stand up to the bevy of legal challenges head. 

Studies inidicate that methane leakage in the natural gas supply chain could be higher than previously estimated, indicating that tighter regulations and controls might be needed to realize the climate benefits of fuel switching from coal to natural gas.

Cleantech start-ups have achieved notable success with online crowdfunding platforms, but are dollars flowing to the companies with the best market potential or simply the best marketing?

Tesla's Powerwall is the first serious entrant to the U.S. home energy storage market, but don't expect it to unleash solar or kill the utilities overnight. 

Last week, Stanford University researchers unveiled a new aluminum-ion battery chemistry with the unique ability to charge or discharge in less than a minute.

Last week I had the pleasure of attending Austin-based research firm ZPryme's annual Energy Thought Summit, which brought together business leaders and technical experts to discuss emerging energy technologies and trends.

Critics of renewable energy often cite the fact that technologies like wind and solar only produce energy when the wind is blowing or the sun is shining.