How New York Is Building the Power Grid of the Future

The commercially-based Wind for Prosperity initiative may have devised a solution to meet growing demands for electricity in developing economies, where fossil fuels are expensive, difficult to access, and take a toll on environmental and human health. The venture works to refurbish wind turbines from Europe and re-deploy them in the developing world, providing clean and affordable power where it’s needed most.

The United Kingdom is finding creative ways to simultaneously address renewable energy needs and waste disposal. Combined Heat and Power (CHP) plants are utilizing chicken manure from farms and coffee grounds to create electricity. The initiatives have the added benefit of improving standards for the treatment of poultry, as well as reducing the distribution of harmful toxins from the waste.

A new solar array called North Star in the Twin Cities will soon produce enough energy to power more than 20,000 homes. The project allows landowners to evolve beyond a deteriorating farming industry while maintaining native prairie plants under and around the panels for bees and other pollinators. The project is part of the state's 15-year energy plan to reduce carbon emissions by 60 percent and generate a third of its electricity from renewable sources by 2030.

Micro-hydro projects in the United States have become much more accessible and more financially viable since Congress passed a law in 2013 making it easier for small hydroelectric projects to get federal approval. Specifically, water treatment plants that can retrofit their systems to generate electricity are an excellent energy opportunity. The plant in Grand Lake now produces more electricity than it consumes.

Rahr Malting, a brewery in Shakopee, MN, has found a creative way to sustainably address their energy needs. The company partners with the Mdewakanton Sioux Community to use waste barley hulls from the malting factory to generate electricity for their facilities, selling excess power to the public grid while the waste heat sprouts the malt to make beer.

UPS has converted about one-third of its diesel vehicles to electric power, a move backed by the British government to reduce carbon dioxide emissions and air pollution in London. While making the switch to electric reveled challenges with the city’s power grid, officials said they have been encouraged by the results of the pilot program, which could also be applicable to other modes of transportation like buses and ambulances in other cities around the world.

A collaborative effort among the United Nations' District Energy in Cities Initiative, the Malaysian government, and private partners has facilitated planning in Malaysia's rapidly developing southern state of Johor for a "District Energy System": a single heating and cooling network which decreases energy consumption by converting waste heat from large power stations. Because of this intervention, Iskandar is projected to decrease its energy use by almost 40% -- all while saving money on energy costs, recycling heat energy, and contributing to the nation's goals under the international Paris Accord.

The government wants more farmers turning waste methane into biogas to help combat the negative effects of global climate change. California is leading the initiative, largely through a cap-and-trade program.

Alberta, Canada is a place that historically has had a close relationship with oil and gas. But as renewable energy surges into the market, these industries become more and more precarious. This article talks to a range of young men—a key demographic in these industries—about why they made the decision to leave oil and gas for solar energy and what helped them make that transition. Many said, among other things, that their motivations lay in wanting to leave a better world for their children to grow up in.

A team of engineers at IIT Madras, a public university in India, has partnered with local utilities and the national Ministry of Power to bring sustainable, low-cost electricity to off-grid rural villages in the northwestern state of Rajasthan. With solar power supplied by DC microgrids, these poor rural communities are experiencing transformations to increase quality-of-life: affordable fridges that aid in food preservation, fans which mitigate heat and repel mosquitoes, and battery-powered phones connecting them to public emergency services.