Climate

That’s what the company’s Earth Day recycling ads are really about, at least according to this scathing blog from iFixit. It’s a fun, informative read — and good reminder to keep an eye out for greenwashing this time of year.

It’s using three times as much “clean electricity” now as it did in 2020, Apple said today. It’s part of the company’s commitment to become carbon neutral across its operations and supply chain by 2030. By the same date, Apple also plans to replenish fresh water it uses in drought-stressed areas — spending $8 million on that task since 2023.

The European Space Agency plans to find out with a project called Solaris. Scientists and engineers have been trying to figure out how to make space-based solar power work since the 1960s. And the rise of the commercial space industry is finally bringing launch costs down enough to really put the technology to the test.

Newsweek notes that renewable energy hit a milestone in California, meeting 100 percent of the state’s electricity demand for up to 6 hours nearly every day of the past month.

Just weeks after finalizing it, the SEC announced a stay on the landmark rule that would push big public companies to divulge financial risks they face from climate change and share data on their greenhouse gas emissions.

A new subsea cable called Far North Fiber would link Europe and Japan, cutting a path through the Arctic that would have been unreachable until recently. The Arctic is warming nearly 4x faster than the rest of the world, and vanishing sea ice could turn the Arctic into the new Wild West for companies looking to take advantage of newly navigable waters.

These companies are trying to alter the atmosphere as the world makes slow progress to tackle climate change, The New York Times reports.

University of California geologist Duncan Agnew published research in Nature saying the melting of ice in Greenland and Antarctica has contributed to slowing Earth’s rotation, reports Space.com.

Soundside, a daily broadcast program from Seattle’s NPR news station KUOW, breaks it down in this episode. Catch my interview about the energy and environmental costs of Bitcoin mining in the US, and the legal battle that killed the Department of Energy’s survey of miners’ electricity consumption.

This is BIG in more ways than one. With blades longer than the Statue of Liberty is tall, these are 12 massive next-generation turbines towering over the Atlantic. Together they should be able to generate 130 megawatts of clean energy for some 70,000 homes. For comparison, the US only had the capacity to generate 42 megawatts from offshore wind until now. More big offshore projects are on the way (and just a reminder, there’s no evidence to show they’re harming whales).

We are talking about the the same industry profiting by creating the climate crisis. Shell previously promised to reach net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, which is impossible unless the company pivots away from dirty energy. Shell’s blaming consumers for its own lack of follow through, saying “investment in oil and gas will be needed” to meet demand.

They’ve used AI for years to find new oil and gas reserves. Now, more advanced AI is helping them drill oil wells more efficiently. Within a few years, a significant chunk of wells could be drilled autonomously, Bloomberg reports. That brings costs down and helps dirty energy compete with renewables like solar and wind, which have become cheaper alternatives to fossil fuel power plants that wreck air quality and cause climate change.

Electricity shortages could become a big problem over the next several years unless the US races to get more sources of clean energy online, The Washington Post reports. Data centers for AI and crypto mining are huge energy vampires. And the resurgence of domestic manufacturing for everything from semiconductors to EV batteries and solar panels are also expected to put extra strain on aging power grids.

Because of all the energy it consumes, AI might actually make things worse by driving up greenhouse gas emissions. There’s also the risk of AI being weaponized to spread climate disinformation. You don’t have to take my word for it; this report from the Climate Action Against Disinformation coalition brings together current research on the issue.

That’s the highest it’s been since 2021, before the long, cold crypto winter brought that price crashing down to less than $20,000.

A dude in California became the first person to be charged with smuggling greenhouse gases. He was actually lugging refrigerants into the US from Mexico: Hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), to be exact. HFCs are “super” greenhouse gases up to thousands of times more potent than CO2. The US and other countries have pledged to phase down the use of HFCs under the Kigali Amendment to the Montreal Protocol.

But it’s not on one of his rockets. SpaceX’s Falcon 9 is carrying MethaneSat, a satellite made to measure the potent greenhouse gas methane. The Bezos Earth Fund gave the nonprofit Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) $100 million to build and launch the satellite. Google is also partnering with EDF to create a global map of methane pollution coming from oil and gas infrastructure.

The devastating Smokehouse Creek fire has already burned more than a million acres, killing at least two people, and destroying hundreds of structures. Officials are still investigating the cause of blaze. But at least one homeowner and one rancher have filed suits against utility Xcel Energy. A pole owned by Excel subsidiary Southwestern Public Service Company reportedly fell within the area where the blaze might have started.

The DOE reached a settlement with crypto miners who sued to block data collection. The agency tried to make companies disclose their energy use through an emergency data request. But a federal judge placed a temporary restraining order on it in February, saying the situation probably didn’t warrant emergency authorization. On Friday, the DOE agreed to destroy information it’s already collected. It can start over without emergency authorization, but would have to propose a new survey and give the public 60 days to comment.