Energy efficiency news.
Rebate updates, policy changes, and technology developments — aggregated from 50+ sources, AI-enriched, and scored for relevance.
Another state adds a way to report reckless e-bike and e-scooter riders
This is a bit outside the usual energy-upgrade beat, but here's the news: Washington County, Oregon has added a new option to its online traffic complaint form specifically for reporting unsafe e-bike and e-scooter riding. The sheriff's office made the change after deputies noticed more reckless behavior, especially among younger riders, over the summer. Complaints have included riders weaving through traffic, speeding, doing wheelies on roads, and throwing objects at cars. The form lets residents submit the location, time, and a description of an incident, along with photos if they have them. The goal isn't just to log complaints but to spot patterns, so the sheriff's office can decide where to focus education efforts or enforcement. Officials note that much of this behavior is hard to act on unless an officer sees it happen, so collecting reports over time is meant to build a clearer picture of trouble spots. The online form is only for non-emergency issues; anything requiring an immediate response still goes through 911. This follows a similar effort in Colorado earlier this year, where a state program asked residents to report reckless riding. It reflects a broader pattern of local governments trying to address a small number of unsafe riders without cracking down on the much larger group who ride responsibly. If you live in an area dealing with similar complaints, it may be worth checking whether your own city or county has set up a comparable reporting tool.
“Structural Shift” Continues in Australia’s Car Market — June Update
This is about car sales in Australia, not home upgrades, but it points to where electric transportation is heading. In June 2026, plug-in vehicles (battery-electric and plug-in hybrid) made up almost 36% of the 140,058 light vehicles sold in the country, with sales more than doubling compared to a year earlier. Plain gas car sales fell nearly 30% year on year, and diesel sales dropped almost 20%. The Tesla Model Y was the top-selling vehicle overall, and Chinese automaker BYD is now Australia's second-best-selling brand, behind only Toyota. The plug-in hybrid market was led by BYD's Shark 6, a pickup-style "ute" that nearly doubled its sales from the previous month. Toyota also launched a battery-electric version of its popular Hilux truck, drawing more interest than expected, mostly from fleet and mining buyers, despite its higher price and shorter driving range. More electric models are arriving on the market, including new PHEVs and BEVs from Toyota, Mazda, Suzuki, and other Chinese brands. For homeowners in other countries, this doesn't change any local rebate or program, but it reflects a broader trend: electric vehicles are becoming mainstream faster than expected in some markets, which can affect vehicle charging needs at home, including interest in installing a home charger or pairing an EV with rooftop solar and a home battery.
Waymo Expands Into Germany & Tesla Pumping Up Production While Volkswagen In Crisis
This is auto industry news rather than home energy news, so there is not much here that touches your own house directly. Volkswagen is cutting four factories, half its current models, and about 100,000 jobs as it struggles with its shift to electric vehicles. Meanwhile Waymo, the US robotaxi company, has set up a new entity in Munich, Germany, and started mapping and test drives there, signaling it plans to launch driverless ride service in the country. Volkswagen has its own self-driving venture, called MOIA, which has quietly moved forward with a roboshuttle now in early production, self-driving VW ID. Buzz vans running with Uber in Los Angeles, and a new US partnership with a company called Beep to expand into Orlando. At the same time, Tesla is increasing production at its German factory by 20%, aiming for 7,500 vehicles a week starting in October, citing strong demand. That expansion is striking given Volkswagen's cuts, even though Volkswagen Group still sells far more electric vehicles than Tesla across Europe overall. None of this changes anything about home electrification, rebates, or upgrades. It is a snapshot of turmoil in the car industry as automakers work out how fast to move away from gas engines and how much to invest in self-driving technology. If you are watching the EV market because you are weighing an electric vehicle alongside home charging or solar plans, it is worth knowing that model lineups and pricing across brands could keep shifting as this shakes out.
Podcast Episode 745: Gaseous Water, Garage Insulation, and Using AI for HVAC Sizing
This week's Fine Homebuilding podcast covers a few topics that touch on home energy work, mostly through listener questions rather than new programs or deadlines. One listener raised concerns about LP SmartSide siding, arguing that once it fails, homeowners can't simply sand and repaint it the way they could with solid wood, and pointed to alternatives like white cedar, cypress, or thermally modified wood species that cost less than Pacific Northwest red cedar. A homeowner in Cincinnati asked about insulating a garage ceiling under his 1954 house, where part of the ceiling is drywall and part is bare concrete, since the kitchen floor above stays cold in winter. The hosts discuss options like adding rigid foam board, though the homeowner notes it's unclear how effective partial insulation would be without treating the whole house consistently. The most detailed segment involves a homeowner in Idaho building his own highly insulated house (R-40 walls, R-55 roof, under 1.0 ACH50, a measure of how airtight a house is) who tried using AI tools like ChatGPT and Claude to size his heating and cooling system. He found the AI useful for catching errors in load calculations but poor at handling duct layout and equipment sizing. His contractor's professional calculation actually landed close to his own AI-assisted numbers, though the installer admitted sometimes adjusting inputs to fit equipment he already planned to install. The homeowner also shares a cautionary story about a Mr. Cool mini-split system that lost refrigerant and required a full teardown after a warranty replacement used a different refrigerant type.
Congress set to overhaul disaster recovery, speeding up new home builds
Congress has passed a housing bill that changes how the government helps communities rebuild after floods, fires, and hurricanes. The bill's main goal is boosting home construction in areas with housing shortages, but it also fixes a long-standing problem with disaster recovery funding. Right now, the main federal program for long-term disaster rebuilding, run by the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), only kicks in after Congress approves money for each individual disaster. That process can take months or years, and then the actual rebuilding often takes years more. In one North Carolina town, it took over five years to rebuild apartments lost to Hurricane Florence — by the time they were finished, former residents had already moved away. Some grants from disasters as far back as 2008 and 2012 are still not fully spent. The new bill gives HUD permanent authority to spend disaster money without waiting for Congress each time, sets up a standing disaster recovery fund, and creates a dedicated unit inside the agency to manage it. The idea is to close the gap between when FEMA's short-term help runs out (it lasts up to 18 months) and when HUD's longer-term rebuilding aid used to arrive, which was often two or three years later. That gap has left many displaced families and damaged towns waiting with little support in between. The change is technically temporary, set to expire after three years, but researchers who track the program think it's unlikely to be rolled back once the new system is running. For homeowners in disaster-prone areas, this could mean rebuilding help — like housing assistance or funding to relocate flood-prone homes — arrives faster after future disasters.
Clean energy developers dodge market collapse as court defuses IRS tax credit clawback
A federal court has settled a long-running tax dispute over how large solar and wind projects are valued for tax credits, and the outcome is good news for the pace of clean energy development, though it has little direct bearing on individual homes. The case, Alta Wind I Owner Lessor v. United States, took thirteen years to resolve. The IRS had argued that developers were overvaluing their equipment to claim bigger investment tax credits, and wanted a stricter accounting method applied across the industry that could have forced audits and clawbacks of 20% to 30% of the tax basis on major solar and storage projects nationwide. The court declined to go that far, limiting its ruling to the specifics of an older, since-expired grant program rather than setting a broad new rule for today's projects. For homeowners, this mainly matters because it removes a threat that could have slowed or destabilized large-scale renewable energy development, which affects the broader supply of clean power and equipment costs over time. It does not change home rebate programs, incentives, or the tax credits available for household upgrades like heat pumps or rooftop solar. Industry lawyers say developers will likely respond by being more careful with paperwork, such as independent appraisals and clearer contracts, when documenting project values. Some uncertainty remains over how aggressively the IRS may challenge project valuations in future audits, but this ruling does not open new risk for homeowners' own energy upgrade incentives.
Trump’s clean energy attacks are costing the US jobs
Since President Trump took office in January 2025, 216 major clean energy projects have been canceled, closed, or scaled back, according to a new report from the advocacy group E2. The group says those cancellations add up to nearly half a million lost potential jobs. Most weren't permanent factory or plant jobs — the bulk were construction work or jobs at nearby businesses that would have served new clean energy sites, from building suppliers to restaurants. The pullback follows a boom sparked by the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act, which funded a wave of solar, wind, EV, and battery projects along with new domestic factories to build that equipment. That growth stalled once Trump won the 2024 election, as companies grew wary of his opposition to renewables, especially wind, and pulled back investment even before Congress later cut back the law's incentives. Electric vehicles have taken the biggest hit, hurt further by the loss of federal purchase discounts. None of this points to a specific program change or deadline for homeowners. But it reflects a broader retreat in federal support for clean energy and EVs, which is worth keeping in mind if you're weighing an upgrade that depended on federal incentives. Some parts of the clean energy business are still expanding — solar manufacturing and battery storage factories are growing — even as the EV and broader clean energy job market cools nationally.
Plug-in solar meets the grid crisis
A recent heat wave pushed the eastern power grid to a record high demand, and it sparked a conversation about two ways the country is responding to grid stress. On the technology side, small "plug-in solar" panels — kits that mount on a balcony or in a backyard and plug straight into an outlet without an electrician — have taken off in Germany and Pakistan and are now spreading in the U.S. Ten states, including New Jersey and Utah, have legalized them so far. The panels typically produce up to around 1,200 watts and offset some of the power you'd otherwise buy from the utility. Savings for an individual home are modest, maybe a few hundred dollars a year, but the systems reflect a growing do-it-yourself response to rising bills, since they cost much less than a professionally installed rooftop system. The bigger story is what happens when many of these small systems, along with home batteries and smart thermostats, get connected together. Analysts discussed estimates that this kind of small-scale, "permissionless" home generation could eventually supply 10 to 20 percent of U.S. peak electricity demand. Separately, three major residential energy companies — Sunrun, Tesla, and Renew Home — announced plans to combine home solar and battery systems into 16 gigawatts of flexible power capacity for utilities and data centers. For homeowners, the practical takeaway is that plug-in solar is becoming a real, legal option in a growing number of states, worth checking on locally, while the technology's larger role in stabilizing the grid is still being worked out through utility rules and regulations.
Multi Split Design Advice
A homeowner working with an architect on a gut renovation in Queens raised a common question when planning a heat pump system: should the house use one big outdoor unit feeding many wall-mounted indoor heads (a "multi-split" system), or something else. The architect had sized the equipment to match the house's heating and cooling needs after planned upgrades like better insulation and air sealing, but the homeowner wanted two separate outdoor units instead of one, for backup in case one broke down. Other experienced posters weighed in with a caution worth knowing if you're considering a similar setup. When one large outdoor unit serves many small indoor heads, the system can't easily scale down output to match a single small room calling for heat or cooling. That mismatch can cause some rooms to overheat or overcool, poor removal of humidity, and repair headaches, since a leak anywhere in the long shared line set is hard to trace. One poster running the numbers found that two smaller matched systems, each pairing an outdoor unit to just a few indoor heads, may perform better than one oversized unit spread thin across many rooms. Another suggested skipping wall-mounted heads in favor of small ducted units, which can also be swapped out individually down the road. If you're weighing a multi-zone heat pump for your own house, the takeaway is that matching equipment size closely to your home's actual heating and cooling needs, room by room, matters as much as the brand or capacity you choose.
Unavoidable thermal bridge on foundation, exterior vs interior insulation – or a mix of both?
A homeowner asked a builder forum for advice about insulating a foundation wall where a concrete retaining wall connects to the house, creating a spot where cold can pass straight through the concrete into the living space (sometimes called a thermal bridge). The question was whether to insulate the outside of the foundation, the inside, or some mix of both, with the inside insulation overlapping about 10 feet to help offset the bridge. Several experienced builders weighed in, and they largely agreed: put the insulation on the inside of the foundation wall instead of the outside, or instead of splitting it between both. Exterior insulation below ground level is exposed to ongoing risks, including damage during backfilling, insect infestation, water saturation over time, and exterior finishes that either look odd or fail to hold up. They also noted that the "thermal mass" benefit often cited for exterior insulation is minor, and in a basement it can actually work against you by slowing down how quickly your heating and cooling system can adjust the room's temperature. One responder added that if you're insulating a basement floor before pouring concrete, foam should go down first, with the edges covered so the new floor never touches the foundation wall directly. For a homeowner planning a basement or foundation insulation project, the practical guidance here is that interior insulation is generally seen as the safer, lower-maintenance choice compared to exterior insulation or a mixed approach, especially given the risk of water and pest damage outside.
Can a Smart Controller Make an Old Water Heater More Efficient?
A writer looked into whether an aftermarket smart controller can cut energy waste from an older electric water heater. The idea came up while doing an energy assessment on a vacation cabin: water heaters in seasonal homes often keep 40 gallons or more hot around the clock even when nobody's there for days or weeks. Shutting the unit off entirely saves energy but means a long wait for hot water on arrival, which is where a retrofit controller could help by letting an owner turn the heater on remotely before showing up. The underlying issue is standby loss: even a well-insulated tank loses heat through its walls and pipes, so the heater cycles on and off periodically just to hold temperature, whether or not anyone uses hot water. A water-heater blanket and insulated hot-water piping can cut some of that waste. A smart controller works differently, by tracking when the heater actually runs and adjusting schedules based on when people are home and, potentially, on utility rate periods. For most households, water heating is typically the second-biggest energy user after heating and cooling, so trimming standby losses can add up over time. This is most relevant for anyone with a second home or cabin that sits empty for stretches, or for anyone whose current water heater runs on a fixed schedule regardless of whether hot water is needed. No specific product names, prices, or savings figures were given, so it's worth researching current controller options and checking compatibility with your own water heater before deciding if one makes sense for your house.
Window back dam
A window installer asked other builders about "back dams," a small raised strip at the bottom of a window's rough opening that stops water from reaching the wood framing behind the window trim. The question was whether this detail is really needed, or whether careful caulking and sealing around the window is enough on its own. Building science experts weighed in with a clear answer: a back dam or a sloped sill is worth having. One expert pointed to cases where windows without this detail worked fine for years, until a leak sent water inward instead of outward, causing hidden damage and a costly repair call. A simple way to add a back dam is a strip of plywood, often 3/8 or 1/2 inch thick, set at the bottom of the window opening before the window and trim go in. This slightly raises the interior sill but still leaves room for a neat, even gap around the window frame. Builders also seal the inside edges of the window to the surrounding wall wrap on all four sides, so any stray moisture that does get past the exterior caulk has nowhere to go but out, not into the wall. For a homeowner, the takeaway is less about doing the work yourself and more about knowing what good window installation looks like: a raised or sloped sill under new windows, plus sealed edges, is a small step that helps prevent slow, hidden water damage inside your walls for as long as the windows are in place.
U.S. assembled module prices steady at $0.30/W
Prices for solar panels made in the U.S. have leveled off at about 30 cents per watt, according to industry data. This is the panel-making side of the solar market, not something you shop for directly, but it affects the cost and availability of panels installers offer. Part of the story is a federal rule tied to last year's tax law, which blocks the 30% federal solar tax credit for any project using equipment tied too closely to Chinese ownership. In response, several Chinese-owned factories in the U.S. — in Texas, Arizona, Florida, and Ohio — sold off enough of their stakes to avoid that label. Analysts note the original Chinese companies often still supply materials or license the brand to these newly sold facilities, so the change in ownership doesn't fully erase the Chinese-made components underneath. A separate trade case filed in June targets solar cells and panels from South Korea, arguing they rely on Chinese materials to get around existing trade penalties. If regulators take up the case, new duties could show up between September 2026 and early 2027, which could raise costs for some panel brands. None of this requires homeowners to do anything right now. But if you're planning a solar installation, it's worth asking your installer whether the panels they quote qualify for the federal tax credit, since the ownership rules get stricter in 2027, and worth knowing that panel pricing and brand availability may keep shifting as these trade and ownership issues play out.
How Smart Contractors Turn Data Into Dollars
This is a piece about how HVAC contracting businesses use scheduling and sales software behind the scenes, not something that changes what a homeowner needs to do. It describes how heating and cooling companies are using field-service software to track things like technician efficiency, marketing spending, and how service calls go, so they can run more smoothly and close more sales. For a homeowner, the practical effect is mostly indirect. Companies using these tools are working on faster scheduling and less wasted drive time between jobs, which could mean quicker appointment windows. The software also analyzes sales conversations from in-home visits, including whether a technician explains different equipment options and financing, so some homeowners may notice sales reps more consistently walking through tiered choices ("good-better-best" packages) and financing terms during a visit. Companies are also using data to target marketing, including reaching out to existing customers about problems that haven't been fixed yet, so a homeowner might get a call or discount offer nudging them toward a repair. None of this involves new rebates, incentives, or equipment types, and there is no deadline or program to act on. It is simply a look at how contracting businesses are adjusting their internal operations and sales approach using data software.
Be among the first LEED v5 experts: LEED AP with Specialty v5 exams are now available
This news is about professional certification for building industry workers, not something that directly affects your house. LEED is a green building rating system used mostly on commercial and large residential projects, and USGBC just opened exams for the newest version, LEED v5, aimed at people who want a "LEED AP with Specialty" credential — a designation showing expertise in designing, building, or operating LEED-certified projects. The practical upshot for a homeowner is limited. If you're working with a builder, architect, or energy consultant on a major renovation, you might see this credential on someone's resume as a sign they know the latest green building standards. The exams cover three tracks: new construction, interior projects, and building operations, and are open through August 31, 2026 at standard pricing, with a discount period ending August 26 for those helping test the new exam format. Separately, the article notes that USGBC extended the deadline for registering commercial projects under the older LEED v4 and v4.1 standards to June 30, 2027. That's relevant only if you're involved in a commercial building project already using those older rating systems — it gives more time before the switch to v5 becomes mandatory. For a typical home energy upgrade, none of this changes your rebates, tax credits, or what programs are available to you.
The nation’s biggest public utility just doubled down on coal, gas, and nuclear
The Tennessee Valley Authority, the country's largest public utility, has released a new draft of its long-range energy plan that shifts away from renewables and toward coal, gas, and nuclear power. The plan covers electricity supply through 2050 for 10 million residents across Tennessee and parts of North Carolina, Alabama, Mississippi, Kentucky, Georgia, and Virginia. Compared with an earlier draft, expected solar capacity has dropped from up to 20 gigawatts to no more than 5, and wind power is off the table. Meanwhile, TVA now plans to keep its coal plants running through 2039, nearly double its planned investment in gas power (to as much as 26 gigawatts), and seek license extensions for its three nuclear plants. The shift follows changes in federal policy, including reduced tax incentives for renewable energy projects that don't break ground by 2027, and looser federal rules on coal plant emissions. TVA also points to rising electricity demand from data centers, which already make up about 20 percent of its industrial power use and are expected to double their draw by 2030. Some analysts argue that keeping older coal plants open longer will raise costs and reliability risks rather than solve them. For homeowners in the TVA service area, this means the region's electricity supply is likely to stay more dependent on coal and gas, and less on solar and wind, than earlier plans suggested. TVA is taking public comments on the plan through July 22, with a final decision expected August 6.
An Innovative Application for an Old Product
A builder is finding a new use for Ventgrid, a drainage mat originally made for cedar roofs, applying it behind exterior siding instead. The product is a reinforced plastic mesh that creates a half-inch gap between the siding and the wall, letting water drain and air move in any direction to dry the wall assembly. This gap is what's known as a rainscreen, a small airspace behind siding that helps prevent moisture from getting trapped and damaging the wall over time. The mat fastens to the house at pre-punched points, and siding goes on top of it. One advantage is flexibility: it works with vertical, horizontal, or shingle-style siding without needing different setups for each. A separate closure piece fits at the bottom of the wall, letting water and air out while keeping bugs from getting in. For a homeowner, this matters mainly if you're planning new siding or a full re-side of your house. A rainscreen gap behind siding is one of the details that helps siding and the wall behind it last longer by staying drier. Ventgrid is one option a builder might use to create that gap, regardless of what siding style you choose. If you're budgeting for a siding replacement, it's worth asking what drainage or rainscreen approach will be used behind the new material, since that affects how well the wall holds up over the years.
UNIGRID’s sodium-ion home battery debuts in Europe, US is next
A new type of home battery is coming to the US. UNIGRID, a California-based startup, has started installing its Na+Casa battery in homes across Europe, using sodium-ion technology instead of the lithium-ion found in most home batteries today, including the Tesla Powerwall. The company expects US installations by the end of 2026, once the batteries clear North American certification. Sodium-ion batteries use cheap, widely available sodium instead of lithium, cobalt, and nickel, which can ease supply chain concerns. UNIGRID says its battery is built to last 25 years, roughly matching the lifespan of a rooftop solar system, so you would not need to replace the battery halfway through your solar setup's life, as can happen with some lithium batteries. The company also says the chemistry avoids thermal propagation, the chain reaction that lets battery fires spread from cell to cell, and that the battery can handle extreme temperatures, from -40°F to 140°F. The Na+Casa stores 9.25 kilowatt-hours of electricity, less than some lithium competitors, but works with most existing hybrid inverters, so it could fit both new solar installs and retrofits on existing systems. UNIGRID says the price is competitive with lithium-ion batteries, though it has not published exact figures. The company currently produces enough cells for 200 megawatt-hours of storage a year and plans to scale up to 2 gigawatt-hours by 2027 through manufacturing partners in China, South Korea, and Japan.
Palmetto launches standalone residential battery subscription plan
Palmetto, a home energy company, has launched a home battery subscription called the Energy Backup Plan, now available in 25 states. Instead of buying a battery outright, which can cost thousands of dollars, homeowners can lease one for $0 down, with monthly payments starting around $98, over a 12-year term. That cost covers installation, monitoring, and maintenance. Battery brands offered include Tesla, Enphase, and SolarEdge, though the exact model depends on your home. The plan is aimed at solar owners who never added storage, but it's open to any homeowner in the covered states, solar or not. The battery is meant to keep essential circuits running during a power outage, though a larger battery can back up the whole house. Through Palmetto's app, you can also set the battery to discharge during peak-priced hours to lower your electric bill, a strategy called rate arbitrage. At the end of the 12-year term, you can renew, buy the system, upgrade it, or walk away, and the lease can transfer to a new owner if you sell your home. Standalone battery leases like this are becoming more common as federal tax credits continue to support third-party-owned storage systems through the early 2030s. Similar programs already exist in Texas's deregulated electricity market, and utilities in places like Missouri and Vermont run their own battery lease or pilot programs in exchange for access to the stored power during peak demand. Industry analysts expect the home battery market to keep growing over the next several years, so more options like this may become available depending on where you live.
SolarEdge aims to do it all with its Nexis residential solar and energy storage platform
SolarEdge has rolled out a new solar and battery system for homes, called Nexis, across the country. The setup includes a solar inverter paired with battery blocks that stack together, similar to building blocks, letting a household add storage up to 80 kWh. The batteries snap into place and automatically wire themselves together, which is meant to make installation faster. You can add the battery system to an existing solar setup or install it fresh alongside new panels. One practical detail: with at least three battery modules installed, the system is built to handle the power surge needed to start large appliances like central air conditioners. SolarEdge also says the system is efficient at storing and releasing solar power, converting most of the energy that passes through it rather than losing it. Most of the system's parts, aside from the battery cells themselves, are made in the U.S., which matters for solar companies trying to qualify for tax credit bonuses tied to domestic manufacturing. The system also works with virtual power plant programs, where utilities pay homeowners for sharing stored battery power, potentially adding some savings. This launch comes as more homeowners pair batteries with solar panels. Industry data cited in the news shows the share of new solar installations that include storage hit a record 45% in early 2026, driven partly by changes to net metering (how much credit homeowners get for excess solar power sent back to the grid) and time-of-use electric rates. Nationally, the residential battery storage market is expected to dip slightly this year before growing steadily over the next several years.
Workers are risking dangerous heat to keep the World Cup running
This is a story about extreme heat and worker safety, not home energy upgrades, but it points to a broader climate reality: heat waves are getting hotter and more frequent, and they carry real risks for anyone spending time outdoors. At this year's World Cup, players get hydration breaks and some stadiums have air conditioning, but concession sellers, cleaners, security staff, and parking lot workers often don't get the same protection from the heat. Several host cities, including Atlanta, Miami, Dallas, Houston, Kansas City, Philadelphia, New York, and Toronto, saw a heat dome bring dangerously high temperatures last week. Researchers warned before the tournament that workers face higher risk than athletes because they may not be acclimated to the heat, may have underlying health conditions, and are covered by a patchwork of different company policies and state or national regulations rather than one uniform safety standard. FIFA says it uses a "tiered heat mitigation model" that adds shade, water, and adjusted work-rest schedules as temperatures rise, along with a heat illness task force. Even so, workers in Atlanta reported symptoms of heat stress during a recent match played at noon in 93-degree heat. Advocates are calling for stronger heat protection rules for workers and want FIFA to build those protections directly into its agreements with host cities for future events.
California School District Jumps Into Solar, Storage, & Electric Buses
A school district in Porterville, California, in the Central Valley, is building a large solar and battery system to power a fleet of electric school buses. The Porterville Unified School District is working with ForeFront Power and The Mobility House on the project, which includes a 763 kW solar array over parking lots, a 408 kW / 1,632 kWh battery to store power, and a microgrid controller that can disconnect the site from the regular utility grid during outages. A U.S. EPA Clean School Bus Program grant is helping pay for it. The setup will support 35 fast chargers for electric buses, plus eight more chargers for the district's other vehicles. Two of those chargers can send power back to the grid, a setup called vehicle-to-grid, or V2G, which lets a charged bus act like a backup battery for the community during emergencies or planned power shutoffs. The district serves more than 14,000 students, most from lower-income households, in an area with some of the worst air quality in the country, and it aims to convert its whole bus fleet to electric by 2035. None of this is something an individual homeowner needs to act on, but it shows a pattern spreading in California and elsewhere: schools pairing solar and batteries with electric vehicle charging to cut energy costs and add backup power during outages. It's the same basic combination — solar, storage, and a way to keep power flowing when the grid goes down — that shows up in home energy upgrades, just built at a much larger scale.
US Accounted for Nearly 50% of World’s CO2 Emissions Growth in 2025 — Thanks, AI Data Center Explosion & Pro-Pollution Trump
A new report on world energy use shows the United States drove nearly half of the entire globe's increase in carbon emissions in 2025. Total energy use worldwide rose 1.4% last year, but U.S. emissions jumped 3.2%, reversing years of mostly falling emissions. North America alone accounted for 47% of the world's emissions growth. The main driver was electricity demand from AI data centers. The U.S. made up 40% of all data center electricity use worldwide, and that demand growth, combined with the Trump administration keeping old coal plants running and blocking large wind and solar projects, pushed coal-fired power up 13% in the country. Overall U.S. electricity demand grew 3%. Solar power did grow 28% here, but it wasn't enough to offset the surge in coal use tied to data centers. For homeowners, this points to a broader trend worth watching: electricity demand and, in some regions, prices are climbing as data centers compete for power on the grid. It doesn't change any specific rebate or program available to you right now, but it's a reminder that home energy efficiency and lower electricity use may matter more, not less, as utilities lean on older, dirtier power plants to keep up with demand elsewhere on the grid.
Clean energy helped the grid avoid heat-wave catastrophe
Last week's heat wave pushed the U.S. power grid to record demand as homeowners across the country ran air conditioners and heat pumps (heating and cooling systems that also work as AC) to stay cool. The grid held up, and solar and wind power played a big part in that. In Texas, solar covered more than 30% of demand during a record-setting July peak. In New England, offshore wind farms and a new Canada-to-U.S. power line brought in extra electricity, helping the region burn less oil than during a similar heat wave last year. Wind also helped keep the lights on across the central U.S., from North Dakota to northern Texas. Not everything went smoothly. A new transmission line meant to bring hydropower from Canada into New York City, called the Champlain Hudson Power Express, shut down on July Fourth due to an issue in Quebec. Luckily the heat wave was easing by then, so it wasn't a major problem this time. But that line is expected to become more important as older natural gas plants in the region retire. The takeaway for homeowners: the grid's growing mix of solar, wind, and hydropower is helping prevent blackouts during extreme heat, even as demand keeps climbing. That matters if you rely on air conditioning or a heat pump during summer heat waves, since a more resilient grid means fewer disruptions to your own power. Still, with hotter summers and rising electricity demand from data centers, grid operators say the system will keep facing tougher tests ahead.
The oceans are full of heat, and it’s coming ashore
This summer's heat is coming from the ocean as much as the sky. The world's oceans just had their hottest June on record, with nearly 40 percent of ocean area caught in a marine heatwave. Some patches in the Mediterranean and Pacific are running more than 10 degrees Fahrenheit above normal. That matters on land because warm ocean water and air feed directly into heatwaves, humidity, and storms. Scientists estimate at least a fifth of heatwaves on land start in the ocean. Warm water off Florida's Gulf coast, for instance, is tied to the muggy heat pushing up air-conditioner use there, and unusual Pacific warmth may be feeding into a heatwave forecast for the central and northern U.S. Warmer air also holds more moisture, meaning longer dry stretches between rains and heavier downpours when rain does come. Ocean warming adds to sea level rise too, through thermal expansion, which lets storms push farther inland along coastlines. On top of this, a strong El Niño, a recurring warm-water pattern in the Pacific, is building and has a high chance of becoming one of the strongest on record. El Niño years tend to bring heavier rain to places like California and drier conditions to Australia and Southeast Asia, and scientists expect global temperatures to stay elevated into next year as a result. None of this points to one specific fix for a house, but it helps explain why summers are bringing more extreme heat, heavier storms, and higher humidity to many parts of the country at once.
How Coral Gables Became a National Leader in Fleet Electrification
The City of Coral Gables, Florida, has spent a decade building one of the most electrified vehicle fleets among U.S. local governments. Starting with 20 Nissan Leafs bought around 2016 for about $18,000 to $19,000 each, the city now runs 75 fully electric vehicles, roughly 12 to 13 percent of its fleet. It has installed more than 56 charging ports across garages, lots, and municipal buildings, which city vehicles share with residents and visitors. The city's experience offers some practical lessons for anyone thinking about electric vehicles. Its early Nissan Leafs saw battery wear from heavy use of fast charging, and the city found that relying more on slower Level 2 charging (standard home-style charging, done overnight or during the day rather than a quick top-off) extended battery life and cut down on maintenance. Several batteries were also replaced under warranty. Officials say the electric vehicles have needed little upkeep beyond tires and washer fluid. Coral Gables is now expanding into tougher territory: three electric police vehicles, a pilot electric garbage truck, and a push for electric versions of its diesel trolleys once that technology matures. A new mobility hub is planned with a full floor devoted to EV charging. City officials also note a side benefit for residents — some say they bought an EV specifically because the city had already built out public charging, and out-of-town drivers who stop to charge often spend time and money at nearby shops and restaurants.
A pioneering grid-battery factory is headed for this California city
A startup called Peak Energy is building a factory in Sacramento, California, to mass-produce a newer kind of grid battery, called sodium-ion, that could eventually make large-scale energy storage cheaper. This isn't a battery for your house or car — it's for utility-scale storage that helps power grids handle demand. But it's worth knowing about because it signals a shift in what backs up the electricity you use, especially if you're weighing solar-plus-storage or watching how utilities plan for outages and peak demand. Sodium-ion batteries use cheaper materials than the lithium-ion batteries common today, and their maker says they hold up better across a range of temperatures without needing as much cooling or fire-suppression equipment. That could make them more durable and less costly over their lifetime, though the technology hasn't yet been widely used in U.S. grid storage. The Sacramento factory, expected to start production in early 2027, will produce far more battery capacity per year than Peak's existing, smaller plant in Burlingame, California. The company chose the site partly for access to battery engineering talent in the Bay Area, and received $10.5 million in California state tax credits tied to hiring. Peak has also partnered with GM to develop U.S.-made battery cells, since it currently sources cells from China. For homeowners, this is mostly background news: it points to more competition and potentially lower costs in grid-scale storage, which over time could affect electricity reliability and pricing, but it doesn't involve any new rebate or program for home upgrades.
Former FERC officials weigh in on Supreme Court ruling expanding president’s power to fire regulators
The Supreme Court ruled June 29 that presidents can fire regulators at will, in a case called Trump v. Slaughter. Former officials of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), the agency that oversees wholesale electricity and transmission rates, say the decision could reach their commission too, ending the tradition of commissioners serving fixed terms without fear of being removed for political reasons. Former commissioners from both parties told reporters this could make FERC less stable. If commissioners can be dismissed at will, the agency could lose the minimum number of members needed to issue binding decisions, or could swing sharply in policy direction every time a new president takes office. They compared this to how the EPA has shifted under different administrations. Qualified people might also be less willing to take the job, especially late in a presidential term, since a Senate confirmation process would carry more risk with less job security. For homeowners, this is a policy and legal story about how federal energy regulation works, not something that changes rebates, rates, or upgrade programs right now. Former officials said no immediate FERC decisions are affected, since recent orders, including ones on connecting large power users to the grid, have been unanimous. But the long-term worry is that added uncertainty at FERC could ripple into electricity markets and infrastructure investment decisions over time.
How AI and smart grid patents are exposing risks and opportunities in the solar power sector
This news is about patent activity in the utility industry, not something that changes what a homeowner does with rooftop solar or a battery today. The gist: utilities and technology vendors have spent the last two decades building out "smart grid" tools, like advanced meters, remote meter reading, and systems that link power equipment with communications networks. These tools are what allow things like net metering (getting credit for solar power you send back to the grid) and time-of-use rate plans to work. A wave of patents covering that basic infrastructure is now mature, which the article says is often when patent holders start licensing or suing over their rights. On top of that, a newer wave of patents covers artificial intelligence and machine learning tools layered onto the same meters and grid systems, used for things like forecasting solar output, spotting unusual usage, and managing batteries and grid demand. The article is really addressed to utilities, equipment makers, and their lawyers, warning them to check whether new grid technology they roll out might run into existing patents, and suggesting they build their own patent portfolios or adjust contracts accordingly. For a homeowner, there is no direct action here. It does not change rebates, equipment costs, or interconnection rules for your own solar panels or battery. It is simply a sign that the technology behind net metering, dynamic rate plans, and grid management is getting more complex and more legally contested behind the scenes, which could eventually affect how quickly utilities roll out new smart grid features, but nothing concrete for your home right now.
FHB Podcast Segment: Insulating an Old Garage Ceiling
A recent episode of the Fine Homebuilding Podcast tackled a listener question that many homeowners with rooms over a garage will recognize: a cold kitchen. The listener, who owns a 1954 home in Cincinnati, wrote in because the kitchen sitting above his attached garage gets uncomfortably cold in winter. He planned to insulate the garage ceiling below it, treating the job like an upside-down wall assembly, but ran into a wrinkle once he started: only half the ceiling is drywall, while the other half is bare concrete. The podcast hosts discussed why a garage might have been built this way and how to approach insulating a ceiling that is split between two very different materials. Concrete and drywall don't behave the same way thermally or structurally, so the strategy for adding insulation, and for controlling air leaks, needs to account for both surfaces rather than treating the ceiling as one uniform assembly. If you have a room over your garage that always feels drafty or cold, this kind of mixed-material ceiling is one possible reason. Older homes sometimes have garages that were partly built or later modified with different materials, which can leave gaps in insulation and air sealing (blocking small leaks that let heated or cooled air escape) that are easy to miss. The full podcast episode goes into the specifics of the listener's situation and how the hosts suggested handling it.
These are the top 10 best-selling EVs in the US so far in 2026
Electric vehicle sales in the US are still adjusting after the $7,500 federal tax credit expired last September, but the market picked up in the second quarter of 2026, with 247,226 EVs sold, up nearly 15% from the first quarter. Over the first half of the year, more than 463,000 EVs were sold total, though that's down about 10% from last year. Tesla still dominates, holding just over half the market. The Model Y remains the best-selling EV by far, with sales actually up 8% from last year, while the Model 3 held second place despite a 34% drop. Outside Tesla, the Hyundai IONIQ 5 was the top-selling EV, with just over 20,000 sold. Toyota and Subaru both doubled their EV sales compared to last year, with Toyota's bZ model up nearly 90%. Meanwhile, some older models without recent updates lost ground, including the Ford Mustang Mach-E and Honda Prologue, both down more than 45%. Rounding out the top ten are the Chevy Equinox EV, Rivian R1S, Lexus RZ, and Cadillac Lyriq. For homeowners thinking about EV ownership alongside home upgrades like solar or a heat pump, the market is shifting quickly. New models expected later this year, including the Rivian R2, BMW iX3, a lower-priced Ford pickup, and the Kia EV3, could reshuffle these rankings soon. Toyota also confirmed this week that its first three-row electric SUV, the Highlander BEV, will see delayed production.
EPA Moves to Eliminate Public From Permitting Process for Data Centers, Concrete Batch Plants
The EPA has proposed removing public notice and comment requirements for air permits covering "minor sources" of pollution. This category includes the diesel and gas generators many data centers use for backup power, along with concrete batch plants and rock crushers. Right now, people can weigh in when these facilities apply for permits. Under the new proposal, that step would disappear. The change matters most to anyone who might end up living near a data center, since these facilities often run large fleets of generators. One example cited: a data center near San Antonio will use more than 80 diesel generators, which release nitrogen oxides and particulate matter linked to heart and lung disease. In Texas, developers have reportedly used a "small first, big later" approach, applying for permits covering a handful of generators, then expanding once the facility is running, all without added public scrutiny. The state has already approved more than 2,100 backup diesel generators this way since 2024. If you live near a proposed data center, concrete plant, or similar facility, this proposal would take away a tool you'd currently have to raise concerns during the permitting process. The EPA has scheduled a public hearing on July 22, with pre-registration due July 19, and is accepting written comments on the proposed rule through August 21, 2026. Whether this affects your area may depend on what kind of industrial development is planned nearby and how your state's environmental agency handles these permits.
What can best ease transmission bottlenecks? More transfer capacity, DOE says.
The U.S. Department of Energy has released a draft report looking at where the nation's power grid gets clogged and what would help. The main finding: building more capacity to move electricity between regions — say, from Texas's grid to its neighbors, or between the eastern and western halves of the country — would do the most to ease bottlenecks and keep power flowing when supply is tight. This kind of congestion has real costs. Nationally, it added $12 billion to wholesale power costs in 2024, up from $11 billion in 2023 (though still below the $21 billion hit in 2022, a year of high gas prices and extreme weather). The Southeast stood out as a region that would benefit especially from more transmission links with neighboring areas, worth roughly $10 per megawatt-hour on average, according to the analysis. It's also the only region that hasn't yet addressed at least one of the grid problems DOE tracks, such as reliability gaps or resource shortfalls. None of this changes anything at your house right away — this is a planning study, not a rule or a rebate program. But steady, rising congestion costs like these are one reason wholesale electricity prices trend upward over time, which can show up later in utility bills. DOE is taking public comments on the draft report until September 7, and it will help guide transmission planning across the country in the coming years.
Grid operators make interconnection progress, but solar and storage still face long waits
A new report looks at how the seven big regional grid operators that manage the U.S. power grid are handling the backlog of solar, storage, and other power projects waiting to connect. The short version: things are improving on paper, but wait times, costs, and uncertainty are still high. Nationally, about 8,200 projects are stuck in these queues, representing far more power than actually gets built each year. Solar and storage make up most of what's currently being added to the grid, but many projects are also dropping out due to high or unpredictable connection costs, which can run $200 to $300 per kilowatt for solar. Different regions are trying different fixes. Texas (ERCOT) has the shortest waits, thanks to a "connect first, manage problems later" approach, plus over $30 billion in new high-voltage lines planned. The Southwest Power Pool is moving toward a flat per-project fee meant to trade higher upfront costs for more predictability, with rates expected this fall. The Midwest grid operator (MISO) has a large backlog but is testing a faster, cheaper path for storage and generation that serves nearby buildings rather than the main grid. PJM, covering much of the mid-Atlantic, is processing a huge wave of pent-up requests, including tens of gigawatts of storage and solar. None of this changes rebates or costs for a home solar or battery system directly. But it matters for how quickly large-scale solar and storage — the kind that firms up the grid and can affect electricity prices and reliability — actually gets built in your region.
The Southeast is missing out on cheaper power from PJM and MISO
A new federal report says homeowners in the Southeast could see lower electricity prices if the region built more long-distance power lines connecting to neighboring grids. The Department of Energy's draft 2026 National Transmission Needs Study found that better connections to markets like PJM, MISO, and Florida could cut power costs in the Southeast by about $10 per megawatt-hour on average, and as much as $28 during extreme weather. The Southeast is unusual because it doesn't have a centralized wholesale electricity market like many other U.S. regions. Instead, individual utilities plan and build transmission lines largely on their own, rather than through shared regional planning. That makes it harder to see where power gets stuck or costs more, and harder to build the kind of connections that would let cheaper electricity flow in from nearby areas. The report points to specific under-built connections, including links between Southern Company and Florida utilities, Duke Energy and PJM, and the Tennessee Valley Authority and MISO, as the places where new lines would save the most money. This matters because demand for electricity is rising fast in the Southeast, driven largely by new data centers, and utilities are responding by proposing more gas-fired power plants rather than new transmission lines to import cheaper power. For homeowners, the takeaway is that the region's electric bills are shaped partly by decisions about long-distance power lines, not just local power plants. Whether any of this leads to new construction, and how quickly, is up to utilities and regional regulators.
Canadian Solar unveils new EP Cube systems featuring higher power, scalable storage
Canadian Solar has introduced two new versions of its EP Cube home battery system, which pairs a solar inverter with stackable lithium iron phosphate (LFP) battery modules — a battery chemistry known for being stable and long-lasting. Both are aimed at homes with solar panels who want to add or expand battery backup. The Single-Phase 2.0 model is built for typical houses. It puts out 10 kW of AC power and can take in 15 kW from solar panels, using four separate MPPTs (the circuits that track and optimize power from different sections of panels). Having four instead of the usual two means more flexibility for roofs with multiple angles or sections that get partial shade. Battery capacity starts small and stacks up to 40 kWh on one base, or up to 80 kWh if two units are linked together. The Three-Phase Pro is a bigger system, meant for larger homes as well as commercial buildings. It handles more solar input and more power output, and its backup capability is built into the inverter itself rather than requiring a separate box. Storage starts at 10 kWh and can scale up to 40 kWh in one unit, or up to 200 kWh if five units are linked. Both systems are rated for outdoor installation and come with a 10-year warranty on the inverter and up to 15 years, or 6,000 charge cycles, on the battery modules. For homeowners already considering solar-plus-battery storage, this expands the options for how much backup power a system can hold and how easily it can grow over time.
A Packaged Heat Pump for Spaces With Installation Constraints
Ice Air has released a new heat pump model, the iCool XC Type C, aimed at buildings where space or layout make installation tricky. It's a packaged, wall-mounted, air-source heat pump, meaning the whole heating and cooling unit sits in one box mounted on a wall, rather than needing separate indoor and outdoor components spread across a property. The company says it's built to keep heating reliably even when outdoor temperatures drop below 0°F, a common weak point for some heat pumps in cold climates. The unit is meant to work in both retrofits (adding equipment to an existing building) and new construction, and it comes with an outdoor air option. Ice Air markets it as a compact way to move a building off fossil-fuel heating equipment like boilers, without giving up comfort or usable floor space. This is a commercial product announcement rather than a homeowner program or rebate update. It's worth knowing about if you're weighing cold-climate heat pump options for a house with limited space for equipment, since manufacturers are increasingly designing units specifically for that constraint. No pricing, availability dates, or residential rebate eligibility were mentioned, so anyone interested would need to check with the manufacturer or a local supplier for those details.
Sierra Club Wisconsin & MEA File Lawsuit After State Regulators Abandon Required Environmental Review for Port Washington Data Center
A lawsuit filed in Wisconsin is challenging how state regulators handled a huge data center project planned for Port Washington. Sierra Club Wisconsin and Midwest Environmental Advocates say the Department of Natural Resources skipped a full environmental review it originally said the project would need. Emails show DNR staff first told the developers a detailed Environmental Impact Statement was required, then reversed course after the developers said that level of review would "kill the project." The agency has not explained why it changed its decision, and instead allowed a shorter "environmental analysis summary" to stand in. The project itself is enormous: a $15 billion, 672-acre data center campus backed by Vantage Data Centers, Oracle, and OpenAI. Its first phase alone will need 1.3 gigawatts of power, enough to supply more than half a million households. Meeting that demand is expected to require new gas plants, substations, and transmission lines spread across six counties, including a new gas plant in Walworth County that critics say the project's public materials downplay. A separate state report found this project is one of three data centers expected to help drive a 40 percent rise in Wisconsin's electricity demand over the next six years, much of it met with natural gas. For homeowners, this case is mostly about how utility and environmental costs get decided in Wisconsin, not a direct rebate or program change. But it's a reminder that rising electricity demand from data centers is a growing factor shaping future power costs and grid planning in the state.
Diversity of corporate climate action revealed by new scoring framework
A new scoring system is giving a clearer picture of how seriously big companies are tackling climate change, though it has little direct bearing on your own home upgrades. The Climate Contribution Framework, built by the sustainability data platform Sweep and the Mirova Research Center, grades companies on three fronts: cutting their own emissions, selling products that help others cut emissions, and financing climate projects outside their supply chain. Ten companies have released scores so far. Schneider Electric, a French energy technology company, topped the list at 79 percent, helped by a 9 percent average annual cut in its largest source of emissions and by strong sales of energy-saving electrical devices. Bel, the French cheese maker, scored 69 percent overall, standing out for investments like peatland regeneration. Orange, the telecom company, scored 52 percent, doing well on emissions cuts but poorly on generating revenue from climate-friendly products. Weyerhaeuser, the U.S. timber company, scored lowest at 40 percent, weighed down by slow emissions progress and a poor rating on climate lobbying. For homeowners, this is mostly background news about how companies are being judged on climate performance, not a program or rebate that affects your house. It does not change what's available for insulation, heat pumps, or other efficiency upgrades. But if any of these companies make products you use at home, such as Schneider's energy-saving devices, this kind of scoring may eventually shape how those products are marketed or improved.
A decade of change in what drives corporate sustainability
A new survey of corporate sustainability staff at large companies finds that what pushes businesses toward sustainability efforts has changed a lot over the past decade. Ten years ago, companies were mostly motivated by things like growth, cost savings, and innovation. Now, the biggest driver by far is regulation, followed by concerns about reputation and rising demand from customers. Investor pressure, by contrast, has stayed about the same. This is corporate strategy news, not something tied to a specific home upgrade or rebate. But it's worth knowing as context: the companies that make and sell energy-efficient products, appliances, and building materials are increasingly responding to rules and reporting requirements rather than choosing efficiency because it saves them money or opens new markets. That shift could show up in how products are marketed or documented, though the survey doesn't say anything about specific products or prices. For a homeowner, the takeaway is mostly about the bigger picture: sustainability commitments from manufacturers and companies may increasingly reflect what regulators require rather than a genuine business case for efficiency. That doesn't change anything about rebates, incentives, or upgrade costs available to you right now, but it helps explain why some companies talk about sustainability differently than they did a few years ago. Nothing here points to a new program, deadline, or dollar figure homeowners need to act on.
America’s first nuclear plant restart may be near the finish line
A nuclear plant in Michigan is close to becoming the first shut-down reactor in the U.S. to come back online. Holtec International, the company that bought the Palisades plant on Lake Michigan in 2018, says it has finished all major renovations on the reactor's generator side and has about 5,000 maintenance items left — a workload it compares to a routine outage at a normal operating plant. The reactor was shut down in 2022, part of a wave of nuclear plant closures over the past decade as utilities faced high repair costs and competition from cheap natural gas. Holtec has already missed two earlier restart targets, most recently early 2026, and would not give a new date. For homeowners, this isn't something that affects rebates or upgrades directly, but it matters for the power grid. Once running, the plant's single 800-megawatt reactor could generate enough electricity to power every household in Detroit twice over. It was financed partly by a $1.52 billion federal loan approved under the Biden administration and kept moving under the Trump administration, suggesting continued government backing for nuclear power regardless of which party is in office. If Palisades succeeds, it could set a precedent for restarting other closed nuclear plants, including Three Mile Island in Pennsylvania (now called Crane, backed by Microsoft) and Duane Arnold in Iowa (backed by Google). Several other former nuclear sites, including ones in California, New York, New Jersey, and Massachusetts, are too far along in demolition to restart but could still be rebuilt.
BYD wins 11.3 GWh battery deal for world’s largest solar+storage
BYD, the Chinese battery and EV maker, has won a contract to supply 11.3 gigawatt-hours of battery storage for a huge solar-plus-storage plant being built in Abu Dhabi by Masdar and the Emirates Water and Electricity Company. The full project pairs a 5.2 gigawatt solar farm with 19 gigawatt-hours of batteries, making it the largest combined solar and storage plant in the world. Its goal is to deliver steady, round-the-clock clean power rather than only power when the sun is out, which has always been solar's main limitation. Worth noting: the remaining 7.5 gigawatt-hours of storage went to another Chinese company, Sungrow, meaning Chinese battery makers now supply the entire project, even though Masdar originally named a different Chinese supplier, CATL, as its preferred vendor. This shows how much Chinese firms now dominate large-scale battery storage, using the same big-cell manufacturing that already makes them the world's largest EV battery producers. None of this changes anything for your own house directly, since it's a giant utility-scale project overseas. But it does point to a broader trend: battery storage paired with solar is getting cheaper and more capable at every scale, from massive desert power plants down to home battery systems. As these bigger projects push prices down and technology forward, it's a sign that the economics of pairing solar panels with home battery storage are likely to keep improving in the years ahead.
Inside National Grid’s $1.75 billion bet on Joulent
National Grid's commercial arm has invested $1.75 billion for a 35% stake in Joulent, a company that builds dedicated power plants for AI data centers. Joulent's first project, called Kilby, is a West Texas gas-fired power plant built with Chevron that will send 2.67 gigawatts of electricity directly to a data center under a 20-year contract with Microsoft. The company plans to build similar large gas plants, paired with batteries and eventually some solar, at other sites around the country, aiming for its first power by 2028. This is part of a broader trend: rather than wait years to connect new data centers to the existing power grid, companies are building power plants right next to them. Joulent's plants will mostly run on gas, with a grid connection added mainly for backup and to send extra power out when the data center isn't using much. For homeowners, this doesn't affect your house directly, but it matters for context. Deals like this show how much new electricity demand from AI data centers is reshaping the power industry, with companies choosing to build their own gas plants rather than compete for space on the shared grid. That competition for power, equipment, and skilled labor is part of why electricity costs and grid strain have become bigger topics nationally. It's also a reminder that heavy reliance on gas for these new mega-projects runs counter to broader efforts to cut carbon emissions from the power sector.
Trump Administration Attempts To Eliminate Habitat Protections for Endangered Species
The Trump administration has finalized a rule change that removes a long-standing habitat protection under the Endangered Species Act. For more than 40 years, federal wildlife agencies defined "harm" to a protected species to include damaging or destroying the habitat it depends on for food and shelter, even without directly touching the animal. That definition, upheld by the Supreme Court in 1995, is now rescinded. More than 150,000 Americans had opposed the change during the public comment period before it was finalized. This is not a rule about home energy upgrades, rebates, or building codes, so it does not change anything about insulation, heat pumps, or weatherization programs. It falls under wildlife and land-use law, not residential energy policy. The practical effect, according to critics like the Sierra Club, is that habitat critical to species such as the Florida manatee, gray wolf, and bald eagle could now be altered or destroyed without it counting as "harm" under federal law, making it easier for development or industrial activity to proceed in areas that support endangered wildlife. For a homeowner, this news has no direct bearing on your house, your utility bills, or any rebate program you might be considering. It is worth knowing about mainly as a shift in environmental regulation that could affect land near you if it happens to include protected habitat, but it does not touch anything related to home energy efficiency, appliance incentives, or weatherization assistance.
Sierra Club Urges EPA to Reject Industry Push to Weaken Life-Saving Truck Pollution Standards
The EPA has proposed weakening pollution standards for heavy-duty trucks, rolling back rules meant to cut smog- and soot-forming emissions from diesel trucks. The current standards, according to the EPA's own analysis, are projected to prevent more than 50,000 premature deaths, 85,000 hospital visits, and 25 million asthma attacks through 2055. Weakening them could mean more of that pollution reaching the air, especially in communities near highways, freight corridors, ports, and warehouses. The Sierra Club has come out against the proposal, arguing the technology to build cleaner trucks already exists and that manufacturers have said they are ready to meet the current standards. The group is pushing the EPA to keep the rules as they are rather than loosen them in response to industry pressure. This is a national air-quality and public-health story rather than a home-upgrade one. It does not involve any rebate program, deadline, or technology decision for your house. If you live near a highway, port, or major trucking route, it is the kind of policy that affects the air outside your home over time, but there is nothing here that changes what you'd do about insulation, heating, or appliances. The proposal is still working through the regulatory process, so nothing has taken effect yet.
ComEd Commissions Two New Substations, Unlocking Up To 550MW of Wind Energy to the Grid
ComEd, the utility serving the Chicago area, has switched on two new transmission substations in LaSalle and Woodford counties in Illinois. The substations connect to the grid at 345 kilovolts and open up capacity for up to 550 megawatts of new wind power, enough to supply about 264,000 homes for a year. Two wind farms, Osagrove Flats and Panther Grove, are set to start operating in late 2026 and early 2027. For homeowners in ComEd's service area, this is mainly about the electric grid behind the scenes rather than anything you need to do at home. More wind power feeding into the regional grid, run by PJM, is meant to ease the supply-demand crunch that has been pushing up capacity costs and, in turn, electricity bills. ComEd frames the new infrastructure as a step toward more reliable service and, over time, more affordable power. The company also says it has connected more than 1.7 gigawatts of smaller-scale renewable systems, like rooftop solar, across Illinois, using software and hardware called DERMS (Distributed Energy Resource Management Systems) to manage the grid more efficiently and make room for more of these connections. If you already have solar panels or are thinking about adding them, this kind of grid upgrade can make it easier for utilities to accept that power. There is no new rebate or program here for homeowners to act on, just added grid capacity meant to support cleaner power and steadier service in the region.
Volvo’s Electric Truck Is Moving Faster Than Its Hydrogen Strategy
Volvo has unveiled a long-haul electric truck, the FH Aero Electric, that claims up to 700 kilometers of range on a battery holding up to 725 kWh, with support for megawatt charging (very fast charging built for trucks and other heavy vehicles). It's a sign that battery-powered trucking is moving from pilot projects into real freight work, at least on routes with the charging infrastructure to support it. This is trucking industry news rather than something that changes your home directly. But it points to where things are headed on delivery and freight, and adds to a broader pattern: battery power is pulling ahead of hydrogen as the likely path for hard-to-electrify transport, not just cars and buses. Reports cited in the story note that hydrogen production and fueling in Europe has struggled to meet its targets, with France's own auditors calling its hydrogen goals unrealistic. For homeowners, the practical takeaway is indirect. As battery technology and fast-charging networks keep improving for heavy trucks, the same underlying battery costs and manufacturing scale tend to filter down into home batteries, electric vehicles, and other electrified equipment. It is another data point suggesting that battery-based systems, rather than hydrogen, are becoming the default choice across transportation, which may be worth keeping in mind if you are weighing electric vehicles or home battery storage down the road.
CleanTechnica Interview with Bill McKibben
This is a video interview, not a piece with new programs or numbers to act on. CleanTechnica founder Scott Cooney sat down with author and activist Bill McKibben at the Hawaii Sustainability Expo for a wide-ranging conversation. They talked about countries around the world moving away from fossil fuels, new developments in clean energy technology, and Hawaii's own debate over whether to build new fossil fuel infrastructure. McKibben also shared his read on what will dominate the energy world over the next two to three years. Much of the talk was personal rather than technical — Cooney described it as "talk story," a Hawaiian term for an unscripted, friendly conversation about someone's life and outlook, without a set agenda. So the interview covers McKibben's broader philosophy and career as much as any specific policy or technology news. There's nothing here that changes what programs, rebates, or upgrades are available to homeowners. If you're interested in the bigger picture of where clean energy is headed globally, or want to hear a longtime climate figure reflect on his work, the video is worth a watch. But it doesn't announce any new incentive, deadline, or technology you'd need to plan around for your own house.
A Tour of the Jackery Energy Storage Factory & Product Testing Lab — CleanTechnica Field Trip
A CleanTechnica writer got a rare look inside Jackery's factory and testing lab near Shenzhen, China, where the company builds its portable power stations, solar panels, and its newer home battery system, the SolarVault 3. The tour covered how circuit boards are assembled and soldered, how battery modules are put together, and how finished units get checked for proper charging and discharging before shipping. The more relevant part for homeowners is the testing lab. Jackery runs its power stations and solar panels through temperature chambers that simulate long stretches of extreme heat and cold, puts wheeled units on a treadmill to see how the wheels and handles hold up over many hours of use, and tests solar panel output under controlled light. For the SolarVault 3 home battery specifically, Jackery sprays water at the unit from every direction for hours, then repeats the test with saltwater to check how well it resists corrosion. None of this changes pricing, availability, or rebates for the SolarVault 3 or Jackery's portable power stations. It is simply a behind-the-scenes look at how the company builds and stress-tests the products before they reach customers. If you're weighing a home battery or portable power station as part of a backup power or solar setup, this gives some insight into the durability testing behind the brand, though it doesn't include any new specs, release dates, or cost details for the SolarVault 3 itself.
Volkswagen’s EV van makes a surprise comeback in the US as the ID.4 goes on hiatus
This is a car story, not a home energy story, but here is what happened for anyone shopping for an EV. Volkswagen is bringing back its electric minibus, the ID. Buzz, for the 2027 model year after skipping 2026 while it worked on an update. The refreshed version adds a Tourer trim built for overnight camping and arrives at dealerships next month. Sales of the current ID. Buzz have already picked up, more than doubling in the second quarter compared with a year earlier, though the total number sold is still small. The ID.4, Volkswagen's electric SUV, is heading the other way. Sales dropped, and Volkswagen has stopped building it at its Tennessee plant. It will stay available only until current 2026 stock runs out, then be replaced by an all-new electric SUV expected to launch under the name ID. Tiguan by the end of the year. Spy photos show a more traditional SUV look, with a squared-off front end and the return of physical buttons inside instead of touch controls. Volkswagen hasn't released range or charging figures yet, but says newer battery and motor technology should improve on the current ID.4, which offers up to 291 miles of range in its rear-wheel-drive version. Overall, Volkswagen's US electric vehicle sales fell sharply this year, and the company is counting on this wave of new models, including the Buzz update and the Tiguan, to turn things around. None of this involves home charging equipment or rebates, so it has no direct bearing on household energy upgrades.