As the world tries to curb human-caused climate change and not run dry of water, every online query is increasing our environmental footprint and exacerbating the problem.

Cities hold the key to accelerating the transition to electric freight and boosting energy security, new analysis from C40 Cities, University of Exeter and Arup reveals.

It is the second day of a massive heat wave. Across the region, thermostats are cranked, air conditioners are laboring, and wind turbines have gone still. Without warning, a summer storm moves in, and the solar generation energy markets were counting on vanishes behind clouds. The heat saps the efficiency of conventional generators, too, and blackouts begin rolling through neighborhoods. People look up from their phones, annoyed and sweating, and wonder: Why isn't there enough power? Can't they just make more?

The active involvement of citizens, stakeholders and municipalities is essential for the success of the energy transition. Digital participation platforms promise broader access to planning processes. However, a new study, published in Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, calls for a fundamental shift in how digital participation is implemented, arguing that it should be conceived as a comprehensive infrastructure supporting the entire planning process, rather than simply a collection of communication tools.

Since the early 2000s, lithium-ion (Li-ion) batteries have become the predominant rechargeable power source for many mobile devices, electric vehicles, renewable-energy storage grids and more. But the Li-ion batteries in commercial use carry both safety risks and limitations. Julia R. Greer, the Ruben F. and Donna Mettler Professor of Materials Science, Mechanics and Medical Engineering at Caltech, whose lab has been working to improve Li-ion batteries, has now established a new path toward making them less dangerous and more environmentally friendly while also boosting performance.

United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres on Tuesday called on artificial intelligence companies to release information about the carbon pollution they create, along with the water and land used to power their operations.

A new study from Cornell researchers has revealed an unexpected obstacle to improving charge transport in hybrid perovskites, a promising class of semiconductor materials used in energy conversion and electronic devices. The research, published in Advanced Energy Materials, shows that certain conjugated organic molecules, long thought to enhance electrical conductivity in layered perovskites, can instead trap charge carriers and dramatically reduce conductivity. The findings could help guide the design of next-generation perovskite materials for applications ranging from thermoelectric energy conversion to optoelectronics.

An ingredient that gives ice cream a creamier texture could make natural earthen materials like clay and sand easier to 3D print into durable structures, according to new research led by scientists at the University of Colorado Boulder.

The global shortage of freshwater has become a critical challenge. Conventional water treatment relies heavily on fossil fuels and associated infrastructure, which can make it unsuitable for remote and harsh regions. In contrast, solar thermal evaporation is a promising alternative, but its application is limited by material performance and production constraints.

The aviation industry accounts for a large portion of global greenhouse gas emissions. Biobased, sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) can mitigate climate impacts, but transitioning to SAF faces critical supply chain constraints. A research team at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign has developed a method to produce jet-grade fuel from food waste, contributing to a circular bioeconomy. In a paper published in Nature Sustainability, they focus on technical and economic considerations.

Barcode readers excel at quickly identifying groceries and other products. Could a similar idea work at industrial recycling facilities to make sorting different plastics quicker and more cost-effective? The answer, according to a University at Buffalo research team, is yes.

Battery energy storage systems can play a key role in future renewable energy systems—but how they are operated is crucial for both profitability and battery life, according to research by Meryem Ahouad at Chalmers University of Technology.

Battery-electric trucks are expected to play the leading role in the future decarbonization of road freight transport. At the same time, a new study from Chalmers University of Technology shows that hydrogen could remain important for the heaviest trucks operating over long distances.

Fayas Malik Kanchiralla, a postdoctoral researcher at the Department of Environmental and Energy Sciences, together with colleagues has analyzed how the International Maritime Organization's (IMO) proposed climate framework affects shipping's transition to new marine fuels.

Just as an orchestra needs a conductor, a battery management system (BMS) controls the power storage of an electric vehicle. However, until now, monitoring has been based only on the voltages, currents and temperatures of the individual battery cells. Their aging or possible damage can only be checked externally using complex calculations.

The UK government is preparing to water down its electric vehicle sales targets. Under the existing zero-emission vehicles (ZEV) mandate, 80% of all new cars sold in Britain would need to be electric vehicles (EVs) by 2030.

Artificial intelligence (AI) use is exploding. More than 50 percent of new internet content was generated by AI in 2025, according to an industry report. We even train AI on AI-generated content now, and although this can degrade performance, it continues at breakneck pace.

States and cities, tired of waiting for the federal government to deal with energy and climate challenges during the first Trump administration, started writing their own laws.

Data centers are among the fastest-growing sources of electricity demand, with some now consuming as much power as entire cities to generate the computing power needed to support the expanding use of artificial intelligence. But unlike factories or hospitals, data center workloads are flexible.

Solar power towers can play an important role in the energy transition. They convert sunlight into heat that can be stored or used to generate electricity. Until now, however, data to test new methods for more efficient and reliable systems have been lacking. In a world first, researchers from the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) and the German Aerospace Center (DLR) are now publishing freely accessible operational data from the Jülich Solar Tower test power plant. This provides a foundation for developing new AI methods and digital twins. The results are published in Nature Energy.