Even as data centers spike energy demand and electricity rates rise, Virginia has stood by its landmark climate targets when other states, from New York to Hawaii , have wavered. Legislators in the data center capital of the world didn’t just preserve the 2020 Virginia Clean Economy Act earlier this year; they…

As climate change intensifies, communities around the country are looking for ways to better prepare for extreme weather, from ice storms to heat waves. In Roanoke, Virginia, nestled in the Blue Ridge Mountains, that starts with the schools. For years, the Roanoke City Public Schools district has been installing…

Last month, Virginia became the first state in the country to launch a bulk-purchasing campaign for rooftop solar — a move that promises to bring down the cost of installing panels for households across Old Dominion. The idea behind the program, called Switch Together , is simple: Solar panels come cheaper by the…

For the better part of the year, Duke Energy’s bid to jack up electric rates in North Carolina has been hotly contested by politicians, consumer advocates, and the public at large. Under the utility’s latest proposal before state regulators, the average Duke residential customer could pay about $10 more on their…

Stew Miller, who launched his North Carolina rooftop solar company in the 2000s, says there’s “a lot of negativity” in his industry right now — and it’s easy to see why. A year ago, Republicans passed the One Big Beautiful Bill Act eliminating the 30% federal tax credit for households who buy rooftop panels. That…

As the world’s data center capital, Virginia faces a surge in energy demand that could spike power costs and lead to more polluting fossil fuel plants. At the same time, the state is seeing its farmland disappear at one of the fastest rates in the United States. The two problems may seem unrelated, but Old Dominion…

ASHEVILLE, N.C. — Nearly two years after Hurricane Helene wreaked havoc on western North Carolina’s largest city, many Asheville residents are still rebuilding — and determined to be better prepared for the next weather disaster. In Emma, a diverse, mostly immigrant neighborhood just northwest of downtown, solar…

A sweeping federal housing bill that became law last Saturday contains some big benefits for Americans poised to buy or rent new manufactured homes — the same families who often struggle to make ends meet and can least afford the rising cost of heating fuel and electricity. The 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act — a…

In the rugged mountains of Ashe County, North Carolina, woodstoves and propane heat are common — and money tends to be tight. That’s especially true for families still recovering from Hurricane Helene nearly two years later. Wood is cheap and easy enough to come by in the forested region. But propane has to be…

For months, clean energy and consumer advocates in North Carolina have pressed Duke Energy to follow the national trend and create special rules and prices for data centers. The state’s predominant utility insisted such rules were unnecessary, rejecting claims that the power-hungry facilities could overwhelm the grid…

Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger and her fellow state Democrats romped to a governing trifecta last year, pledging to curtail rising electric bills and ensure power-hungry data centers pay their fair share without undermining the state’s clean energy transition. But the party now looks poised to fall short on those…

Data centers are set to proliferate, and Duke Energy electric rates are poised to soar — and North Carolinians are mad about both. They’re packing public hearings to complain about their utility bills and passing moratoriums in their communities to stop construction of the ginormous, computer-crammed warehouses. The…

North Carolina’s Republican-led House of Representatives passed a sweeping energy bill last week called the Ratepayer Protection Act, with backers saying it would reduce energy costs for families across the state. But Democrats and other critics of the legislation, Senate Bill 730 , are skeptical of that claim, for…

In July 2022, a fierce summer storm rocked Wake Electric , a North Carolina cooperative serving nearly 60,000 households and other customers from the dense suburbs of Raleigh, the state capital, to rural areas along the Virginia border and in the coastal plain. Wind downed lines and knocked out power for thousands…

When Steve Ault got an offer about six years ago to lease a bit of his 100-acre family farm in Prince Edward County, Virginia, for solar panels, he let the letter sit on the kitchen table for a few days. Then he showed it to his wife, Chris. “Well, shoot,” she recalled telling her husband. “Let’s give them a call…