Energy + Environment

  As of March 3rd, 2026, the EPA is transferring the ENERGY STAR program to the Department of Energy (DOE) through a 10-year Memorandum of Agreement. This shift, driven by a desire to unify labeling with DOE’s efficiency standards, initiates a 90-day transition period for transferring partnerships, IT systems, and databases. Key Details of the [...]

  Los Angeles is grappling with a severe streetlight crisis, with about 1 in 10 of its 225,000 streetlights out of service and a repair backlog of roughly 33,000 open service requests, many due to copper wire theft and vandalism. Residents in multiple neighborhoods have been left in darkness for months, with the average repair [...]

  Photometrics AI has integrated real-time bird migration data from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology’s BirdCast platform into its street-lighting optimization system to automatically dim lights during peak migration events and reduce fatal bird collisions with buildings. The collaboration aims to turn what has often been episodic “lights out” campaigns into an ongoing, automated operational [...]

  Energy efficiency in buildings has become the leading infrastructure priority for corporations, driven by cost pressures, regulatory demands, and decarbonization commitments, according to new survey data from Siemens’ Infrastructure Transition Monitor 2025 study. Organizations increasingly see upgrades to existing building stock—rather than new construction—as the fastest, most financially compelling route to cutting emissions and [...]

Typical solar lighting is completely off-grid, relying entirely on solar panels and a battery to power the street or area light. A more recent variation that is gaining traction is hybrid solar street and area lights. These lights contain the solar panels and battery, but also have a grid hook up for backup power, when [...]

  Argentina’s first solar highway, inaugurated in San Juan province, is a pilot infrastructure project that uses distributed photovoltaic generation to power all of the road’s nighttime lighting and showcases the region’s strong solar resource. Project overview The highway installation is located along National Route A014 (Circunvalación Avenue) in San Juan, making it the first [...]

  The states that currently have EPR (extended producer responsibility) laws that cover packaging, including plastic packaging, are Maine, Oregon, California, Colorado, Minnesota, Maryland, and Washington. These laws place responsibility on producers for the end-of-life management of packaging, including plastic packaging, often requiring registration with a producer responsibility organization (PRO), reporting, and payment of fees [...]

A British company, Conflow Power Group, proposes to cut the environmental footprint of artificial intelligence by turning streetlights into off-grid, solar-powered mini data centers using Nvidia hardware. It frames this as a response to the rapidly growing electricity, carbon, and water demands of conventional AI data centers, worldwide. Rising AI energy and water use Globally, [...]

  Reflect Orbital, a California startup, plans to launch a demonstration satellite in 2026 that will unfold a large mirror (about 60 by 60 feet) to direct sunlight to specific ground targets, initiating a broader goal of a constellation of roughly 4,000 solar reflectors to provide “light on demand” and extend daylight hours. The venture [...]