GoKawiil
Tech News
Startup Endurance Energy sailed roughly 300 miles off the Oregon coast last month to conduct a field test of its approach to harvesting geothermal energy from an underwater volcano. The company aims to eventually build a network of undersea power plants that tap heat from such volcanic sites.
The Environmental Protection Agency unveiled a plan to eliminate remaining federal limits on greenhouse gas emissions from power plants, finalizing the repeal of Biden-era rules and proposing removal of related emissions standards. The agency argues climate pollution's health impacts are too diffuse to regulate, even as electricity demand rises from AI, EVs, and manufacturing growth.
A federal appeals court struck down the Department of Energy's emergency order requiring the J.H. Campbell coal-fired power plant in Michigan to remain operating, finding the government had no factual basis for declaring an emergency. The ruling undercuts the Trump administration's use of emergency authority to override utility retirement plans for aging fossil fuel infrastructure.
Google has agreed to buy roughly 50% of the electricity generated by a nuclear power plant, according to reports. The deal reflects the company's push to secure reliable, carbon-free power to run its data centers and AI operations.
The US Department of Energy has issued a $1.9 billion loan guarantee to support restarting a nuclear power plant tied to a deal with Google. The financing is meant to help bring the previously shuttered reactor back online to supply carbon-free electricity for growing data center demand.
Generation Lab, founded on scientist Irina Conboy's research into blood exchange between old and young mice, is now promoting a rejuvenation treatment it says combines two existing drugs to reverse aging effects without needing blood transfusion. The company has offered influencers access to the treatment but refuses to disclose which drugs are actually used. Separately, utilities are increasingly recruiting households to join 'virtual power plants,' networks of connected devices like thermostats, EVs and batteries that can be throttled during peak demand in exchange for bill discounts or sign-up bonuses.
Virtual power plants let utilities remotely adjust smart thermostats, EV chargers, batteries and solar panels in homes to reduce strain during peak demand, in exchange for bill discounts or signup bonuses. More than 500 such programs already run across the US, with about 4 million smart-thermostat households enrolled as of last year, and interest is growing as companies like Google invest in the technology to support data centers.
Fervo Energy is launching its first utility-scale power plant, aiming to prove that enhanced geothermal technology can produce reliable, round-the-clock clean energy at commercial scale. The project follows a period in which geothermal has lagged far behind solar and wind as a share of the renewable energy mix.
A cyberattack linked to Iran-affiliated actors forced a UK power plant to halt operations for four days. Details on the attack vector, scope of damage, and recovery process were not disclosed in available reporting.
The Telegraph reported that a small UK power generator was taken offline for four days in July after being hit by a cyberattack tied to Iranian hackers. UK officials would not confirm attribution or name the affected facility, but stressed the incident was isolated and posed no threat to the broader national grid. The disclosure follows separate US warnings this year about Iran-linked actors targeting water infrastructure across several states.
Between late 2016 and August 2026, China brought 27 new nuclear reactors online, while the United States added only two in the same period. MIT nuclear engineering professor Jacopo Buongiorno notes that China has become the global leader in building nuclear power plants, part of a broader strategy to support its shift toward a fully renewable grid.