World:
¶ “Power Outages Hit Ukraine And Moldova As Kyiv Struggles Against The Winter Cold” • Emergency power cuts swept across several Ukrainian cities as well as neighboring Moldova, officials said, as a commitment came from the Kremlin to US President Donald Trump to pause strikes on Kyiv as Ukraine battles one of its bleakest winters in years. [ABC News]
Kyiv (Robert Anasch, Unsplash)
¶ “Canada And South Korea Discuss Trade Deal As BYD Eyes India” • Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney told the world in Davos, “We are in the midst of a rupture, not a transition.” He said that the middle nations, those not called the US, China, or Russia, will need to forge closer ties with each other. Meanwhile, BYD is eying India. [CleanTechnica]
¶ “A Balance Of Incentives And Penalties Works Best For Clean Energy Adoption” • World governments invest in fossil fuels for what they say is national security. But if the fossil fuel industry assumed the full cost of its impacts, rapid change in how the world consumes energy would take place, and the world would be a safer, healthier place. [CleanTechnica]
Oil refinery (Patrick Hendry, Unsplash)
¶ “What’s Stopping Sunny South Africa’s Solar Industry? Court Case Sheds Some Light” • A South African solar manufacturer, ARTsolar, is taking the government and some renewable energy developers to court. ARTsolar says it invested in manufacturing capacity because it expected the rules to lead to orders for locally made solar panels, but they didn’t. [The Conversation]
¶ “Pakistan To Receive $378.9 Million Loan From World Bank” • Pakistan is set to receive $378.9 million loan from the IBRD to improve its power transmission. The funding will be used for modernizing the transmission network to strengthen energy security, improve system performance, and support integration of renewable energy. [MM News]
Transmission lines (Matthew Henry, Unsplash)
¶ “CPRE Oxfordshire Starts Rooftop Renewables Project” • CPRE Oxfordshire started its Rooftop Renewables project to support communities in adopting home solar technology. The Warm Homes Plan announcement is expected to provide £15 billion to help UK households cut bills and carbon emissions through solar power and other green upgrades. [Oxford Mail]
¶ “Economic Survey Warns Of Cost, Grid As Key Challenges For Renewable Energy” • India must address challenges such as high capital costs, delays in acquiring land, and grid availability issues to sustain its rapid renewable energy growth, said the Economic Survey 2025-2026. The Economic Survey notes that the hurdles can be tackled with good policy. [MSN]
Indian farmland (Sandy Zebua, Unsplash)
¶ “The Key Energy Takeaways From Davos 2026” • The World Economic Forum set out a list of global risks ranked by severity as part of its Global Risks Report 2026. The first was long-term severe weather events, then biodiversity and eco-system loss. Critical change to earth systems was third. US President Trump pushed fossil fuels and nuclear power. [OilPrice.com]
US:
¶ “Elon Musk May Buy Another Election, Pitting Republicans Against Each Other” • Tesla CEO Elon Musk has a knack for putting himself in the media spotlight. Barely one month into the new year he has already hit the trifecta of sex, politics, and more sex. The retirement of Senator Mitch McConnell provides Musk with a political opportunity [CleanTechnica]
Elon Musk (Gage Skidmore, CC BY-SA 2.0)
¶ “Utilities Challenge Coal Emergency Order” • President Trump declared an energy emergency as soon as he took office. But instead of ramping up support for the our most economical energy resources, wind and solar, the DOE issues orders to keep ancient, expensive coal power plants going. Utilities are starting to fight back. [CleanTechnica]
¶ “Aquifer Thermal Energy System Comes To Minnesota” • Air source heat pumps can struggle to provide heat in the coldest part of winter or even cooling in the hottest part of summer By contrast, groundwater stays at nearly the same temperature year round, making it far a more efficient thermal source for both heating and cooling. [CleanTechnica]
Using groundwater heat (Karlsruhe Institute of Technology)
¶ “Farmers Discover Staggering Benefits Of Pairing Solar Power With Agriculture” • In the small ranching town of Cokeville, Wyoming, two cattle producers are pushing back against soaring energy costs. For Tim Teichert and Jason Thornock, the solution isn’t abandoning agriculture, it’s pairing it with clean energy. The goal isto keep their ranches viable. [The Cool Down]
¶ “After Huge Snowstorm Penn Climate Scientists Warn About … Global Warming” • After the biggest snowfall in a decade, the U Penn student paper The Daily Pennsylvanian decided to ask Earth and Environmental Sciences Professor Michael Mann, who said the recent snow makes “clear” the “impact of human-caused warming.” [The College Fix]
Have a comfortably relaxing day.
geoharvey 
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