Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

🌱♻️Seminal Wellness💚 @seminalwellness.com · 9m

CA has emerged as a center of the global battery-storage transformation. Capacity has risen 300% to 13GW enough to power about 10mn households. Another 8.6GW will be harnessed by 2027. Global battery capacity is projected to grow 67% in '25 and 1000% by 2035. #powered
www.semafor.com/newsletter/1...

Horizontal bar graph depicting the number of new utility-scale battery storage facilities added in CA, TX, AZ, NV, ID, NM, CO, HI, GA, and MS in 2024.

🌱♻️Seminal Wellness💚 @seminalwellness.com · 14h

When there isn't the solar or wind to meet demand, batteries that rely on air will be useful. The world's 1st liquid air storage facility will be built in England. Air is converted to liquid through cooling and compression. This project's success will promote scalability.
www.bbc.com/future/artic...

The liquid air alternative to fossil fuels

An overlooked technology for nearly 50 years, the first liquid air battery facility is finally set to power up in 2026.

www.bbc.com

🌱♻️Seminal Wellness💚 @seminalwellness.com · 16h

Indigenous warning systems—when EWS is unavailable—will avert climate tragedy in remote areas. Upon hearing a gun fired 3x (the signal), villagers in northern Pakistan blared the mosque's loudspeaker, initiating an evacuation, in a flash flood. There were 0 deaths.
www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/10...

How Indigenous knowledge is aiding Pakistan’s fight against climate change

Despite spending millions on early warning systems, is the government losing the trust of residents in vulnerable areas?

www.aljazeera.com

🌱♻️Seminal Wellness💚 @seminalwellness.com · 20h

Remnants of a typhoon buffeted AK while a nor'easter struck the East Coast. Over 30 people were rescued in western AK after remnants of Typhoon Halong brought hurricane-force winds. Roads were closed and 384 flights were canceled on the East Coast. At least 1 person died.
www.pbs.org/newshour/nat...

Dozens rescued as remnants of typhoon hits Alaska while nor'easter brings flooding to East Coast

Alaska State Troopers say at least 18 people were rescued in Kwigillingok, where three people remain missing.

www.pbs.org

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🌱♻️Seminal Wellness💚 @seminalwellness.com · 22h

The military faces growing climate threats, but the Pentagon's cutting back. Its 2026 budget suggests slashing $1.6bn in climate spending, including a $6m grant to decarbonize naval ships' emissions. Half of coastal bases face at least 270 flood events, yearly.
www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Pentagon retreats from climate fight even as heat and storms slam US troops

For decades, the military treated climate crisis as a threat. Now it’s backing away from plans to protect people and bases from extreme weather

www.theguardian.com

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🌱♻️Seminal Wellness💚 @seminalwellness.com · 1d

AI data centers are hiking energy bills. Electricity costs have increased by twice the inflation rate since '20. The aging grid is playing a role, but data centers are key drivers. Ire is on both sides of the aisle. Couldn't the revolution be powered by renewables?
www.semafor.com/article/10/1...

A horizontal bar graph indicates the rise in electricity prices across major U.S. cities from 2020 to 2025 due, in large part, to the proliferation of AI data centers. The increase ranges from 52% in Houston and LA to 197% in Buffalo.

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🌱♻️Seminal Wellness💚 @seminalwellness.com · 1d

Banks are abandoning climate commitments. The Net-Zero Banking Alliance has been suspended since 8/27. Banks' fossil-fuel lending reached a 3-yr high of $869bn. But, this is at the planet's peril. Investors are now exposed to over $1tn in potential losses.
www.theinvadingsea.com/2025/10/13/n...

Banks retreat from climate change commitments – but it’s business more than politics | The Invading Sea

Net-zero alliances never made much business sense and were not particularly effective at fighting climate change.

www.theinvadingsea.com

🌱♻️Seminal Wellness💚 @seminalwellness.com · 1d

Nigerians, and Africans at large, are turning to solar. As the price of Chinese solar panels dropped, Africans adopted solar, with the number of solar panels on the continent growing by 60% in the last year alone. Solar will be the #1 energy source by 2035.
www.csmonitor.com/World/Africa...

Nigerian men, dressed in traditional agbadas, are touching and marveling at solar panels as they are recorded and photographed by camera people.

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🌱♻️Seminal Wellness💚 @seminalwellness.com · 1d

Climate investment is the growth opportunity of the century. Climate action costs less than climate disaster. Renewables' costs have plunged at least 70% the last decade. And, irreversible disaster is now projected at 2C warming, to which we're dangerously close.
www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Climate investment is only growth opportunity of 21st century, says leading economist

Lord Stern says fossil-fuelled growth is futile as the damage it causes ends in economic self-destruction

www.theguardian.com

🌱♻️Seminal Wellness💚 @seminalwellness.com · 1d

Landslides and floods triggered by Tropical Storms Priscilla and Raymond have left at least 41 dead in central and southeastern Mexico. Over 21" fell in Veracruz state from 10/6-10/9. Twenty-seven are missing. About 16000 homes were destroyed and 320000 were without power.
abc7.com/post/heavy-r...

Heavy rain in Mexico sets off floods and landslides, killing at least 41

Authorities say the death toll from landslides and floods set off by incessant rainfall in central and southeastern Mexico has increased to 41 people.

abc7.com

🌱♻️Seminal Wellness💚 @seminalwellness.com · 2d

Earth has breached its 1st tipping point. Rising ocean heat pushed corals past their limit precipitating a die-off of reefs and jeopardizing the livelihoods of nearly 1bn people. Even if warming doesn't exceed
1.5C, damage to warm-water coral may be irreparable.
www.sciencenews.org/article/cora...

Coral collapse signals Earth's first climate tipping point

The global die-off of coral reefs signals a critical shift in Earth’s climate system with global environmental consequences along with economic ones.

www.sciencenews.org

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🌱♻️Seminal Wellness💚 @seminalwellness.com · 2d

Rising sea levels are threatening Tuvalu—the low-lying nation situated between Australia and Hawaii in the Pacific Ocean. The nation will seek climate financing at the upcoming UN COP30 for climate-resilience projects. Tuvalu is barely 1m (~3.25ft) above sea level.
www.aljazeera.com/amp/news/202...

‘We don’t want to disappear’: Tuvalu fights for climate action and survival

Pacific island nation explores new ways to survive climate change but needs help to build protective sea walls now.

www.aljazeera.com

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🌱♻️Seminal Wellness💚 @seminalwellness.com · 2d

A UK research vessel heads to Antarctica, the week of 10/12, to support climate inquiries as Western nations spearhead studies, and the US retreats. The Administration is aiming to increase US security presence in the Arctic toward capitalizing on fossil-fuel deposits.
www.kten.com/news/uk-spea...

UK spearheads polar climate change research as US draws back

Britain's flagship polar research vessel heads to Antarctica next week to help advance dozens of climate change-linked science projects, as Western nations spearhead studies there while the United Sta...

www.kten.com

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🌱♻️Seminal Wellness💚 @seminalwellness.com · 2d

Food insecurity is a growing driver of displacement in Africa's Sahel region, namely, Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger. Climate shocks make land and water scarce, devastating crops and forcing cross-border movements. Over 32mn require urgent food and nutrition intervention.
news.un.org/en/story/202...

In Africa’s Sahel, conflict and climate change force millions from their homes

Nearly four million people across Africa’s vast semi-arid Sahel region have been uprooted by a volatile mix of conflict, hunger and climate change, the UN warned on Friday, describing an unfolding pro...

news.un.org

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🌱♻️Seminal Wellness💚 @seminalwellness.com · 2d

Epic Systems—a software company based in Verona, WI—is powered by a geothermal network. About 6100 boreholes, a nearby wind farm and solar panels link to pump nearly 6mn gallons of water through the 410-acre campus. It began adding 2400 more boreholes in Sept.
insideclimatenews.org/news/1110202...

One of the World’s Largest Geothermal Networks Is Buried Beneath a Corporate Campus in Rural Wisconsin - Inside Climate News

Tech company Epic Systems uses thousands of boreholes to help heat and cool its office buildings, a “marquee” clean energy project that gas utilities may try to replicate.

insideclimatenews.org

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🌱♻️Seminal Wellness💚 @seminalwellness.com · 3d

Climate TRACE launched an interactive map that measures plumes, containing PM2.5, across 2600 urban areas worldwide. PM2.5 contributes to heart disease, lung cancer, neurological disorders and other conditions. It marshals atmospheric data from over 660mn sources.
www.cbsnews.com/sanfrancisco...

Scientists develop interactive climate map to track invisible particulate matter pollution

A form of harmful air pollution that often can't be plainly observed is now being tracked with a groundbreaking new tool developed by scientists that allows residents to see where it's coming from.

www.cbsnews.com

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🌱♻️Seminal Wellness💚 @seminalwellness.com · 3d

Canadian steelmaker Algoma Steel Inc. said US tariffs are advancing its transition to electric mfg. Using an electric arc furnace, plants will recycle scrap steel or rely on refined iron. This will reduce the corp's carbon emissions by 70% while raising production by 33%.
www.cbc.ca/news/climate...

How Canadian steelmakers are 'greening' their steel | CBC Climate Change News

Steelmaker Algoma says U.S. tariffs on steel are pushing it to more quickly transition to electric steelmaking. Here's why decarbonizing steel is such a big deal, how it's being done in Canada and wha...

www.cbc.ca

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🌱♻️Seminal Wellness💚 @seminalwellness.com · 3d

Alaska's Salmon River, among North America's cleanest waterways, has turned orange. As glaciers melt, permafrost is thawed, releasing toxic metals like iron, aluminum and cadmium. The changes impact aquatic life and nearby communities that rely on AK rivers for food.
weather.com/news/climate...

An Alaskan river, now orange, is featured.

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🌱♻️Seminal Wellness💚 @seminalwellness.com · 3d

Pakistan is being pummeled by climate disasters. On 8/15, a cloudburst poured 6" of rain in 1 hr, triggering floods that killed over 300. It experiences "compound" and "sequential" climate effects, in which 1 spawns another. Pakistan contributes <1% to emissions.
news.mongabay.com/2025/10/one-...

One after another, Pakistan endures successive climate disasters

On the morning of Aug. 15, a cloudburst that poured more than 150 millimeters (6 inches) of rain in one hour triggered a flash flood in the city of Buner, located in Pakistan’s northwestern province o...

news.mongabay.com

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🌱♻️Seminal Wellness💚 @seminalwellness.com · 3d

And, I trust it'll keep rising👍 Thanks for that. We'll keep it going.

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🌱♻️Seminal Wellness💚 @seminalwellness.com · 3d

The Trump administration is working strenuously to choke renewables, but states—including red ones—have taken the mantle. AR more than doubled its solar capacity in '24. GA has become a center of solar mfg. FL has invested millions in solar with thousands of jobs created. We can take solace in that.

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🌱♻️Seminal Wellness💚 @seminalwellness.com · 3d

Global renewable-energy capacity is projected to rise 200% in the next 5 yr, adding capacity equal to power sources in China, Japan and the EU combined. Solar will primarily propel the rise. But, the US forecast was revised down nearly 50% due to policy changes.
insideclimatenews.org/news/0710202...

Global Renewable Power Capacity Expected to More than Double by 2030 - Inside Climate News

The expansion comes despite a dramatic decrease in the projection for growth in the United States.

insideclimatenews.org

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🌱♻️Seminal Wellness💚 @seminalwellness.com · 4d

A nor'easter will strike the East Coast the afternoon of 10/12 through 10/13. The region from NC, through NJ and into southern New England will bear the brunt. Airport hubs will be disrupted. The storm will carry 50mph winds, with up to 6"of rain falling at the NC coast.
www.cnn.com/2025/10/10/w...

Potent nor’easter will slam the East Coast with fierce wind, major coastal flooding and rain this weekend | CNN

Millions along the East Coast are about to feel the wrath of the storm this weekend and into early next week.

www.cnn.com

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🌱♻️Seminal Wellness💚 @seminalwellness.com · 4d

The World Economic Forum's Alliance of CEO Climate Leaders are bullish on the climate economy's growth and impact. They represent $4tn in revenue; reduced aggregate emissions by 12% and posted revenue growth of 20% from '19-'23; and will generate 10mn jobs by 2030.
www.weforum.org/stories/2025...

'The climate economy is delivering': Climate leaders' letter

The World Economic Forum's Alliance of CEO Climate Leaders shares an open letter to world leaders ahead of the UN Climate Change Conference 2025 (COP30)

www.weforum.org

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🌱♻️Seminal Wellness💚 @seminalwellness.com · 4d

Scientists analyzed forever chemical PFNA, which is in the water systems of about 26mn Americans. PFNA has adverse reproductive impacts and likely causes liver damage. The report was ready in mid-April, but the EPA has yet to release it. A '24 draft was challenged.
www.propublica.org/article/epa-...

Scientists Completed a Toxicity Report on This Forever Chemical. The EPA Hasn’t Released It.

Agency scientists found that PFNA could cause developmental, liver and reproductive harms. Their final report was ready in mid-April, according to an internal document reviewed by ProPublica, but the ...

www.propublica.org

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