News
California Provides Free Solar for Farmworker Households
3+ day, 22+ hour ago (201+ words) California is taxing energy via its "cap and invest" program to pay to put solar panels on qualified farmworker homes at no cost to them. In addition to solar panels, other energy-saving devices or services are eligible to farm workers…...
Earth Day: Spiritually Uplifting, Intellectually Debased (Julian Simon's 25th Anniversary Essay)
1+ mon, 2+ week ago (517+ words) This essay was written in 1995 by the late Julian Simon for the 25th anniversary of Earth Day. The original, along with his other work, is available online for free here. It is reprinted with permission from the Julian Simon family. April…...
Cuba Turns to Solar Power From China
1+ mon, 4+ week ago (198+ words) Cuba is relying on solar panels from China to help offset the U. S. oil blockade and their national economic distress. China has been assisting the communist government in Cuba with solar donations, but the systems are intermittent and will not provide…...
How the PROVE IT Act Got a Second Life, and Why It Could Tax Americans Anyway - IER
3+ mon, 1+ day ago (158+ words) FY2026 appropriations bill directs the National Energy Technology Laboratory to compare U. S. vs. foreign emissions intensity for goods targeted by the EU's Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM). The study revives core elements of the stalled PROVE IT Act, previously opposed by free…...
Currents: An Energy Update Week of March 16, 2026
2+ mon, 3+ week ago (127+ words) Will is a Policy Analyst at the Institute for Energy Research (IER). In his role, Will assists with policy research, writing, editing, podcasts, videos, and social media. Before working at IER, Will attended Hamilton College where he received his bachelor's…...
Transit Funding Increases, but Transit's Market Share Declines - IER
3+ mon, 1+ week ago (390+ words) Since 1960, the share of transit commuters dropped from 12. 1% to 3. 7% in 2024, while the share of Americans driving to work increased from 64% in 1960 to 85% in 2019. Americans prefer driving and the independence it brings, along with the speed and access, on average taking…...
EPA Begins Rolling Back Biden's "Good Neighbor" Rule
3+ mon, 3+ week ago (147+ words) The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced "Phase 1" of its rollback of the Biden administration's "Good Neighbor" rule. The rule was part of a suite of actions undertaken by the Biden administration in pursuit of his promise to shut down all…...
EPA Revokes Endangerment Finding: What You Need to Know
4+ mon, 23+ hour ago (319+ words) EPA's Regulatory Overreach on GHGs The EPA's claim of authority over greenhouse gases under the Clean Air Act effectively gives it control over nearly all human activity'including respiration'since GHGs are ubiquitous byproducts. This violates the major questions doctrine, which requires…...
The EPA will Rescind Obama's "Endangerment Finding
4+ mon, 1+ day ago (745+ words) The Institute for Energy Research President Trump's Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is set to rescind an Obama-era ruling that currently serves as the legal basis for federal greenhouse-gas regulation. The 2009 "endangerment finding determined that six greenhouse gases pose a threat…...
China Touts Its Renewables but Fossil Fuels Rule
4+ mon, 2+ day ago (172+ words) Despite media and other reports that China is into "green energy," the country is still using coal to power its economy, with about 80 to 100 gigawatts of coal-fired capacity added in 2025. The Statistical Review of World Energy reports that coal accounted…...