Power-Hungry Data Centers Are Warming Homes in the Nordics

Batteries have begun replacing power plants. Instead of fueling up a plant when electricity demand peaks, networked batteries can kick in and deliver stored energy, reducing emissions and saving money. The technology is increasingly affordable and reliable.

The New York-based organization, Sustainable South Bronx, is working to reverse the public health effects, namely asthma, that poor air quality has caused. The initiative works to educate residents about the environmental hazards they face while also working to reverse those hazards with projects like reflective roof coatings. With pollution disproportionately affecting low-income communities, the city too is taking steps toward reducing emissions in these areas.

Amager Bakke is a powerplant in Copenhagen that is designed to get residents of the city engaged in a conversation about where waste goes, all while burning up to 400,000 tons of waste a year, powering 60,000 homes, and heating 160,000 homes. In 2013 the local plant was redesigned to burn the city's waste and encourage interaction by building a ski slope atop the plant, a hiking trail, and an elevator that introduces education about waste management. Amager Bakke is still new and experimental, so its long-term success is still unclear, and it is not completely emission-free yet.

Alternative energy systems in Africa could help inform how to trap methane in the Arctic. Due to permafrost thawing and glaciers melting, methane, a greenhouse gas that contributes to climate change, is leaking into the atmosphere. In Rwanda, a lake-based methane power plant extracts methane from the water and turns it into electricity. But questions remain about how similar systems and infrastructure could work in the Arctic landscape.

As a way to reduce the amount of diesel fuel that powers trains, governments and transit companies around the world are turning to solar panels as a way to utilize renewable energy. In Australia, a solar train launched in 2017 that uses lithium-ion batteries that are charged by solar panels on the roof of the carriages. And a rail line in the United Kingdom uses energy from a solar farm to keep the train running. Scaling solar panels for nation-wide transit systems can be challenging, but many countries are committed to eliminating the use of fossil fuels on their rail networks.

Two climate coalitions led by BIPOC have strengthened their communities by empowering diverse stakeholders to address social inequities. The coalitions are engaging and centering the voices of Black, Indigenous and people of color and providing the resources needed to advocate for environmental and climate justice. The model is being replicated across the South.

The voluntary carbon market allows small-scale landowners to receive credits for reducing climate-changing emissions, which they can sell to corporations to offset their emissions. The carbon market has provided small landowners with other options to make money besides logging.

A solar-powered microgrid project brought electricity to Lajolo, Nigeria, which was previously without power.

Researchers are developing sustainable aviation fuel made out of seaweed. The seaweed is pulled into the ocean by drone submarines, lowered at night to obtain more nutrients from the water, raised again during the day for optimal sunlight, and eventually harvested and turned into fuel.

In Rwanda, a fleet of simple, efficient trucks is helping farmers get their harvest to market before the goods spoil. For one farmer renting space in one of the trucks, the improved market access enabled them to go from selling 400 to 4,000 kilograms of produce a week.