Jeff St. John

Oakland

News and Special Projects Director at Canary Media

Director of News & Special Projects @ Canary Media, covering the transition to a zero-carbon economy and society. Proud parent of Lily the corgi. Views r my own

Articles

Amid tariff uncertainty, US grid battery industry faces an uphill…

2 days ago | canarymedia.com | Jeff St. John

Domestic battery manufacturing and deployments have been growing fast — but Trump’s tariff wars and looming budget cuts threaten to derail progress. Companies making and deploying lithium-ion batteries in the U.S. recently gathered in Washington, D.C., to ask the federal government for the policy support they say they need.
New California bill would undo some 20-year rooftop solar contracts

1 week ago | canarymedia.com | Jeff St. John

The bill would deal another blow to California’s ailing rooftop solar sector — and hardly move the needle on its stated purpose of reducing utility costs. California lawmakers are considering a bill that would renege on decades of commitments to customers who’ve installed solar panels on their homes — all to shrink only a tiny fraction of the utility costs that are driving electricity rates through the roof.
New California bill would undo some 20-year rooftop solar contracts

1 week ago | yahoo.com | Jeff St. John

California lawmakers are considering a bill that would renege on decades of commitments to customers who’ve installed solar panels on their homes — all to shrink only a tiny fraction of the utility costs that are driving electricity rates through the roof. The bill in question is AB 942, introduced by Assemblymember Lisa Calderon, a Democrat who previously worked for decades at utility Southern California Edison.
A shortcut to making the grid safer and more reliable: Beams of light

1 week ago | canarymedia.com | Jeff St. John

Prisma Photonics uses preexisting fiber-optic cables to detect disruptions across thousands of miles of high-voltage transmission lines. Lots of costly and dangerous things can go wrong with high-voltage transmission lines. Strong winds or equipment failures can cause individual lines on a tower to contact one another and short-circuit, or even break entirely. Lines can sag hazardously near trees or the ground, either due to overheating or being caked in ice.
How fast-tracking fossil gas could snarl the Midwest grid

1 week ago | canarymedia.com | Jeff St. John

MISO’s plan to let gas plants cut the interconnection line is unfair, costly, and counter to grid reliability goals, former federal regulators and advocates say. A battle is brewing over who gets to plug into the Midwest’s power grid first.
Is Georgia Power quietly planning a massive buildout of fossil gas?

1 week ago | grist.org | Jeff St. John

This story was originally published by Canary Media. Georgia Power, which expects a boom in power demand from data centers, says it needs to get a lot more electricity online — fast. So what kind of power plants does the utility intend to rely on to accomplish this? It’s refusing to say, raising concerns that the state’s largest utility is trying to avoid public scrutiny of plans to build huge amounts of expensive, unnecessary, and polluting fossil-fueled infrastructure.
Is Georgia Power quietly planning a massive buildout of fossil gas?

1 week ago | ecotopical.com | Jeff St. John

Welcome to EcoTopical Your daily eco-friendly green news aggregator. Leaf through planet Earths environmental headlines in one convenient place. Read, share and discover the latest on ecology, science and green living from the web's most popular sites.
New charging depots help SoCal’s electric trucks go further

2 weeks ago | canarymedia.com | Jeff St. John

More charging sites mean that electric trucks can extend their range and do more daily routes, boosting e-freight economics in the face of Trump administration headwinds. It’s a tough time for electric trucking in the U.S. The Trump administration has cut off funding for heavy-duty vehicle charging and port infrastructure. Republicans in Congress are trying to rescind states’ authority to set clean vehicle mandates.
Can AI chips make the grid smarter? Utilidata raises $60M to find out.

2 weeks ago | canarymedia.com | Jeff St. John

Utilidata and Nvidia think their AI-enabled smart meters can help solve tricky grid challenges, from growing data center demand to more rooftop solar and EVs. Conversations about AI and the power grid tend to focus on the demands that the developing technology will place on the country’s aging energy infrastructure. But Josh Brumberger, CEO of Utilidata, has a vision for how AI can actually help the grid.
Electra lands $186M to scale up its clean iron electrowinning process

3 weeks ago | canarymedia.com | Jeff St. John

Purifying iron ore is a key step in steelmaking — and a carbon-intensive one. Big steel and mining players are funding this startup’s all-electric tech to see if it can scale. Electrowinning is a time-tested method for removing impurities from metals, and it’s able to run on clean electricity and at the same temperature as a fresh cup of coffee.