Latitude Media

6 days ago | latitudemedia.com | Stephen Lacey

The Department of Energy is losing talent at an alarming rate. Described by insiders as a “hostile takeover,” the agency’s transformation under Trump has pushed out thousands of scientists, engineers, and policy experts. What’s left behind are gutted offices, stalled infrastructure projects, and billions in funding commitments thrown into question. This isn’t a typical government transition — it’s a systematic dismantling of America’s energy brain trust.

1 week ago | latitudemedia.com | Shayle Kann

Listen to the episode on: The nuclear renaissance of the 2000s turned out to be something of a mirage. Buoyed by rising fossil gas prices, growing climate awareness, and steady load growth, nuclear seemed poised for a breakout moment. But that momentum stalled. Electricity demand flatlined. The fracking boom sent gas prices plummeting. And Fukushima rattled public confidence in nuclear power. Ultimately, only two new reactors, Vogtle units 3 and 4 in Georgia, reached completion over a decade later.

1 week ago | latitudemedia.com | Lisa Martine Jenkins

Founded in 2001, Bloom Energy’s initial pitch was that in a digitized world, “there’s no such thing as enough energy,” recalled CEO KR Sridhar. And large users like data centers or manufacturers would need that power to be produced onsite, even if they’re relying primarily on the grid.

1 week ago | latitudemedia.com | Bianca Giacobone

Microgrids were initially a way for large customers and utilities to keep connected when the grid suddenly became unavailable: during power outages, inclement weather or operational failures. Today, however, an era of surging demand and new load growth is prompting a reassessment of microgrids’ potential. Some data center developers have been looking at them not only as resilience solutions, but also as assets that could supplement, or potentially even substitute, their need for a grid connection.

1 week ago | latitudemedia.com | Maeve Allsup

In the first quarter of 2025, U.S. companies announced $9.4 billion in new manufacturing projects, despite the ongoing uncertainty around federal policy, shifting tariffs, and global trade tensions. According to the latest report from the Clean Investment Monitor, a joint project of Rhodium Group and MIT’s Center for Energy and Environmental Policy Research, Q1’s manufacturing announcements were a 47% increase over Q4 2024, though a 23% drop compared to the same quarter last year.