Articles about Clean energy

The cost of the AI boom: Amazon emissions jump 16% as company stands by net-zero pledge

Amazon’s 2025 sustainability report reveals a 16% carbon emissions spike driven by AI data center expansion, even as the company maintains its 2040 net-zero goals. Read More

Innovation vs. climate change: Introducing ‘Positive Charge,’ a new podcast from GeekWire

Most climate news feels hopeless. Positive Charge, a new podcast from GeekWire, profiles the scientists, engineers, and entrepreneurs betting that technology can still tip the balance — starting with episodes on “forever chemicals” and the race for fusion power. Read More

With $54M and a SpaceX playbook, Seattle’s Endurance races to tap deep-sea volcanic power

With $54M and a SpaceX playbook, Seattle’s Endurance races to tap deep-sea volcanic power Read More

Report: As AI electricity demands soar, Microsoft weighs retreat from ambitious carbon-free energy pledge

The same AI boom that is minting record profits for Microsoft is now threatening to derail its climate leadership as it looks to weaken its ambitious clean energy goals. Read More

Data centers at sea: Panthalassa nets $140M led by Peter Thiel for wave-powered AI

By combining massive floating power generators with onsite AI hardware, Panthalassa turns the ocean into a self-sustaining computing powerhouse — all without needing a single mile of underwater power cables. Read More

The rooftop solar reset: Seattle startup launches platform to streamline financing and installation

Solar power is appealing, but the economics are tricky. Enter loanTERRA, a startup offering transparent financing and vetted installers. Read More

Water, power, and transparency: Amazon’s $12B data center deal signals a new era of accountability

Amazon announced a $12 billion data center project in Louisiana in which the company vowed to pay its own way for energy and other infrastructure. Read More

Google looks to buy its way out of the AI power crunch with $4.75B Intersect acquisition

Google parent Alphabet’s $4.75 billion acquisition of clean energy developer Intersect is a major Pacific Northwest exit that shows how cloud giants are racing to secure the power needed to fuel their AI data center ambitions. Read More

Aarden AI emerges from stealth with $4M to help landowners navigate data center, clean energy deals

Seattle startup Aarden AI is coming out of stealth with $4 million and an AI platform to help landowners navigate deals from developers. Read More

Forget fusion (for a minute): This is where a clean energy expert is placing his near-term bets

There are all kinds of sexy, new clean energy technologies on the horizon. Atom-smashing fusion devices replicating the power of… Read More

Climate tech companies dominate PNW funding with the three biggest investment rounds in 2025

The three biggest investments so far this year in Pacific Northwest companies have gone to businesses working to decarbonize the… Read More

Washington’s data center boom fuels tax windfalls — and energy struggles

Among Grant County’s corn, hay and potato fields, 29 data centers have created an unlikely economic boom, helping drive annual… Read More

Seattle’s LevelTen Energy to lay off workers amid shrinking support for U.S. wind and solar power

Seattle-based LevelTen Energy, a startup facilitating the deployment of clean energy projects, is laying off 60 workers according to a… Read More

Trump’s mega bill blasted by Washington leaders: Clean energy cuts threaten AI boom, hike costs

As energy demand spikes due to AI-driven data center expansions and the shift to electrification of transportation and other sectors,… Read More

Trump bill’s clean energy cuts spark outcry from climate tech industry and Washington leaders

As Congress wrestles over the deeply polarizing domestic policy bill championed by President Trump, Washington state leaders and entrepreneurs are… Read More

Can one agency reboot Washington state? Commerce chief brings tech to the task

With Washington state facing a $16 billion budget shortfall, and tech leaders sounding the alarm over new taxes and economic… Read More

Climate goals vs. computing growth: How tech can expand data centers and support clean energy

Can tech companies’ appetite for more energy-hungry data centers coexist with the Pacific Northwest’s ambitious climate goals? Researchers at Sightline… Read More

Solar power servicing company Omnidian raises $87M to spark growth

Omnidian, a Seattle company that manages solar power performance and services the panels for commercial and residential installations, announced an… Read More

Sam Altman, SoftBank invest in $425M round for Helion, a Seattle-area startup chasing fusion power

Helion Energy announced a $425 million funding round that will help the Seattle-area fusion company chase the “Holy Grail” of… Read More

Biden’s executive order on AI data centers could benefit Amazon and Microsoft

President Joe Biden this week issued one of his last executive orders, addressing the race to build domestic data centers… Read More

As AI booms, here’s how Microsoft and Amazon are coming up with energy solutions

Artificial intelligence and the data centers that drive the technology are booming with no end in sight. That’s putting mounting… Read More

Your startup builds clean energy tech, but Trump loves fossil fuels – here are some keys to survival

President-elect Donald Trump is a champion of fossil fuels and calls President Biden’s New-Deal style programs for battling climate change… Read More

Energy demand, stoked by AI and expanding electrification, is outpacing supply

Washington state — a region once blessed with an overabundance of clean, affordable power thanks to its hydroelectric dams —… Read More

Mining truck at First Mode's Centralia proving ground

Clean-tech pioneer First Mode is giving its employees advance warning about layoffs

First Mode, a Seattle-based company that’s concentrating on reducing carbon emissions in mining and other heavy industries, has alerted its… Read More

Amazon’s carbon footprint shrank 3% last year — but AI-driven climate challenges loom

Amazon’s carbon footprint shrank by 3% last year, marking its second straight year of decline. In its annual sustainability report,… Read More

A boost for fusion power: With new law, Washington state leaders signal support for sector’s next steps

While the reality of affordable fusion energy is still an atom-smashing twinkle in physicists’ eyes, the state of Washington is… Read More

‘Just watch us’: Gates-backed TerraPower is bullish on being the first next-gen nuclear plant in U.S.

Inside TerraPower’s cavernous 65,000 square-foot laboratory north of Seattle, there’s a suite of stations for experimenting with new materials and… Read More

Clean energy and power grid projects in Washington land federal and state funding

Clean energy projects for Washington groups including public utilities, the Yakama Nation, and others will receive funding from grants announced… Read More

Can AI boost clean energy efforts? Tech and policy leaders discuss solutions in Seattle

U.S. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm and Sen. Maria Cantwell met in Seattle on Friday with West Coast tech executives and… Read More

Portland-based nuclear reactor company NuScale cuts 28% of workforce, or 154 employees

NuScale Power, a Portland, Ore.-based nuclear company, is laying off 154 full-time employees, or 28% of its workforce. In November… Read More