Since Donald Trump returned to the presidency in 2025, his administration has aggressively downsized the federal workforce, which has disrupted key agencies, especially those responsible for environmental protection and climate action. Through executive orders and agency actions, tens of thousands of federal employees have been dismissed—some of which has been ruled illegal— posing serious risks […]
Read More »Takeaways from NERC’s 2024 Reliability Assessment
The North American Electric Reliability Corporation is a nonprofit dedicated to ensuring the stability of the continent’s grid system. Originally formed as the North American Electric Reliability Council and founded in 1968, its successor, also known as NERC, launched in 2006. The group’s mission is to “assure the effective and efficient reduction of risks to […]
Read More »Biden administration announces $10.5 billion funding for U.S. electric grid transformation
By FREE Staff As the U.S. shifts to the electrification of its transport and other systems, one of the biggest and most difficult challenges the country faces is how to ensure the electric grid can handle the added stress. The country’s network of hundreds of thousands of miles of powerlines is taking center stage in […]
Read More »How can U.S. climate action equalize the wealth gap between white and black American families?
By Robert Ddamulira, Ph.D. INTRODUCTION “The racial wealth gap in the United States is shocking, the average wealth of a white American family is $170,000, nearly 10 times that of the average wealth African-American family,” observes Kedra Newsom Reeves, consultant at Boston Consulting Group. Climate change impacts are posed to tilt that imbalance even further. More […]
Read More »Seoul 1 GWp ‘Solar City’ Highlighted at Mayors Forum
The 2019 Mayors Forum (part of IREC held in Seoul in October) featured Seoul’s 1 GWp Solar City Initiative. FREE helped the City to design this ambitious program as part of the FREE-Seoul Metropolitan Government (SMG) Memorandum of Understanding (MOU). Dr. Byrne delivered the keynote at the Forum, which drew 37 mayors from 25 countries. […]
Read More »California’s Bold Solar Energy Vision
By Joseph Nyangon How California’s New Rooftop Solar Mandate Will Build Additional Value for Its Customers The boldest new plan yet to increase electricity generation from noncarbon-producing sources has been announced by California. Highly regarded as a trendsetter and vanguard of progressive energy policies, California became the first state to require solar power installed on all […]
Read More »Why the U.S. Urgently Needs to Invest in a Modern Energy System
By Joseph Nyangon Investment in ‘smart’ energy offers a viable and effective long-term solution that allows the energy industry to shift its supply sources, build new transmission and storage systems, and increase its energy efficiency goals. In a speech commemorating the thirty-fifth anniversary of the International Energy Agency (IEA) in 2009, former U.S. secretary of state, […]
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