1. Artificial intelligence can help manage the grid but creates risks if deployed ‘naïvely,’ DOE warns

Learning: "Priority use cases for managing the U.S. electrical system include grid planning, permitting and siting, operations and reliability, and resilience, according to the “AI for Energy: Opportunities for a Modern Grid and Clean Energy Economy” report.

Implication: "Similarly, four broad categories of grid risk have emerged, DOE said in a report...Potential Benefits and Risks of Artificial Intelligence for Critical Energy Infrastructure. Those risks include adversarial attacks against AI systems, unintentional failures of AI models, the use of AI to execute cyber or physical grid attacks, and supply chain compromises."

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2. Can streetlights unlock big city EV charging? This startup thinks so.

Learning: "It’s hard enough to find street parking in a city — let alone a spot where an electric vehicle can also plug in and charge. But a potential solution rests in the streetlights and lampposts that blanket city sidewalks and are already wired up to the power grid.

That grid hookup makes light posts ideal hosts for curbside EV charging — so long as that charging system is cheap and easy to install, safe and simple to use, and able to withstand the vagaries of life on the street."

Implication: "New York–based startup Voltpost has spent the past three years working on a technology package aimed at meeting those curbside charging challenges, which it’s tested in small pilot projects in New York City and Detroit so far. Last month, it announced the commercial availability of its product — a modular, street-proofed system that it hopes to deploy in cities later this year."

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3. Survey: 80% of Consumers Would Pay More for Sustainable Products

Learning: "A new survey found that 80% of consumers say they'd be willing to pay more for sustainable products.

Released by data company PDI Technologies on April 24, the survey included over 1,200 American consumers over the age of 21. Of that group, 71% said that when comparing two similar products priced at $10 or less, they would choose the one that follows sustainable practices. Another 44% said they would prefer sustainable options at a similar price."

Implication: "This is the fourth year PDI has conducted this survey, seeing the percentage of consumers who say they're willing to pay more for sustainable options rise from 64% in 2021, to 66% and then 68% in the next two years respectively. That number reached an all-time high at 80% in 2024."

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4.. Could a nature-inspired retrofit boost wind energy? 

Learning: "In Canada, industrial design company Biome Renewables uses the Andean Condor’s ability to soar for hundreds of miles without flapping its wings as the basis for a new product that increases wind turbine power. The finding could help to boost the efficiency and volume of power generated by renewable energy sources – an increasingly urgent need as global energy demand rises."

Implication: "Objects that move through the air, like wind turbine blades and aeroplanes, generate vortices of air that move in the opposite direction of the object, ultimately slowing it down and reducing its efficiency. Winglets, which are tiny wings like those found at the tip of aeroplane wings to reduce drag, reduce the creation and effects of vortices at the tips of the blade. These can be retrofitted to wind turbines that are already in use, creating an opportunity to substantially increase overall power outputs.

Biome Renewables calls its winglet design work ‘Project Condor’ and research has found that the winglets increase power output by an average of 10 per cent. The winglets attach to the tip of a turbine’s blade and, based on the condor’s wing design, help lower drag on the rotating blades, thereby reducing the amount of power lost during operation.

Not yet commercially available, the team behind the winglet continues its research and development of the design with a particular focus on more turbulent conditions and turbines of higher power outputs."

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5. New Orleans-based company is the city's sole glass recycler

Learning: "It started with a lament over the fate of empty beer and wine bottles....

For all of its imbibing, New Orleans didn’t offer curbside glass recycling. Pretty much all of the many bottles drained in the Crescent City ended up in landfills."

Implication: "Glass Half Full, is the only glass recycling facility in New Orleans. It has become the founders’ full-time work, employs a staff of 15 and has expanded far beyond what they imagined."