Energy

Playa Salinas is flooded after the passing of Hurricane Fiona in Salinas, Puerto Rico, on Monday.

5 numbers that show Hurricane Fiona's devastating impact on Puerto Rico

10:41am September 23, 2022

by Jaclyn Diaz

Experts say it will still take some time before the public knows the full impact of Hurricane Fiona on Puerto Rico. But early figures indicate a tough road ahead as residents attempt to recover.

Most of Puerto Rico was still without power Sept. 21 after Hurricane Fiona caused flash flooding.

Puerto Rico is in the dark again, but solar companies see glimmers of hope

5:26pm September 21, 2022

by Michael Copley

Around 50,000 solar and battery power systems have been installed on homes in Puerto Rico in recent years, and most seemed to continue working during Hurricane Fiona.

World News

As the weather gets colder, Russian forces have targeted Ukraine's energy supply

4:23pm September 21, 2022

NPR's Ari Shapiro talks with German Galushchenko, Ukraine's Minister of Energy, for the latest on Russian shelling of Ukrainian power and heating plants as the weather starts to get colder.

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National

Billions of dollars went to repair Puerto Rico's electric grid, but it still failed

6:32pm September 20, 2022

NPR's Juana Summers speaks with Sergio Marxuach, public policy director at the Center for a New Economy in Puerto Rico, about the island's frail power grid.

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Hurricane Fiona, which made landfall on Sunday, has damaged reservoirs and water filtration plants. Puerto Rico's only water agency is scrambling to restore services, but officials say they're waiting for flooded rivers to subside.

Environment

Puerto Rico has lost more than power. The vast majority of people have no clean water

10:04am September 20, 2022

by Vanessa Romo

More than 760,000 customers have been left with no access to clean running water since Hurricane Fiona struck the island on Sunday.

This satellite image from Planet Labs PBC shows the Pivdennoukrainsk Nuclear Power Plant, also known as the South Ukraine Nuclear Power Plant, in the southern Mykolaiv region of Ukraine in May. A Russian missile strike hit a facility close to the nuclear power plant on Monday.

World News

Ukraine says a Russian missile struck close to a nuclear power plant

8:51am September 19, 2022

by The Associated Press

Ukrainian authorities said that the three reactors were not hit, but denounced the attack as an act of "nuclear terrorism."

As demand for electric cars grows, Chileans face the effects of lithium mining

1:39pm September 17, 2022

The South American country of Chile has become a center of lithium mining, which has boomed as demand for electric car batteries has risen. But what are the environmental costs?

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The impact of the global natural gas shortage on the U.S.

5:07pm September 16, 2022

by Arezou Rezvani

U.S. natural gas prices are soaring as suppliers step up exports to Europe, which is no longer getting natural gas from Russia. How expensive will it be for Americans to heat their homes this winter?

A tentative deal announced Thursday would avert a strike on the nation's freight lines with the potential to throw supply chains into chaos. Above, a CSX freight train travels through Alexandria, Va.

A deal to avert a rail strike is on track, but it won't fix U.S. supply chain issues

10:22am September 16, 2022

by Scott Neuman

Supply chain disruptions have eased since the height of the pandemic, but concern over a potential rail strike, which appears to have been narrowly averted, highlights how that system remains fragile.

The Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant in Enerhodar on Sunday. It is the largest nuclear power plant in Europe and among the 10 largest in the world.

World News

Zaporizhzhia nuclear reactors won't restart until Russians leave, its operator says

5:41pm September 15, 2022

by Kat Lonsdorf

Europe's largest nuclear plant will remain shut down until Russian forces leave, the head of Ukraine's atomic energy agency tells NPR. Under Russian occupation, he says, "staff cannot operate freely."

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