Vincent M. (he/him) is a U.S.-based journalist who types at 6,000 feet, usually while wearing all black. When he's not immersing himself in survival video games, he's probably cooking, reading, or tending to his pet rabbits.
In April 2025, most of Spain and Portugal went dark. A cascading failure knocked out the Iberian peninsula's grid in seconds. Just four years earlier, Texas came within 4 minutes and 37 seconds of its own total collapse.1 Not a temporary blackout. A full shutdown. What engineers
If you believe half of what you hear about heat pumps, you'd think they're a $20,000 scam that stops working the second it gets cold outside. But here's what the skeptics don't mention: modern heat pumps work in temperatures down to
I called 2024 the year of perovskites. We got our first commercial shipments and some record-breaking efficiencies. But 2025? This was the year perovskites went from "interesting lab tech" to "you can actually buy these." Oxford PV shipped the first commercial batch to a US solar
Electricity bills have been climbing across the US, but the AI boom is making it worse. A lot worse. New data centers are popping up everywhere to handle ChatGPT, Gemini, and countless other AI tools. And here's the kicker: you're helping pay for them whether you
Two and a half years ago, I told you about a company using "death rays" to drill deeper into the Earth than anyone has before. The goal? Unlock cheaper and more plentiful geothermal energy for the world. Well, I just got back from Houston, Texas, where I watched
Solar panels are built to last around 30 years, weathering all kinds of abuse during that time.1 That’s a solid run for any piece of tech, but what if we could push that even further? What if solar panels could last… forever? That’s the promise behind a
It’s no secret that tech companies are racing to build “artificial general intelligence,” or AI that can match a human brain without needing a lifeline. But here’s the kicker: our brains already have the home field advantage. They do the same heavy lifting with just a fraction of
What if I told you your fridge — that humming box in the kitchen — could be cooled without gas, without chemicals … just magnets? It sounds futuristic, but researchers are already making it happen. It not only promises higher efficiency, but solves a critical problem with the status quo…yes, a critical
Heat from ice? It sounds like a joke—or maybe a paradox. But what if the future of warm, cozy homes lies in freezing water? As outlandish as it seems, an English research team is working on a heat pump that runs off actual ice … well, more like slushies. It’
“My God. The sheer scale of this, this is kind of blowing my mind.” -Matt Hearing about how massive wind turbines are built is one thing, but seeing it is another. Last year, I got to visit the Bekevar Wind Farm in Saskatchewan, Canada, months ahead of its completion in
Small wind turbines, or SWTs, have struggled to get off the ground. Not only is siting more difficult for SWTs, but their low efficiencies rarely justify their high costs. They also have to contend with the same kinds of considerations that your typical turbine does, like noise, vibration, environmental impacts,
I talk about heat pumps a lot. They really are the most energy efficient way to heat and cool things, but they’re not the only way. There’s another form of cooling that’s been getting a lot of attention in recent years that might just lie in these