Published

1 year ago

December 24, 2024

Alice Rush

According to the latest U.S. Energy Storage Monitor report by American Clean Power Association (ACP) and Wood Mackenzie, installations of both grid-scale and residential energy storage in the U.S. are continuing to rise, even reaching record highs in the third quarter of 2024.

Grid-scale energy storage reached a record for third-quarter installations, hitting 3,806 MW installed and 9,931 MWh deployed for Q3 2024. According to ACP and Wood Mackenzie, these numbers are 80% and 58% higher, respectively, compared to just one year prior.

The residential market in particular has seen rapid expansion, reaching an all-time quarterly record 346 MW of installed residential energy storage in Q3 2024. This represents a 63% increase just from Q2 2024.

“The rapid energy storage deployment we’re seeing in the United States not only enhances reliability and affordability but also drives economic expansion,” Noah Roberts, vice president of energy storage for ACP, said in a statement. “This additional storage capacity is helping meet increasing energy demand and is supporting growing industries like manufacturing and data centers. Energy storage is crucial for energy security and to help outpace rising demand.”

Texas and California led the way for grid-scale energy storage installations for Q3, with Texas tripling its installations compared to Q2.

*On-site solar + storage for tenants at 2410 Waugh Apartments in the Montrose neighborhood of Houston, Texas. Pearlx Infrastructure*

Three states are driving growth of residential energy storage: California, Arizona and North Carolina, with 56%, 73% and 100% increases in residential storage for Q3 of this year compared to one quarter prior.

Wood Mackenzie analysts predicted a 30% growth in energy storage installations for 2024, but growth rate could slow to around 10% from 2025 to 2028. According to ACP and Wood Mackenzie, grid-scale installations are expected to increase by more than double, to 63.7 GW, by 2028, and residential energy storage is predicted to reach a total 10 GW by 2028.

While storage expansion could remain steady, experts are concerned whether the next administration under president-elect Donald Trump will disrupt progress with changes to current tax credits or increases in tariffs.

Currently, experts at International Energy Agency (IEA) predicted falling battery storage costs by up to 40% by 2030, Reuters reported. This could increase resilience and reliability of clean energy sources, in addition to making clean energy and storage costs cheaper than fossil fuel sources.

“We are seeing the energy storage industry fill a real need across the country to provide reliability in an affordable and efficient manner for communities,” John Hensley, SVP of Markets and Policy Analysis at ACP, said in a statement. “With 64 GW of new energy storage expected in the next four years, the market signal continues to be clear that energy storage is a critical component of the grid moving forward.”

The post U.S. Residential Energy Storage Installations Reach a Record High appeared first on EcoWatch.

https://www.ecowatch.com/residential-energy-storage-installations-us.html

Green Living

Best of Sustainability In Your Ear: Okhtapus Cofounder Stewart Sarkozy-Banoczy Accelerates Ocean Solutions

Published

1 day ago

May 4, 2026

Alice Rush

Subscribe to receive transcripts by email. Read along with this episode.

The ocean provides half the oxygen we breathe, absorbs 30% of our carbon emissions, and helps control the planet’s climate. By 2030, it’s expected to support a $3.2 trillion Blue Economy. Yet 70% of proven ocean solutions, such as coastal resilience, coral restoration, and marine pollution cleanup, never move past the pilot stage. These projects often win awards and get media attention, but then stall because funding systems don’t connect working ideas with the cities, ports, and coastal areas that need them. Stewart Sarkozy-Banoczy, co-founder and ocean lead at Okhtapus, wants to change that. Okhtapus, named with the Persian word for the octopus, uses a model that links what Stewart calls “the three hearts” of successful projects: innovators with proven solutions, cities and ports ready to use them, and funders looking for solid projects.

Stewart Sarkozy-Benoczy, Cofounder and Ocean Lead at Okhtapus.org, is our guest on *Sustainability In Your Ear*.

The first Okhtapus Global Replicator will launch in 2026. It will bring groups of proven innovators to work on important projects in specific places, such as a single port city like Barcelona, where Okhtapus already has strong partnerships, or a group of Caribbean islands facing similar problems. The aim is to have enough successful projects that funders stop asking “where are the deals?” and start saying “we’ve got enough.” The platform focuses on late-stage startups and scale-ups, not early-stage ideas. Stewart calls these the “Goldilocks zone”—solutions that are proven enough to copy but still need funding and partners to grow. By combining several solutions for different locations, Okhtapus can offer investors portfolios that fit their needs and make a real difference in cities, ports, and island nations.

Stewart has spent 20 years working where climate resilience and policy meet. He was part of President Obama’s Hurricane Sandy Rebuilding Task Force, led policy and investments at the Resilient Cities Network, and is now Managing Director of the World Ocean Council. “Ten years from now, if this is done fast enough,” Stewart said, “we should have pushed hard enough on the funders and the system to change it. What we don’t know is whether we’ll get to the solution status fast enough for some of these tipping points.”

To find out more about Okhtapus, visit okhtapus.org.

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Editor’s Note: This episode originally aired on December 22, 2025.

The post Best of Sustainability In Your Ear: Okhtapus Cofounder Stewart Sarkozy-Banoczy Accelerates Ocean Solutions appeared first on Earth911.

https://earth911.com/podcast/sustainability-in-your-ear-okhtapus-cofounder-stewart-sarkozy-banoczy-accelerates-ocean-solutions/

Green Living

Earth911 Inspiration: A Serious Look at Modern Lifestyle

Published

4 days ago

May 1, 2026

Alice Rush

Today’s quote comes from Pope John Paul II’s message for the celebration of the World Day of Peace, 1990. He wrote, “Modern society will find no solution to the ecological problem unless it takes a serious look at its lifestyle.”

Earth911 inspirations. Post them, share your desire to help people think of the planet first, every day.

The post Earth911 Inspiration: A Serious Look at Modern Lifestyle appeared first on Earth911.

https://earth911.com/inspire/earth911-inspiration-take-serious-look-lifestyle/

Green Living

Best of Sustainability In Your Ear: Making Billions of Square Feet of Commercial Space Sustainable with CBRE’s Rob Bernard

Published

6 days ago

April 29, 2026

Alice Rush

The built environment, particularly office buildings other urban facilities, are responsible for 39% of the global energy-related emissions, according to the World Green Building Council. About a third of that impact comes from the initial construction of a building and the other two-thirds is produced over the lifetime of a building by heating, cooling, and providing power to the occupants. Our guest today is leading a key battle to reduce the impact of the built environment. Tune in for a wide-ranging conversation with Rob Bernard, Chief Sustainability Officer at CBRE Group Inc., which manages more than $145 billion of commercial buildings, providing logistics, retail, and corporate office services across more than than 100 countries.

Rob Bernard, Chief Sustainability Officer at the commercial real estate giant CBRE, is our guest on *Sustainability In Your Ear*.

Rob cut his sustainability teeth at Microsoft, as its Chief Environmental Strategist for 11 years, as the company was developing its world-leading approach and collaborating with other tech giants to lobby for policy and funding to accelerate progress. He discusses CBRE’s Sustainability Solutions & Services for commercial building owners, as well as the accelerating progress for renewables, carbon tracking, and economic, health, and lifestyle benefits of living lightly on the planet. You can learn more about CBRE and its sustainability services at cbre.com

Take a few minutes to learn more about making construction and building operations more sustainable: