Energy

Donald Trump has hailed a US oil deal with Venezuela as the biggest in world history, but the Guardian reports the agreement faces serious legal and logistical obstacles, with doubts over whether it can be implemented at all. Critics are questioning its feasibility and the gap between the rhetoric and the practical realities of US-Venezuela energy relations.

Researchers at Harvard report detecting a radio signal coming directly from a planet outside our solar system. If confirmed, it would mark a rare observation of radio emission from an exoplanet, potentially pointing to magnetic interactions between the planet and its star. Details on which planet is involved and how strong the signal is have not yet been released, and astronomers await independent verification of the finding.

The European Union is advancing measures to restrict the energy and water consumption of data centres, a step aimed at limiting the environmental footprint of the fast-growing digital infrastructure sector. The proposal comes as data centre demand surges with the expansion of cloud computing and artificial intelligence, prompting debate over resource use versus digital growth.

News posts report that researchers have detected a direct radio signal from a planet outside our solar system for the first time. This would be a milestone in astronomy, as exoplanets are usually found indirectly rather than through direct radio emissions. Coverage so far is limited to a single headline, and posts do not identify the telescope team, the planet, or the signal's details, so the specifics and the scientific interpretation cannot be confirmed from the available evidence.

The US Energy Information Administration projects solar generation in Texas will surpass coal for the first time in 2026, marking a major shift in the state that leads the country in both wind and solar capacity growth. The forecast underscores how falling solar costs and rapid buildout are displacing coal-fired power in the ERCOT grid, accelerating the energy transition in one of the world's largest power markets.

Asteroid 2024 YR4, discovered in December 2024, has drawn attention from NASA and space watchers worldwide after early calculations suggested a small but nonzero chance it could hit Earth in December 2032. The roughly 40-metre-wide rock briefly topped impact-risk monitoring lists, and astronomers have been refining its orbit as it moves away from view.

Farmers are increasingly combining agriculture with solar energy, installing panels over fields where crops grow and sheep graze. This practice, known as agrivoltaics, allows land to produce both food and electricity at once. DW reports that shading from panels can help crops in hot, dry conditions, while sheep keep grass under panels trimmed, making dual use appealing to farmers facing land and energy pressures.

Questions are being raised over whether the rapid expansion of solar power in the United States is finally losing momentum. Analysts and readers are debating the state of the industry, its growth trajectory, and what factors could be holding back new installations after years of strong gains.

A commentator has pushed back against an anti-solar meme circulating online, arguing that cattle ranching in the United States consumes far more water than solar energy, and that solar panels and livestock can coexist on the same land. The rebuttal frames solar development as compatible with agriculture rather than a threat to it, a common flashpoint in debates over rural land use.

CGTN's technology programme RAZOR examines whether solar power can play a role in protecting global water supplies. The segment explores solar-powered solutions for water treatment and distribution, looking at how renewable energy could ease pressure on freshwater resources facing stress from climate change and growing demand, according to the programme's coverage.