Energy

NPR

Heat wave sends temperatures to 120F in South Asia : NPR

MUMBAI, India — Summer has arrived in South Asia WAY too early.

A punishing heat wave has pushed temperatures past 120F (50C) in some areas. Some schools have closed early for the summer. Dozens of people have people have died of heat stroke.

The region is already hard-hit by climate change. Extreme heat is common in May. But not in April and March, both of which were the hottest across much of India for more than a century.

"It's smoldering hot! It's also humid, which is making it very difficult," Chrisell Rebello, 37, told NPR in line outside a Mumbai ice cream parlor at 11 p.m. "We need a lot of cold drinks, air conditioning – and multiple baths a day."

State hearing set this week for large-scale solar farm proposal in Cayuga County | Politics | auburnpub.com

State hearing set this week for large-scale solar farm proposal in Cayuga County | Politics | auburnpub.com

significant step in the state's review of a massive solar farm proposal for northern Cayuga County takes place this week when the board that decides if the project can move forward holds an evidentiary hearing.

The state Board on Electric Generation Siting and the Environment has scheduled the hearing to start Friday morning. It will be held via web conference and teleconference.

The evidentiary hearing follows back-and-forth filings made by state agencies, a concerned citizens group and the project's developer, Florida-based NextEra Energy Resources. The company wants to build a 200-megawatt solar power facility in a project area of about 1,900 acres that would be located completely within the town of Conquest. The town does not have authority to approve or reject the proposal.

NPR

What Russia cutting off energy to Poland and Bulgaria means for the world : NPR

The Russian national energy giant Gazprom announced on Wednesday that it was cutting off natural gas exports to Poland and Bulgaria over the countries' refusal to pay in rubles.

It was seen as a way for Russia to prop up its unstable currency and also retaliate against its European neighbors for Western sanctions related to the invasion of Ukraine.

It also marked a new front in the war. Russia, which has grown more isolated from a Europe increasingly aligned with the United States, signaled it was willing to use the continent's heavy reliance on Russian natural gas as political leverage.