Global

Renewables account for 96 percent of new U.S. grid capacity in Q1

Despite considerable headwinds from Federal policy that significantly favor fossil fuels, during the first quarter of 2026, solar and energy storage combined to account for 91 percent of all new electricity generation capacity added to the U.S. grid. This represents the highest collective quarterly share ever recorded by the two technologies.

Wind generation represented 5 percent of grid generation additions, with natural gas contributing the final 4 percent. No new coal or nuclear generation capacity has been added to the grid this year. Collectively, wind and solar represented 96 percent of all new generating - the highest percentage for renewables ever recorded.

In May 2026, monthly electricity generation from solar resources exceeded generation from coal for the first time in U.S. history. No new coal generation has been added to the US grid since 2013.

While solar accounted for a negligible fraction of the national energy mix a decade ago, it now supplies approximately 13 percent of all power consumed from the grid.

Washington has opened talks with Saudi Arabia to consider nuclear capability for the desert kingdom.

The Americans and Saudis insist they are only discussing peaceful nuclear weapons. Don’t believe it. The Saudis argue they must have nuclear capability to generate energy when their oil begins to wear out. Every oil-producing nation can rightly make the same argument. When the oil runs out, no more gold beds, French furniture, show girls and disposable Rolls-Royces.

The only really admirable Saudi king in recent memory, Faisal bin Saud, reportedly said, ‘we are riding in expensive cars, but I fear one day soon we will end up riding camels again when our oil runs out’. This noble far-seeing ruler was assassinated in 1976 by a nephew who was said to be demented. Some Saudis suspected Faisal was killed by a western power.

Saudi has only 38 million tribal people scattered over a vast, arid nation. Libya’s late chief, Muammar Gaddafi told me ‘The Saudis are very rich people who live behind high walls. They are terrified of their neighbors.’ Gaddafi was himself murdered by the French and Americans.

When House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries sent out a recent “dear colleague” letter, its second sentence cited “the position articulated by… pro-peace organizations like J Street.” The congressman and J Street were opposing an amendment to block $3.3 billion in military shipments and other aid to Israel.

Jeffries contended that the measure was “overly broad.” On the same day, using the same phrase “overly broad,” J Street issued a statement declaring that “we support Leader Jeffries’ decision to oppose the amendment.”

Both Jeffries and J Street respectfully noted that many members of Congress had understandable reasons to back the measure. The next day, July 15, a record 103 Democrats voted in favor of blocking weaponry to Israel.

My introduction to Congressman Charles Diggs was through the 1987 PBS documentary Eyes on the Prize: America’s Civil Rights Years. He was interviewed about the kidnapping and murder of Emmett Till, a 14-year-old boy, in Money, Mississippi, for whistling at and grabbing Carolyn Bryant, a white woman in a small country store where Till–a native northerner not privy to the ways of the Jim Crow South–and his cousins had gone to buy candy. 

The Wall Street Journal looked at reports from 1500 of the largest companies in the US. One of the things they found is that cumulatively these companies were paying over $600 million for perks for executives and board directors. Some of it was for security in the wake of the United Healthcare executive’s killing in New York City that might be called for, but a bunch was for relocation, personal aircraft, health and welfare, and ferrying them around in limos and hired cars. Apple’s Tim Cook logged in $790,000 in personal flights. He must live in the air. 

MONDAY July 27, 2026
GREEP Zoom
2-4pm PT / 5-7 ET

Former Pittsburgh Steelers All-Pro safety and Super Bowl champ Ryan Clark was recently fired from his job as an analyst for ESPN. The news caught many in the sports world by surprise and has become a topic of conversation within some African American circles. To add insult to injury, Clark was notified of his release midway through his segment. When he did not return after a break in the action viewers were left wondering what occurred. 

The Emmy award winning analyst’s dismissal from a job he held for eleven years has many people scratching their heads. Was Clark’s firing racially motivated? Given the number of other employees (many of whom are nonblack) that were let go, the racial argument is a difficult but not impossible one to make. Was it merely a cost-cutting-move? Had Clark fallen out of favor with the brass? Did someone have an axe to grind? These are the kinds of questions that have been floated since Clark’s abrupt departure from ESPN. 

AYUTTHAYA, Thailand -- Here in Ayutthaya, Buddhist shrines, temples, and tombs emerge from the jungle amid the wreckage of a war 260 years ago.

Fortunately, during the past few decades, the damaged royal city of Ayutthaya ("eye-YOO-tee-ah") has blossomed into a major pilgrimage site for tourists, archeologists and Buddhist devotees, thanks to an ambitious slicing away of dense vines and other foliage which had covered its treasures, threatening to gobble them up forever.   

Only 86 kilometers north of Bangkok, Ayutthaya once-upon-a-time rivaled London and Paris in its heyday, until the fateful year 1767 when Burmese invaders obliterated the city.  

Thai forces eventually staged a counter-attack and ousted the Burmese, but by then it was too late.  

Fifteen years later, heart-broken Thais abandoned Ayutthaya and decided to head south where they built Thailand's current capital at Bangkok.