Efficiency in your backyard

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4 August 2026 • Supported by

Good morning! Smaller homes are delivering smaller energy bills and other benefits for some Massachusetts residents. More families are building ultra-efficient accessory dwelling units on their properties that they can rent out or use as in-law suites, tackling both a pricey housing market and sky-high energy costs. Sarah Shemkus has more.

Heading to Wisconsin, Kari Lydersen reports on how data centers — an issue many residents barely thought about until recently — are driving this year’s governor’s race. And from our friends at Wired, Molly Taft has the story of a dwindling geothermal well that got a new lease on life thanks to startup Zanskar.

NEW FROM CANARY MEDIA

Massachusetts embraces backyard homes as housing and climate solution

by Sarah Shemkus

Wisconsin-Democratic-governor-primary-Hong_GettyImages-2288058873

Data centers take center stage in Wisconsin governor’s race

by Kari Lydersen

Wired-Flow-testing-LDG-44-7-most-productive-pumped-geothermal-well-in-the-US-Zanskar

How to bring a geothermal well back from the dead

by Molly Taft

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TODAY'S TOP NEWS

DATA CENTERS

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) directs the state’s utility regulators and grid managers to halt data center interconnections until they audit all pending applications. (E&E News)
Richmond County, North Carolina, residents push back against a $10 billion, under-construction Amazon data center that county officials secretly approved and which will use diesel-powered generators for backup power. (Inside Climate News)

NUCLEAR

Small modular reactor startup Valar Atomics raises $1 billion in its latest funding round, bringing its reported valuation to $6 billion. (TechCrunch)

OFFSHORE WIND

Dominion Energy estimates its Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind project will end up costing about $11.7 billion, up $300 million from its most recent estimate due to grid upgrade costs and federal tariffs. (Utility Dive)

SOLAR

European countries are starting to build large solar farms near the Arctic Circle and other areas once deemed too dark or cloudy for effective production as lower panel and equipment prices and higher power costs make these projects viable. (Bloomberg)

FOSSIL FUELS

The Interior Department announces plans to roll back an Obama-era regulation meant to prevent and quickly clean up oil and gas drilling blowouts and spills in the Arctic Ocean. (E&E News)
American Electric Power buys 3 GW of gas turbine capacity as its utilities look to add 15 GW of gas power as well as 6 GW of solar and 5 GW of wind through 2035. (Utility Dive)

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