Weekly Climate Solutions Digest
Welcome
The week tilts toward the solstice. In the north, frost feathers windows at dawn; in the south, warm tides thread quietly through mangrove roots while pelicans skim bright water. We are keeping what matters and letting the rest go.
MIT chemists teach carbon capture to sip, not gulp, energy, while new transparent window insulation keeps rooms warm without losing the view. Storage grows up on every front: batteries get cheap enough to make solar steady, South Australia adds a grid forming system that steadies the heartbeat of the network, and East African riders click in fresh packs at open battery swap stations. We cover old landfills to hold methane and give the land back, and in the Sundarbans women tend mangroves that hold coasts and incomes together.
The theme is simple care, containment with grace. We are learning to store light, to cradle wind, to repair edges. Step in with us and see how small, precise choices add up to something steady and bright. Here is what stood out this week.
Top Climate Solutions of the Week
- MIT chemists unveiled tris-stabilized solvents that reduce the energy needed for carbon capture, shrinking the energy penalty and lowering operating costs for retrofits on industrial flue gas.
- Researchers created a transparent window insulation called MOCHI that can be retrofitted to panes to block heat flow without dimming views, cutting HVAC energy use in buildings.
- New modeling shows falling battery prices make PV plus storage dispatchable at about $65 per MWh, enabling firm solar to replace fossil peakers in many markets.
- ENGIE will build a 200 MW grid-forming battery at Pelican Point in South Australia to provide system strength and fast-response capacity that supports more wind and solar on the grid.
- Ampersand is opening its battery swap network to third-party electric motorcycles across East Africa, lowering upfront costs and charging downtime to speed two-wheeler electrification.
- Cities are covering landfills and installing methane capture systems that quickly cut potent emissions while turning waste gas into useful energy and enabling site restoration.
- In India and Bangladesh, women-led groups are restoring mangroves in the Sundarbans to buffer storm surges, store carbon, and build steady incomes from sustainable aquaculture and forestry.
If the pace of change leaves you tired or overwhelmed, you are not alone. Hold the good news, and also make room for your own well-being.
If you are struggling
When the news disappoints, hope can crack. That does not mean you are broken. It means you can learn a different way to hold it, a more grounded psychological architecture of hope.
You are also allowed to feel moments of light. Joy does not cancel grief. It can help carry it. You do not need a disclaimer to smile at your child, your friend, the sky. You are allowed to be happy while the world is burning.
Heroism rarely looks loud. Often it is the pause before replying, the choice to listen, the extra breath that keeps a conversation humane. Quiet courage can shape a room, like the moon on water, steady and real.
Drink water. Step outside if you can. Send a message to someone you trust. Do one kind thing, for yourself or for the world. Rest, then begin again. Your actions still matter.
For people and planet,
Bri Chapman
brichapman.com