This story was originally published by Canary Media. Big batteries have begun reshaping the U.S. grid. Now, the country has made surprising strides in making those energy storage systems itself, rather than depending on imports from China. Batteries were always crucial for the effort to scale up renewable energy production, but they have taken on even more significance as AI leaders look for quick-to-build power sources to supply their headlong data center expansion. That’s why batteries will account for some 28 percent of new U.S. power plant capacity built this year. For the first time, the country will be able to produce enough grid batteries to meet that surging demand on its own, according to new data from the U.S. Energy Storage Coalition, an industry group. Battery storage units at Desert Sunlight Solar Farm in California. Credit: The Desert Photo / Shutterstock The onshoring began in earnest when President Joe Biden signed the Inflation Reduction Act in 2022, creating incentives both for domestic battery producers and for storage developers who use made-in-America products. Already, the U.S. has enough capacity to meet demand for finished grid battery enclosures. That involves connecting battery cells to power electronics, controls and safety equipment in weatherproof steel containers that are ready to install. By the end of this year, the U.S. will also achieve self-sufficiency in a higher-value part of the supply chain: the battery cells themselves. It’s a major industrial coup that is bringing thousands of high-tech manufacturing jobs to communities across the country. “For the first time, the United States now has the capacity to supply 100 percent of domestic energy storage project demand with American-built systems,” said Noah Roberts, executive director of the U.S. Energy Storage Coalition, on a press call in March. ​“That is a fundamental shift from where we were just a year and a half ago, when the majority of battery storage systems were imported.” This success outstrips the country’s considerable progress in solar panel manufacturing, too. The U.S. is self-sufficient in assembling solar modules, but that finished product still often depends on high-value components imported from far away — namely, solar cells. U.S. solar cell production remains a tiny fraction of its solar panel capacity. Weighed down by negative news? Our smart, bright, weekly newsletter is the uplift you’ve been looking for. [contact-form-7] By the end of 2025, U.S. factories had mustered the capacity to produce about 70 gigawatt-hours of finished grid storage systems each year, according to the coalition’s survey. Roberts expects that number to rise to 145 gigawatt-hours by year’s end. U.S. storage developers are likely to install about 60 gigawatt-hours annually this year and next, he noted, so the country will actually have a sizable surplus in manufacturing capacity. As for the underlying cells, it’s a similar story with a slight delay. By the end of 2025, 20 gigawatt-hours of dedicated storage cell lines had opened, and the industry is on pace to hit 96 gigawatt-hours by the end of this year. Now, the question the industry faces is not whether it can keep up with domestic demand — but whether it can export enough batteries to maintain that mismatch between manufacturing potential and domestic installations. A gigawatt-scale growth spurt The development of U.S. grid-battery manufacturing has happened at a dizzying pace. Roberts called it ​“one of the fastest industrial scale-ups in recent American history.” At the close of 2024, the U.S. had ​“effectively zero” factory capacity for battery cells designed for grid usage, which have different specifications than those in electric vehicles and which typically use the lithium iron phosphate chemistry. LG Energy Solution Vertech, the grid-storage subsidiary of the Korean industrial giant, started turning things around last summer when it completed a dedicated cell production line for grid storage in Holland, Michigan. The company originally envisioned four gigawatt-hours of production, but quickly expanded that to 16.5 gigawatt-hours, said Chief Product Officer Tristan Doherty. Now LG plans to hit 50 gigawatt-hours of cell production capacity across North America this year. “If you had told me that 10 years ago, that this is where we would be, I never would have believed it,” Doherty said. The upstream supply chain, it must be said, still needs work. U.S. factories can only build the lithium-ion battery cells by importing the high-value battery materials, and China runs the show in that arena. It’s also worth noting that this scale-up was accelerated by an unintentional nudge from the Trump administration, a sort of collateral benefit. When the Trump administration passed its budget legislation last summer, it maintained Biden-era incentives for domestic energy manufacturing and grid battery projects even as it removed them for electric vehicle purchases. The outlook for EV sales in America suffered as a result, and that prompted some manufacturers to repurpose their EV-battery facilities for the red-hot grid storage market. In just the last year, car companies like Ford and General Motors have retreated from their earlier EV ambitions and pivoted their battery lines to storage. Just last week, LG said it and partner GM would retool an EV battery plant in Spring Hill, Tennessee, to make grid batteries instead; this will bring 700 people back to work after earlier layoffs. LG is also converting a plant in Lansing, Michigan, to make grid batteries instead of EV batteries, and will sell them to Tesla as part of a $4.3 billion supply deal. It’s a stark reversal. In earlier years, grid battery developers had accepted surplus EV batteries as a sort of hand-me-down from the more mature supply chain; now, struggling EV battery producers are turning to grid storage in their moment of need. Other companies have made their own direct investments in grid storage in recent years, including Tesla, Samsung SDI, Fluence and SK On. Even as the White House fights clean energy broadly, it’s showing interest in strengthening battery supply chains to reduce the upstream dependence on China. Just this month, the Department of Energy rolled out $500 million in funding for processing or recycling battery materials domestically. The localization of grid storage supplies does more than stroke the national ego. As data center customers ravenously seek immense power supply as quickly as possible, domestic supply chains shorten the time it takes to add storage to the grid, argued Pete Williams, chief supply chain and product officer for Fluence, a major grid storage vendor. “To deliver this ​‘speed to power’ you need a resilient and a responsive supply chain, and that’s been certainly a challenge in the international markets,” he said. ​“With U.S. manufacturing, we can improve delivery certainty. We can also shorten project timelines for our customers.” In the past, analysts framed industrial reshoring as a way to protect against the vagaries of geopolitical adversaries. These days, with the White House itself regularly upending global trade through tariff declarations and military interventions in crucial waterways, a local supply chain protects against U.S.-led disruptions as well. The post The U.S. Is Manufacturing a Ton of Grid Batteries appeared first on Reasons to be Cheerful.

If you have an elderly relative or friend, you know that not answering the phone can feel scary.  Sometimes, older people don’t always have someone to check in on them, which can be dangerous. In Westlake, Ohio, they have a program called “Are You Okay” that allows residents to sign up for a daily phone call to check in on them. If they cannot reach the designated resident, they follow up with the family. If needed, the Westlake Police Department will conduct a welfare check. According to WEWS, a 91-year-old woman gave the department quite a scare recently, and no one expected to find what they did when they arrived at her home. The 91-Year-Old Was OK, Just Busy Westlake Police Captain Jerry Vogel told WEWS that when officers arrived at the 91-year-old woman’s home, they approached with caution. “Everyone’s a little bit alarmed that she’s missing these contacts,” he admitted. Once they got inside, the woman, whose name they did not reveal to protect her privacy, was home and just fine. “We’re here with her,” an officer told dispatchers of the 91-year-old. “She’s playing video games in her bedroom.”\ According to WEWS, not only was she playing her favorite game, but she was trying to beat her high score. The story gave police and the community quite a giggle. “You don’t get older, you level up,” someone shared on YouTube. “This is Life goals honestly. Let this be me at 91,” another person wrote. “A gaming marathon at 91 years old? I honestly salute her,” a follower added. Some people just wanted to know that they 91-year-pld woman was playing. “Not reporting which game she was playing and whether she successfully beat her record or not is, quite frankly, unacceptable,” a fan shared. This story’s featured image can be found here.

We’re all feeling the effects of our strange economic times. The mighty dollar most definitely doesn’t stretch as far as it used to. Families are doing their best to make ends meet. The restaurant industry has felt the impact, and many have changed how they do business to better meet customer needs. We’ve all noticed a bit of shrinkflation as of late, but Chili’s Grill & Bar is moving its menu in the opposite direction with its Big Crispy Chicken Sandwich. The company shared the exciting news in a press release, challenging fast food “value” meals. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Chili's Grill & Bar (@chilis) Chili’s Big Crispy Chicken Sandwich is Apparently ‘Way Bigger’ than Others Per the release, the Chili’s Big Crispy Chicken filet is an average of 80% bigger than the McDonald’s McCrispy breaded filet. That’s a significant size difference. But what about price? Customers want a good value on top of great taste. “Over the past few years, we’ve exposed the fast food shrinkflation by serving our massive burgers in the industry-leading $10.99 3 For Me meal for a value that can’t be found in the drive-thru,” George Felix, Chili’s Chief Marketing Officer, shared in the news release. “Now, we’re setting our sights on fast food chicken sandwiches, offering our gigantic Big Crispy and Spicy Big Crispy chicken sandwiches in the same 3 For Me value meal. This is a shakeup to the chicken sandwich category that is long overdue, and one that our guests are going to love.” Chili’s now offers six Big Crispy Chicken varieties: Original, Spicy, Honey-Chipotle BBQ, Nashville Hot, Buffalo, and Deluxe. “At a time when consumers expect more for their money, Chili’s continues to deliver a full-service dining experience at a price point that rivals – and often beats – the drive-thru,” the restaurant claims. Which Chili’s Big Crispy will you try first? This story’s featured image is by Jeffrey Greenberg/Education Images/Universal Images Group via Getty Images.

Doctors diagnosed Ryder Boen with hearing loss in both ears as a newborn. He’s used hearing aids for most of his life, but the Oklahoma 12-year-old recently got a tremendous upgrade. With the help of a brand new cochlear implant, he can now hear clearly without the help of hearing aids. The Today Show shared a video of Ryder hearing for the first time with the implant. His reaction brought tears to everyone’s eyes. View this post on Instagram A post shared by TODAY (@todayshow) Ryder Boen Found Himself Very Emotional We can’t imagine the change that Ryder Boen felt with his new cochlear implant, but the look on his face says it all. The video shows a tearful child filled with pride and gratitude for this new chapter in his life. It brought not just Ryde to tears, but also his nurse and his mom. Of course, his reaction went viral, and people fell in love with this sweet child. “12-year-old Ryder Boen of Oklahoma was diagnosed with hearing loss in both ears when he was a newborn and since then has been using hearing aids. Recently, he received the world’s only smart cochlear implant system and cried tears of joy when hearing for the first time. : Hearts for Hearing,” the video’s caption reads. People loved Ryder’s emotion and encouraged him to express himself in any way that felt right. “This is so beautiful. Please let your kids cry. He is allowed to express what a miracle this is to him,” someone wrote. “Let it all out my boy, cry if you want too. it’s crazy what hearing people take for granted I didn’t hear the water hitting off the sink noise till I got cochlear implants at age 19. This is magic,” a fellow hearing loss patient wrote. We agree, cry your eyes out, Ryder, this is huge! This story’s featured image can be found here.

BY THE OPTIMIST DAILY EDITORIAL TEAM On April 22, 1970, roughly 20 million Americans took to the streets, campuses, and parks to demand that the government treat the environment as something worth protecting. At the time, rivers in the United States were catching fire. Lead was still in gasoline. The Cuyahoga River in Ohio had burned badly enough to make the cover of Time magazine. Senator Gaylord Nelson, who organized the first Earth Day, had calculated that if even a fraction of the energy behind anti-Vietnam War protests could be pointed at the environment, something might actually change. He was right. What followed is one of the more striking episodes in democratic pressure: the US Environmental Protection Agency, the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act, and the Endangered Species Act, all within a few years of that first gathering. Fifty-six years later, Earth Day is observed in more than 190 countries, and its 2026 theme carries two meanings that are both doing real work. The double meaning worth sitting with “Power” in “Our Power, Our Planet” refers to energy first: the kilowatts and megawatts that run cities and factories and homes, and the ongoing effort to shift those systems away from fossil fuels. But it also refers to agency, the capacity of people, communities, and governments to demand something better and actually construct it. In 2026, those things are harder to separate than they used to be. The energy transition is not a purely technical problem. It is a political one, a financial one, and at its root, a question of who gets to make decisions that affect everyone else. The energy numbers that should shift your thinking Renewable energy in 2026 looks genuinely different from where it was a decade ago. Solar power is now the cheapest source of electricity in recorded history, with costs dropping more than 90 percent over the past ten years, according to the International Energy Agency. Wind energy is on a similar path. Battery storage is catching up, slowly dismantling the intermittency argument that was long the strongest case against renewables. Electric vehicles have moved from niche curiosity to the mainstream market. Reforestation is returning life to degraded land. None of this is happening fast enough, and it is not reaching everyone equally. Across the Global South, hundreds of millions of people still lack reliable electricity. If the theme this year is genuinely “our” power, then clean energy cannot remain a benefit for the wealthier parts of the world. Decentralized solar microgrids and community wind projects are starting to fill that gap, but the pace needs to increase substantially. The living systems that power everything else Energy gets most of the headlines. The ocean mostly does not, which is worth thinking about given that it absorbs roughly 30 percent of all carbon dioxide emitted by human activity, according to NOAA, making it the largest climate buffer on the planet. Warming temperatures, acidification, and plastic pollution are all degrading that buffer at the same time. Coral reefs, which support about 25 percent of all marine species, are bleaching at rates that leave diminishing windows for recovery. On land, the forests of the Amazon, the Congo Basin, and Southeast Asia function as carbon sinks and biodiversity reserves simultaneously. A growing number of governments have made legally binding commitments to halt and reverse deforestation by 2030. Those commitments exist because years of pressure made them politically impossible to avoid. Worth pausing on: Indigenous communities, who hold rights over roughly a quarter of the world’s land, are estimated to protect 80 percent of remaining biodiversity, according to the WWF Living Planet Report. Their ecological knowledge, built over generations in specific places, offers something no modeling effort or satellite survey can replicate. Why individual choices matter (even though they are not sufficient) The critique you hear around Earth Day every year is that it leans too hard on individual behavior when the real work is systemic and industrial. That is fair as far as it goes. No number of reusable shopping bags changes an emissions problem that requires transforming entire energy systems. But aggregate individual behavior is not actually trivial. Households across high-income countries shifting toward plant-rich diets, renewable electricity, and less air travel would produce real, measurable reductions. More than that, what people choose in markets and at ballot boxes is how values eventually become policy. Practical entry points for April 22: switch to a renewable electricity provider if one is available, reduce beef consumption, find a local conservation group worth supporting, or look at what is actually on your local ballot. What Earth Day 2026 is asking of institutions The most consequential changes will not come from individuals, and everyone involved in this work knows it. The EU Green Deal, the US Inflation Reduction Act, and India’s renewable energy targets all demonstrate that large economies can commit to real transformation when political will is present. The problem is that current pledges, even fully honored, do not add up to holding warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels. The ambition gap is still significant. For corporations, the pressure point is Scope 3 emissions: those generated within the supply chain rather than direct operations. On average, these account for 70 percent of a company’s total carbon footprint, according to CDP. Net-zero pledges that stop at the factory door are largely decorative, and mandatory disclosure requirements are slowly making that harder to obscure. Youth-led movements have done something that institutions rarely manage on their own: they have kept the cost of inaction visible, through school strikes, legal challenges, and sustained public pressure that has shifted political debate in ways that were genuinely hard to predict a decade ago. Earth Day 2026 does not ask for guilt, and it does not ask for uncomplicated optimism. It asks for something more demanding than either: a clear-eyed engagement with a moment where the tools to act are actually in place, and the honest question of who will use them.     Did this solution stand out? Share it with a friend or support our mission by becoming an Emissary.The post Earth Day at 56: why the 2026 theme carries more weight than usual first appeared on The Optimist Daily: Making Solutions the News.