The Energy Information Administration expects solar generation to jump 17% this year and an additional 23% in 2027 EIA’s latest forecast anticipates the U.S. will generate a total of 341 billion kWh of solar this year and 418 billion kWh in 2027, up from 291 billion kWh in 2025. Growing demand will be met mainly by solar: EIA | Utility Dive
Demand from data centers is expected to more than triple by 2028, according to the Department of Energy. This is largely due to the explosion of Artificial Intelligence, and its intense demand for electricity. Meta, Amazon, Google, and Microsoft are just a few of the big tech companies investing billions in solar technology. Two of the main reasons for the investment in solar is that the solar development timeline is much shorter than for other sources electricity. At 1.4 years, solar is the shortest timeline to develop an 800-megawatt solar plant. That’s compared to 15 years for a nuclear power and 6.7 years for a coal-fired power plant. Also, solar is much less expensive, is easily scalable, and pays back much quicker than other sources of electricity. Can Solar Help Offset the AI’s Energy Demand? – Facility Management Green Quick Read
The Statue of Liberty was made with copper but due to oxidation, it turned green.
When the “Lady in the Harbor” first arrived in New York in 1886, she didn’t look like the mint-green icon we know today. In fact, for the first twenty years of her life, she stood as a towering, metallic beacon of reddish-gold. Designed by French sculptor Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi and engineered by Alexandre Gustave Eiffel, the statue was a gift from France to America. To build her, Bartholdi chose copper for three practical reasons:
When she was unveiled on October 28, 1886, her skin—made of 300 copper sheets roughly the thickness of two pennies—shone with a bright, metallic brown luster. The transformation from “penny-colored” to “patina-green” wasn’t planned. Bartholdi actually expected the statue to age into a deeper, darker red. However, the unique environment of New York Harbor—a mix of salt air, moisture, and industrial pollution—triggered a process called oxidation.
The Timeline of Change:
While we now view the green color as iconic, it actually serves a vital structural purpose. The layer of verdigris (the green patina) acts as a protective shield. It seals the copper underneath, preventing the metal from further corrosion and weathering. By the time the color fully changed, a new generation of immigrants had arrived in America seeing a green statue.
