“Almost 92 percent of the world’s population now has access to electricity, in contrast to 87 percent in 2010. In 2023, increases in the number of people with access to electricity outpaced population growth, raising the rate of global access to 92 percent and reducing the number of people without electricity to 666 million—19 million fewer than the previous year…

The greatest growth in access between 2020 and 2023 occurred in Central and Southern Asia, while the pace of progress in Sub-Saharan Africa calls for significant acceleration.”

From World Health Organization.

“Beginning in the last decade of the 18th century, firewood output increased from about 18% of GDP to just under 30% of GDP in the 1830s. The value of firewood fell to less than 5% of GDP by the 1880s. Prior estimates of firewood output in the 19th century significantly underestimated its value.”

From National Bureau of Economic Research.

“Beta Technologies’ Alia CX300 on Tuesday [6/3/25] become the first all-electric aircraft to land at a New York City airport. In partnership with the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, one of Beta’s prototypes landed at John F. Kennedy International Airport (KJFK) after a passenger-carrying demonstration flight with a pilot and four passengers, including Blade Air Mobility CEO Rob Wiesenthal and Republic Airways president Matt Koscal.

According to Beta, the energy cost for the 45-minute flight was just $7 compared with what it estimated as $160 in fuel costs for a helicopter making the same trip.”

From AIN.

“The U.S. military has set a new record for wireless power transmission, beaming a laser carrying more than 800 watts of power across a distance of 5.3 miles (8.6 kilometers).

The test, performed by the U.S. military’s Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) as part of its Persistent Optical Wireless Energy Relay (POWER) program, is a key step toward unlocking the near-instant beaming of power.

It also smashes previous records set by the POWER program, which previously beamed 230 watts across 1 mile (1.7 km) for 25 seconds, and a smaller, undisclosed amount of power as far as 2.3 miles (3.7 km).”

From Live Science.