ELECTRIC VEHICLES: Car rental companies are making more electric cars available but aren’t doing a good job of educating customers on the logistics of charging them, industry observers say. (Canary Media)

SOLAR: Officials at Washington Dulles International Airport break ground on a 100 MW solar and 50 MW battery facility that is the largest renewable energy project at a U.S. airport. (Associated Press)

STORAGE:
• MIT researchers say they’ve developed an energy storage system out of cement, water and carbon that could charge electric vehicles and power homes without batteries. (Boston Globe, subscription)
• Texas battery storage systems provided a record amount of power to the state grid last week, including on an especially tight evening when state officials had called for conservation measures. (E&E News)

GRID: Grid operator MISO notifies utilities in its 15-state region to prepare all power generation sources to meet demand during this week’s heatwave. (Reuters)

CLIMATE:
• About 126 million people remain under heat alerts today as triple-digit temperatures swamp the central U.S. from Texas up through Minnesota. (Axios)
• Democrats are far more likely than Republicans to credit climate change as a factor in extreme weather, a poll finds. (Washington Post)

BUILDINGS:
• A small but growing number of builders in Michigan are experimenting with hempcrete, a safer and more sustainable alternative to foam or fiberglass insulation. (Energy News Network/Planet Detroit)
• Federal funding for public schools to install air conditioning and upgrade HVAC systems remains far from sufficient as the climate warms. (E&E News)

OIL & GAS: An Appalachian think tank warns against the region’s continued reliance on natural gas development and explains why the industry has failed to generate more jobs even as its production output skyrockets. (Inside Climate News, Ohio River Valley Institute)

HYDROGEN: The U.S. Energy Department awards funding to 19 clean hydrogen production, storage and transport research projects. (news release)

POLLUTION: Environmental groups express disappointment as the U.S. EPA restarts its evaluation of ozone pollution, saying it’ll delay needed action to curb smog for several more years. (E&E News)

UTILITIES:
• New England ratepayers faced $536 million in extra charges over 13  months to keep a soon-to-be-retired Massachusetts natural gas plant running in case of regional power shortages, according to grid operator ISO-New England. (CommonWealth)
• Victims of the Maui wildfires adopt a legal strategy used against California utilities in their bid to secure compensation from Hawaiian Electric. (Honolulu Star-Advertiser)

POLITICS: Former NRG Energy CEO David Crane recalls his journey to the Biden administration, where he’s now leading efforts to build a domestic clean energy supply chain. (E&E News)

More from the Energy News Network: Midwest | Southeast | Northeast | West

Kathryn brings her extensive editorial background to the Energy News Network team, where she oversees the early-morning production of ENN’s five email digest newsletters as well as distribution of ENN’s original journalism with other media outlets. From documenting chronic illness’ effect on college students to following the inner workings of Congress, Kathryn has built a broad experience in her more than five years working at major publications including The Week Magazine. Kathryn holds a Bachelor of Science in magazine journalism and information management and technology from Syracuse University.