The world's first solar railway

Thank you to Anne Cloud with ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Voice Over for the Planet⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ for narrating this edition of Talking Climate. 

Post-production and mix by John Crowley at Loudmouth Studio.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠www.talkingclimate.ca

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:06

Welcome to Talking Climate with Katherine Hayho. Each episode, we explore how climate change is affecting the people, places, and things we love, and what we can do to make a difference. From science to solutions and stories that inspire, you're in the right place for real talk about real change. This week, we're talking about solar on railroad tracks, a worsening European fire season, and everyday climate heroes. Let's dive in. Good news. There's so much unused space that could be repurposed to generate clean electricity, parking lots, highway shoulders, rooftops, even balconies. And now a Swiss startup has found one more: the empty strip of ground between railroad tracks. In 2025, the company Sunways laid 48 solar panels across a 100-meter stretch of active track in the village of Buttes, in the canton of Neuschatel. In one year, the panels on the world's first solar railway generated 16,000 kilowatts of electricity. The trial was originally planned for three years, but the results were so positive after one that the company decided to make the installation permanent. Scale that up, and the numbers get interesting. If solar panels were placed on all of Switzerland's 5,317 kilometers of track, they could generate 2% of Swiss yearly energy use. Thinking globally, there are more than 1 million kilometers of railroad track, and Sunways estimates that half of that track could be suitable for railway solar. The company now plans to expand this effort with projects in Italy and South Korea and is in negotiations with Dutch, Chinese, Indian, and Singaporean partners to try the same approach in those countries. This is exactly the kind of solution I love sharing in this newsletter. Infrastructure we've already built, performing a new second job we never thought to ask it to do before. Stefan and I, and many others, have studied climate risks like these for decades. But it's one thing to see it on your computer screen and something completely different and even more horrifying to see it in real life. In Spain, another blaze stretched across a 280-kilometer perimeter, while a new fire near Valencia prompted 15,000 more evacuations. A grass fire burned for several days in Arthur's seat in Edinburgh, Scotland, and just this week a new wildfire in Suffolk, England, as vegetation has been dried by record heat earlier in the summer. As I explained a couple of weeks ago, climate change doesn't start fires, but it creates hotter, drier conditions that help fires spread faster and burn more intensely. The damage also reaches far beyond the flames through smoke, displacement, lost homes, and disrupted livelihoods, costing billions of dollars every year and with devastating impacts on human lives and livelihoods. What you can do. What if the inspiration you need to act on climate is already living and working in your own community? Meet Erin O'Kelly Muck, a communications specialist, former climate organization leader, and the creator of the Climate Joy Project, a local initiative celebrating everyday people who are helping build a better future in Ashland, Oregon. Erin is inspiring in her own right, but her project is the inspiration that keeps on giving. Each interview introduces someone new who is putting climate solutions into practice, whether through clean energy, local food, transportation, community organizing, or simply finding a meaningful way to contribute. She's shared stories from people ages 18 to 60 years old who come from all walks of life. She said, we are all unified by our love of this town, our community, this beautiful planet, and hope for the future. Together, these stories are a powerful reminder that climate action does not have to look the same for everyone. Inspiration can be found in every person Erin interviews, and each person's example can help someone else see where they fit into the bigger picture. Thanks for listening to Talking Climate, narrated by Ann Cloud, post-production and mix by John Crowley at Loudmouth Studio. For more resources, links, and actions you can take, check out the full newsletter at www.talkingclimate.ca. Until next time, keep talking climate.