Chris Bataille
@chrisbataille.bsky.social
4.8K followers 430 following 2.5K posts
Mountains, paddleboards & bikes. Tech & policy towards a net-zero GHG economy, focus on industry. @[email protected] @ColumbiaUEnergy @bataille_chris http://IDDRI.org, http://netzerosteel.org http://netzeroindustry.org IPCC AR7 CLA WGIII
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chrisbataille.bsky.social
Correction to a post+ above: .. for *lead* markets paying a premium for low GHG iron & content in steel.
chrisbataille.bsky.social
I know you think steel+ can come later, but I don’t think you’re factoring in the very long lead times and price signals needed to get these things going roughly on the scale needed by mid-century, on top of everything else you rightly needs doing.
chrisbataille.bsky.social
I disagree, and I’m not suggesting subsidies, I’d instead ask forward markets paying the required the premium to make this stuff, however it gets made. And wind turbines in northern Québec additional to Québec’s domestic & export needs aren’t going to get added unless there’s a clear need for them.
chrisbataille.bsky.social
IMO, it’s not a this OR that, but this AND that discussion. All the places we are talking have the potential wind and/or solar reserves and the raw materials to do both if the business case can be made. Germany and other fundamentally clean electricity constrained places cannot.
chrisbataille.bsky.social
I suspect we’ll disagree on this, but it’s an important debate to be having, and I really do appreciate all the work you put out there!
chrisbataille.bsky.social
There are several other supply chains like this, for ammonia, methanol, etc. We do it for aluminum already. In sum these represent ~20%+ of global GHGs, & need to be decarbonized as cheaply as possible. And it will take decades to build out these supply chains - this is about the long haul 3/4
chrisbataille.bsky.social
We can build wind or solar in Québec, BR, SA, or AUS, apply it to high quality iron ore using HDRI & eventually direct electrolysis, & then move that “embodied power” flexibly, by boat or rail, anywhere it is needed. This helps support clean electrification in places like Germany, not hinder it 2/4
chrisbataille.bsky.social
While I agree with your 1st premise that clean power should always be used directly where possible, our means to build wind & esp solar (2 vs 1 TW?) are larger than what is being installed, & we don’t build HVDCs across the Atlantic/Pacific or less than completely stable & friendly jurisdictions 1/4
chrisbataille.bsky.social
It would actually an excellent assignment for NRCan to do Liftoff reports for Canada, with our quirks. The @climateinstitute.bsky.social did great starts on electricity and heat with reports they did in recent years, after their net-zero series.
chrisbataille.bsky.social
To enable clean heat you need clean electricity, and specifically a clean electricity strategy embraced by each of the provinces. The key short erm thing is “devillifying” renewables in AB & SK, and letting them build again along with everything else.
chrisbataille.bsky.social
Clean residential, commercial and industrial heat in the various Canadian heating zones is critical strategy. From the Rockies to the Great Lakes the air so dry you need an emphasis on ground source & hybrid/boosted air source heat pumps and thermal batteries.
chrisbataille.bsky.social
Other folks' trials and tribulations put your own in perspective 🤣😂😅😜
josephpolitano.bsky.social
the double-event is upon us already
A meme showing a man at a chalkboard from "Pacific Rim". He says "in the beginning the [new French PMs] were spaced apart 24 weeks. Then 12. Then 6. Then every 2 weeks. In four days we could be seeing a PM every 8 hours until they are coming every 4 minutes. We should witness a double event within seven days
chrisbataille.bsky.social
This is hilarious - the image is from an article about breast cancer, with the women doing a self exam through a brassiere (which is not how it works).
chrisbataille.bsky.social
A good news thread worth travelling down - CRA will be automatically filing for a portion of low income Canadians, likely numbering in the millions, so they get the benefits meant for them👇
tammyschirle.bsky.social
One such paper to find:
What Proportion of Tax Returns Could the Canada Revenue Agency Complete?
(open access)
utppublishing.com/doi/full/10....
Reposted by Chris Bataille
costasamaras.com
We're spending $20B to bail out Argentina, but they cut USAID down to the bone, causing deaths around the world. The entire budget of USAID, the whole agency, was $21B last year. Shameful.
washingtonpost.com
The Trump administration confirmed that the U.S. bailed out Argentina.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said he had directly bought Argentine pesos in global currency markets in a bid to relieve pressure on the nation’s embattled President Javier Milei, a supporter of President Trump.
The U.S. just bailed out Argentina, Treasury Secretary confirms
The US Treasury has finalized a $20 billion financial rescue of Argentina, including a currency swap arrangement with the country's central bank.
www.washingtonpost.com
chrisbataille.bsky.social
A fast ChatGPT review of the estimated deaths from the USAID cuts. These are WWI, WWII scale casualty levels if the programs are not replaced.
chrisbataille.bsky.social
Fossil fuel combustion is by far the leading reason people living in developed countries experience local air pollution, although wildfires are growing www.nytimes.com/2025/10/08/c...
She Found a Link Between Air Pollution and Infertility
www.nytimes.com