Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Reposted by Kevin J. CREATURE

Joshua Basseches @joshuabasseches.bsky.social · 12h

"Illinois’ largest utilities, ComEd and Ameren, said they’re neutral on the bill, though officials from both have been actively involved in hearings." This quote encapsulates a lot of what I find in my research regarding monopoly investor-owned utilities. (1/2)
www.eenews.net/articles/ill...

Illinois lawmakers clash on how to shield consumers from rising energy bills

The General Assembly could vote this month to boost grid-scale battery storage and study the benefits of Illinois running its own grid.

www.eenews.net

1 2 3

Reposted by Kevin J. CREATURE

Justin Gundlach @justingundlach.bsky.social · 10h

I used to let my "I [bike picture] NYC" t-shirt speak for itself, but now that I'm armed with this little tidbit, rest assured, that t-shirt will be worn with a big wallop of GUESS WHO'S REALLY ENERGY EFFICIENT energy

Aaron Sojourner @aaronsojourner.org · 13h

"Humans aren’t very efficient movers—until you put us on a bicycle, when we become some of the most energy-efficient land travelers in the animal kingdom."
www.scientificamerican.com/article/a-hu...

2 11

Reposted by Kevin J. CREATURE

Nate the House Whisperer @energysmartwv.bsky.social · 9h

Very proud to have our 80s themed AirBnb up and running right outside the New River Gorge National Park in WV.

It's a wonderfully immersive space that takes you back to your childhood including Pizza Hut!

1 1 9

Reposted by Kevin J. CREATURE

Dave Levitan @davelevitan.bsky.social · 9h

Watched the excellent John Oliver episode about presidential libraries, which came out 3 days after I wrote this and also contains a Stephen Miller joke similar to one I made on here months ago and all I’m saying is if anyone there follows me we are on the same page and I got laid off recently

Dave Levitan @davelevitan.bsky.social · 12d

Did you know that the Trump Presidential LIbrary Foundation (run by Eric Trump, of course) was given a piece of Miami real estate likely worth hundreds of millions of dollars this week. Like, just donated to them. By the state. For nothing. On which they can build anything.

What Even Is a Trump Presidential Library?

Hello, welcome to my relaunched newsletter, read more about the deal here and please subscribe below! A week ago, a plot of incredibly valuable land in downtown Miami belonged to public Miami Dade Co...

www.gravityisgone.com

1 19 78

Reposted by Kevin J. CREATURE

Hisham Zerriffi @hishamzerriffi.bsky.social · 8h

Somehow I missed this announcement. Don’t worry. Current me just got future me a nice gift from the People‘s Cooperative Bookstore.

Do yourself a favour on pre-order one for yourself. @amalelmohtar.com is a wonderful writer and apparently preorders are huge for authors.

Amal El-Mohtar @amalelmohtar.com · May 7

Absolutely thrilled to share the cover to next year's short story collection coming out from @tordotcom.bsky.social! I'm obsessed with it!

Comes out March 24, 2026, but you can pre-order it now wherever you like getting your books! Here's Macmillan's link.

us.macmillan.com/books/978125...

On a gradient background that goes from blush-pink at the top to a muddy green at the bottom, a book cover. Super-imposed on a pastoral, oil-painting style image depicting a forested foreground and a hilly background beneath a soft champagne sky, is superimposed a 3-dimensional rhomboid-shape, the facets of which play with space. One facet shows a pale cloudy sky, and from it, a brown hare emerges chasing the hind legs and bushy tail of a wolf, the rest of which vanishes out of the rhomboid frame. The rhomboid's other facets -- which create the kind of infinity loop of an Escher painting -- are either blush-pink or covered in the greenery from the background. Above the rhomboid is the title, and the subtitle "Stories"; below it are the words New York Times Bestselling & Award-winning Author Amal El-Mohtar. My name and the word "Stories" are in the same blush-pink as the rhomboid's facets.

2 8

Reposted by Kevin J. CREATURE

Kevin J. CREATURE @kevinjkircher.com · 54m

Good thread. I agree that there's a lot of inertia in electricity regulation and a lot of angles that well-resourced incumbents can use to delay and derail progress. Anyone who campaigns on lowering bills had better be ready with direct relief, such as bill debt forgiveness or banning shutoffs.

1 1 1

Kevin J. CREATURE @kevinjkircher.com · 52m

Deep reforms will be SLOW and highly susceptible to fuckery. We should do them, but politicians who campaign on lowering bills then rely on slow, uncertain deep reforms will not deliver bill relief in time to matter. To voters, it'll just look like more broken promises.

1

Kevin J. CREATURE @kevinjkircher.com · 54m

Good thread. I agree that there's a lot of inertia in electricity regulation and a lot of angles that well-resourced incumbents can use to delay and derail progress. Anyone who campaigns on lowering bills had better be ready with direct relief, such as bill debt forgiveness or banning shutoffs.

1 1 1

Reposted by Kevin J. CREATURE

Dr. Genevieve Guenther (she/they) @doctorvive.bsky.social · 5h

Screenshot from here:

subscriber.politicopro.com/article/eene...

E&E News: Coal miners rally for Trump to save them from ‘worst kind of death’

Miners, their supporters and medical experts rallied in Washington, calling on the Trump administration to enforce black lung protections.

subscriber.politicopro.com

2 4

Reposted by Kevin J. CREATURE

Michael Liebreich @mliebreich.bsky.social · 3h

The U.S. Administration is going all in against the International Marine Organisation's Net Zero Framework. A very important test of strength. And anyone expecting them to sit quietly on the sidelines during COP30 next month might be in for a bit of a shock.
www.state.gov/releases/off...

Taking Action to Defend America from the UN’s First Global Carbon Tax – the International Maritime Organization's (IMO) “Net-Zero Framework” (NZF) - United States Department of State

Joint Statement by Secretary of State Rubio, Secretary of Energy Wright, and Secretary of Transportation Duffy President Trump has made it clear that the United States will not accept any internationa...

www.state.gov

3 9 13

Reposted by Kevin J. CREATURE

Amy Westervelt @amywestervelt.bsky.social · 14h

Something this book really drilled home (scuse the pun) is that we're not stalled out on climate because scientists didn't model hard enough or campaigners didn't come up with the perfect message, but because the world's most powerful spent gazillions to sabotage action.

cssn.org/wp-content/u...

3 65 150

Reposted by Kevin J. CREATURE

Dave Levitan @davelevitan.bsky.social · 19h

Once more from yesterday -- I wrote about the latest report on climate tipping points, both negative AND positive ones, and an apparent shift in rhetoric as COP30 approaches.

This is for paid subscribers, so please sign up to support independent journalism!

Climate Tipping Points Don't Face in Just One Direction

Some of the scariest climate thresholds are approaching fast. But so are some potential ways out.

www.gravityisgone.com

15 36

Reposted by Kevin J. CREATURE

Dr. Genevieve Guenther (she/they) @doctorvive.bsky.social · 19h

Is this Abundance?

Yale Program on Climate Change Communication @yaleclimatecomm.bsky.social · 21h

With growing concerns of how data centers benefit or harm communities, the city of Bessemer, Alabama, amended local zoning laws for companies to build data centers of any size within the city limits.

A faded image of people listening to a presentation with a text overlay reading: “Bessemer, Alabama, amends zoning laws to allow data centers of any size.”

5 10 30

Reposted by Kevin J. CREATURE

Dave Levitan @davelevitan.bsky.social · 19h

Some bad news for that brand of Dem that still thinks there's some more reasonable GOP leadership out there that will eventually take the reins back...

‘I love Hitler’: Leaked messages expose Young Republicans’ racist chat

Thousands of private messages reveal young GOP leaders joking about gas chambers, slavery and rape.

www.politico.com

7 57 200

Reposted by Kevin J. CREATURE

Sara Hastings-Simon 🇨🇦 @shastingssimon.bsky.social · 18h

😬

we all have private friend chats we wouldn't necessarily want spread all over the internet but when I think about mine its because I'm saying something like "this analysis from these people is dumb" or "this policy is stupid" not racist/pro rape/whatever this is.

David Roberts @volts.wtf · 19h

What is it we're supposed to do again, when they tell us who they are?

‘I love Hitler’: Leaked messages expose Young Republicans’ racist chat

Thousands of private messages reveal young GOP leaders joking about gas chambers, slavery and rape.

www.politico.com

2 3 25

Reposted by Kevin J. CREATURE

Jonathan Koomey @jgkoomey.bsky.social · 18h

These people are who we all thought they were.

Carl Quintanilla @carlquintanilla.bsky.social · 19h

POLITICO: “.. They referred to Black people as monkeys and ‘the watermelon people’ and mused about putting their political opponents in gas chambers. They talked about raping their enemies .. and lauded Republicans who they believed support slavery.

@politico.com
www.politico.com/news/2025/10...

4 7

Reposted by Kevin J. CREATURE

Mehdi Hasan @mehdirhasan.bsky.social · 19h

“Epithets like “f----t,” “retarded” and “n--ga” appeared more than 251 times combined”

If you ever had any doubt that the youth wing of the GOP is fully radicalized and proudly racist these days:

‘I love Hitler’: Leaked messages expose Young Republicans’ racist chat

Thousands of private messages reveal young GOP leaders joking about gas chambers, slavery and rape.

www.politico.com

200 1K 3K

Reposted by Kevin J. CREATURE

David Wallace-Wells @dwallacewells.bsky.social · 18h

“They referred to Black people as monkeys and ‘the watermelon people’ and mused about putting their political opponents in gas chambers. They talked about raping their enemies and driving them to suicide and lauded Republicans who they believed support slavery.” www.politico.com/news/2025/10...

‘I love Hitler’: Leaked messages expose Young Republicans’ racist chat

Thousands of private messages reveal young GOP leaders joking about gas chambers, slavery and rape.

www.politico.com

8 16

Reposted by Kevin J. CREATURE

David Roberts @volts.wtf · 19h

What is it we're supposed to do again, when they tell us who they are?

‘I love Hitler’: Leaked messages expose Young Republicans’ racist chat

Thousands of private messages reveal young GOP leaders joking about gas chambers, slavery and rape.

www.politico.com

11 61 270

Reposted by Kevin J. CREATURE

Hisham Zerriffi @hishamzerriffi.bsky.social · 18h

Calling Young Republicans the “youth wing“ of the party doesn’t capture how bad this is.

No excuse at any age but some might be tempted to chalk it up to age. Membership age for this org. is 18 to *40*. Some have jobs in government. We’re not talking abt high schoolers.

Mehdi Hasan @mehdirhasan.bsky.social · 19h

“Epithets like “f----t,” “retarded” and “n--ga” appeared more than 251 times combined”

If you ever had any doubt that the youth wing of the GOP is fully radicalized and proudly racist these days:

‘I love Hitler’: Leaked messages expose Young Republicans’ racist chat

Thousands of private messages reveal young GOP leaders joking about gas chambers, slavery and rape.

www.politico.com

19 130 420

Reposted by Kevin J. CREATURE

David Weiskopf believes in you @dave.bzky.team · 18h

You probably cannot afford a car, and you almost certainly can't afford not to have one. This is the definition of a policy failure.

A. Zivarts @nondriver.bsky.social · Aug 5

AAA estimates the average cost of owning a car is $12,297 a year, and recommends drivers spend no more than 10 percent of their income on car costs. This means you should make 120K to afford the average cost. Median *household* income in the US is $77K. The math just doesn't work.

5 27 96

Reposted by Kevin J. CREATURE

Joshua Basseches @joshuabasseches.bsky.social · 17h

Honored to be among the more than 100 scholars who contributed to this @cssn.org global assessment of social and political obstruction to climate action, out today with Oxford University Press:
cssn.org/news-researc...

Global Assessment - Brown Climate Social Science Network

Climate advocacy has not failed, climate policy has been sabotaged, explains a new open access book, Climate Obstruction: A Global Assessment.

cssn.org

15 37

Reposted by Kevin J. CREATURE

Sean Casten @seancasten.bsky.social · 17h

When I ran a coal plant we kept 7 - 14 days of coal in the pile to accommodate rail volatility. When we got below 3 we started curtailment planning to ensure critical loads were served. Anyway, please tell me more about how PV can’t work because it requires overnight on-sight energy storage.

4 21 140

Reposted by Kevin J. CREATURE

Ari Peskoe @aripeskoe.bsky.social · 17h

Does anyone have a chart (or data) of Lower-48 coincident peak demand over time? EIA reported a new record peak this past summer.
www.eia.gov/todayinenerg...

U.S. electricity peak demand set new records twice in July - U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA)

www.eia.gov

1 3

Kevin J. CREATURE @kevinjkircher.com · 18h

Fascinating and important work, thanks!

1