Benjamin Nead
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bisbeeunplugged.bsky.social
Benjamin Nead
@bisbeeunplugged.bsky.social
1.3K followers 2.3K following 480 posts
Observing the ongoing struggle to mitigate the climate crisis via electrification, from a rural southern Arizona perspective. Favorite topics include EVs, solar, batteries, etc. Please interact with my public posts and don't DM me. Thanks!
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bisbeeunplugged.bsky.social
Benjamin Nead @bisbeeunplugged.bsky.social · Sep 10
I'm hosting a Sun Day event on Sunday, September 21, at my
home. Specifically, it's a "rain or shine" event under my carport.

Explore the interactive map at sunday.earth/events
and look for the star at the southeastern corner of Arizona, which would be Bisbee. Click the below graphic as well.
Sun Day is a global day of action on Sunday, September 21st, 2025: a celebration of the unstoppable rise of clean energy. Sun Day is being presented nationally by Third Act: a community of Americans over 60 founded by activist and author Bill McKibben, focused on climate and democracy. Bisbee joins a growing number Arizona cities - including Tucson, Tempe and Flagstaff - hosting a Sun Day event. Hundreds of communities across the United States and counting - and internationally - will be participating. My shaded carport - come rain or shine - will be set up to display a variety of interesting and affordable devices that will help you move away from a dependency on fossil fuels . . . solar panels, storage battery systems, induction cooking tech, heat pumps and the like. And, yes, because it's my carport, my electric car will also be there . . . probably plugged in and charging when you arrive. I'd like to have one-on-one conversations with my neighbors, here in Bisbee and in surrounding communities, on how we might be able to ditch our gas stoves and furnaces for good, consider an EV for your next car and go with solar, whether that's a traditional grid-connected rooftop system or one of the new modular/portable ones. There are efficient devices and energy harvesting technologies available today to match virtually any price point or budget. Those of us who are concerned about climate change - and I hope that's everyone reading this - will be reminded that electrifying your life is one of the most effective ways to make a positive impact in this capacity, even if the politicians aren't currently paying attention. When a sane national energy policy returns, even the smallest the investments you make today will allow you be ready for the more expansive - and less expensive - cleaner energy world of the future. No suffering or sacrifice needed along the way. Just a little perseverance. Benjamin Nead https://actionnetwork.org/events/sun-day-in-bisbee-3
bisbeeunplugged.bsky.social
I'm hosting a Sun Day event on Sunday, September 21, at my
home. Specifically, it's a "rain or shine" event under my carport.

Explore the interactive map at sunday.earth/events
and look for the star at the southeastern corner of Arizona, which would be Bisbee. Click the below graphic as well.
Sun Day is a global day of action on Sunday, September 21st, 2025: a celebration of the unstoppable rise of clean energy. Sun Day is being presented nationally by Third Act: a community of Americans over 60 founded by activist and author Bill McKibben, focused on climate and democracy. Bisbee joins a growing number Arizona cities - including Tucson, Tempe and Flagstaff - hosting a Sun Day event. Hundreds of communities across the United States and counting - and internationally - will be participating. My shaded carport - come rain or shine - will be set up to display a variety of interesting and affordable devices that will help you move away from a dependency on fossil fuels . . . solar panels, storage battery systems, induction cooking tech, heat pumps and the like. And, yes, because it's my carport, my electric car will also be there . . . probably plugged in and charging when you arrive. I'd like to have one-on-one conversations with my neighbors, here in Bisbee and in surrounding communities, on how we might be able to ditch our gas stoves and furnaces for good, consider an EV for your next car and go with solar, whether that's a traditional grid-connected rooftop system or one of the new modular/portable ones. There are efficient devices and energy harvesting technologies available today to match virtually any price point or budget. Those of us who are concerned about climate change - and I hope that's everyone reading this - will be reminded that electrifying your life is one of the most effective ways to make a positive impact in this capacity, even if the politicians aren't currently paying attention. When a sane national energy policy returns, even the smallest the investments you make today will allow you be ready for the more expansive - and less expensive - cleaner energy world of the future. No suffering or sacrifice needed along the way. Just a little perseverance. Benjamin Nead https://actionnetwork.org/events/sun-day-in-bisbee-3
September 10, 2025 at 2:38 AM
bisbeeunplugged.bsky.social
We need more journalists in America like Brian Tyler Cohen and politicians everywhere like Scottish Parliament member Patrick Harvie. Climate topics are on cue here, with a reminder of what's at stake everywhere . . . www.youtube.com/watch?v=2zYs...
🚨 Trump gets SHUT DOWN by Scottish lawmaker in Scotland
YouTube video by Brian Tyler Cohen
www.youtube.com
July 28, 2025 at 3:16 AM
bisbeeunplugged.bsky.social
I'm always impressed how David Borlace can take a technical topic, like grid forming inverters in renewable energy grid settings, and explain it in understandable layman's terms, as he does in this week's Just Have A Think . . .
www.youtube.com/watch?v=2SOq...
How GRID FORMING INVERTERS are paving the way for 100% renewable energy.
YouTube video by Just Have a Think
www.youtube.com
July 28, 2025 at 3:03 AM
bisbeeunplugged.bsky.social
Bisbee will be participating in Good Trouble Lives On: a non-violent mobilization in tribute to Civil Rights pioneer and Congressman John Lewis, on Thursday, July 17, 5PM to 7:30PM. Our location is Grassy Park in the old town. Click the illustration for more details.
Good Trouble Lives On, staged on this fifth year since the passing of Civil Rights pioneer and U.S. Congressman John Lewis, is a national day of nonviolent action to respond to the ongoing attacks posed on our liberties by the Trump Administration. Pertaining to what John Lewis fought for and against all his life, we are now witnessing the expansion of Immigration & Customs Enforcement (ICE) into nothing short of a Gestapo-like paramilitary that is now prepared - and now officially funded by congress - to round up sizable portions of the U.S. population and confine them to remote and inhuman Gulags with perverse names like Alligator Alcatraz. Closer to home, this ongoing militarized anti-immigrant and racist agenda will manifest itself as unnecessary border wall construction resuming, with the negative ramifications there also encompassing a threat to the wildlife ecosystem and even more ground water depletion. Meanwhile, the funding cuts to federal services to pay for us becoming a police state, along with the ham-fisted attempts by Trump himself to manipulate world markets for personal gain, will mean the eventual closing of things like rural hospitals and the elimination of social services that will particularly impact those on the lowest economic rungs. Everything you and I buy at the store becomes more expensive in the coming months and years, unless you're an oligarchy class insider. Don't like any of this? Maybe you've got the wrong skin color or tattoos, or you've submitted the wrong essay to a local newspaper. You may find yourself joining the other "undesirables" in confinement without legal due process. This is not a drill. Bisbee is aligning nationally on Thursday, July 17, from 5:00PM to Sundown (approximately 7:30PM) for our contribution to Good Trouble Lives On. Our location will be in the old town at Grassy Park, adjacent to the Bisbee Mining & Historical Museum. See you there.
July 10, 2025 at 12:56 AM
bisbeeunplugged.bsky.social
Recycling of lithium ion batteries is not only getting more efficient, it's becoming a far less environmentally caustic process. More of this and less of talking about new mining projects here in southern Arizona . . . www.youtube.com/watch?v=i_v-...
Recycling Lithium batteries in 15 minutes. How do they do that?
YouTube video by Just Have a Think
www.youtube.com
June 16, 2025 at 4:41 PM
bisbeeunplugged.bsky.social
The very plain spoken (F-bombs in video alert) Louis Rossmann details how Right To Repair and Right To Own is an essential element in so many aspects of our daily lives, whether it's the cell phone you bought last or a f*cking (sorry) oven on an aircraft carrier. www.youtube.com/watch?v=nNg4...
The US military might as well be dealing with the genius bar...
YouTube video by Louis Rossmann
www.youtube.com
June 16, 2025 at 4:02 PM
bisbeeunplugged.bsky.social
We were part of No Kings Day yesterday in Bisbee. Ours was a significant element of a larger Pride Day parade . . . which, in turn, is part of a big day-long annual celebration down here. So, even though we weren't an official dot on the national map, we did the deed. Good times were had by all.
We were part of No Kings Day yesterday in Bisbee. Ours was a significant element of a larger Pride Day parade . . . which, in turn, is part of a big day-long annual celebration down here. So, even though we weren't an official dot on the national map, we did the deed. Good times were had by all.
June 15, 2025 at 11:59 PM
bisbeeunplugged.bsky.social
Time to call out the hypocrisy of Michigan Democratic Senator Elissa Slotkin and General Motors, who teamed up with the anti-clean-energy MAGA crowd yesterday to vote against California's right to phase out the sale of new fossil fueled vehicles by 2035. www.detroitnews.com/story/busine...
Senate sidesteps referee, ends California's influential EV mandate
President Donald Trump is expected to approve the congressional measure after repeatedly bashing "EV mandates" on the campaign trail last year.
www.detroitnews.com
May 23, 2025 at 1:39 PM
bisbeeunplugged.bsky.social
Excellent analysis here. If Tesla, if fact, would have attempted their own simple $25K pickup, it would have ended selling for $40K . . . which, if you'll remember, was the original projected retail price for the Cybertruck.
johnvoelcker.bsky.social John Voelcker @johnvoelcker.bsky.social · May 22
I almost never spend time on counterfactuals; there’s quite enough to cover in the real #EV world.

But the Slate debut a few weeks ago sparked a thought: This is exactly what #Tesla should have built, instead of the Cybertruck it did.

Delighted to have this as my very first piece in @theverge.com.
What if Tesla made a Slate-like EV instead of the Cybertruck?
A cheap truck could have catapulted Tesla to the big leagues.
www.theverge.com
May 22, 2025 at 7:05 PM
bisbeeunplugged.bsky.social
Notification here that Bisbee, Arizona, will host a public mobilization on Saturday, May 3rd, 12Noon to 2PM.
We march from Bisbee's Iron Man Statue at Noon to Grassy Park just a few blocks away, all in the historic old town. Click the photos for a more detailed narrative.
Of all the atrocities committed by the current political majority in Washington, I'm particularly troubled by the dismantling of clean energy initiatives, denial of climate change as a factor in our planet's future and the general repudiation of logic, sound economics, science and sanity related to all of this. This photo shows the sign I've made for May 3rd. If these issues are as important to you as they are to me, look for my sign on Saturday. I'd like to talk with you further specifically on this. The 1930s WPA era Iron Man Statue in historic old town Bisbee, Arizona, in front of the Cochise County Courthouse. This is where we'll assemble just before 12:00 Noon on Saturday, May 3rd, 2025, for a march down Main Street. We'll end up in Grassy Park , just a few blocks away, moments later for a mobilization gathering that included an open mic for you, your friends and neighbors to verbally express your concerns about our current state of affairs. The Mule Mountain Democrats will also have voter registration forms and information on this fall's special election to fill the US House seat now left vacant after the recent passing of the late, great Raul Grijalva. Conveniently, the May 3rd march and mobilization are rolled into an annually-scheduled weekend celebration we call Hippie Heritage. That event honors the young counterculture optimists who moved here in the early to mid 1970s, just as the copper mining economy was fading, to establish arts, crafts and forward-thinking culture that make this place unique and vibrant today. So, after our mobilization, you're only a few steps away from live music and food. Dress casually for the day. If you've got a tie-died t-shirt and well-worn jeans, you'll fit right in to both the mobilization/march and the Hippie Fest.
April 29, 2025 at 6:33 PM
bisbeeunplugged.bsky.social
OK, I just watched the live reveal earlier tonight for the Slate EV Truck and put down a refundable $50 deposit. If this thing gets here, it promises to be a highly configurable EV that starts at $25K before tax rebates. www.slate.auto/en
OK, I just watched the live reveal earlier tonight for the Slate EV Truck and put down a refundable $50 deposit. If this thing gets here, it promises to be a highly configurable EV that starts at $25K before tax rebates. https://www.slate.auto/en
April 25, 2025 at 4:50 AM
bisbeeunplugged.bsky.social
The cover image from Der Spiegel dating to November 12, 2016. This perfectly sums up Trump's danger to us all on Earth Day 2025.
The cover image from Der Spiegel dating to November 12, 2016. This perfectly sums up Trump's danger to us all on Earth Day 2025.
April 22, 2025 at 10:33 PM
bisbeeunplugged.bsky.social
In the spirit of Earth Day, here's the premier episode of a brand new podcast, "WFT Now?" It's Rick Wheatley in conversation with energy analyst Jan Rosenow: "Three things that are still true about the energy transition."https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ubti4j9eoE4&lc=Ugz9FOpITgNjGUIo7qR4AaABAg
Episode 1: Three things that are still true about the energy transition
YouTube video by WTF Now? by S7
www.youtube.com
April 21, 2025 at 9:09 PM
bisbeeunplugged.bsky.social
I particularly like the analysis of David Borlace regarding the worldwide battery market in this week's Just Have A Think. Earth Day is this Tuesday. I'll be posting several videos, including some longer form ones with renewable energy themes, here in the coming days. www.youtube.com/watch?v=qjPv...
Have batteries just hit their exponential curve??
YouTube video by Just Have a Think
www.youtube.com
April 20, 2025 at 6:22 PM
bisbeeunplugged.bsky.social
This Saturday, April 19th, 9AM to 1PM, I'll have an Earth Day display of solar PV and lithium storage battery tech at the Bisbee Community Market, Vista Park in Warren. There are also a host of Hands Off! mobilizations nearby that same day. I'll have additional information coming up soon.
This Saturday, April 19th, 9AM to 1PM, I'll have an Earth Day display of solar PV, lithium storage battery tech and home electrification tips at the Bisbee Community Market, Vista Park in Warren. I'll also have my EV parked just a few feet away. Obviously, with Cheeto Jesus in charge, what sensible and sane people should be doing to get fossil fuels out of their lives is now characterized as the "Green New Scam." More to say about all of that in the coming days. There are also a host of Hands Off! mobilizations nearby that day in old town Bisbee, Douglas and Sierra Vista. We'll have information on when and where, exactly. The Mule Mountain Democrats are on it. I believe the source of this artwork is The New Yorker magazine, circa 2017. Same stupid "clean coal" policy then as now. This Saturday, April 19th, 9AM to 1PM, I'll have an Earth Day display of solar PV, lithium storage battery tech and home electrification tips at the Bisbee Community Market, Vista Park in Warren. I'll also have my EV parked just a few feet away. Obviously, with Cheeto Jesus in charge, what sensible and sane people should be doing to get fossil fuels out of their lives is now characterized as the "Green New Scam." More to say about all of that in the coming days. There are also a host of Hands Off! mobilizations nearby that day in old town Bisbee, Douglas and Sierra Vista. We'll have information on when and where, exactly. The Mule Mountain Democrats are on it.
April 14, 2025 at 5:35 AM
bisbeeunplugged.bsky.social
#HandsOff #HandsOffAZ We had approx. 250 people show up for our April 5th 'Hands Off!' event in Bisbee, Arizona. Other communities dotted around southeastern Arizona, such as Douglas and Sierra Vista, had similarly impressive turnouts. Click the photos for further details and acknowledgements.
Approximately 250 people assembled at Grassy Park in Bisbee, Arizona, for our April 5th 'Hands Off!' event. Acknowledgment to the local coalition of the Mule Mountain Democrats, ReSisters and Women In Black, as well as our friends with Hands Off! and Indivisible. We also have received word that nearby southern Arizonan communities of Douglas and Sierra Vista had similarly strong showings. Well, I certainly had fun assembling my protest sign collage with a variety of "found objects" culled from online sources . I don't know who the artist responsible for the drooling Trump Roman Emperor image was (I know it dates from about 8 years ago,) but it's particularly poignant rendering for commemorating the 2nd reign of "Comb-over Caligula."
April 6, 2025 at 6:29 PM
bisbeeunplugged.bsky.social
All over the US tomorrow, April 5th - and in Mexico and Canada, from what I hear - non-violent "Hand Off!" mobilizations will be occurring. Here in rural southeast Arizona in towns like Bisbee, Douglas and Sierra Vista, we'll be part of it. Stay safe, everyone.
April 5, 2025 at 5:02 AM
bisbeeunplugged.bsky.social
Here's an interesting take on the solgen idea: 1.6kWh LFP batteries that mostly stay at home - yet renters can take them wherever they go - to backup your appliances in case of a blackout, take advantage of variable rates, modular solar storage, etc. www.pv-magazine.com/2025/03/11/u...
U.S. startup offers plug-and-play, renter-friendly backup battery
The Pila Energy home battery is a portable, renter-friendly backup-power battery with enough energy storage to power a refrigerator for up to three days.
www.pv-magazine.com
March 25, 2025 at 5:47 PM
bisbeeunplugged.bsky.social
More stupidity from MAGA/DOGE affecting Arizona: the cancellation of USDA rural electrification grants that tie into the deployment of solar, directly impacting sustainable agriculture in southern Arizona . . . www.kgun9.com/news/local-n...
Rural electrification grant freeze leaves local farmer in limbo
Local farmer John Rueb of Amado’s Forever Yong Farm is facing financial uncertainty after the federal government froze grants for the Rural Energy for America Program (REAP).
www.kgun9.com
March 18, 2025 at 9:11 PM
bisbeeunplugged.bsky.social
So, why is California Governor Gavin Newsom and his appointed utility commissioners continually vilifying the rooftop/distributed solar industry and consumers? The proposed cancellation of contracts is clearly illegal and only makes the grid dirtier . . . www.youtube.com/watch?v=1IbI...
Solar Rights Alliance Podcast: Newsom Administration proposes to break 2 million solar contracts
YouTube video by Solar Rights Alliance
www.youtube.com
March 18, 2025 at 7:43 PM
bisbeeunplugged.bsky.social
It's plainly obvious that the residents of Tucson don't want the 3 large investor-owned electrical utilities in Arizona to pursue a nuclear powered future . . . www.kgun9.com/news/communi...
Going nuclear: Protestors rally Downtown against proposed plan for new reactor
Arizona's leading utility companies are exploring the addition of a second nuclear reactor to meet the state's growing energy demands
www.kgun9.com
March 12, 2025 at 11:43 PM
bisbeeunplugged.bsky.social
This week's Just Have A Think explores new developments in heat pump technology that can eliminate the refrigerants being used in these devices today . . . www.youtube.com/watch?v=9m2P...
Taking greenhouse gases out of heat pumps. (YES! They do contain them!)
YouTube video by Just Have a Think
www.youtube.com
March 10, 2025 at 12:31 AM
bisbeeunplugged.bsky.social
10 spineless Congressional Democrats voted to censure fellow Representative Al Green, for his standing up to Trump's public display of fascism this past Tuesday evening. Each of these compromised individuals need to be primaried for 2026 and replaced with REAL Democrats . . .
March 6, 2025 at 11:54 PM
bisbeeunplugged.bsky.social
Marvelous conversation with Robert Llewellyn and Saul Griffith on how to - and in some places how NOT to - Electrify Everything . . .

www.youtube.com/watch?v=0pjd...
Saul Griffith On How To Lead the Race To Electrify Everything! | Fully Charged Show Podcast
YouTube video by Everything Electric Show
www.youtube.com
February 24, 2025 at 7:14 AM
bisbeeunplugged.bsky.social
As someone who owns what can be best described a subcompact EV weighing ~2500 lb (~1135 kg,) I'm glad I'm not the only one acknowledging the problem of car bloat and the need for it to be addressed here in the US . . . www.wbur.org/hereandnow/2...
Why large cars are a public health hazard, according to one expert
Four in five cars sold in the United States last year were either SUVs or pickup trucks. That's a far cry from even the 1990s when that number was closer to 25% of all sales.
www.wbur.org
February 15, 2025 at 8:56 PM