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Reposted by Rosemary Vass

Jan Rosenow @janrosenow.bsky.social · 1d

Grid scale batteries are changing our electricity system. Excellent new visual story on batteries in FT today shows just how far this technology has evolved.

Fasten your seatbelts, this is just the beginning.

ig.ft.com/mega-batteri...

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David Pocock @davidpocock.bsky.social · 18h

A new study published in Nature Climate Action finds Woodside’s Scarborough gas project could cause 100s of heat-related deaths & exposed 500k people to unprecedented heat.

Govt can’t claim climate leadership while approving projects like this.
www.afr.com//policy/ener...

Forrest-backed study links Woodside mega-project to hundreds of deaths

The research, conducted by academics at ANU, suggests the massive offshore gas project off the coast of Western Australia will cause warming of 0.00039 degrees.

www.afr.com

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WRI Climate @wriclimate.bsky.social · 1d

🚲🥗🚗 Small choices matter, but big change happens when systems support them.

WRI Climate ranked 19 climate-friendly behaviors to show which ones cut the most emissions and why policies & businesses must make them accessible.

See the list 👉 bit.ly/4q0pWvC

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Ketan Joshi @ketanjoshi.co · 1d

"Currently, data centres in China use between 0.9% and 2.7% of the country’s annual electricity, according to different estimates"

"By 2030, China’s data centres are projected to consume anything from 400TWh to 600TWh of electricity, with associated emissions of perhaps 200MtCO2e"

Explainer: How China is managing the rising energy demand from data centres - Carbon Brief

The rise of artificial intelligence (AI) has driven the “surging” growth of data centres in China, with associated increases in energy demand and emissions

www.carbonbrief.org

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Ketan Joshi @ketanjoshi.co · 1d

This Republican US Senator is kind of neatly laying out the centre-right vision for renewables

- No wind, only solar / batteries
- No displacement of fossil fuels; only supplementing
- Mostly there to serve data centre / AI power demand

This isn't something to celebrate or welcome. It's v v bad

Alec Stapp reposted
Spencer Cox
@SpencerJCox
This is how we lose the AI/energy arms race with China. Our country needs an all-of-the-above approach to energy (like Utah). We should be all in on nuclear/natural gas/geothermal and keeping our coal plants open for as long as possible. However, there are innovation/permitting/supply chain issues slowing those down. While intermittent sources have been overvalued in the past (and offshore wind is a disaster and should be discontinued), the incredible leaps in battery technology completely change the value proposition of solar in the right places. Solar with batteries can now be close to baseload power and we should keep these projects rolling until we get the gas/nuclear/geothermal plants we need.
Quote
Heatmap News
@heatmap_news
·
Oct 10
This just in: The Esmeralda 7 Solar Project — which would have generated a gargantuan 6.2 gigawatts of power — has been canceled, the BLM says.

https://heatmap.news/sparks/esmeralda-7-canceled-nevada-solar
7:22 PM · Oct 10, 2025
·
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Ketan Joshi @ketanjoshi.co · 1d

LOOK WHAT JUST WENT LIVE ON @drilledmedia.bsky.social

(you may recognise one of the names on a future episode.....)

pca.st/2uawcd8j

My mates @dickon.bsky.social + Klimakultur put this entire series together, and I am so excited to consume it all --->>>

The Black Thread, Ep 1 | Meet the Norwegians

pca.st

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Ketan Joshi @ketanjoshi.co · 1d

This is a great, detailed piece of work. There is really no secret here: OpenAI fully intend to use fossil gas to power their data centres.

All the crap about fusion, dyson spheres etc is misdirection. This is what they're *actually* doing:

www.desmog.com/2025/10/13/o...

John McCarrick, the company’s new head of Global Energy Policy, was a senior energy policy advisor in the first Trump administration’s Bureau of Energy Resources in the Department of State while under former Secretaries of State Rex Tillerson and Mike Pompeo.

As deputy assistant secretary for Energy Transformation and the special envoy for International Energy Affairs, McCarrick promoted exports of American liquefied natural gas to Europe in the wake of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and advocated for Asian countries to invest in natural gas.

The choice to hire McCarrick matches the intentions of OpenAI’s Trump-donating CEO Sam Altman, who said in a U.S. Senate hearing in May that “in the short term, I think [the future of powering AI] probably looks like more natural gas.”

It also aligns with the company’s early moves toward powering new data centers, huge warehouses full of linked-up computers that require enormous quantities of water and electricity, to run with gas. OpenAI’s U.S. Stargate Project site in Texas, which is slated to become one of the largest data center sites in the world, is already installing off-grid gas turbines to power its operations.

“Big Tech’s collusion with the Trump administration’s fossil fuel agenda for artificial intelligence is evident in their massive investment in methane gas power infrastructure — as well as pro-gas political operatives like McCarrick,” Tyson Slocum, director of consumer advocacy organization Public Citizen’s Energy Program, said.

The “solution” of powering AI with gas is part of Trump’s AI energy policy platform. In a July speech to announce a $96 billion AI and energy funding package, Trump lauded fossil fuel and coal-powered data center development while flanked by oil and gas executives.

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David Ho @davidho.bsky.social · 21h

Microplastics are released from plastic when exposed to heat, including leaching from tea bags into hot tea and plastic containers releasing nanoplastics when microwaved. While health effects are still unclear, minimizing heating plastic is a simple way to reduce exposure.

Microplastics are everywhere. You can do one simple thing to avoid them.

The biggest sources of microplastics have one thing in common: Heat.

wapo.st

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Zack Labe @zacklabe.com · 20h

Sign on up! ☺️

Climate Central @climatecentral.org · 1d

🌡Every month, Climate Central breaks down the latest science on climate change in a free monthly newsletter delivering:
▶️Localized climate impact insights
▶️Science-backed updates from leading researchers
▶️User-friendly tools and visualizations

Subscribe today!
www.climatecentral.org/list-signup

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David Ho @davidho.bsky.social · 20h

Nobel Prize given for showing the importance of investing in science for innovation and long-term economic growth. Basically the opposite of what the US is doing. 😭

Nature @nature.com · 23h

Joel Mokyr, Philippe Aghion and Pewter Howitt share economics prize for work that underlines the importance of investing in research and development.

go.nature.com/4hj9NNV

Economics Nobel prize won by researchers who showed how science boosts growth

Joel Mokyr, Philippe Aghion and Pewter Howitt share economics prize for work that underlines the importance of investing in research and development.

go.nature.com

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Rosemary Vass @coonavass.bsky.social · 19h

Well done the young people of #TimorLeste! There are many of them and they are the future of that beautiful place of very resilient people.

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Polly Hemming @pollyjhemming.bsky.social · 20h

Timor-Leste just scrapped lifetime pensions for former parliamentarians after student-led protests.

But sure — protest doesn’t work.
#auspol

www.abc.net.au/news/2025-09...

screenshot of ABC article. text captured says Timor-Leste scraps lifetime pensions after student-led protests
Topic:Activism and Lobbying

Fri 26 Sep
Friday 26 September
Police officers in the street usher crowds.
Police appeal to students to clear the road to await the result of the parliamentary vote. (AFP: Valentino Dariell de Sousa)

In short
Protests broke out last week in Timor-Leste, with thousands of demonstrators demanding parliament cancel a $4.2 million plan to purchase SUVs for lawmakers and lifetime pension for MPs and public officials.

Sixty-two members of parliament voted unanimously on Friday to pass a new law that scrapped the pensions for MPs, former presidents, prime ministers and cabinet ministers.

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Rosemary Vass @coonavass.bsky.social · 19h

Ain’t that the truth!! #democracy not #theocracy #Auspol

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Daniel Aldana Cohen @aldasky.bsky.social · 1d

Green economic populism fights fascism by rooting green progress in working class life

—make modern, green housing affordable to all, instead of yelling at immigrants

—build free tranist & EV chargers everywhere, instead of yelling at immigrants

—unionize green economy, instead of elevating Elon

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Climate News @climatenews.bsky.social · 2d

We need Nobel Prizes for Climate

- Nobel Prize for Climate Tech
- Nobel Prize for Climate Journalism
- Nobel Prize for Climate Activism
- Nobel Prize for Climate Infrastructure
- Nobel Prize for Climate Success

Richard Delevan @richard.wickedproblems.earth · 6d

Nobel Prize for Climate Tech. Should actually be a category going forward. But this'll do for today (gift link) - www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

Chemistry Nobel Given for Molecules That Aid Carbon Capture

Scientists from Japan, the UK and Jordan were awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for creating molecular constructions with potential to help combat climate change.

www.bloomberg.com

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Sean Casten @seancasten.bsky.social · 1d

I’m tired of having to repeat this but it still hasn’t sunk through to my economically illiterate colleagues. Clean energy is cheap energy. Attack one and you attack the other. Why not have both? www.washingtonpost.com/climate-envi...

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CAMERON WILSON @cameronwilson.bsky.social · 1d

Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young says she expects the parliamentary committee into Australia's internet search codes/teen social media ban will supoena Meta, Snapchat and TikTok to appear, after they were invited but did not show.

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Olga Nesterova @onestpress.onestnetwork.com · 1d

Watch with sound (if you can)

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Peter Sterne @petersterne.com · 1d

This really highlights how negotiations between Israel and Palestine are negotiations between an occupier and an occupied people.

Diana B. Greenwald @dbgreenwald.bsky.social · 1d

Israel raided prisoner family homes across five districts in the West Bank. www.middleeasteye.net/news/west-ba...

Israel raids homes of West Bank prisoners set to be released in deal

Families of captive Palestinians threatened not to celebrate release of family members following ceasefire deal

www.middleeasteye.net

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Greg Jericho @grogsgamut.bsky.social · 1d

Failed MPs should be banned from being able to sit in the senate

CAMERON WILSON @cameronwilson.bsky.social · 1d

Senator Henderson to Yahoo: "You're displaying on your front page... a photo which looks like a woman exposing her buttocks. Then when you go into it, you see that those are two. bald heads in front of the woman... Can I ask you to explain why this is on your front page?"

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Greg Jericho @grogsgamut.bsky.social · 1d

Senator Henderson: I mean what even is this magic???

Drawing of a young women or old woman or possibly an image Sarah Henderson thinks should be banned from the internet, at this point, who the fuck knows.

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Zack Labe @zacklabe.com · 4d

This morning was the first frost and freeze for many across the Northeast. As a snow/winter fan, I am very excited! 🥶

Check out @climatecentral.org's latest analysis this week on how the first freeze is getting later due to climate change across CONUS: www.climatecentral.org/climate-matt...

Map showing the average first freeze date across the contiguous United States. Data is from RCC ACIS, and the graphic was created by Climate Central.

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David Ho @davidho.bsky.social · 4d

Any academic willing and able to leave the US would do it in the Trump era. There aren’t that many places that pay academics as well as the US but Switzerland is definitely one that does (in fact it pays way more).

Florian Scheuer @florianscheuer.bsky.social · 4d

I am delighted to share that Nobel laureates Esther Duflo and Abhijit Banerjee will join our Department of Economics @econ.uzh.ch at the University of Zurich on July 1, 2026, as Lemann Foundation Professors of Economics.

🧵 1/7

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Zack Labe @zacklabe.com · 4d

Friday ice update - #Arctic sea ice extent is currently the 11th lowest on record (JAXA data)

• about 20,000 km² below the 2010s mean
• about 1,300,000 km² below the 2000s mean
• about 2,400,000 km² below the 1990s mean
• about 3,040,000 km² below the 1980s mean

More: zacklabe.com/arctic-sea-i...

Line graph time series of 2025's daily Arctic sea ice extent compared to decadal averages from the 1980s to the 2010s. The decadal averages are shown with different colored lines with purple for the 1980s, blue for the 1990s, green for the 2000s, and white for the 2010s. Thin white lines are also shown for each year from 2000 to 2024. 2025 is shown with a thick gold line. There is a long-term decreasing trend in ice extent for every day of the year shown on this graph between August and November by looking at the decadal average line positions.

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Ketan Joshi @ketanjoshi.co · 4d

Where did "speed to power" come from? Suddenly hearing it everywhere now. It doesn't even really make sense as a phrase?

Tony Dutzik @frontiertony.bsky.social · 4d

All the lip gloss being put on the AI boom as somehow good for climate or the energy transition is masking that, at the present moment, it's a disaster.

Not only more gas generation, but the worst, dirtiest, least efficient kind. Turning the clock back 25 years.
heatmap.news/energy/natur...

Data Centers Have Solved Their Speed-to-Power Problem — With Natural Gas

“Old economy” companies like Caterpillar and Williams are cashing in by selling smaller, less-efficient turbines to impatient developers.

heatmap.news

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