Hugh Daigle
@hdaigle.bsky.social
Professor, Hildebrand Department of Petroleum and Geosystems Engineering, University of Texas at Austin. Into decarbonization, gas hydrates, nanotechnology, birds. #energysky
I grew up not far from Canterbury Shaker Village in New Hampshire. The Shakers lived simple lives but were always interested in technology that would make life easier and more productive. They electrified the village with battery storage in 1910! 1/2 www.shakers.org/wp-content/u...
December 9, 2025 at 2:35 AM
I grew up not far from Canterbury Shaker Village in New Hampshire. The Shakers lived simple lives but were always interested in technology that would make life easier and more productive. They electrified the village with battery storage in 1910! 1/2 www.shakers.org/wp-content/u...
Our neighborhood in Austin has also been under the gas line replacement scourge for like forever. If 38th street is still closed during school pickup in the spring I’m a flip out. It’s been a year. But seriously- I get we’re reducing leaks but cui bono? How best to reduce CO2 emissions?
PG&E is in my street, replacing the main gas line for six blocks. Then, they’re going to come through and re-do the service to each house. Five months work for multiple crews, heavy machinery, then a full repave.
Wouldn’t it be cheaper, @volts.wtf , if they just electrified every house instead?
Wouldn’t it be cheaper, @volts.wtf , if they just electrified every house instead?
December 6, 2025 at 2:41 AM
Our neighborhood in Austin has also been under the gas line replacement scourge for like forever. If 38th street is still closed during school pickup in the spring I’m a flip out. It’s been a year. But seriously- I get we’re reducing leaks but cui bono? How best to reduce CO2 emissions?
Did you know that the Boston Public Library is the only building in the world with the names of all 4 ninja turtles engraved on it?
Bluesky Wrapped but it's just your most reposted crash outs of former gifted kids talking about their favorite ninja turtle.
Bluesky Wrapped and it’s a compilation of your top 10 most cringe posts* which each got 1-3 mercy likes
*per month
*per month
December 4, 2025 at 2:46 AM
Did you know that the Boston Public Library is the only building in the world with the names of all 4 ninja turtles engraved on it?
It’s late but I just donated to @kutnews.bsky.social for giving Tuesday. Whenever I travel elsewhere (cough cough Houston) I realize how special our local radio ecosystem is and how much it provides to/reflects the community. Keep up the good work y’all!
December 3, 2025 at 2:36 AM
It’s late but I just donated to @kutnews.bsky.social for giving Tuesday. Whenever I travel elsewhere (cough cough Houston) I realize how special our local radio ecosystem is and how much it provides to/reflects the community. Keep up the good work y’all!
Happy to contribute to this @marketplace.org piece on the ongoing oil glut. US production reached another record in September, but prices are stagnant due to efficiency increases, tariffs, and weakening demand due to EVs and other decarbonization. www.marketplace.org/story/2025/1...
There's a glut of oil. Here's why
The U.S. is up, OPEC is down.
www.marketplace.org
December 2, 2025 at 3:32 AM
Happy to contribute to this @marketplace.org piece on the ongoing oil glut. US production reached another record in September, but prices are stagnant due to efficiency increases, tariffs, and weakening demand due to EVs and other decarbonization. www.marketplace.org/story/2025/1...
Happy thanksgiving eve. I always think of this Bill Buford piece from 2006 speculating on why we call the wild turkey - Meleagris gallopavo - a turkey. The species name literally means “chicken peacock.” The Aztecs has a perfectly good name- guajalote. www.newyorker.com/magazine/200...
Talking Turkey
The man who communicates with gobblers.
www.newyorker.com
November 26, 2025 at 11:53 PM
Happy thanksgiving eve. I always think of this Bill Buford piece from 2006 speculating on why we call the wild turkey - Meleagris gallopavo - a turkey. The species name literally means “chicken peacock.” The Aztecs has a perfectly good name- guajalote. www.newyorker.com/magazine/200...
Already thinking about AGU (ok fine bc I haven’t done most of the work yet) and I noticed my talk is (checks notes) 7 minutes long? Yikes. Might just have a Q&A.
November 26, 2025 at 2:48 AM
Already thinking about AGU (ok fine bc I haven’t done most of the work yet) and I noticed my talk is (checks notes) 7 minutes long? Yikes. Might just have a Q&A.
I just deactivated my account on the other place. The news today was the proverbial straw that broke the camel’s back- let’s keep this place from being a space where rage-baiting is a natural progression to make a buck.
November 24, 2025 at 2:58 AM
I just deactivated my account on the other place. The news today was the proverbial straw that broke the camel’s back- let’s keep this place from being a space where rage-baiting is a natural progression to make a buck.
Boss at my industry job said I would fail in academia
November 23, 2025 at 5:44 AM
Boss at my industry job said I would fail in academia
Some people got big mad about this for some reason! Electrification with renewables and battery storage is already proving how we’ll achieve large scale decarbonization based on current trajectories. The hydrogen use case is diminishing in these areas.
Hydrogen use cases moving forward are decarbonizing industrial processes - steel, cement, hydrocracking. I’m pessimistic on anything else (transportation, energy storage). Sorry y’all, sad trombone &c. 2/2
November 19, 2025 at 2:52 AM
Some people got big mad about this for some reason! Electrification with renewables and battery storage is already proving how we’ll achieve large scale decarbonization based on current trajectories. The hydrogen use case is diminishing in these areas.
I’m having my sustainable energy class present this week on hydrogen use cases and, I’m going to be honest- it’s bleak. For hydrogen at least. Solar + wind + electrification are winning. Which is probably good. 1/2
November 18, 2025 at 2:26 AM
I’m having my sustainable energy class present this week on hydrogen use cases and, I’m going to be honest- it’s bleak. For hydrogen at least. Solar + wind + electrification are winning. Which is probably good. 1/2
“Where, “ 🤬🤬
Equations are parts of the sentence and should be punctuated as such
What's your most niche and unimportant crusade?
Mine is that I use the symbol "var" (as scientific standards bodies indicate) for reactive power instead of "VAR" (most common) or something weird like "Var" or worse, "VAr".
I'll admit it does feel a bit odd to put "Mvar" next to "MW" and "MVA". 🔌💡
Mine is that I use the symbol "var" (as scientific standards bodies indicate) for reactive power instead of "VAR" (most common) or something weird like "Var" or worse, "VAr".
I'll admit it does feel a bit odd to put "Mvar" next to "MW" and "MVA". 🔌💡
November 15, 2025 at 2:45 AM
“Where, “ 🤬🤬
Equations are parts of the sentence and should be punctuated as such
What's your most niche and unimportant crusade?
Mine is that I use the symbol "var" (as scientific standards bodies indicate) for reactive power instead of "VAR" (most common) or something weird like "Var" or worse, "VAr".
I'll admit it does feel a bit odd to put "Mvar" next to "MW" and "MVA". 🔌💡
Mine is that I use the symbol "var" (as scientific standards bodies indicate) for reactive power instead of "VAR" (most common) or something weird like "Var" or worse, "VAr".
I'll admit it does feel a bit odd to put "Mvar" next to "MW" and "MVA". 🔌💡
November 15, 2025 at 2:02 AM
Equations are parts of the sentence and should be punctuated as such
I won the 2-factor authentication lottery today
November 13, 2025 at 8:36 PM
I won the 2-factor authentication lottery today
Aurora borealis in Hyde Park LOL JK it’s the lights from the UT intramural fields!
November 13, 2025 at 1:49 AM
Aurora borealis in Hyde Park LOL JK it’s the lights from the UT intramural fields!
Walden Pond, Sunday morning 11/9
November 12, 2025 at 2:25 AM
Walden Pond, Sunday morning 11/9
Austin Energy with huge growth in solar generation. Flew home from Boston today and honestly the amount of solar installed between Dallas and here is astounding. And it can be (& is being) installed close to demand, avoiding wind’s transmission problem. www.kxan.com/news/local/a...
www.kxan.com
November 11, 2025 at 2:21 AM
Austin Energy with huge growth in solar generation. Flew home from Boston today and honestly the amount of solar installed between Dallas and here is astounding. And it can be (& is being) installed close to demand, avoiding wind’s transmission problem. www.kxan.com/news/local/a...
Impressive wait times for an odd-year election with only a bunch of constitutional amendments and a single proposition on the ballot. I think prop Q is driving turnout, but moreover I think people are just venting. I found it cathartic to vote this morning; my wife called it “hate voting.”
November 4, 2025 at 11:13 PM
Impressive wait times for an odd-year election with only a bunch of constitutional amendments and a single proposition on the ballot. I think prop Q is driving turnout, but moreover I think people are just venting. I found it cathartic to vote this morning; my wife called it “hate voting.”
My 7th grader carved his pumpkin and included “6-7” as an Easter egg. Can you find it?
October 31, 2025 at 1:09 AM
My 7th grader carved his pumpkin and included “6-7” as an Easter egg. Can you find it?
i don’t know how to cross-post this from FB but this is absolutely heartbreaking. The age of scientific ocean discovery we were brought up in is gone & will never come back. I can’t.
October 30, 2025 at 2:51 AM
i don’t know how to cross-post this from FB but this is absolutely heartbreaking. The age of scientific ocean discovery we were brought up in is gone & will never come back. I can’t.
Monarch butterflies coming through Austin
October 28, 2025 at 2:28 AM
Monarch butterflies coming through Austin
I was a little confused about Real Simple teaching us about the wind but then I saw it’s actually a conversation with @drkatemarvel.bsky.social! Worth a read. Well done.
October 25, 2025 at 2:08 AM
I was a little confused about Real Simple teaching us about the wind but then I saw it’s actually a conversation with @drkatemarvel.bsky.social! Worth a read. Well done.
Snapshotted from The Other Place… China is eating our lunch on nuclear energy. H/t @dwallacewells.bsky.social
October 24, 2025 at 2:25 AM
Snapshotted from The Other Place… China is eating our lunch on nuclear energy. H/t @dwallacewells.bsky.social
Austin Energy (our local publicly owned utility) with a big battery storage deal: austinenergy.com/about/news/n...
Austin Energy signs Battery Storage Deal, Advancing Climate and Reliability Goals
austinenergy.com
October 24, 2025 at 12:11 AM
Austin Energy (our local publicly owned utility) with a big battery storage deal: austinenergy.com/about/news/n...
I don’t know about the West Coast areas but there’s very little resource potential on the Atlantic margin. Baltimore Canyon Trough, Carolina Trough, Georgia Embayment, all explored by the majors + COST wells back in the 70s and there‘s nothing. 1/2
Exclusive: Leaked documents detail Trump's plans to open East and West coasts to offshore oil drilling.
www.yahoo.com/news/article...
www.yahoo.com/news/article...
Exclusive: Leaked documents detail Trump's plans to open East and West coasts to offshore oil drilling
The Trump administration plans to open whole swaths of the East and West Coasts to offshore drilling, including areas previously protected for environmental reasons, documents show.
www.yahoo.com
October 23, 2025 at 1:35 AM
I don’t know about the West Coast areas but there’s very little resource potential on the Atlantic margin. Baltimore Canyon Trough, Carolina Trough, Georgia Embayment, all explored by the majors + COST wells back in the 70s and there‘s nothing. 1/2