Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Reposted by Stevie P

Ember @ember-energy.org · 1d

#India recorded its LARGEST ever increase in both #solar and #wind in the first half of 2025 ☀️🌪️🇮🇳

Solar rose 17 TWh (+25%) and wind 11 TWh (+29%) 📈

Solar growth alone was bigger than demand growth, while wind matched it.

https://loom.ly/c-MNZSk

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Stevie P @steviep1963.bsky.social · 1d

With all the other major news going on at the moment, and with all the negative nonsense spouted about renewables in the USA, Dave Borlace's latest "Just Have a Think" gives another, better perspective.

#JustHaveaThink #RenewableEnergy #CleanEnergy #EnergyTransition

youtu.be/Tix2HMNcy3Q?...

The battle for American energy supremacy.

YouTube video by Just Have a Think

youtu.be

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Doug Parr @dougparr.bsky.social · 4d

“I think China is using [clean technology] in a very, very geopolitically savvy way, taking advantage of America’s stupidity and regression back into a petrostate. China just wins. America has abrogated the playing field.”

www.ft.com/content/013e...

The ‘profound’ global impact of China’s rise as an electrostate

The country’s companies now dominate many clean technology industries

www.ft.com

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Robert Llewellyn @bobbyllew.bsky.social · 3d

We are showing the first episode to a special episode of ZapHeap.
It is kind of exciting.

An audience watching the fist episode of ZapHeap on a large screen

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Alice Roberts @profaliceroberts.bsky.social · 4d

A particularly fabulous episode of my current favourite podcast here - as @aiannucci.bsky.social and @nataliehaynes.bsky.social discuss bad rhetoric, the ghost of Goebbels, the persistence of Cicero and chocolate for Britian. Listen, listen, listen!
podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/s...

Strong Message Here

Comedy Podcast · Updated weekly · Armando Iannucci hosts the programme that gives you a cast-iron guarantee to be laser-focused on decoding the baffling world of political language. Each week he'll be...

podcasts.apple.com

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Ember @ember-energy.org · 4d

World seeing the first signs of a ‘critical turning point’ in the clean transition ⚡🌏

The Global Solar Council notes solar and wind are no longer marginal, while the Powering Past Coal Alliance points to the strong economic case for replacing coal with renewables.

https://loom.ly/cs-EXxY

World has reached a ‘critical turning point’ in switch to renewable energy

Solar and wind power outpaced the growth in worldwide electricity demand

www.independent.co.uk

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Stevie P @steviep1963.bsky.social · 4d

Another fine article from @hannahritchie.bsky.social and the good folk at @ourworldindata.org

"It’s easy to conflate what we see in the news with the reality of our world, and keeping this mismatch in mind can help you avoid falling into this trap."

ourworldindata.org/does-the-new...

Does the news reflect what we die from?

What do Americans die from, and what do the New York Times, Washington Post, and Fox News report on?

ourworldindata.org

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Stevie P @steviep1963.bsky.social · 4d

Where indeed is the wall-to-wall media coverage of this Reform politician pleading Guilty to Bribery?

Angela Rayner was pilloried across TV, radio, print and socials for weeks just for tax avoidance.

BBC News - Ex-Reform politician admits Russia-linked bribery charges
www.bbc.com/news/article...

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Stevie P @steviep1963.bsky.social · 4d

This is an important report and I think the recommendations need to be implemented now. We cannot let our institutions be victims to the same interference, mismanagement and political pressures facing scientists and scientific organisations in the USA and other authoritarian regimes.

Prof Christina Pagel @chrischirp.bsky.social · 5d

🧵🚨

The UK’s independent scientific bodies are highly vulnerable to politicisation - over the past 5 months I've been working with @martinmckee.bsky.social to map out their vulnerabilities and it's not good news.

Today our report is published!
www.ucl.ac.uk/policy-lab/n...

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UK’s arm’s length public bodies are highly vulnerable to politicisation

Seven in ten Britons say it is important for top scientific institutions to be independent in exclusive new polling.

www.ucl.ac.uk

Stevie P @steviep1963.bsky.social · 7d

Awesome! We've still got a long way to go, but the momentum is building!

#RenewableEnergy #CleanEnergy #EverythingElectric #ElectroTech

BBC News - Renewables overtake coal as world's biggest source of electricity - BBC News
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Renewables overtake coal as world's biggest source of electricity

Developing countries lead the historic clean energy charge but the US and EU rely more on fossil fuels than before, a think tank study shows.

www.bbc.co.uk

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Andrew Copson @andrewcopson.bsky.social · 10d

The Convention on Human Rights is one of the greatest achievements of European civilisation following one of its greatest tragedies. To join Russia in leaving it would be one of the biggest acts of national self-sabotage in history and have zero positive consequences www.bbc.com/news/article...

UK will leave ECHR if Tories win election, Badenoch says

The European Convention on Human Rights has become a focal point in debates around changing immigration policy.

www.bbc.com

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Stevie P @steviep1963.bsky.social · 11d

Stop subsidising fossil fuels; stop setting the price of electricity according to the highest bidder (gas!); stop funding the fantasy of CCS. Renewables will get us there cheaper and cleaner in the long run.

Oh... Where's the humour? 😳

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Natalie Bennett @nataliegreenpeer.bsky.social · 11d

The Reform Party isn’t just pushing hideous policies on migration.

Its anti-abortion wing, shaped by the US Christian right, threatens women’s rights here too.
This must be called out and resisted.

#ReformParty #WomensRights

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Stevie P @steviep1963.bsky.social · 11d

The purpose of a community benefit society is to serve the broader interests of the community, in contrast to co-operative societies that serve the interests of members.

Any profit made by a community benefit society must be used for the benefit of the community.

www.uk.coop/resources/co...

www.uk.coop

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Stevie P @steviep1963.bsky.social · 11d

Lots more information here:

share.google/XTFmts0UAJc8...

The Voice of the Community Energy Sector | Community Energy England

We are a not-for-profit organisation dedicated to helping community energy organisations create and implement new projects by advocating for a policy landscape that will support community energy an...

share.google

Stevie P @steviep1963.bsky.social · 11d

This is a great feature on how Community Benefit Societies can advance local renewable energy schemes for the immediate benefit of the people in the vicinity (rather than big multinational corporations).

#CleanEnergy #Electrotech #EverythingElectric #RenewableEnergy

youtu.be/2KWFsIeVpf4?...

Community Energy: The Future is Local!

YouTube video by Everything Electric TECH

youtu.be

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Victoria Coren Mitchell @vcorenmitchell.bsky.social · 11d

Making topical comedy at bleak news times can be so tough but, in my book, it’s thank heavens for the return of Have I Got News For You, where Ian and Paul work magic to conjure laughs when there are none. Tonight with wonderful Miles Jupp and Sheila Hancock - and me trying to host. 9pm on BBC One.

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Ros Atkins @rosatkins.bsky.social · 11d

I listened to all ten episodes of this new history podcast in a couple of days. There's no narrator - the story is told with the accounts of those involved. I couldn't stop listening once I'd started. www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/...

The History Podcast - The Fort - 1. The Plan - BBC Sounds

A mission gone wrong. A daring rescue attempt. Told by the soldiers who were there.

www.bbc.co.uk

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Humanists UK @humanists.uk · 12d

'It is certain, in any case, that ignorance, allied with power, is the most ferocious enemy justice can have.'

Great words for today and every day after – from James Baldwin: a humanist, a black American, a gay man, and one of the most incisive moral voices of the 20th century.

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Stevie P @steviep1963.bsky.social · 13d

The UK government needs to act on their proposals rather than just talking more about them. Get the grid upgraded now.

#CleanEnergy #RenewableEnergy #ElectricTech

Government sets out reforms to create a fair, secure, affordable and efficient electricity system - GOV.UK share.google/FAky2NqMeDjT...

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Stevie P @steviep1963.bsky.social · 14d

"The conclusion: if we want to save ourselves from ever more dangerous weather there is no alternative to halting the production of carbon dioxide in the first place."

www.theguardian.com/news/2025/se...

Carbon capture – the get-out-of-jail-free card that does not actually work

Engineers have been trying to perfect the technology for years but the maximum effect it could manage is far short of what the planet needs

www.theguardian.com

Stevie P @steviep1963.bsky.social · 14d

New "Just Have a Think" episode from Dave Borlace, this time on the madness of "Carbon Capture and Storage" - a colossal waste of money when we should just #StopBurningStuff and leave the fossil fuels in the ground. #RenewableEnergy #JustHaveAThink #EverythingElectric

youtu.be/VcNhRqEIrec?...

The INSANE Carbon Capture SCAM continues.

YouTube video by Just Have a Think

youtu.be

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Andrew Copson @andrewcopson.bsky.social · 14d

The notion that we must accept one form of religious extremism in order to guard against another is a false choice. The defence of an open, liberal society should be based on principled secularism and universal human rights, not a cynical, self-defeating bargain.

One extremism won’t save you from another

In the face of concerns about rising Christian Nationalism in the UK, the retort from some quarters has been to suggest that it is at least a better option than Islamic fundamentalism. This implies a ...

humanists.uk

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Andrew Copson @andrewcopson.bsky.social · 15d

I'll always remember what Ian McEwan said on the #WhatIBelieve podcast about the power of books to open the universe a little wider & make us more alive to kaleidoscopically tiny things. It's true! Reading helps children (& adults!) foster imagination, understanding, & empathy.

This is great news.

Rachel Reeves pledges a library in every primary school in England

Exclusive: Chancellor also set to unveil plans to get young people back into work in party conference speech

www.theguardian.com

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Dan Snow @thehistoryguy.bsky.social · 14d

Britain dominated the era of coal, the USA won the oil century and the Chinese are looking like the solar hegemons.

Jan Rosenow @janrosenow.bsky.social · 14d

Nigeria’s solar moment: 1.7 GW of Chinese panels imported in the past year, leapfrogging Egypt to become Africa’s #2.

Part of a 60% YoY surge across the continent per @ember-energy.org data.

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