Seeing wave energy hype on my Youtube feed: "Haha nope, but maybe I'll watch in good faith." After watching video: "Yeah no lol." From pilot commercial in 2026-2028 to $76/MWh in 2035 after 600MW to $32-$43/MWh after 20GW? I'll believe it when I see it.

Amused that Alexander Zaitchik @newrepublic.com attacks @billmckibben.bsky.social’s citation of my paper on clean tech minerals in critiquing McKibben’s “ecomodernist optimism” on green growth, yet doesn’t point to anything specifically wrong with my research. Spoiler: I’m right.🧵

Great Bloomberg piece with @arnabdatta.bsky.social @petereharrell.bsky.social‘s thoughts on the US rare earths deal with MP Materials. Explains pros/cons of the model for US minerals strategy and how an institutional reserve program could unify such efforts.🧵 www.bloomberg.com/news/newslet...

Great Bloomberg piece with @arnabdatta.bsky.social @petereharrell.bsky.social‘s thoughts on the US rare earths deal with MP Materials. Explains pros/cons of the model for US minerals strategy and how an institutional reserve program could unify such efforts.🧵 www.bloomberg.com/news/newslet...

The Hawthorne Army Depot in western Nevada, a sprawling ammunition stockpile spanning many miles around the town of Hawthorne and also the site of a mysterious, newly-announced public-private Strategic Minerals Reserve backed by the DoD and DOE. 38.549, -118.607

Partisan sins impeding US industrial strategy: - right dislikes immigration + unions - left dislikes heavy industry/mining - left dislikes permitting reform - right dislikes wind/solar and EVs - right dislikes universities - right dislikes int’l cooperation - right dislikes subsidies Discuss.

Congress is back from recess and it looks like the House Subcommittee on Energy and Mineral Resources is wasting no time discussing proposals related to mining. Here's what was on the docket for the legislative hearing yesterday (9/3) 🧵 naturalresources.house.gov/calendar/eve...

Digging through some photos from my time at Nyrstar and found this one of the barite brain Nyrstar had so many great samples in their collection from years of mining. Gem hunters know it as the Elmwood Mine, famous for its fluorite with irregular etching called Carthage Corners

At high voltages, I²R losses are lower so you can get away with higher resistance. And long lengths of copper can become prohibitively expensive.

It seems this remains a surprisingly common misperception, but for the record high-voltage transmission cables are aluminum alloys, not copper! 61% the conductivity of copper, far lower weight and cost. (Picture taken in Briones Regional Park east of Berkeley, California)

Heading to DC for the Abundance event to join my @thebti.bsky.social colleagues and Im already excited to hear what more the Anthropocene has in store But if you are ever pessimistic, a dose of the New York City skyline is always a great reminder of what the human-built world can be like

"Lithium-iron-phosphate batteries are thriving. Sodium-ion is coming. We won't need nickel/cobalt. Maybe not even lithium." I don't think such extrapolation is right. Many advances in LFP (eg anode) also boost NMC energy density, helping push NMC into trucking/ferries/planes.

Driving Friday on I-95, passed Robeson Community College in Lumberton NC where practice distibution utility poles are set up to train students as linemen + technicians. Google Street View from January shows a class in progress. Happy Labor Day.

New from me: political thinkers debating America’s future should avoid too narrowly conflating solar success with good energy policy. The political and technical messiness of the grid will pose complex challenges to both the abundance camp and its critics. 🧵 thebreakthrough.org/issues/energ...

New from me: political thinkers debating America’s future should avoid too narrowly conflating solar success with good energy policy. The political and technical messiness of the grid will pose complex challenges to both the abundance camp and its critics. 🧵 thebreakthrough.org/issues/energ...

Nice thread from my colleague @cookpj.bsky.social answering the shower question you've always wondered... how much metal would the U.S. save if it ceased production of physical coinage (pennies, nickels, etc...)? For comparison Indonesia produced 2.2 million tons of nickel in 2024.

Interesting final results on an informal poll I posted yesterday! I lean towards the 2nd choice (7% to 15%)--I think models under assess how much enhanced geothermal will contribute to the grid by 2035, 2045 but I seem to be with a majority who don't see geothermal's ceiling as eye-poppingly high.

This is really an interesting USGS dynamic map through time. Black = bulk, quarried minerals like sand, gravel, gypsum. Red = coal + hardrock minerals (copper, gold, iron). h/t to my colleague @cookpj.bsky.social (media below is screenshot not video, no use hitting play--see link in Peter's post!)

Nice thread from my colleague @cookpj.bsky.social on the mining and federal land use implications of Mineral Extraction for Renewable Industry and Critical Applications Act introduced in Congress in June... aka the MERICA Act.

This new @natclimate.nature.com paper by Wei et al. may make the rounds for its flashy finding that in 557 global energy transition scenarios tested, every scenario faced critical mineral shortages by 2100. I’ll be clear I don’t really agree with this conclusion. My thoughts below. 🧵

Great balanced piece by @alexckaufman.bsky.social on a new @natclimate.nature.com paper and risks of energy mineral shortages. Predicting mineral use to 2100 is hard, with many uncertainties/substitutions that could—and IMO arguably will—avoid mineral exhaustion. www.theatlantic.com/science/arch...

Major explosion today at the US Steel Clairton Coke Works in Clairton, PA. Local news now reporting one worker dead, two missing, and dozens injured. Something went very wrong here and I expect the Steelworkers will demand answers and accountability. www.wtae.com/article/us-s...

Three things can be true at once, via @cookpj.bsky.social: 1. the metallurgical coal subsidy probably makes life harder for American steel, not easier. 2. the subsidy's $190M/yr spend would be far more valuable if aimed at urgent critical mineral projects... thebreakthrough.org/issues/energ...

The One Big Beautiful Bill Act phased out tax credits for critical minerals and gave them to metallurgical coal—which the US net exports This is the latest setback for the US’s strategy to secure supply chains against China My @thebti.bsky.social article on why thebreakthrough.org/issues/energ...

The only thing I'm surprised by is how long it took the Trump administration to do this subscriber.politicopro.com/article/eene...

This new @natclimate.nature.com paper by Wei et al. may make the rounds for its flashy finding that in 557 global energy transition scenarios tested, every scenario faced critical mineral shortages by 2100. I’ll be clear I don’t really agree with this conclusion. My thoughts below. 🧵

Recommend @matthuber.bsky.social @leighphillips.bsky.social @fredstaffordcs.bsky.social in @jacobinmag.bsky.social as a key intervention on abundance. Both private market interests + an NGO-govt-legal bureaucracy hinder abundance. Class struggle must overcome both to deliver a plentiful future.

Do check our our new report from last week: a bottom-up analysis of US strategy for 15 energy minerals, from which we distill smart principles for running a US critical minerals reserve. If you've wanted a report offering both depth + big-picture insights, you'll like this one.

Congress introduced a bipartisan critical mineral bill on July 28 called the Critical Minerals Investment Tax Modernization Act. The bill would raise the depletion allowance for rare earth elements from 14% to 22%. 🧵 adriansmith.house.gov/media/press-....

Great op-ed essay from @osguido.bsky.social today in the @capitolweekly.bsky.social hammering home the point that for a state like California prioritizing clean energy efforts, a continued statewide nuclear moratorium remains highly counterproductive. capitolweekly.net/california-i...

Hyundai Ioniqs were the private EV I saw most in Jakarta, but premium taxi fleets are prominently using BYD models, and I saw several new BYD dealerships. BYD billboard advertisements are common, with a BYD booth present in the Jakarta high-speed rail station. Public EV buses are Chinese Skywells.

Aluminum under construction--the hydro-powered Rio Tinto Arvida smelter in Quebec is undertaking a large scale modernization, building two new potlines with highly efficient AP60 electrolytic cells (right side) and slowly shuttering older potlines onsite. 48.43 -71.16

1.5 wks ago I visited Jakarta for a research meeting. I've now taken a high-speed train in Indonesia prior to ever taking high-speed rail in the US. In fact I was en route to the station when I saw articles say Trump will pull $4B in funds from the troubled California project.

Intriguing new @carbonbrief.org piece out by @laurimyllyvirta.bsky.social exploring global CO2 cuts by China's clean tech sector activities from several angles. Interesting how much solar PV dominates. Explored these results a bit. I think they're directionally correct, albeit with nuances: 🧵

Terrible tragedy. Six students from Northeastern Univ in Shenyang have passed away after a grate walkway failed, plunging them into a froth flotation tank while visiting the Wunugetushan Zhongjin Corporation copper-molybdenum mine in Inner Mongolia. www.washingtonpost.com/world/2025/0...

Flying home yesterday from @thebti.bsky.social's event in D.C. to release our new critical mineral stockpiling report I couldn't help but notice a geological curiosity right in my backyard....... Sutter Buttes 🧵 bsky.app/profile/cook...

Should a US national critical minerals reserve program act more like the National Defense Stockpile or more like the Strategic Petroleum Reserve? Major new report by my team deep dives into this question, looking at 15 minerals relevant to energy. My thoughts🧵: thebreakthrough.org/issues/energ...

In our new report, colleagues @cookpj.bsky.social @wang-seaver.bsky.social and I outline a policy framework and recommend best practices for a critical mineral reserve that would promote market stability and global competitiveness for US advanced energy industries thebreakthrough.org/issues/energ...

Should a US national critical minerals reserve program act more like the National Defense Stockpile or more like the Strategic Petroleum Reserve? Major new report by my team deep dives into this question, looking at 15 minerals relevant to energy. My thoughts🧵: thebreakthrough.org/issues/energ...

New original analysis by colleague @ryanalimento.bsky.social argues green urea production stays far too pricey for widespread application for Sub-Saharan African countries even at green H2 costs <$1/kg. But low-CO2 blue urea via gas + CO2 capture may prove more affordable. 🧵

New original analysis by colleague @ryanalimento.bsky.social argues green urea production stays far too pricey for widespread application for Sub-Saharan African countries even at green H2 costs <$1/kg. But low-CO2 blue urea via gas + CO2 capture may prove more affordable. 🧵

New mine project lead times are long and many policy thinkers look to permitting for ways to accelerate, but a provocative white paper by colleague @cookpj.bsky.social points out big opportunities to cut lead times by investing in more public mineral exploration. thebreakthrough.org/issues/energ...

New mine project lead times are long and many policy thinkers look to permitting for ways to accelerate, but a provocative white paper by colleague @cookpj.bsky.social points out big opportunities to cut lead times by investing in more public mineral exploration. thebreakthrough.org/issues/energ...

The US has so far prioritized permitting reform to build more critical mineral mines My latest @thebti.bsky.social article shows why we need to do more on exploration too Remember: permitting is only one stage in developing a mine but even finding a deposit can take just as long!

Honest question, do folks have any papers or references they hold in high regard concerning the life-cycle impacts of cutting forest to build solar PV? Have been thinking recently of how many countries are heavily forested. Surprised to learn Japan is more forested than Brazil!

Just to the south, you then find this remarkable example of floating solar with the same CHN Energy corporate logo... co-colated with the 1.98 GW coal-fired Ningdong power station! 37.838, 106.783

Preliminary thoughts: 50% tariffs on copper including imports from Chile and Mexico is misguided policy, inflationary, and counterproductive to any energy dominance or grid buildout agenda. www.reuters.com/business/gol...

Corporate logo written with solar panels in China. This is, per @globalenergymon.bsky.social, part of the 1.5 GW (AC) Ningxia-Zhejiang Power Export Ningdong solar farm in the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region. Owner is the China Energy Investment Group, hence the logo. 37.928, 106.726

This interview with @wang-seaver.bsky.social is a masterclass in solar manufacturing. Dude is the GOAT. youtu.be/jA5iLB1lJDA

Glad to chat on Decouple pod re: fast progress in solar + PV manufacturing / implications of supply chain links to Xinjiang My provocation: “why China is good at solar manufacturing = why China is good at metals + critical minerals: cheap energy + cheap feedstock” open.spotify.com/episode/22my...