"direct lithium extraction" promises to be a more efficient, cleaner, less ecologically disruptive way to extract lithium from brines, if the economics pencil. now, as Li prices tick precariously upwards and companies look towards commercialization, it could be a make or break year for the tech

the david byrne cover of “drivers license” is just so wacky and bad that i kinda love it

No kidding climate philanthropy should buy this newspaper

The US is withdrawing from the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, the treaty that has governed international climate diplomacy since 1992, per the AP: heatmap.news/sparks/us-wi... George H.W. Bush first signed the pact, and the Senate unanimously ratified. US has been a member since then.

terrible news for a paper that gave me my first real news internship

the nuclear company Deep Fission is trying to bury small reactors a mile underground, ostensibly for cost and safety reasons. does that make any sense at all? @alexckaufman.bsky.social explores.

Data centers are getting harder to build. Register to join @robinsonmeyer.bsky.social, @zeitlin.bsky.social, and @jael.bsky.social on Tuesday, January 13, as they break down what changed in 2025, and what it means for data center development in 2026. us06web.zoom.us/webinar/regi...

trump is after venezuela's oil, but it will take much more than $$ to increase the country's production, @zeitlin.bsky.social explains

chatgpt wrapped is a weird thing that i did not need!

My last story of the year for @heatmap.news is… about my rock band @ekkoastral.bsky.social Our tour this fall profoundly changed my view of the energy transition and climate action I went long and personal about what I now think needs to change

even in a year largely defined by climate-tech retrenchment, investors and entrepreneurs still chased after some pretty big, weird dreams. here's seven of the most sci-fi sounding ideas that got backing in 2025

There was plenty of doom and gloom in 2025 — but why focus on that? @kbrigham.bsky.social rounded up some of the most out-there, most forward- looking, and wackiest climate tech investments of the year:

Google is spending tens of billions of dollars a year on its data center buildout and its hiring some human capital too: some of America’s most prominent energy wonks heatmap.news/energy/googl...

One big takeaway from Mamdani bringing YIMBYs into his transition is that advocates can often gain a lot of power by 1.) having useful answers to questions and accurate information 2.) being reasonably polite and pleasant to elected officials 3.) understanding the actual mechanics of government

Trump Media & Technology Group Corp, which runs Truth Social, just merged with fusion company TAE Technologies, which seemingly makes no sense but also why not i guess via @matt-levine.bsky.social

as the U.S. pulls back from direct air capture, japan’s largest conglomerates and investors are leaning in, viewing the global DAC market as a major commercial opportunity. now, the country has become a magnet for international DAC and carbon removal startups seeking funding

With U.S. investors retreating and new corporate emissions restrictions about to kick, Japanese investors are seeing big opportunities in one of the trickiest climate tech sectors: direct air capture. Here's @kbrigham.bsky.social with the full story: heatmap.news/carbon-remov...

China's rise in fusion energy research has been meteoric, as this chart in NYT illustrates:

love it or hate it, a new addition to the hydrogen 🌈 is gaining traction. startup Vema is pioneering the production of orange H₂ - made underground by expediting the natural process of H₂ formation in iron-rich rocks - and just signed a (conditional) offtake agreement to provide it to data centers

Fascinating new developments in geologic hydrogen from @kbrigham.bsky.social heatmap.news/climate-tech...

it is!!!! ☀️

good analysis of the AI/water use q. AI doesn't use that much water in the grand scheme of things, but "ppl who don’t think twice about eating a burger or buying a new t-shirt are angry about LLMs and water because they're rejecting the entire premise that AI is worth the price of its water use"

In Feb 2023, I attended a climate skeptics conference in Orlando. I was the only reporter. David Stevenson told me there that the offshore wind industry would ​“crumble” before it reached South Carolina. And that he was leading the opposition. I followed him for 3 years and wrote this story.

the rise of genAI has materials scientists dreaming of room temp superconductors and ultra-high density batteries. but the gap between scientific breakthroughs and commercial reality is vast. here's why one materials company is focusing on the latter for developing new sustainable materials

I did a lengthy interview with the CEO of Stardust, in which he walked back the solar geoengineering startup's testing and deployment plans a bit. The company also intends to release details about its proprietary particles early next year and expects to open a US office soon.

🪐 SPACE-BASED SOLAR POWER 🪐 is the latest futuristic cleantech vision to begin the transition from sci-fi fantasy to commercial reality heatmap.news/climate-tech...

relatedly: heatmap.news/climate-tech...

Additionally, it appears that all of EPA's previously extensive "indicators of climate change" pages have been scrubbed entirely. The pages no longer exist; there are numerous dead links on the current/live EPA site, and no indication they have been moved to a new URL.

permitting reform is on the table once again. with the SPEED act expected to come to a vote on the house floor in the coming weeks, @emilypont.bsky.social breaks down where the debate stands this time around

Wonderful piece from Katie Brigham at Heatmap on our new tool—the Clean Industrial Capabilities Explorer. She captures its central motivation so well: we created this tool to help countries understand their manufacturing bases and design more targeted industrial policies.

the clean energy manufacturing leaders of today won't necessarily be the industrial giants of tomorrow --- or at least not the only ones. here are the countries poised to become climate tech’s future stars @bentleyallan.bsky.social heatmap.news/economy/clea...

In NY, ConEd’s Electric Advantage program is paying 100% of the cost to switch gas customers to electric. Heat pumps, water, dryers, stoves, insulation, electric panel, the whole 9. Right now they do about a dozen/year. This profile looks at what it would take to scale. heatmap.news/energy/coned...

👀 via @alexckaufman.bsky.social

The Department of the Interior's policy, basically:

Utah of all places blazing a trail for solar uptake, we love to see it. the vote was unanimous in the legislature too

for instance, GPT-3 took 700,000 liters of water to train. That sounds like a lot! It is roughly the amount of water used to raise the amount of beef that *two* Americans eat in a year.

as electricity costs climb, the economics of some decarb-focused technologies is shifting, potentially delaying adoption and putting some already-expensive and power-intensive solutions further out of reach

looks like they finally read my essay 👀

Sizable Energy may have found the key to quickly deploying pumped-hydro storage — with the help of what looks like a giant donut floating in the sea.

as U.S. climate tech founders and funders face dwindling capital and policy whiplash, many are looking to europe, with its ambitious yet stable climate policies, as an attractive beachhead market

quino energy is developing a technology that it says will transform the long-studied flow battery industry. but with the U.S. market hesitant to invest in and deploy this type of novel battery tech, the startup is looking to india to build its largest demo plant to date

read my colleague @jael.bsky.social's excellent piece about the one thing republicans and democrats are increasingly aligning on: hating data centers

“Given all the notes he struck during the campaign, it is revealing to consider those Mamdani left unplayed. One in particular stands out: Throughout the mayoral run, Mamdani rarely spoke about climate change — often doing so only when directly asked.” heatmap.news/politics/zoh...

The Seattle mayoral election will be a nailbiter for sure. Incumbent Bruce Harrell is currently up 62k votes to challenger Katie Wilson's nearly 54k. But as is typical for Seattle and its mail-in ballot reporting (there is no in-person voting in WA state), that leaves a lot of uncertainty. [1/n]

🗳️ It's election day on Tuesday! This may be an an off-off-cycle year, but there are still a handful of important races for the climate. @emilypont.bsky.social points out a handful for you to pay attention to tomorrow ⤵️:

This is quite a story: the US employed every strongarm tactic available, including personal threats against delegates and their families, to derail an agreement on reducing shipping emissions that was almost finalized. on.ft.com/47lq3dZ

scooplet: Palmetto, the solar/battery/HVAC “neo-utility” that has expanded during the Trump admin, is buying The Cool Down, a sustainability and lifestyle news site founded by alums of Bleacher Report and Yahoo News. a purchase price wasn’t disclosed. heatmap.news/energy/palme...

data center load growth is 👻spoooooooooky👻 for ratepayers, but utilities are bending over backwards to say you won't be footing the bill for grid infra upgrades... tbd whether that's actually going to be the case by @zeitlin.bsky.social

In the span of a year, Canadian company Deep Sky turned a vacant lot in Alberta into a DAC Hub, with 5 Direct Air Capture systems installed from 5 different companies, and more to come. I went to check it out and find out how they moved so fast. heatmap.news/carbon-remov...