Energy Dept. adds ‘climate change’ and ‘emissions’ to banned words list - Politico politi.co/4mIbi9F

my takeaway from climate week nyc is that "climate storytelling" is a little too much "we must reimagine our deepest souls in relationship to mother nature and the moral abyss of the polycrisis into which we must now stare" and not enough "ok but get a heat pump"

Here's everything the Heatmap News team, including @zeitlin.bsky.social, @kbrigham.bsky.social, @robinsonmeyer.bsky.social, and @goodjillian.bsky.social, heard over the past few days at NYC Climate Week ⬇️

when promising sodium-ion battery startup Natron Energy shuttered earlier this month, there was a rush to pinpoint what went wrong. was the chemistry uncompetitive? is battery manufacturing in the U.S. simply doomed? industry experts told me the lessons from Natron can’t be so easily generalized.

NEW from @kbrigham.bsky.social: @schumer.senate.gov dropped by Heatmap House at NYC Climate Week to issue a call to action for climate advocates everywhere ⬇️

things are popping over here at Heatmap House at NY Climate Week! we'll be here all day, come say hi.

dispatch from a NYC climate week debate on whether "AI is humanity's best hope for solving climate change"

Only in @heatmap.news can you get @zeitlin.bsky.social explaining why electricity markets as they exist may no longer be fit for purpose, and how we can look to industries that regulate scarce resources, like water, for reforms. heatmap.news/energy/elect...

NEW: The Pentagon told journalists it will require them to pledge they won’t gather any information — even unclassified — that hasn’t been expressly authorized for release, and will revoke the press credentials of those who do not obey. @washingtonpost.com

AI for geothermal startup @zanskargeothermal.bsky.social just located a historically large, untapped reservoir that it says will help put greenfield geo exploration and discovery back on the agenda

Exclusive: Some of the biggest names in climate tech are forming a new coalition to map out the future of decarbonization.

It was great to chat with @emilypont.bsky.social @heatmap.news about my book EXTRACTION. We discussed why mining is so conflictual, the power relations of extractive frontiers, how organized communities fare better & why we should use the public sector to proactively plan + govern. Link ⬇️

NEW: the Climate Tech Atlas, a comprehensive effort to map out the opportunities and innovation imperatives most critical to the energy transition, launched today! core collaborators include Breakthrough Energy, McKinsey, @stanforddoerr.bsky.social and others heatmap.news/climate-tech...

re: OBBBA — how are we saying this now? i just heard OB-cubed for the first time 👀

On Friday, the EPA proposed killing the program that requires large factories, refineries, and power plants to report their carbon emissions. But its plan would also hobble the carbon capture industry & basically prevent anyone from using the tax credit. New from me: heatmap.news/energy/epa-g...

"Putting solar arrays above water can help keep panels cool, in turn improving their efficiency and electricity output. Shade from the panels can also prevent water loss through evaporation in drought-prone regions and can limit algae growth in waterways." Looks good too!

okay @robinsonmeyer.bsky.social won the email subject line game today, this is 🤌 (good excuse to plug the very good @heatmap.news newsletter too!)

the editor's note of my dreams 👏👏👏👏 @goodjillian.bsky.social "There is, of course, a certain poetic irony to the fact that AI is being used to license and manage operations for the very reactors that are now in such high demand for their ability to consistently and cleanly power AI data centers."

AI for nuclear reactors!?! could anything possibly BE buzzier?! NO! hi, Nuclearn has trained its own nuclear-specific LLM to expedite reactor operations and licensing processes

A sign of China’s advancement up the value chain

biden wanted to secure critical minerals for the energy transition, trump wants them for national security. but if you’re a minerals startup, the political framing doesn’t matter so long as the cash keeps flowing. and indeed, it IS flowing!

yes sure, but let @robinsonmeyer.bsky.social remind you that it's really more about POLES AND WIRES heatmap.news/energy/why-i...

Everyone loves data center flexibility right? it's a win-win-win for getting data centers on the grid faster without expensive new infrastructure upgrades, right? Well PJM put out a flexibility proposal and...everyone hates it heatmap.news/energy/data-...

NEW: The oil industry touts Texas as a success story in controlling climate-warming methane emissions. The state’s regulator, however, grants nearly every request to burn or vent gas into the atmosphere.

EXCLUSIVE: Clean energy finance startup Crux is expanding into the tax and preferred equity markets, CEO Alfred Johnson tells Heatmap. Full scoop below from @kbrigham.bsky.social ⬇️

a bewildering lineup of things!

there's a full-on messaging war afoot re: clean energy and affordability @emilypont.bsky.social explains. "It is new for the affordability argument to come first — above job creation, economic development, reducing pollution, and, of course, tackling climate change."

I think we're at the tip of the iceberg for permissionless DERs. Imagine a 1200 W plug in solar, with a few kWh of storage on the same circuit acting as a UPS for your fridge or room AC. Could get interesting.

perhaps soon, going solar need not involve tens of thousands of dollars and an onslaught of logistics. here's how small, simple, plug-in solar arrays - and the laws to support them - are beginning to gain traction in the U.S.

Welcome to Climate 101, Heatmap's in-depth primer on the key technologies of the energy transition — from lithium-ion batteries to solar panels to geothermal. Here's the full rundown 🧵

Methane-hunting satellites are driving attn to super-emitters as a climate problem. But those plumes also contain hazardous air pollutants. An impressive new mapping project uses the satellite data to illuminate the public health risks from super-emitters. Story here: heatmap.news/climate-tech...

We're excited to announce the Heatmap House at @climategroup.bsky.social's #ClimateWeekNYC in September. Join for panels on building a climate-ready NYC and a carbon-free grid. Plus: a live SHIFT KEY taping and Heatmap house party 🎉 Register below before space runs out:

Of course

re: cow’s methane-laced burps, viable emissions reduction solutions are scarce. now though, forays into methane destruction - and even atmospheric removal - are gaining traction. i explore one pathway, from Ambient Carbon, here:

Beleaguered General Fusion got a stay of execution in the form of a $22 million investment from existing backers. It should be enough to get them to their next scientific milestone, but if they don't hit their targets, it might be tough to unlock more. techcrunch.com/2025/08/21/s...

the world is so beautiful! let's not totally ruin it! read @heatmap.news!

NEW from @kbrigham.bsky.social: Critical minerals startup ChemFinity raises $7 million seed round led by the climate tech firms @atoneventures.bsky.social and Overture Ventures. More below ⬇️

concept: perhaps not all clean energy infra projects — solar especially — are totally screwed? perhaps whatever roadblocks the administration throws up, there’s enough sheer market demand that we’re going to have a big clean energy buildout anyway?

I WILL BE THERE

Thanks to @kbrigham.bsky.social for letting me help with this article. There is a lot of optimism right now and announcements. Those announcements still have challenges ahead before they turn into reactors. The market should expect some to drop out, just like other sectors.

“This is by far the biggest year in terms of nuclear deals that has occurred, probably, since the 70s,” @astein.bsky.social told me. “It’s spanning the gamut from bringing a 40-year-old reactor back to things that have not even been proven scientifically yet.”

👽☢️👽☢️

I also think we can no longer say something is not feasible. They want to build a nuclear power plant on the moon. We can electrify trains.

One of the ways to understand the AI boom is that it’s turning software companies into light industrial firms. That means that regions recently dominated by IT and services — such as the Mid-Atlantic — are now undergoing a partial re-industrialization, too. www.eia.gov/todayinenerg...

I spent seven years writing a book on this and she just… said it in three succinct paragraphs to politico.

IEA's mid-year electricity review is out. Some highlights below: First time in 100 years, renewables are set to overtake coal in global electricity production as soon as this year (or latest next year). Wind + Solar contribution to global grid mix will reach 20% by 2026, up from 4% in 2016. 🧵

relevant

EV charging startups are much more concerned about trump’s attempts to clawback federal funding for charging infrastructure than they are about OBBBA’s rescission of consumer EV tax credits, execs tell me