The US has been at war with Iran for 47 years. But also the war just started. But also it's not a war.

“Tourism boycotts do come up over one issue or another, but in my 37 years in the travel industry, I have never seen anything like what the Canadians have pulled off." The most successful travel boycott in modern history has already cost the USA economy $4.5 billion.

Love when my heating fuel price resembles Bitcoin

HELP WANTED: What makes a heat pump grant effective? Or any clean energy tech subsidy, for that matter? In an upcoming paper, my RAP colleagues and I are aiming to answer this question and many others related to effective support for heat pumps in Europe. 🔌💡

Broken record here: Energy costs soar because of lack of cheap renewables generation, not because of it. And no, Iran doesn't help. The answer to fossil price spikes every time a leader blows a fuse? Get off fossil fuels.

Good to see a rebound in heat pump sales across Europe. Shipments are still lower than the manic years of 2022 and 2023, but the industry is maturing and it is beginning to feel more sustainable.

Landfill announces it has polished a single spoon www.theguardian.com/technology/2...

Happy to report that the EV revolution has made it to Miniaturwunderland (Germany’s most visited tourist attraction, which is not surprising once you have seen it).

Summer Olympics:

It's kinda annoying how solar panels were hung around the neck of the left as impractical pie in the sky treehugger shit *right* up until it started outcompeting every other energy source. Then suddenly, instead of going "hey the left was correct about solar" it's no longer a "left" idea!

✍️ New article: Billions of people have access to far less electricity per day than is required to run an air conditioner for just one hour. For five months of the year, temperatures in South Sudan’s capital, Juba, climb above 35 degrees Celsius (95 degrees Fahrenheit).

sometimes I just have to say... bless the youtube algo www.youtube.com/watch?v=66yH...

🚨No 2025 heat pump rebound in France. Very similar market to 2024. 🟰 After dropping 40% in 2024, sales of air-to-water heat pumps stayed roughly flat. The 2025 rebound seen in other countries, such as Germany, did not happen in Europe's (still?) leading heat pump market.

Guess the market: Bitcoin or a certain kind of heating technology in France? Source: www.uniclima.fr/userfiles/20...

Voilà: Gas consumption in France fell again. 350 TWh in 2025, down 3% from 2024. Household use fell 1.8%. Heat pumps are a main driver of this. But France is once again faced with tariff increases due to lower volumes. Long-term planning is needed. www.connaissancedesenergies.org/la-consommat...

Here comes Germany's heat pump market. A big rally in 2025. Almost 300,000 heat pumps sold in 2025 for the second-highest sales volume ever, by far, and a 55% increase on 2024. It would appear that the market is settling after the frenzy of 2022/2023 and hopefully good things to come in 2026.

HUGE moment for the EU car market as battery EVs overtake petrol cars for the first time ever But there's no "natural" demand for EVs amirite? Article by @mollylempriere.carbonbrief.org www.carbonbrief.org/analysis-evs...

Big moment for Europe: in December, fully electric cars outsold petrol-only cars in the EU for the first time. This shows that clear, consistent policy works. Which is exactly why backtracking now would be a mistake. Rolling back targets or creating uncertainty would slow investment and innovation.

Mafia goon: Nice house you got here...it'd be a shame if something happened to it Media outlets: Mafia goon rules out use of force. Expresses regret at the mere thought of it

laugh, cry, I dunno

The biggest leverage that the US has over Europe is our dependence on imports of gas. This makes our transition to renewable energy and electrification of the grid more important than ever. The most important thing for UK security is building as much renewable capacity as possible immediately.

France's finance commission has cancelled a plan to decrease the excise tax on electricity and increase it on fossil gas. 👎 This is a strategically poor decision for the long term. And all this while France is about to unveil its "grand plan for electrification". Link: shorturl.at/KKLZc

I'm delighted to share our new Clean Heat Policy Tracker, an initiative led by @regassistproj.bsky.social via the Clean Heat Forum). www.raponline.org/toolkit/clea...

This is a really useful pivot to clean heat policy & away from electricity dominated analyses - first I've seen like it. 👏👏👏

It's going to be a lot easier to decarbonize heating if we bring down electricity prices. That's the focus of Regulatory Assistance Project (RAP)'s two papers out today: how to make electricity cheaper, especially for households. www.raponline.org/knowledge-ce...

NEW RESEARCH #2: The future energy bill is an electricity bill. We must Make Electricity Cheaper for households, businesses and industry In a 2nd paper out today, @duncangibb.net, Sam Thomas & I look at reducing & redistributing tax & levies added to electricity prices. tinyurl.com/2nbvydp8

🚨 New publication alert ❓What's wrong with the EU's Renewable Energy Directive? ➡️ In short: it inadvertently promotes inefficient heating. Our latest research is now published in Sustainability. Full paper here 👇 www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/17... More in 🧵 below.

Solar is king. From @ember-energy.org

As heat pump sales appear to have struggled globally in 2024, it's a good time to focus on data. Pleased to join this in-person workshop on Thursday and talk about the Clean Heat Forum and moderate a session on the importance of data to policy. Register online here: www.iea.org/events/the-i...

🎺Womp womp womp...

What % of a country's electricity can come from wind+solar? @ember-energy.org hasn't yet published annual data for 2024, but when I add up their monthly data I get: UK: 41% w+s in 2024 Germany: 43% Spain: 46% A few small countries are > but they depend more on neighbors. Onward and upward! 🔌💡

Now that the political winds have shifted and billions in energy crisis super profits added to their bank statements, It can't be surprising that oil majors backed away from their climate and clean energy commitments in 2024. Not that they were much to begin with. www.reuters.com/business/ene...

You can also easily set up a recurring donation to Wikipedia. A few bucks isn't much from your wallet and goes a long way! Donate.wikimedia.org

Watching how the media is covering Trump talking about taking over sovereign nations is disgusting.

I am going to put footnotes in my meeting minutes and there's nothing you can do to stop me.

With the collapse of the hydrogen hype bubble, we can only hope that it takes some pressure off the absurd and inefficient idea of "hydrogen for home heating". www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

European countries are still incentivizing fossil fuel boilers. In some, it may not be a subsidy but they still benefit from lower VAT. Only when all policy signals are properly aligned can we hope for a deep heating transition in Europe. Very nice research by EHPA. www.ehpa.org/news-and-res...

Love being disabused of various notions, what fun

Who gets the most out of a heat pump subsidy scheme? In France, the main subsidy programme helps one group of people most clearly: those who own and occupy a single-family home. 🧵 www.statistiques.developpement-durable.gouv.fr/les-renovati...

The shrinking wedge in Asia is incredible. The persistant block in Sub-Saharan Africa is a bummer. Though I imagine the share has gone down with population growth...?

Here comes Daikin's new propane heat pump. Manufactured in Poland, Czech Republic and Germany. Rated down to -28°C. www.coolingpost.com/products/dai...

Here's my heat punks starter pack which keeps on growing. It has lots of people working on and thinking about heat pumps, geothermal heat, solar heat, district heating and the list goes on. Some EU, some US, some Canada. go.bsky.app/2PkVtJL

NEW PAPER: The 2022 fossil fuel price jumps caused an oil and gas profit explosion. We show the US reaped the largest profit increase (USD 275bn) of any country. Big Oil claims this benefits the American people. In fact, 51% went to the richest 1%, only 1% to the bottom 50%. A 🧵

Imagine using a random number generator to determine the length of a prison sentence. A judge using GPT to interpret legal terms is not far off.

HOT OFF THE PRESS: Industrial electrification is THE key lever to decarbonise industry. But without policy support it won't happen at required speed. That's why we developed a 10-point action plan for Europe.🧵 Read our new @regassistproj.bsky.social report here: www.raponline.org/knowledge-ce...

⚡️Austrian OMV company terminates contract with Gazprom Export. Austrian oil and gas company OMV has terminated its long-term gas supply contract with Russia's Gazprom Export, the OMV website reported on Dec. 11. The contract was initially set to last until 2040.

Much anticipated study from the US Dept of Energy is likely to find that U.S. LNG shipments drive up domestic prices and are worse for the climate than coal www.eenews.net/articles/doe...

This is an absolutely incredible example of how, if you ever decide to engage with a right-wing media outlet, *how* you do it almost perfectly. Bravo @risingtideaus.bsky.social!

“All regions except South Australia are expected to experience system strength shortfalls over the next three years unless adequate investment or services are provided.” Surprise, surprise! More renewables mean a stronger grid, not a weaker one! reneweconomy.com.au/south-austra...