Europe is too slow on electrification and it is a big problem. Despite 2 major energy crises, the narrative remains vague. The countries (like China) who are pulling ahead will maintain an advantage for quite some time. Nice wake up call from Fatih Birol in @financialtimes.com

Li-ion batteries costs decrease every time the installed capacity doubled. A recent studies looked at battery costs since 1991 (first Li-ion battery) and found that EVs became the driver for cost declines from 2000 (Toyota Prius). The learning rate since 2000 has been 25%

Electricity is probably the most versatile form of energy. It can produce force, heat, light, computation, chemicals In addition, the range of electrical power we use spans about 20 orders of magnitude from very low power electronics to the 22.5GW of 3 gorge dam (log scale below)

Reminder that an energy system based on combustion is very inefficient. Going from primary energy to useful energy, one loses almost 2/3 - a pity given that we extract close to 17 billion tons of fossil fuels per year. Electrification is a massive opportunity for efficiency!

Electricity is poised to become the workhorse of the energy system. For massive electrification to happen, that electricity needs to be abundant AND cheap. High time for policy-makers to work on electricity prices, the EU industry desperately needs that... www.ft.com/content/f241...

In 2025, global coal capacity increased by 3.5% but generation of electricity from coal decreased by 0.6%. This trend is particularly notable in China and India where renewables met the load growth. Coal plants are built as insurance more than primary resource

Great illustration of how carbon dioxide removal and emission reductions are complementary to reach the point where climate change will stop. And the less reduction we do, the less interesting/relevant removal is since removal is always more expensive.

Cool graph from @bloomberg.com showing the evolution of data centre capacity and the planned/announced projects. Data centres globally now consume close to 500TWh- basically as much as Germany. www.bloomberg.com/graphics/202...

Progress in batteries mean that they can now help decarbonise maritime transport. A recent paper shows that by 2030, electrification could apply to 30% of shipping energy demand and 20% GHG emissions… www.nature.com/articles/s44...

Great read on what AI can do for science. Yes it has the potential to accelerate science but not it will not replace scientists. The paper also makes a great point about the need to maintain critical thinking and not blindly trust results www.amacad.org/publication/...

Hydrogen versus batteries in road transport Hydrogen is far behind in every category one can think of, and the progress in batteries are only extending the gap. Perhaps time to totally stop talking about hydrogen for road transport? Source: www.iea.org/reports/glob...

2025 is now officially the third hottest year in record history. Climate is changing fast and impacts being felt more and more. At this pace, the 1.5 degrees mark will be crossed before 2030 (remember it is a 20-yr average) Source: climate.copernicus.eu/global-clima...

Chinese EVs are cheaper than US EVs BUT also better. The graph below compares the price of both as a function of range. But Chinese cars also offer superior characteristics for example in terms of fast charge Great read here: www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

New Year, new challenges Happy to share that I'll be working on a new initiative this year to accelerate the emergence of radical ideas to solve big societal challenges and create a pipeline of investable and impactful scientific ventures. We call it RIFF...

This is what the US department of Energy was posting on X (Twitter) before Christmas. Coal is the worst fossil fuel. There is no such thing as clean coal

Interesting graph comparing investments in clean and fossil energy since 2015. techcrunch.com/2025/06/06/c...

It's now official With the 55 other intrepid runners that made the run we entered the @GWR Guinness World Records for the deepest marathon !!! What an adventure it was.

The G-word and why we need to talk about it. In my latest Substack, I lay out some thoughts on Solar Radiation Modification (aka geo-engineering) and why we need more public research on the topic. Please subscribe (and react) riffonsolutions.substack.com/p/we-need-to...

A great graph to explain what the energy transition - electricity is about 20% of final energy demand, we need to electrify most sectors (estimates now show that up to 70% is possible) - electricity is still 60% fossile so we need to decarbonise it ember-energy.org/latest-insig...

There are different ways to measure the global economy - 112 trillion dollars - 600 exajoules of primary energy, 400 in final energy - 107 billion tons of natural resources www.materialflows.net/visualisatio...

When it comes to climate, doomism is a western luxury because we’re less affected. The future is what we make of it… the longer we wait to act the more severe the consequences of climate change will be

Not every day you break a word record. But for me this was yesterday!! We ran the world’s deepest marathon. An impressive immersion in a working mine

Launching my Substack today !! This will build on the content I am sharing regularly on LinkedIn and provide deeper thoughts on the fast changing space of climate and deep tech. riffonsolutions.substack.com

2 weeks to go before the World’s deepest marathon- 1.4 km below the surface. This is going to be a world record if we make it and this is also for charity. Any donation is appreciated worldsdeepestmarathon.raiselysite.com/greg-de-temmer…

100 days to go !!!! 🏃‍♂️ With a group of 60 people, we'll attempt a record-breaking marathon, 1,120m below sea level in Boliden's Garpenberg mine in Sweden. This is done to raise money for 2 charities and change discussions around mining (critical for energy...) Consider donating

My family is against electric cars… Have been listening to all the usual misinformation arguments for 90 minutes and people wonder why I am quiet…

The doctor’s waiting room has some great reading 😎 @newscientist.com

A bit of a plug, but quite proud of that interview in @newscientist.com about the work we do at the Foundation. You'll also find how I deal with optimism/pessimism ;-) Thanks @tinymaddie.bsky.social for the great work www.newscientist.com/article/2482...

People often wonder how climate activists stay positive. I feel like I can get behind this method from @gregdt.bsky.social

In 2023, the world produced 4.5 billion tons of oil, 9 billion tons of coal, and 2.5 billion tons of fossil gas (lnkd.in/eUUxhqc5). The combustion of which released about 37 billion tons of CO2 into the atmosphere (lnkd.in/e5t6bdhR) www.circularity-gap.world

Red cap Proud to have contributed to the launch panel of the Make Science Great Again panel by @wedonthavetime.bsky.social Knowledge is power. Defending science is critical for well functioning societies

Great Sankey diagram about the global material flows of plastics in 2022. About 400 million tons produced. 98% of the feedstock were fossil- coal accounts for 44% and oil for 40% www.nature.com/articles/s43...

L’energie c’est simple et complexe J’ai eu le plaisir de discuter énergie avec Vinz Kanté sur sa chaîne Limit. On part des bases pour discuter de nombreux aspects de la decarbonation. Bonne écoute www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ts_g...

@gregdt.bsky.social chez LIMIT youtu.be/Ts_g_KgC2GE?...

Il est sorti!!!! Une vision complete de la decarbonation des transports passant par l'énergie, l'aménagement des territoires, les politiques publiques et l'économie. Fier d'avoir pu contribuer a ce travail ! www.fnac.com/a21105661/Je...

Last year the share of low carbon electricity in the global mix reached 40% thanks for data deployment of renewables. But fossil production also increased albeit slower. Source ember-energy.org/latest-insig...

Energy security will become the highest priority for the transformation of the energy system- climate will come second at best. This graph shows how the US, EU, China fare on that metric. The US went from a major oil importer to a next exporter (it still imports a lot).

Geothermal is having a moment. Glad to support with QCF a study on the Future of Geothermal in the UK led by Project Innerspace. Listen to that episode of Cleaning Up to know more about what’s new in that field m.youtube.com/watch?v=n3I2...

Given that the energy transition seems to be entering a bumpy phase I have decided to get back to the basics and invest in a coal steam engine 😅

What is happening to the US science system is dramatic. De-funding science, taking references to climate change off federal websites etc, won’t change the reality of facts. And cutting your main innovation engine is just sabotage… www.scientificamerican.com/article/top-...

Fossil fuels represent 40% of the mass of global trade by sea (lnkd.in/ePs-G-pN). Some numbers for shipped fuels: - 1.3 billion tons of coal (lnkd.in/exipiBEx.) - 2 billion tons of oil (lnkd.in/eyW3EAXN) - around 550 million tons of LNG (lnkd.in/eKPmmmzR.) iea.blob.core.windows.net/assets/34511...

Time to impact Technologies can deploy fast. Recent examples are mobile phones, internet, vaccines, shale oil/gas, etc. But it can take decades between concept and commercialisation- as illustrated in the graph below for different energy-related technologies Source: www.iea.org/reports/net-...

Always a special moment when one receives the first hard copies!!! Release in France on April 11 !!

The EU has an electricity price problem- in large part because expensive gas sets the price of electricity most of the time. Customers currently do not get the benefits of installing low cost renewables…

Many countries are starting to see their oil demand be affected by the deployment of EVs. Below is the example of Norway where 96% of new cars sold are electric/hybrid. China oil demand seems to plateau too. This is how transitions start... www.bloomberg.com/news/newslet...

When will sodium ion batteries become economically competitive with Li batteries? A recent study looks at it in details by considering learning rates for both technologies- they see the 2030s as when it can happen depending on ambition and variations in the Li market.

Great article in the NY times about the deployment of renewables and how it is visible from space. The installed capacity of wind and PV is now over 1000 and 1400 GW, respectively www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

50 It is the number of metals one can find in a standard Seat Leon. In terms of mass, iron (for steel) accounts for about 80%, then follows aluminium (10%). One can find a few grams of gold and milligrams of things like indium All data here: www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Countries in Africa have very different energy situations. Shown here is the Levelised Cost of Electricity, rate of electrification, the state of gas reserves (indicated if the country has over 5 tn cubic ft of reserves) and the share of electricity from fossil fuels. www.nature.com/articles/s41...

The use of coal is falling fast in the EU- it now accounts for less than 10% of electricity production. Interestingly, 2 countries (Germany and Poland) account for 75% of coal use for electricity production…