*Demand destruction watch* BYD is now doing a fortnight's worth of sales each day, in several Asian countries. "Wang singled out markets such as Australia, New Zealand and the Philippines, where he said daily sales volumes are now as high as what the carmaker could previously sell in two weeks."

NEW POLYCRISIS PODCAST EP JUST DROPPED!! Dollar centrality, energy access in sub-Saharan Africa, and Chinese clean tech Ft. @mkblyth.bsky.social and Adjekai Adjei! thepolycrisis.org/02-electric-...

Poorer Asian countries desperate to energy deals mostly with Japan, which has been on top of its stockpiling game since the 1970s

SK President Lee Jae-myung: “Isn’t the whole world currently in turmoil due to energy issues? The situation is so serious that even I have trouble sleeping,” adding, “South Korea must transition to renewable energy very rapidly overall.” www.donga.com/news/Politic...

Really interesting coverage on the bartering happening with refined products in asia www.reuters.com/business/ene...

More today on #empiresuicidewatch @katemac.bsky.social & I wrote last week on how the Iran war & oil shock accelerates the end of US hegemony www.phenomenalworld.org/analysis/war... bsky.app/profile/phil...

I hope all those people who said the US had done no planning for war in Iran will now apologise. www.ft.com/content/744e...

This is most of what you need to know about the western auto industry lol

"The real issue on pricing, noted one trader, is that while sellers and buyers can quote almost any price, nothing is getting out of the Gulf. That reality makes most discussion academic rather than representative of actual business.”

61/ Balcony solar in US! @katemac.bsky.social “Plug-in solar is exactly what it sounds like: small, low-cost solar panels that plug directly into a standard outlet “No expensive installation, no major construction, no waiting months for approval", IL bill sponsor cleantechnica.com/2026/03/28/b...

Can you now grow Cats in a Planter? 100% natural, right?

Okay so, I would count this as a win. The test is not so much how it affects the teens already on those platforms. It's too late for most of them. Doesn't mean there's no point in policy to change social norms & network effects for help younger kids and their parents.

As someone who worked in intensive customer service in the before times (call centres, tech support, supermarkets) this is chilling. I remember people being rude, self centred and crazy - but I don’t at all remember an inability to listen as a thing in itself

I don't think this requires any confirmation, it's just so evidently true, but doing customer service now is pretty much dealing with people who *cannot* listen to you finish speaking a sentence

“Research from Gloria Mark, a professor of informatics at the University of California, Irvine, indicates that our attention spans are about one-third as long as they were in 2004, with the biggest drops happening around 2012”

@katemac.bsky.social & I: Where once oil signaled stability and prosperity, this war will ensure that hydrocarbons will increasingly come to be seen as a vector of insecurity, intermittency, and scarcity, as the philosopher Pierre Charbonnier has argued. www.phenomenalworld.org/analysis/war...

From cycling under the light of moon on a beautiful night, to looking around and adding up the obscene amount of money we spend on cars, this article echoes so much of my thoughts about riding a bike and how CONNECTING it is- to people, to nature, to life- and how cars sever that connection.

We did not receive permission to go inside the BYD plant but we did go inside the Great Wall Motors factory in Brazil. Story and video here: www.nytimes.com/2025/07/21/c...

“The war on Iran will be a reckoning of US military prowess. It may also undermine dollar centrality if Iran’s offer of safe passage for shipments invoiced in renminbi eventuates… and it will surely strike a blow to the prevalence of the global fossil energy system that the US dominates.”

NEW: Iran is the seventh country to undergo US military intervention in the first 15 months of Trump’s presidency; 5 of 7 are rich in oil Oil War or not...the disruption will accelerate end of US hegemony @katemac.bsky.social & I @phenomenalworld.bsky.social www.phenomenalworld.org/analysis/war...

We prob could have done a whole episode about the huge BYD plant opening in Bahia, Brazil. - built on a former Ford plant site - Biggest EV factory outside Asia - Will make 300k cars a year when complete (big even by Chinese standards) - 50% of components locally @70sbachchan.bsky.social

Quite a week for us! 1/ our podcast is launched: “Electric World Order” is a short series about the geopolitics of energy transition; ep 1 is about how China’s industrial strategy kinda accidentally created Pakistan’s solar boom:

Oil producers *hate* prices going too high. I wrote for @the-breakdown.bsky.social about one of demand destruction, Saudi Arabia and "fair price" of oil www.break-down.org/oil-war-ii/

UNICEF REPRESENTATIVE IN LEBANON: THERE IS NO SAFE SPACE FOR PEOPLE TO GO EVEN HERE IN BEIRUT

In 1979 "Practically overnight, consumer demand turned from gas-guzzling large cars - Detroit's specialty - to gas-sipping small cars, largely built by Japanese companies." www.autonews.com/article/2013...

Heard today from that BYD dealers have been told to expect wait times of about 3 months due to sudden demand. This means second hand EV prices will rise soon, sadly Australians slow uptake of EVs means second hand stock is limited.

i regret to inform that doomscroll is over sphinx detected!!

9/9 It is interesting that many of the things that economists learned in the 1920s and 1930s about the costs of trade imbalances and the unfettered flow of international capital, and began to forget after the 1970s and 1980s, are being learned again.

"If you want to optimize a portfolio of equities, or bonds, or even financial commodity derivatives, you are spoiled for choice. "But if you are a government or a large industrial buyer trying to decide how to physically procure a commodity [...] the literature offers almost nothing."

Cyclone Narelle has shut down 44pc of WA's gas supply and hit LNG exports just when they are needed most. Chevron's Wheatstone, Santos' Varanus Island and Woodside's NWS are all not producing. www.boilingcold.com.au/cyclone-nare...

Oh, so this is why people in tech are talking about Jevon’s paradox?

One funny thing about this big reality disconnect in prices of oil benchmarks like Brent is that, in the aftermath of the 2007 all-time high of $147 (WTI), it was a huge big mystery/debate why markets went so high in the *absence* of clear fundamental reasons. So much was written about that.

Our 1st podcast is out! ELECTRIC WORLD ORDER>. We are watching beginnings of a period that could be more severe than monumental oil shocks of 1973 & 1979 @kyleichan.bsky.social on China. Haneea Isaad on how Pakistan implausibly smashed Solar after 2022 Ukraine podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/t...

I have only been watching oil markets closely for like 25 years, so I could be wrong, but I very much doubt there has ever been a gap this big between reality and the markets. Brent at $101 right now is ABSURD. It could easily double from here. Listen in and find out why!

18/ The war is a HORROR. One side measures its cost at the gas pump. Or stock markets & electoral chances at midterms. Iranian people are measuring their loss in indiscriminate violence that kills schoolchildren, poisons air & water and destroys cultural treasures warontherocks.com/2026/03/the-...

well but have you considered that one time people on bluesky were very rude about a journalist who is my friend?

Point is not just the whole US delusion re end of conflict - but that everyone in oil & gas knows a big supply disruption means a lot of countries will completely change how they view these fuels

“We will restore peace, stability and harmony throughout the world"-Donald Trump @katemac.bsky.social & I decided it was time for a Polycrisis podcast about the peace, stability & harmony reigning throughout the world Enjoy our first season ELECTRIC WORLD ORDER podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/i...

while the cuts to pediatric cancer research are regrettable I think we can all agree they're really the fault of babies, who are too loud

LNG dependency has become a recurring energy insecurity nightmare for dozens of countries in Asia & Europe, which are all chasing each other to secure too-few cargoes to meet the needs that they've built expensive infrastructure around. www.euronews.com/my-europe/20...

Sooo our podcast is released! It’s called “electric world order” and is about geopolitics and energy. First episode ft Haneea Isaad on Pakistan's solar boom and @kyleichan.bsky.social on how & why China's own strategic & economic goals enabled it: pod.link/1884213852

Cannot stress enough just how much the oil and gas industry hates & fears instability of supply and prices. "Energy Secretary Chris Wright has been all over the conference for much of this week, seeking to reassure the oil industry that the Iran war will be short-lived.."

Our podcast has landed! Electric World Order: ep 1 - looks at the second wave of the energy transition, and why & how China is making it happen

As @70sbachchan.bsky.social has been saying for I think weeks now

"The Axis of Petrostates is a reactionary coalition—led notably by the US, in tacit coalition with .. states such as Russia and the Gulf monarchies—whose economic models and civilizational narratives are inextricably tied to fossil fuels." foreignpolicy.com/2026/03/23/c...

CATL, BYD and Sungrow add $70bn in market value "Neil Beveridge, who leads Bernstein’s energy research, expects China, the world’s biggest oil importer, to double down on its plan to “electrify everything”." www.ft.com/content/b122...

In 1979 "Practically overnight, consumer demand turned from gas-guzzling large cars - Detroit's specialty - to gas-sipping small cars, largely built by Japanese companies." www.autonews.com/article/2013...

But I would have gotten the haircut right.