NEW ANALYSIS: UK household electricity bills have risen over the last 5 years. BUT: Despite frequent claims that net zero is to blame: 2/3 of the increase is because of high gas prices shows new @ukerc.bsky.social report. Arguably without renewable energy the UK would see even higher bills today.

EXCLSUVIE: The Trump administration has secretly rewritten nuclear safety rules and shared them with the companies they're meant to regulate, without making the new rules publicly available. We've obtained a copy of the new rules and here's what we found. www.npr.org/2026/01/28/n...

Interesting thought experiment by Hannah Ritchie on land use for Biofuels. hannahritchie.substack.com/p/biofuels-v... #biofuels #solar #renewables #energytransition

Robin is trying to wreck my productivity again!

Early contender for the dumbest thing I'll read this year. "Because of the hazards relating to the construction and operation of solar projects... this act is deemed necessary for the immediate preservation of the public health, welfare, peace, and safety" (SB No. 849)

Simulated a mesh corner fault after some trip relay reset mods. Long day. One disconnector automatically isolates and the two mesh bus section disconnectors sequentially isolate as the mesh corner is locked out. More people need to grasp the difference between auto and sequential isolation 💪🏻☺️

Henry Hub to the moon...! 🚀🌕 Front month is currently at $5.50/MMBtu, up by a staggering 60% in two days. Huge weather-driven short squeezes are all the rage in energy markets this week. I expect many more spikes like this as US LNG exports ramp up over coming months and years.

Why PV mandate can't come soon enough. Sure you can tick your Part L w/ a HP but you're making it more 💶 to run As for 'visual benefits' what will actually happen is individual homes (for 🍃 or to cut bills) will add (at greater installation 💷) 60 versions of PV which will be far more discordant 😫

If this chart doesn't terrify the oil industry, I don't know what will. India’s peak road-oil consumption per person will never reach Chinese peak levels.

“We all deserve to live in an environment where our everyday lives are not negatively affected by the quality of the air that we breathe (and as a Government we intend to do practically nothing to achieve this)” My edit in parenthesis is where Gov is; paralysed with fear on banning anything 😫

This was posted by @mambarlife.bsky.social in the Other Place and it’s too good not to share it.

Wind roses are coming to the renewables map, and more! 🌹🏔️

UK Gov Warm Homes Plan continues the underselling of Smart meters/Time of Use. Why is their gfx the ~£450-550 saving when their analysis suggests up to another £300 via ToU. That number is conservative given it 'does not assume they significantly change their heating pattern to maximise savings'

"There is no suggestion that Veronika’s skills are evidence of the evolution of an ominous new species of super-cow." !!

Nat Bullard has published his annual decarbonization deck for 2026

Here's how Aurora Energy Research sees the UK offshore wind auction (AR7) cutting bills for consumers "£1bn by 2035" * CfD payments go up * Other costs go up (balancing, capacity mkt) * Wholesale prices go down * Overall costs go down www.linkedin.com/posts/ivan-b...

Early part of DESNZ Committee's 'Building support for the energy transition' session is going well for Ofcom (over handling of complaints etc) I was almost expecting someone to throw a 🛟

Robin has won best energy geek toys!

NEW: Coal-fired power generation fell in both China and India in 2025, for the first time since 1973. The drop came after record clean energy additions in both countries, and was the first time that clean energy was a major driver of falling coal power use.

NEW: A federal judge today struck down a stop work order Trump issued before Christmas on a big New England offshore wind project under construction It’s a huge ruling and suggests other stop work orders against offshore wind farms in progress may very soon fail too

Scoop: The EPA will no longer estimate the lives saved by reducing air pollution when writing clean-air regulations, according to documents reviewed by @nytimes.com. Gift link: www.nytimes.com/2026/01/12/c...

Even if you see slightly different numbers its not going to change a project which has such a clear mismatch of proposed supply & demand My assumption remains hydrogen (where needed & thats far less than much of the past hype) will mostly be produced & consumed within industrial zones

What could possibly go wrong 😬

Given the seemingly endless (bad faith) arguments in the US about the need for fossil fuels for reliability it never ceases to surprise me what (by international comparisons SAIDI etc) terrible reliability standards are tolerated

I'm not sure what the most passivhaus premium (ie surplus of renewable) home is in the UK but I see one planning proposal has requested, to add nearby, a 260 panel solar array (down from a previously refused 760!) For context Ofgem estimates a typical UK home uses 2,700 kWh

A milestone we didn't want to see - Russia has made one trillion euros on fossil fuel exports since the start of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine. All the more reason to shift away from dependence on dirty energy and to strengthen sanctions on Russia.

Happy GB 2026 peak power demand day! (Maybe) GB *transmission* system demand is currently ~45GW and will probably peak somewhere around 49-50GW according to BMRS. Transmission system is an important distinction as it's not always true demand - National Demand is lower, will peak at ~47GW...

Country 9 in global oil reserves has invaded country 1 and arrested its president. Country 7 is under sanctions and its refineries are being destroyed. Country 2 is facing off with country 6. And there are riots in country 3. But oil is only $60/bbl. Maybe oil is not as critical as it used to be?

~2 weeks after the shortest day and the SW's solar is starting to stretch its legs again...

Wonder how many hours it’ll take European leaders to agree a mildly-worded statement of light rebuke.

Musk and Trump have surrendered global clean-energy leadership to China without even a brief arm-wrestle over it Gift link: www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

To close out a huge year, we are lifting the paywall on Episode 254 so that all can enjoy this comprehensive review of the data on the global energy transition with @ember-energy.org's @nicolasfulghum.bsky.social xenetwork.org/ets/episodes... HNY from all of us at @TransitionShow! #lagniappe

I'd expect to see plenty of these stories as the GB connections Gate 1/2 decisions/impacts drip feed out (& after any appeals) we see who has 'won'; who is determined to persist, despite any gate uncertainty, and who seeks better opportunities elsewhere

Home energy numbers as '25 ends. >7.15MWh 🔆 Best month >1MWh Best bill -£200 Avoided cost of no 🔆 w/ the SVR £1,196 4600kWh (all ⚡) home demand of which 1590 was from the heat pump. While its still cold I'm hitting the HP harder atm but 🤞 last year I turned it off in ~37 days time

As the Aussie battery subsidy showed there is a lot of latent demand out there if Gov can only pitch the right level of discount with a low level of bureaucracy.

Some jurisdictions still believe that tighter regulation of cars can encourage innovation and deliver benefits. The aim here is to improve the efficiency of electric vehicles further.

And by debate here we mean: health and environmental experts tearing their hair out while the Gov has a panic attack over the very idea that it might be asked to ban something that kills people & makes many others sicker. (bc it fears papers that will never support Gov will write hostile headlines🙄)

‘Ghost resorts’: as hundreds of ski slopes lie abandoned, will nature reclaim the Alps?

Today on Volts: you've probably heard that Australia has cheap rooftop solar power. You've probably also heard some rumors & myths about it. (Is it destabilizing the grid?) I called my favorite Australian energy expert to clear it all up. This is a fun one! www.volts.wtf/p/whats-the-...

In the end rather higher at ~15GW (~44%) at 11am with even solar exceeding gas at times. Calm wind speeds did reverse the flows on the B6 (Eng/Sco boundary) with imports to Sco from Northern Eng (~25%)

There I was getting into the festive spirit by generously believing forecasts of return to service dates. 30% still offline. 10% squeaking over the line & now building power Will Hartlepool end its winter snooze and hit this date. 🤷

The government has broad authority to control admission but courts have held *repeatedly*, over more than half a century, that the First Amendment bars the government from denying visas to foreign citizens simply because it dislikes what they have to say. 1/ www.nytimes.com/2025/12/24/b...

Can't exactly be surprised we're ending the year with more bad faith cobblers that will keep fossil high & cost consumers dearly. Its been more or less the story of 2025.

Just fabulous!

".. In the last four months, the European Union spent 7% less on buying oil and gas from the United States, despite Donald Trump’s pledge to purchase American energy resources worth $750 billion over three years." #PinkyPromise @financialtimes.com www.ft.com/content/c961...

Ah but it does have the classic of the objectors genre!