democrats lose a heartbreaking race to a former presidential loser. there's a large working class shift on them — and it's largely on cultural issues. some counsel moving right on culture, others say they should embrace young voters. a synthesis arrives: populism

Really excellent piece on data center load growth, the obligation to serve, and ideas about where we go from here.

Why the data center boom might call into questions over 100 years of electricity market regulations heatmap.news/energy/elect...

the renewables industry has a lot to gain from lower interest rates, but it has a lot more to worry about now than the cost of debt heatmap.news/economy/fed-...

Outstanding episode of Shift Key. Jesse Jenkins & Rob Meyer explain transmission & distribution remain regulated monopolies and challenges regulating them. Only quibble with idea incentive regulation substantially improves outcomes. It creates its own distortions. podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/u...

Great Bloomberg piece with @arnabdatta.bsky.social @petereharrell.bsky.social‘s thoughts on the US rare earths deal with MP Materials. Explains pros/cons of the model for US minerals strategy and how an institutional reserve program could unify such efforts.🧵 www.bloomberg.com/news/newslet...

on the theory of unc letterboxd.com/matthewzeitl...

A 70s crime movie set in New York and shot and location actually can not be bad, no matter how big of a mess the script is letterboxd.com/matthewzeitl...

Lee Zeldin says carbon capture is a fake climate solution! heatmap.news/energy/epa-g...

"Nearly all energy projects, renewable or not, fared better with the public." Get the full story here from @zeitlin.bsky.social👇

More signs of a potential populist backlash to the data-center buildout, as Americans come to grips with the jobs AI may take away — and the utility bills it will inflate. @lorak.bsky.social @zeitlin.bsky.social heatmap.news/politics/dat...

people support building data centers near them than almost any type of energy project (except a coal plant) heatmap.news/politics/dat...

Perhaps the most stark finding in this year's report is that a lot more coal will persist on the grid as a result of Trump's policies. (primarily the repeal of power plant rules.)

The worst case scenario for U.S. climate progress under Biden — taking into account the IRA and regulations on power plants and vehicles — has now become the best case scenario, per the latest annual Rhodium report: heatmap.news/climate/trum...

with a heavy heart we must say it's chris wrong heatmap.news/politics/chr...

the obsession in the public health community with finding some way to say that sweeteners are bad is truly bizarre

a dear friend asked me "did you do one of those age yourself AI filters" in reference to my avi. i hope i age into harry dean stanton that would be tight

almost as good as the freedom of speech guy speaking up in opposition to taxes to pay for a new school because the old one burned down

much like building new housing benefits people who don't yet live where the housing is being built, making new construciton by-right as opposed to discretionary benefits developers not yet in business in that area

Interesting new AER paper uses the US-Soviet rivalry in space technology to isolate windfall R&D spending. They find a 77% social rate of return to NASA contractor spending, which is similar to the Bloom, et al. (2013) value of 55%. www.aeaweb.org/articles?id=...

2/ They were wrong. First of all, I would never mock, jest, or jape. Second, the Japanese philosopher Kohei Saito — the world’s leading advocate for “degrowth communism” — wrote in Der Spiegel earlier this year that he, too, sees Trump as a soft degrowther. www.spiegel.de/wirtschaft/s...

1/ When I wrote “Here Comes Degrowth Donald” in March, some critics retorted that Trump wasn’t actually doing degrowth. They accused me of trying to mock degrowtherism by associating it with Trumpism.

A conundrum for the climate movement is its failure to catch fire in Florida, an extremely climate exposed state with no fossil fuel industry. Why is climate action so much more popular in Massachusetts or Vermont or Washington state than in a hot state with a massive coastal population?

the great ev sale rush is on to get ahead of the 30d tax credit expiration, and tesla's market share is falling heatmap.news/electric-veh...

The biggest thing a lot of people overlook about DC is all the earnest folks who work hard on issues and mostly stay out of posting beefs —>

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-...

the best thing going for the renewable industry these days is that the gas industry has been happy to keep capacity tight. that may be starting to change heatmap.news/energy/mitsu...

Great piece on the increasing efforts to put Republicans on the defensive over policies that are sticking ratepayers with skyrocketing energy bills. Glad that folks are going on offense on this issue. @emilypont.bsky.social @heatmap.news @climatepower.bsky.social heatmap.news/politics/ele...

i wanted to open up a disccussion here. this is not a postive post about elon musk, and yet the most common response i got was that i was making a mistake because "elon musk is not an engineer." If not an engineer, what is he? an engineering manager? What makes someone an engineer, a degree?

respect to elizabeth gilbert for inventing the game and then reinventing it

If you've ever had a burning question about geothermal power, @zeitlin.bsky.social probably answers it below. Here's your full debrief on hot rocks ⬇️

Everything you need to know about solar panels from @zeitlin.bsky.social, including: ☀️ How does solar energy generation work? ☀️ Why is solar so popular? ☀️ How has solar gotten so cheap?

one thing that is hard to explain about central banks is that: "independent central banks often keep interest rates higher than they could/should as a matter of policy, while the existence of the central bank keeps interest rates lower than they would be in its absence"

This reminds me: foam neck braces? Especially in the courtroom or at a press conference held by a lawyer? Don’t see that so much anymore

really good story about a longstanding obsession of mine: neil gorsuch's jurisprudence on native american legal issues www.scotusblog.com/2025/08/just...

To underscore the importance of Democrats and renewable energy advocates going on offense regarding the true causes of skyrocketing energy bills, you only need to look at how Trump and Rs are seeking to falsely pin the blame on renewables. @heatmap.news @zeitlin.bsky.social

there's no relationship between rising electricity prices and the renewables share of electricity generation in a state, despite what our president says heatmap.news/energy/renew...

So excited about this. New Yorkers, come hear Peter talk about THE climate science (and also possibly economic and thermodynamic) book of the year.

Lots of consumer advocates and green groups don't like investor owned utilties and they've mounted up an effor to prevent a publicly-traded utility from being bought by two large funds. Does it matter who the investor is in the investor owned utility is? heatmap.news/energy/minne...

Can low energy prices and lots of data centers coexist? Load flexibility could be the answer. More from @zeitlin.bsky.social below, feat. @charlesxhua.bsky.social and @tnorris.bsky.social.

we need to go back

everyone wants to figure out a way to get data centers on the grid without expensive upgrades or higher retail electricity prices heatmap.news/energy/ai-fl...

NEW SHIFT KEY A beginner’s guide to power markets Most US electricity is sold on a market before it goes to homes and businesses. But how can you possibly price an electron? We have @jessedjenkins.com giving a masterclass on this *crucial* US economic institution. shows.acast.com/65bac3af0334...

You can listen to every episode of Shift Key on Heatmap: heatmap.news/podcast/shif... Or Apple Podcasts: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/s... Or wherever you get your shows: shows.acast.com/65bac3af0334...

heatmap.news/electric-veh... NEVI lives! Though we will see how it recovers from the stalling.

who is "elara voss," and why is she everywhere? the story of an a.i. glitch/cryptid/culture hero/artifact maxread.substack.com/p/who-is-ela...

Some democrats in Congress still believe in permitting reform. This means trusting President Trump to allow renewables projected to be permitted. He's been on a warpath against renewables this past month. Can there be a deal? heatmap.news/politics/per...

“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.”