The same solar panels cost half as much in Australia as in the US. Why? The answer is a suite of tariffs, supported by every President since 2012. To stay competitive in AI and advanced manufacturing, I argue we need to stop holding ourselves back. #econsky open.substack.com/pub/nickfras...

Australians can buy the same solar panels for half the price of Americans. Why? The culprit is a suite of tariffs, supported by both parties since 2012. If we want to stay competitive in AI and advanced manufacturing, we need to stop holding ourselves back. 🔌💡 open.substack.com/pub/nickfras...

If Trump attacks the Fed and cuts interest rates, we may see a surge of solar and battery installations. This would be short-lived if low rates trigger inflation and rates have to be raised again. But inflation would further help solar projects that manage to get financed in this window. 🔌💡

Great podcast on the effects of ESG investing. Could ESG and fossil fuel divestment raise the cost of capital for energy companies and, in doing so, inadvertently drive them towards short-term, highly polluting decisions? Definitely worth considering.🔌💡 youtu.be/7WjrmBSUZI4?...

Hot 🔌💡 take: we shouldn't cite the amount of renewable investment or capacity getting built as evidence of victory. Renewables, with high capital costs and low capacity factors, seem to do amazing on these metrics. It obscures the actual trajectory we are on. pv-magazine-usa.com/2025/08/20/s...

#energysky I suspect this means projects won't get the tax credits. Period. I hope I am wrong. www.utilitydive.com/news/treasur...

I think it is good messaging to complain about republicans broadly instead of Trump specifically (even though Trump is the worst). Conservatives complain about Democrats and the radical left. Liberals mostly complain about Trump. It wins us very few allies, and it makes us seem obsessive to normies.

If the hyperscalers bypass the grid and build off-grid solar and batteries to power their facilities, they will need a lot of excess capacity that will simply be wasted most of the time. This means free excess energy at relatively high capacity factors. The industrial implications could be huge! 🔌💡

I find some comfort in knowing that, even when politicians fail us, scientists and engineers are still working hard. 🔌💡 www.sustainability-times.com/energy/envis...

This will not be the last record-breaking year. open.substack.com/pub/nickfras...

With a conservative government, new electricity demand for data centers, and a shortage of new gas turbines, there has never been a better time for democrats to support an all of the above energy strategy. Right now, all of the above is de facto renewables, which are cheap and readily available.

cars should just hook onto a track on the freeway so you don’t have to drive people could share spaces in their car they could make cars big enough to hold like 100 people maybe with a dining car

I love seeing floating solar projects paired with hydroelectric dams. Higher capacity factors on existing transmission without a need for batteries

In 1992, Mexico City was the most polluted city in the world. Today, it is a far greener and more livable city. What drove this transition? In this article, I lay out a new framework for identifying when clean transitions will occur and how it can be encouraged 🔌💡 open.substack.com/pub/nickfras...

It's a duck curve in the batteries or a duck curve in the grid. The choice is yours.

The story of how Trump sells access to the White House - to benefit himself and his family financially and to benefit his political operation - is shocking and sordid. No President has ever monetized access like Trump has. 1/ It's a story you need to know.

I think Pete Buttigieg should run for president in 2028, but I also think he should get really, really buff first. Not fit, buff. An extremely muscular Pete Buttigieg would sweep every swing state and get 60% of the popular vote. Guaranteed.

I suspect biofuel will be the best option for net-zero shipping and aviation, but while so much of our electricity comes from gas and coal and so many of our cars run on gasoline, biofuel is absolutely on the wrong end of the pareto curve.

This is much more malicious than the One Big Beautiful Bill's cutting of wind and solar subsidies. Unlike cutting subsidies, this cannot be explained by a sincere belief in free markets. It requires either corruption, an unfathomable level of pettiness, or both. 🔌💡 apnews.com/article/trum...

HUGE: The Trump administration will no longer permit any solar or wind projects on federal lands unless they produce more energy-per-acre than coal, gas or nuclear power plants. Solar and wind literally produce less energy per acre, so simply this may just kill off any project on federal lands.

If you get electricity from nuclear and drive an electric car, it's not a gas pedal. It's an atomic pedal. 🚗⚡️☢️

Pretty horrifying.

I understand why new nuclear plants are so expensive, but I don't understand why already established nuclear plants would ever shut down. Are they that expensive to operate? Do they require major overhauls? Can anyone explain this to me or link me a good explanation? #energysky

I don't think the US needs to produce solar panels or batteries to benefit from them, just like we didn't need to produce oil to benefit from it in the 20th century. We should be buying up the cheap chinese options and using their power to dominate in the AI/data center race.

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Really interesting podcast from @mliebreich.bsky.social and @ethanall.bsky.social . The One Big Beautiful Bill is causing a massive and negative shift in American clean energy. They dive into likely effects on solar, wind, batteries, nuclear, and electric vehicles. 🔌💡 youtu.be/YQLkLXt9Uek?...

Aussies and Europeans can get rooftop solar on their homes for a third the price of Americans—and one huge reason why is our crazy local permitting system. (And Congress and the WH can’t keep us from changing this.) www.motherjones.com/environment/...

Taxing/tariffing economic inputs is a generally bad idea that hurts US competitiveness. How are we supposed to sell cars around the world if we pay the most for steel? How are we supposed to lead in manufacturing or AI if we pay the most for solar and battery modules (i.e., the most for energy)?

Some people are convinced we need a technological breakthrough (hydrogen, direct air capture, Fusion, etc.) to fight climate change. But they are wrong. The breakthroughs we needed have already happened. Now is the time for implementing them.

Building Integrated Photovoltaics (BIPV) will be a lot more interesting when/if we get widespread adoption of modular housing. We need manufacturing to open up a can of Swanson's Law on solar installation costs. 🔌 💡

We should be going hard pushing for lower tariffs on solar and batteries. It makes us less competitive as a country in a time when our grid needs every watt of capacity.

I'm so glad Trump is bringing manufacturing back to America... pv-magazine-usa.com/2025/07/24/o...

Since when is America ok with second place?

While coal use is declining in developed countries, its use is still growing globally. This is because, unfortunately, the economic structure in many developing countries strongly favors coal as a fuel source. I discuss this in my recent post on The Forward Curve: open.substack.com/pub/nickfras...

Reducing the deficit lowers inflationary pressures and allows the fed to cut interest rates. Low interest rates in America lead to lower interest rates all around the world. Low interest rates make the green transition viable. To fight climate change, we need fiscal restraint. Not a whole new war.

Epic capture ….Grand Canyon National Park in Arizona ✨👏✨😎✨