Still going to teach undergrads. If you were a woman in his class, would you approach him for help or feedback?

Hey!! Here's my new piece for The New Republic!! It's about how Meta is cramming generative video slop (the most energy-intensive of the gen systems) into its massive global advertising engine: a recipe for an order magnitude worsening of its already-huge harms 😱 newrepublic.com/article/2028...

That means: - Embracing the open economy Britain has always been when successful - Investing in and empowering our cities and towns - Managing the costs of clean energy, not turning back - Fixing the regulation of our inflationary consumer services - Rebuilding state capacity and reforming taxation

Have spent some time reading this (obviously focused on the energy bit) and I think the title to the energy section has totally nailed it. Beware the guy who says it's all renewables fault, or all gas' fault. It's both...and more!

Delighted to publish this personal essay by me and John: Getting Britain out of the hole. We wanted to write something quite readable that covers the big picture of the UK’s economic struggles. Hopefully we’ve managed at least one of those! @johnspringford.bsky.social getting-out-of-the-hole.uk

Here’s the official government press release: www.gov.uk/government/n...

Heat pumps news! DESNZ is expanding the Boiler Upgrade Scheme to cover air to air heat pumps and heat batteries. Both will be eligible for a £2,500 grant if it fully replaces a gas or oil boiler… www.businessgreen.com/news/4521952...

Climate Action Tracker's update on Canada's climate policies is a grim read. "Our rating of Canada’s policies and action has worsened to 'Highly Insufficient', with the latest emissions projections now higher than previous updates" climateactiontracker.org/countries/ca...

Pretty remarkable how high Australia sits on the scale for lifestyle carbon emissions globally - and how little this gets mentioned in domestic climate discourse. hotorcool.org/publications...

Still early days, but the electric HGV market is starting to move. Was only a few years ago when serious people were arguing this technology would never work. It is now being deployed at scale by some of the world's most successful businesses. www.businessgreen.com/news/4521910...

It's so much fun that they just admit this www.eneos-xplora.com/english/news...

"Children’s toymaker FoloToy says it’s pulling its AI-powered teddy bear “Kumma” after a safety group found that the cuddly companion was giving wildly inappropriate and even dangerous responses, including tips on how to find and light matches, and detailed explanations about sexual kinks"

I really cannot overstate how much you should read this book, might be the best bit of non fiction I've read this year

We're three weeks shy of the 5th anniversary of my hydrogen ladder being published. Back then, there wasn't a lot of clarity where H2 might fit and the ladder was designed to direct efforts to feedstocks, ammonia, etc. There is no excuse for this waste today.

We’re literally playing hot potato except instead of a potato it’s the seat of our national government and instead of burning your hands it’s hoping it catches fire whilst a different party is in power

EXCL: Final decision on restoring the Palace of Westminster will be delayed until 2030s MPs were expected to vote by the end of 2025 on a way forward for fixing the crumbling parliament, but that now won't happen Story w/@danbloom1.bsky.social www.politico.eu/article/fina...

In the global electrification race China is marching ahead. The US and Europe risk falling behind clinging on to yesterday's technologies.

New research from @ecioxford.bsky.social + Danish Technological Institute finds heat pumps can cut industrial heating costs by up to 75% vs hydrogen boilers — the fastest, most affordable path to decarbonising industrial heat. ➡️Read more: tinyurl.com/3e39ypht #HeatPumps #NetZero #Decarbonisation

The most interesting part of the sky at sunset sometimes is everywhere other than the where the Sun is.

If women can provide for themselves, and don't need protection, if women aren't being subjugated, then what is men’s purpose supposed to be built around? May I suggest: Support and Uplift

VAT on heat pumps in Belgium down to 6% from January in Belgium. I was torn between trying to rush and get one in before Xmas or wait until January so that makes the decision easy. La TVA sur les pompes à chaleur passera à 6% dès janvier - RTBF Actus share.google/EnDruuaENAnw...

On Friday, I'm finally doing it: I'm recording a pod on balcony solar! This is probably the No. 1 request I get from listeners. I'm talking to Cora Stryker of Bright Saver, author of the whitepaper below. What should I ask her?

Journalist Julie Brown, an expert on the Epstein scandal, answers a question you may have about why Biden didn't release the Epstein files.

On days like today I like to recall some wise advice: hope is not a fleeting emotion, it is a discipline.

EVERY SINGLE FOSSIL FUEL IS MORE EXPENSIVE IN THE TRUMP-PLEASING HIGH-FOSSIL-FUEL SCENARIO I wish I'd had the time to read this whole report properly earlier this week: the scale of this rake-step / self-own is absolutely incredible THANKYOU donald trump for pushing the IEA to include all of this

Just buried in a paragraph and not highlight with a visual or anything: total global energy emissions WOULD BE 7% HIGHER if we had chosen to sit around and do nothing about this shit OUR ACTIONS MAY BE INSUFFICIENT BUT THEY ARE NOT FRUITLESS THERE ARE 2600000000000000 GRAMS OF FRUIT EVERY YEAR

Again: there is no spinning, re-framing or masking the fact that data centre growth is now a major a factor among all the major factors driving demand growth. The fact that data centres are going to spur more new demand than the entire heating needs of the human species is NOT GREAT

YOUR DAILY REMINDER: it is extreme weather, intensified by fossil fuels, that pose the greatest threat to grid security and causes the most blackouts. The blatantly false idea that renewables cause blackouts is *itself* likely to cause more blackouts, by encouraging more fossil fuel use

This is even better: household electricity bills are lowest in the net zero scenario, basically everywhere. Of course they are: buying fossil fuels and burning them is obscenely expensive and unreliable and requires constant, expensive support

Wow - this is a good one. In most regions, power grid system costs are the worst in the fossil-fuel-explosion scenario - in Europe and China, it's cheapest in the 'net zero' scenario > grid costs are way lower than costs saved on fuel purchasing!!

The CPS scenario's absurd oil demand forecast assumes nearly no reductions in demand from EVs out to 2035.....come on now

This is going to be a big old thread where I dump thoughts, reactions, charts etc from the @iea.org World Energy Outlook 2025 :) www.youtube.com/watch?v=wlkP... www.iea.org/commentaries...

Cute. www.businessgreen.com/news/4521834...

Anyway, here is some good news. I know landlords hate this, but renters need some security about the roof over their heads

Former Liberal MPs deride net zero dumping as ‘nail in the coffin’ that may prolong party’s pain in urban seats

During the height of the pandemic, Tyson used Palantir to predict Covid-19 infections among meatpacking workers down to a nearly exactly figure. But rather than using this data to increase worker protections, Tyson used it plan for labor shortages + plant closures My latest for @sentientmedia.org

I’m sorry I just found out that in 1379, as in, 650 years ago, a baby girl was born in Yorkshire and named Diot Coke history is a fucking joke lmao

Personally I’d like to see more direct public spending on subsidizing e-bikes for everyone via simple grants. This would deliver incredible socioeconomic returns on investment, and be more equitable than tax breaks for high earners. Cities need delivery riders on e-bikes not mopeds etc

One important thing to understand about these policy support mechanisms (“benefits for middle class voters”) being scrapped or slashed is that they are *expressly designed* to incentivise people with money to spend it on clean technology, on basis that public spending can’t deliver transition on own

When we’re doing city planning, why aren’t we asking simpler questions? Like “How could your life be easier if your city or community were different?”

writing a piece on this tomorrow but I think the bland truth is that a lot of people just don't care! saw it in Westminster too, fundamentally a lot of men - and some women - simply don't really give a shit if a man is said to be a sexual abuser, as long as they don't have to see if they don't care

And as Rich says very eloquently, HMT may see this as a way to reduce bills in the short term, but it is a false economy. Fewer heat pumps = importing more gas for longer = bad on many levels Fewer upgrades for fuel poor homes = more fuel poverty

The cost of living crisis was caused in large part by gas prices. Heat pump policy supports a solution which which gets the country off gas AND reduces emissions. I seriously hope this is some crossed wires, if not we really are in trouble. www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

I’m afraid I’ve heard enough to take this seriously - No.10 is thinking of abolishing ECO, the main source of funding for upgrading fuel poor homes. There’s no way to sugar coat this: it would be a disaster. And it would mean this government spending less on upgrading homes than the last one

If HMT does scrap the ECO levy, it's likely to share the government funding across both the BUS and the fuel poverty programme. That would mean less help for fuel poor homes AND less money available for heat pump subsidies than we have now. Not good.

I think part of this story (on eligibility for heat pump grants) is likely to be nonsense - I'll explain in a thread below. But it is clear that the Treasury wants to abolish the ECO levy, which funds upgrades for fuel poor homes. This would be a serious mistake www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

Paging @garius.bsky.social ‘A retired senior Navy officer said: "It is impossible to imagine someone getting a DSO who was not in a command appointment. "He also does not have all the jubilee medals that he should have and his cap badge looks dodgy."’ www.telegraph.co.uk/gift/6680866...

'The University of Cambridge has announced it has acquired and for the first time unsealed Levy’s personal archive, including letters, draft manuscripts, photographs and diary entries. It is expected the material will inform a wealth of new scholarship on her life, work and mental health.' 1/2

Oh, Canada...

They were being integrated with the mayor role anyway so this makes total sense. No need for a separate function. Helps build up mayors as the single tier of regional government.