Top recent posts by Climate and Energy Professionals on Bluesky

Norway sold 12 petrol cars in February 2026. Out of 7,272 new passenger car registrations, 98% were fully electric. Just 67 diesel & 12 petrol cars were registered. Hybrids? Only 66 in total mostly plug ins. More in my new Substack newsletter coming out every 7 days. Sign up here: t.co/In5lBaF2ox

When fascists call for unity, it means "you quit fighting back." Always. Every time.

Hold on. We the taxpayers are going to pay companies $900 million, which is more than 6x what we spend on wind power R&D, to NOT build wind power at a time when electricity prices are spiking and we need more clean power?

I don’t understand how they thoroughly messed up the widely used software that opens PDFs? Like as apps go this one is pretty close to “you had one job”???

"Large swathes of India are witnessing a blistering summer this year, with the maximum temperature touching 46.9C (116.4F) on Sunday, according to India Meteorological Department. The weather department listed 16 cities where heat rose to 45C or more on the day."

IT. IS. HAPPENING. China's State Counsel has announced that provinces will be graded on their efforts to peak emissions before 2030. "Authorities ranked as making unsatisfactory progress ... could be subject to disciplinary processes if issues aren’t rectified." 💥 🧵

In Florida, Gov. Desantis signs a bill that would prohibit Florida cities from tracking their greenhouse gas emissions. Yes, you heard that right. Never mind doing anything about them: they're not allowed to *track them*.

About 20 years ago, lighting was the single largest use of electricity in American homes. But energy-efficient lightbulbs has shrunk the category to sixth place! www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

It’s the age of electricity and America isn‘t ready. Virtually every goal Americans care about requires making big changes to the grid. I’m in @nytimes.com today writing about why power bills are going up, whether AI is to blame, and what we need to do to fix it: www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

Whaaaaat?! That campaign in an Ohio county to ban wind & solar development ... turns out to be backed ... by a bunch of fossil fuel groups!

Europe has made remarkable progress cleaning up its electricity. In 2024, just 29% of European electricity came from fossil fuels - down from 53% in 2005. But electricity is only 23% of Europe's total energy use. Look at other sectors & it changes dramatically. More here: substack.com/@janrosenow

When Democrats say "grown-ups" they mean responsible people capable of self-regulation. When Republicans say "grown-ups" they mean "stern daddies who give us the punishment we deserve."

Governor Mills vetoed a bill that would instate a moratorium on building data centers—the first of its kind in the country. But instead of leading, she capitulated to out-of-state corporate interests again, just like when she vetoed a bill to establish a public utility in Maine.

Shameless... "I joined motorists from across the UK" Look at carefully selected images to hide fact barely anyone showed up other than client media and lobbyists

This might be the most insane story about the US EPA that you’ll read.

Bracken as it's supposed to be: just one innocuous woodland fern among many. The immense monocultures now so common are a product of centuries of acute overgrazing – usually by sheep – leading to forest disappearance. They're another example of extreme *human-caused* ecological imbalance.

How about a long, slightly depressing, completely non-political thread? My brain--my stupid, stupid brain--has always found it extremely important that I *not bullshit myself*. Am I thinking that someone likes me? That I did something good? That good things are coming in the future? Uh oh...

Commercially viable numbers of livestock are not compatible with healthy natural ecosystems. That's the most concise answer to the question.

NEW REPORT with two findings: 1) Data centers cause health and environmental problems in the communities where they are sited; and 2) data centers are sited in communities that already have a lot of health and environmental problems techpolicy.press/data-center-...

Breaking News! Code Yikes! Arctic sea-ice extent is crashing. Yesterday's sea-ice extent set a new record daily low that was more than 85,000 square kilometers below the previous record daily low set in 2016. The Climate 8-ball is stocking up on beans.

An administration run by zealots and oil-soaked sellouts, engaged in an epic act of national economic self-sabotage.

"You're paying out billions of dollars for developers NOT to build wind projects? Uh, yes, we'd like to get in that line."

Happy International Crow and Raven Appreciation Day (ICRAD)! I hope you didn't forget, because the corvids certainly didn't.

Biden's EPA was going to eventually require gas plants to use carbon capture & sequestration. No more. They can pollute freely forever, says EPA.

Heavy rain hit Qinzhou, China, lasting ~12 hours and triggering severe flooding. Up to 362.2mm fell, the heaviest in nearly a decade. A red warning was issued as roads, vehicles and underground garages were flooded. Residents were told to stay indoors, with some schools closed.

at the “fuck my security deposit and my landlord the rest of this shit can just stay here” phase of moving

People say that "individual actions" like changing your lightbulbs don't matter, but that right there is a lot of destroyed demand!

In addition to continually getting cheaper, solar panels are also continually getting better, along pretty much every dimension. Even efficiency -- squeezed by decades of research -- is still rising:

Please take the anti-Elon sticker off your Tesla. Own your shit.

Can confirm: The present administration is destroying U.S. science. The U.S. will be a diminished country because of this. A great piece by @thorbenson.bsky.social Killing the golden goose madness.ghost.io/killing-the-...

This viral video from 2013 by Bonnie Thomson shows 'Sqwark' and 'Whiskey' playing together. Sqwark is an Australian magpie (Gymnorhina tibicen), demonstrating social behaviors typical for the species that lives in groups of 3-20. They *aren't* corvids, technically, but do a convincing impression.

Folks on this site have noticed that the Republican approach to political violence seems to involve some degree of hypocrisy, and they are going to EXPOSE IT. The GOP shan't soon recover.

Monday ice update - #Arctic sea ice extent is currently the *lowest* on record (JAXA data)... • about 490,000 km² below the 2010s mean • about 830,000 km² below the 2000s mean • about 1,240,000 km² below the 1990s mean • about 1,790,000 km² below the 1980s mean More: zacklabe.com/arctic-sea-i...

Biodegradable PLA sandbags are being used in northern China to stabilise deserts. Filled with sand and laid in grids, they break wind and trap moisture so plants can take hold. Grasses and shrubs are introduced, sometimes crops, while the bags slowly degrade.

It remains absolutely stunning what a huge success the gas industry has had in convincing the energy industry and specialist media outlets that gas is not a fossil fuel and you don't need to write about it as something that needs to be phased out or removed theenergy.co/article/firm...

Today on Volts: Tom Steyer! With Swalwell gone, the 2026 Democratic race for governor of California is tight. Narrowly leading is Steyer, the longtime financier & climate champion, who is running on a plan to take on the state's utilities & reduce power bills by 25%. We discuss that & much more.

Important read. "Climate change is already showing up in the cost of living. Economists and central bankers are getting better at linking temperatures to price increases." 🎁🔗 www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

"I'd love an electric vehicle but I can't afford a new one." Great news for you!

Would be truly hilarious if Trump's dipshit jihad against mail-in voting ended up screwing Republican voters.

What’s everyone reading? Is it this?

Some people continue to advocate for regenerative grazing as a big climate solution. But it's not. The better answer is to cut back on beef consumption, curb food waste, and rethink the food system. drawdown.org/insights/gre...

These 'casts' are the soot-filled mucus & bronchial lining from a patient in Beijing. 😨 Key points: - Only a few hours of exposure - No thermal burns evident - removed via cryoprobe - The man made ~full recovery at 2 weeks - A warming world will have a lot more of THIS in it.

Your 'moment of doom' for Apr. 27, 2026 ~ There's something happening here. "Even a moderately strong El Niño during the next 12 to 18 months could drive the average global temperature to about 1.7 degrees Celsius above the preindustrial level..." insideclimatenews.org/news/2504202...

'Playing a broken record' via @nsidc.bsky.social at nsidc.org/snow-today/m... "In large parts of Colorado, Wyoming, Idaho, Utah, Nevada, and Oregon, snow cover duration was 80 to 100 days below average. Snow cover duration in all other western US states was also far below average."

🧪 NEW RESEARCH: Shoving fracking waste into the ground destabilized a geological fault, triggered a rupture cascade, and caused three earthquakes in Alberta, Canada in 2022-23. Also the Alberta Energy Regulator, which blamed natural causes, lied about it. 1/2 thetyee.ca/Analysis/202...

Military contamination is forever

Last month was the 3rd warmest March on record for land areas around the world... Data provided by @noaa.gov NOAAGlobalTemp v6.1.0 (www.ncei.noaa.gov/products/lan...)

one ot my favorite things to collect is the identifiers that mixed kids make up like me, im norjibwe my husband is brexican but tonight i saw a congo + mongolian who calls himself a congolian

I just launched a Substack newsletter. Every week I'll be writing about the energy transition. The first issue is out today. I include a section called Bright Spots — good news from the transition every week. Please subscribe to my Substack below - it is completely free: janrosenow.substack.com

Stalin fundamentally crippled Soviet #science in the 1930s and almost a century later it still hasn't recovered. That's what Trump, RFK Jr., Vought, and MAGA are doing right now to the United States.

A @wired.com review of permits for new data center projects using natural gas & linked to OpenAI, Meta, Microsoft, + xAI shows they could emit more greenhouse gases than entire nations. 😬😡 www.wired.com/story/new-ga...

i found out that if you need to swim for recovery reasons, your doctor can write you a letter for a free unlimited swim pass to the city natatorium? that’s so cool.

ATT is trying to push me off the edge can i bill them for all the time I can’t do my job since the internet was supposed to be installed four days ago and still isn’t working? or for my emotional distress from hold music?

Record breaking snowfall hit Moscow, Russia overnight. Around 12cm fell, the heaviest on record for this date. An orange alert is in effect, with severe ice, fallen trees and strong winds. Transport disruption is widespread, with 50+ flights hit and trains delayed.

Every utility has their own transformer spec. We need to standardize them all. The fix isn't just more factories — though we need those too. It's Modular design. Portfolio-level procurement instead of project-by-project. Build smarter. Buy smarter. Stop buying transformers project by project.

My experience writing about this is similar to @waiterich.bsky.social's. People LOVE to believe that local food is better for climate, but it just isn't. The GHGs from inefficiencies of growing on smaller, more distributed farms where weather might not be ideal easily swamps the GHG of transport.

🧪 NEW STUDY: Reproductive toxicants (eg microplastics & PFAS forever chemicals) + climate change are likely driving plummeting global fertility rates ACROSS THE ANIMAL KINGDOM. [Anyone expressing glee about rising human infertility will be blocked] 1/2 www.theguardian.com/science/2026...

The photography in this piece is just so freaking stunning. Click it and read it and soak it in

Hype: Reform said it was organising a "national" fuel tax protest today in London, via a "legion" of tractors, lorry drivers vans. Reality: "The Standard estimates there have been about 50 people at the site of the protest, including members of the press, and there isn’t a tractor in sight."

Not so talked about, is the rapid growth of renewables in India. Here is capacity. Yes, still a lot of coal, but growth has slowed substantially. More figures robbieandrew.github.io/india/ 1/

Is global warming tipping key Atlantic ocean currents towards ‘collapse’? ✍️ @ceciliakeating.carbonbrief.org 🎨 @tomoprater.carbonbrief.org and Kerry Cleaver Read here ➡️ buff.ly/mgaIBvM

Huge sigh of relief from the industry as CCS settles back into its natural state: being a perpetual promise that's always off in the somewhat-near future, rather than actual technology you can mandate and build and operate commercially

In their April 2024 newsletter, the European Space Agency (ESA) offered a suggested unit scale as a useful reference to the media who often come up with reference objects for meteorite/asteroid size. "...the size of 22 penguins..." for example. They proposed the SGU, the Standardized Giraffe Unit.

The field of "forensics" is named for the Roman Forum, where such evidence was presented.

I've started collecting these stories of GenAI and AI coding agents deleting entire databases, never actually saving months of someone's work, etc. Is it too on the nose to call it my Schadenfreudefolder?

update: this was sooooo good and so easy and will need to be worked into the rotation you just take an onion, green peppers, celery, and carrots, fry it up with kielbasa and tony chacheres, pour in 4c of chicken broth, add 2 bags of success rice, boil, add a shredded rotisserie chicken, reduce

1) i'm surprised this took so long to repeal 2) omg i know nothing is funny but it's actually so, so funny that a Trump EPA is saying CCS isn't tenable for US power plants. guess what is tenable? closure! (the other compliance option)

this assumes ai is an unqualified Good & moratoriums will create social inequities because if companies have to spend more to build data centers Somewhere Else because Somewhere said no, they will price their products out of reach of the poor i disagree because i don't think ai is necessarily Good—

There are many good breakdowns of just how confused and weird this article is, eg @beninskeep.bsky.social here twitter-thread.com/t/2048762633... I just need to take on the climate / energy part, because I know it well.

"The E.P.A. 'just blew up a very well-performing organization that was making a difference, not only in the country but in the world,' said Jennifer Orme-Zavaleta, who led the research office under the first Trump administration." Brilliant and enraging @nytimes.com story from fabulous Lisa Friedman

Buy my book (or get it from your library) and you can use it to train the amazing and highly personalized AI accessible inside your own skull

Big El Nino’s have a big impact on hurricane season!! So, what does this upcoming Strong El Niño mean for Hurricane Season? Here I take a short, in-depth look how the strongest El Nino’s changed the Atlantic hurricane season. You’ll be surprised how big a difference it makes!! #ElNino #Hurricane

orwell is eating his own tongue while spinning in his grave like homer simpson on the ground

Showing up matters. We were there at No Kings. Now it's time to show up at the next major solidarity event this Friday: The May Day National Day of Action. Find a local event or activity near you: maydaystrong.org

Good to hear that the Irish government is looking into additional payments for heat pumps and efficient cars, rather than just addressing the energy crisis with cuts to fossil fuel prices. However, supporting HVO ("renewable diesel") would be a really bad idea. www.rte.ie/news/ireland...

"Australia’s climate policy has long been characterised by elaborate frameworks – offset schemes, emissions intensity baselines, safeguard mechanisms – that are genuinely difficult for the public to evaluate" @louisemorris.bsky.social on what it takes to get rid of dangerous fuel exports --->>

A hilarious new low on the academic job market: Immediately after receiving my job application, this university used it to sell my email address to their credit union. They've since rejected me, but the credit union's marketing team sure hasn't! (Nor, of course, does their unsubscribe link work)

When asked by @rollingstone.com what I think the Hormuz chaos is doing to the energy transition in 🇪🇺, I said it's pushing things ahead but there's much uncertainty. It's a big opportunity to decarbonize but so was the Ukraine war, when we learned about supplies but now we're still price vulnerable.

we are currently in the “every trip outside takes waffles one hour to decide where to pee” phase of moving

This level of anti-wind policy is just insane.

just ran my first python script at age 45, please clap

Indian solar made a big love heart shape on Valentine's day ♥️

Another giant in the global environmental community has passed away. RIP Peter Raven. news.mongabay.com/2026/04/pete...

Could you all do me a favour if you're on FB. Please report this account. It's using my logo so essentially pretending to be me. www.facebook.com/naina.editx

I changed the name to 'Bright Spots' now as there is another blog that is called "Watts up..."

My latest on substack: The Failure of Climate Politics Enjoy! open.substack.com/pub/climatec...

Sigh. Another deal where energy companies get paid by the US taxpayer to cancel wind farms and invest in LNG instead The companies don't seem all that bothered, going by their statements www.doi.gov/pressrelease...

This is a good article on space based solar. One thing I haven't seen anyone mention yet is the challenge of keeping a beam focused. Keeping concentrated solar rays focused on the right place has proved difficult even on the ground, which is why CPV doesn't work out and Ivanpah struggles.

breaking: new trump agreements to kill offshore wind leases

BREAKING: Two trains have collided at Bekasi Timur Station in Indonesia. Local reports say a KRL commuter service was struck by an intercity train on the same line, causing significant damage to carriages and major disruption to services. Details on casualties still being confirmed.

The Trump Interior budget proposes a $10 BILLION slush fund under the direct control of Donald Trump for construction projects in DC (the "Presidential Capital Stewardship Program") Burgum is testifying before @energydems.senate.gov Wednesday morning

New global science panel to help countries move away from fossil fuels, linking climate science, economics and real-world policy. “The science panel can play a unique role in providing updates on what needs to happen year by year," PIK Director Rockström said. www.theguardian.com/environment/...

In many ways this isn’t even about glyphosate. It’s about our legal right to redress when regulators make a mistake, are hoodwinked, or new information becomes available. www.nytimes.com/2026/04/26/c...

After all this time, all this history, I still struggle with such a basic question: How can you compel people to destroy people's lives and livelihoods, while convincing them that they're doing good?

What they know, but aren't saying, is that oil demand in China is set to decline soon, probably before 2030. Other Asian countries will follow soon after. Why don't @ABDanielleSmith and @BrianJeanAB know this? Wrong answers only. Let's have some fun with this one. #ableg

Protecting the planet is a shared mission. From daily choices to global initiatives, UNEP helps you take part in tackling environmental challenges. Explore how you, too, can make a difference: www.unep.org/get-involved

can someone pay me a billion dollars to not build a wind farm

<stares at the Asia Pacific> ... so, uh, was the pivot meant to be *away* from the US?

Crow in the thread! 🐦‍⬛

Ah, yes, I’m carrying water for Republicans by pointing out that Mills sided with Republicans by vetoing a moratorium that her own task force recommended. A moratorium! Not even a ban! Just a pause so that projects being developed in secret without community input couldn’t just be rammed through.