Ella Nilsen
@ellanilsen.bsky.social
VP, Echo Communications Advisors. Former CNN senior climate/energy reporter. Granite stater, forever missing the mountains. Email me: ella@echocomms.com
Had a great chat with @jael.bsky.social about my new gig at Echo Communications and how I see the rapidly changing clean energy politics & policy landscape playing out. Read our conversation in @heatmap.news. heatmap.news/plus/the-fig...
A CNN Reporter Joins the Fray
A conversation with Ella Nilsen — formerly of CNN, now with Echo Communications — about where we stand in the fight over the energy transition.
heatmap.news
Some job news: I’m joining the stellar team at Echo Communications Advisors as their new VP, where I'll be helping tell more stories about clean energy. I’ll be based in Boston, and will help the firm expand its New England footprint. I'm so excited to get started. echocomms.com
Home - Echo Communications Advisors
We're a public affairs firm exclusively focused on shaping energy policy. We tell our clients’ stories to drive narratives and shape the environment in which decisions are made.
echocomms.com
How thirsty is your grass? Very! Breaking my long social media drought to hype up this gorgeous piece of visual journalism on Colorado's battle with water-intensive grass. From the insanely talented @samhart.bsky.social and Ashley Burke. Also, I helped. www.cnn.com/interactive/...
Unquenchable lawns
A city filled with green grass is trying to use far less water. Here’s what we can learn from the Denver area’s effort to rethink the American yard.
cnn.com
This massive wind farm in the North Sea could power up to 50 million homes. Europe is seeing renewables as synonymous with energy independence as the US is proving to be an increasingly volatile partner. w/ @laurapaddison.bsky.social edition.cnn.com/2026/02/19/c...
Trump said wind power is for ‘stupid people.’ Five days later, European countries agreed to build one of the planet’s biggest wind farms | CNN
As President Trump tries to strangle wind projects in the US, nine European countries have signed a deal to build a vast offshore wind farm in the North Sea, the epicenter of the continent’s oil and g...
edition.cnn.com
The family’s water was undrinkable: It corroded taps. It withered plants. Their ice maker expelled clumps of salt. Why? For 2 yrs, Oklahoma oil regulators delayed basic tests that could help them find out. Read @nickbowlin.bsky.social latest for @propublica.org + @readfrontier.bsky.social!
Salty, Oily Drinking Water Left Sores in Their Mouths. Oklahoma Refused to Find Out Why.
State regulators discovered strong signs of oil pollution, including high levels of salt and toxic metals, in one family’s drinking water. But for two years, they repeatedly delayed basic tests to fin...
propublica.org
Great reporting from @laurapaddison.bsky.social: India may be on a faster electrification trajectory than China, with rapid solar and EV deployment. India's energy transition is being driven by one thing: cost. www.cnn.com/2026/02/11/c...
China is the planet’s clean energy superpower but there’s another country snapping at its heels — and it’s moving even faster | CNN
The planet’s third biggest polluter is adding wind and solar and electrifying transport at a faster pace than China did at the same levels of development, new research finds. Its clean energy boom wil...
cnn.com
Terrible day for many amazing, hard-working, intelligent journalists at the Washington Post. I'm still here and trying to figure out how to best support my colleagues who have lost their jobs. If you feel able to share or contribute, please do: www.gofundme.com/f/standing-t...
Donate to Washington Post 2026 layoff fund, organized by Rachel Siegel
On Wednesday, Feb. 4, 2026, The Washington Post laid off hundreds of journalists. We ar… Rachel Siegel needs your support for Washington Post 2026 layoff fund
gofundme.com
Great piece from @ellanilsen.bsky.social on the drivers behind rising electricity prices across the country: edition.cnn.com/2026/02/02/c...
Trump claims blue states have less-reliable, more expensive electricity. Here’s the reality | CNN
In recent months, the Trump administration has framed high energy costs as a problem impacting only blue states. But the truth is electricity prices are rising nationwide and experts say some Trump po...
edition.cnn.com
The Washington Post Guild is alarmed and appalled by federal law enforcement’s search and seizure of reporter Hannah Natanson’s property and personal devices. Hannah is a valued member of our union whose work covering the federal workforce has been essential (1/3)
New: We estimate that in 2025, US greenhouse gas emissions increased by 2.4%, marking a change from the prior two years of decreases in emissions. Emissions also grew faster than the economy in 2025, reversing the decoupling of emissions and economic activity of the prior two years.
Trump moves to pull the US from bedrock climate treaty, UN IPCC and other int'l orgs & UN agencies. In doing so, the US becomes the only country to withdraw from this particular climate agreement dating back to 1992 (UNFCCC). www.cnn.com/2026/01/07/c...
Trump moves to pull US out of bedrock global climate treaty, becoming first country to do so | CNN
The Trump administration is pulling the United States out of the bedrock treaty that underpins international cooperation on climate change, along with dozens of other global bodies.
cnn.com
China has been one of Venezuela's biggest oil customers. Experts say it has also likely hit peak oil as it speeds towards EVs. www.cnn.com/2026/01/08/c...
Trump wants to own Venezuela’s oil, but its largest oil customer is speeding toward clean energy | CNN
Energy experts say the US and China are diverging on the energy transition, with China sprinting far ahead on renewables and EVs, while the US doubles down on drilling oil at home and abroad.
cnn.com
“What we’re seeing here is overt effort to cancel freedom of scientific thought and inquiry. That should send a chill down the spine of every US citizen.” Great reporting on NCAR's impending breakup, and the scientists fighting it, from @afreedma.bsky.social.
We dissected a Maryland utility bill in this very cool interactive to drill down on what's driving cost spikes. What we found: infrastructure (in this case, replacing ancient gas lines that date back to the 1800s) is a huge factor. w/ @samhart.bsky.social www.cnn.com/interactive/...
What goes into your rising energy bills
CNN dissects one customer’s October utilities bill to show where and how costs can rise.
cnn.com
"Climate risk data didn’t suddenly become inconvenient; it became harder to ignore in a stressed market.” On Zillow's decision to remove extreme weather risk info from home listings, and pressure on other sites to do the same, via @ellanilsen.bsky.social www.cnn.com/2025/12/02/c...
The real estate industry is pressuring Zillow and other sites to nix extreme weather risk data buyers have come to rely on | CNN
Zillow, the nation’s largest real estate listing website, has removed extreme weather risk data meant to help buyers figure out if the biggest purchase of their life is particularly susceptible to flo...
cnn.com
In an 👀 stat, PJM watchdog Monitoring Analytics said the current price spikes “are almost entirely the result of large load additions from data centers,” and that data centers alone inflated PJM’s latest power price auction by over $9.3 billion.
Ella Nilsen@ellanilsen.bsky.social · 10mo agoNew: Maryland residents are seeing higher electricity bills driven in large part by new neighbors in Northern Virginia: the world’s biggest cluster of data centers. “We shouldn’t be subsidizing [AI companies],” one MD ratepayer told me. “They have enough money.” www.cnn.com/2025/11/14/c...
New: Maryland residents are seeing higher electricity bills driven in large part by new neighbors in Northern Virginia: the world’s biggest cluster of data centers. “We shouldn’t be subsidizing [AI companies],” one MD ratepayer told me. “They have enough money.” www.cnn.com/2025/11/14/c...
Data centers are spiking electricity costs in Maryland. It’s the ‘tip of the iceberg,’ one expert warns | CNN
Data centers power the internet and AI. They’re also running up electricity bills.
cnn.com
“You’re cutting off the next three decades of missions to explore the universe, to learn more about the planets and to learn more about the Earth. It’s a really devastating loss.” @ellanilsen.bsky.social @cnn.com www.cnn.com/2025/11/04/s...
NASA may be quietly gutting an iconic campus with what it calls strategic closures, workers fear | CNN
Buildings at Goddard’s Maryland campus are being emptied and padlocked, sources say. NASA leadership has pushed back against the concerns.
cnn.com
New: Citing need for cost-cutting, NASA is quietly closing buildings at Goddard, giving employees days to pack up highly specialized equipment or risk it getting thrown away, raising alarm. "The things they’re doing don’t actually seem to save money,” one employee said. www.cnn.com/2025/11/04/s...
NASA may be quietly gutting an iconic campus with what it calls strategic closures, workers fear | CNN
Buildings at Goddard’s Maryland campus are being emptied and padlocked, sources say. NASA leadership has pushed back against the concerns.
cnn.com
An important new story on the quiet gutting of one of NASA's most important laboratory campuses, during the federal shutdown. Via @ellanilsen.bsky.social & @jackiewattles.bsky.social www.cnn.com/2025/11/04/s...
Workers fear NASA is quietly gutting the iconic home of Hubble and Webb. The agency says it’s strategically closing buildings | CNN
Buildings at Goddard’s Maryland campus are being emptied and padlocked, sources say. NASA leadership has pushed back against the concerns.
cnn.com
Fill out this form to tell @ellanilsen.bsky.social about how rising electricity prices affect your family! We're reporting on how electricity costs differ around the country and how new infrastructure (including AI datacenters) is affecting the price of power. www.cnn.com/2025/10/23/c...
Is your electric bill going up? CNN wants to hear from you | CNN
Share your electric bill and help us report on rising prices, infrastructure costs and AI datacenters.
cnn.com
I wrote about a recent phenomenon worrying scientists: entire mountainsides falling into the ocean in coastal Alaska, triggering monster tsunami waves. It's happened 3 times in the last decade, all close to retreating glaciers. www.cnn.com/2025/10/22/c...
Cruise ships are flocking to Alaska to chase ice. But receding glaciers are leaving a new threat behind | CNN
It was a very early morning in August when an entire mountainside in Alaska’s Tracy Arm fjord detached and slid into the deep ocean water beneath it.
cnn.com
I love this piece by @ellanilsen.bsky.social about a phenomena I previously had never heard of: Whole-ass mountainsides sliding into the ocean in Alaska, causing tsunamis that could pulverize cruise ships. www.cnn.com/2025/10/22/c...
Cruise ships are flocking to Alaska to chase ice. But receding glaciers are leaving a new threat behind | CNN
It was a very early morning in August when an entire mountainside in Alaska’s Tracy Arm fjord detached and slid into the deep ocean water beneath it.
cnn.com
One of the biggest tsunami waves on record hit an Alaskan fjord this summer, caused by a massive landslide falling into the ocean near a melting glacier. No one was hurt, despite a Nat Geo cruise ship being 15 miles away, but scientists are anxious it could happen again. www.cnn.com/2025/10/22/c...
Cruise ships are flocking to Alaska to chase ice. But receding glaciers are leaving a new threat behind | CNN
It was a very early morning in August when an entire mountainside in Alaska’s Tracy Arm fjord detached and slid into the deep ocean water beneath it.
cnn.com
First sentence says it all: "Gov. Gavin Newsom has vetoed legislation that would have required data centers to report how much water they use." Read the rest of the story though. from @ianjames.bsky.social: www.latimes.com/environment/...
California cracks down on water theft but spares data centers from disclosing how much they use
Gov. Newsom vetoed a bill that would have required data centers to report their projected water use when applying for a business license.
latimes.com
"The deal with Broadcom would use as much power as 8 million US households" www.cnn.com/2025/10/13/t...
Sora 2 and ChatGPT are consuming so much power that OpenAI just did another 10 gigawatt deal | CNN Business
OpenAI is partnering with Broadcom to design and develop 10 gigawatts of custom AI chips and systems, a massive amount of power that will use as much electricity as a large city. The move further high...
cnn.com
New: Energy Sec. Chris Wright suggested the Trump admin is updating past National Climate Assessments.“We’re reviewing them, and we will come out with updated reports on those and with comments on those reports,” he said. www.cnn.com/2025/08/07/c...
Energy chief suggests Trump administration is altering previously published climate reports | CNN
Wright said the Trump administration is updating the National Climate Assessments that have been previously published, which the administration recently removed from government websites.
cnn.com
Energy Secretary Chris Wright says Trump admin is altering previous National Climate Assessments. These were produced by hundreds of climate scientists and mandated by Congress. (1/2)
