Try this. How do you feel if someone asks you to: • shower half as often? • drive less? • stop flying? The emotions these questions provoke may explain why tackling climate change is so difficult.
chrisjardine.energy
@chrisjardineenergy.bsky.social
Dr Chris Jardine Solar pioneer, renewables expert, energy educator Honorary Research Associate at Oxford University https://www.chrisjardine.energy/
Energy efficiency may be the biggest climate success story that hardly anyone talks about. Since 1970, improvements in energy efficiency have contributed around five times more than cleaner fuels to reducing energy intensity. Here's a one-minute explanation. 🎥
The Telegraph seems to be making some wild claims about solar panels losing efficiency. Even on a hot day, modern TOPCon panels only lose around 4.5-6% efficiency. That's hardly dramatic. And on crisp, sunny days? They perform even better. www.telegraph.co.uk/business/202...
telegraph.co.uk
A solar farm shaped like a galloping horse 🐎 Part of a 100GW project in Inner Mongolia that's generating electricity while helping to hold back desert expansion. www.autonocion.com/us/great-wal...
China is building a 250-mile "great wall" of solar panels along a desert, wide enough to see from space, and one piece is shaped like a galloping horse the size of a small city, a Guinness record visi...
Getting a new power line approved in the US is a multiyear slog of hearings, permitting, and the occasional lawsuit, all before a single steel tower goes up.
autonocion.com
Energy efficiency has arguably done more to reduce emissions than renewable energy over the last 50 years. Yet it rarely gets the same attention. I spoke to Professor Nick Eyre for my latest video on why energy efficiency may be the most underrated climate solution. youtu.be/g_HUNA1Fj4I
Energy Efficiency: The Most Underrated Solution to Climate Change | Energy 101, Ep 9
YouTube video by chrisjardine.energy
youtu.be
2/3 of all energy going into the energy system globally goes to waste. @chrisjardineenergy.bsky.social discusses energy efficiency with @nickeyre.bsky.social. Energy efficiency is responsible for more decarbonization than renewable energy, and still holds huge potential. youtu.be/g_HUNA1Fj4I
Energy Efficiency: The Most Underrated Solution to Climate Change | Energy 101, Ep 9
YouTube video by chrisjardine.energy
youtu.be
Energy efficiency saves energy, but it also creates purchasing power. The money saved on fuel, heating, or electricity usually gets spent somewhere else instead, sometimes on highly energy-intensive activities. Economists call this the indirect rebound effect. Latest short explainer 👇
If your car becomes twice as efficient, you’d expect to use half as much energy. But that’s not what happens in reality. Because when driving becomes cheaper, people often drive more. This is called the rebound effect.
Making coal use more efficient caused society to burn more coal. That was the insight behind Jevons Paradox in 1865, and it still matters today. Efficiency improvements reduce costs, expand markets, and can increase total resource use across society.
We’ve spent decades making technology more energy efficient. So why does global energy use keep rising? The answer is something called the rebound effect, and at societal scale, Jevons Paradox. New video: youtu.be/3ypxcJhFgOM
We Made Energy More Efficient… So Why Are We Using More? | Energy 101
YouTube video by chrisjardine.energy
youtu.be
Rising fuel prices is an equity issue. It hits the poorest hardest. So it's perhaps no surprise to see a split between the South East and the rest of England. Some areas are spending more than double on fuel costs, as a percentage of income. The question, of course, is what we can do about this?
“Solar and storage” has always felt off to me. Storage is not about one technology. It is about the whole system. The phrase quietly puts the burden of intermittency on solar alone. That is a framing problem, not just a wording one.
EV adoption is no longer just a Europe, US, China story. Emerging markets are leapfrogging. Vietnam ~40% EV share. Indonesia ahead of the US. Brazil, India, Mexico ahead of Japan. That is a big shift in where the future market is being shaped.
Climate action feels slow for a simple reason. We are not just changing technology. We are trying to change entire systems that were built to resist change. That takes time. #EnergyTransition #Climate
"Every dominant civilisation throughout history has been defined by the particular energy source or sources it mastered. [China..] dominant clean energy civilisation, superseding the previously polluting Western civilisation that sparked the first industrial revolution" www.scmp.com/opinion/arti...
My Take | Is China just an emerging electro-state or an electro-civilisation state?
Like every advancing society in the past, it sees the future by seizing new energy sources and their associated technologies.
scmp.com
Why do we keep using worse technology even if there are much better alternatives on offer? Love this new video from @chrisjardineenergy.bsky.social @ecioxford.bsky.social! www.youtube.com/watch?v=jtfX...
Why We Keep Using Worse Technology - And Why Climate Action Is So Hard | Energy 101 Ep 7
YouTube video by chrisjardine.energy
youtube.com
Why do we keep using technologies we know are worse? QWERTY keyboards. British taps. Microsoft Word. Not because they’re better. Because everything around them reinforces their use. The same thing is happening in energy. youtu.be/jtfXFfDYaew
Why We Keep Using Worse Technology - And Why Climate Action Is So Hard | Energy 101 Ep 7
YouTube video by chrisjardine.energy
youtu.be
8am. I’m reading an article, in mainstream media, on shifting energy demand to match supply. In the kitchen, the radio is playing an EdF ad offering free electricity on summer Sundays. Is demand flexibility... going mainstream? www.theguardian.com/environment/...
Run the dishwasher, plug in the car: how Great Britain plans to use record wind and solar power
With a summer glut on cards, customers are being urged to use more energy when renewables are abundant
theguardian.com
Climate policy has a problem. The tools voters support are the opposite of the ones economists recommend. This article asks: Can education help voters think like economists? But the real question is: Can education help economists think like real people 🤔 energyathaas.wordpress.com/2026/04/13/t...
The Climate Policy Paradox: Why Voters Reject the Tools that Economists Advocate Most
Economists overwhelmingly favor carbon taxes and cap-and-trade over environmental regulatory standards, but voters disagree. Our new research shows that simple economic misunderstandings help expla…
energyathaas.wordpress.com
Turnips + solar = higher yields 😃 New research suggests agrivoltaics could unlock ~$36bn over 25 years. Shift to “food first” solar design to balance crops + power 👍 www.yahoo.com/news/article...
There’s no single solution to energy security. Every solution involves trade-offs. That’s what makes it difficult.
The biggest energy risk isn’t today. It’s whether the system can change. Some systems adapt. Others get stuck. Part 5 of a short series on energy security.
The real problem isn’t failure. It’s recovery time. Part 4 of a short series on energy security. Part 4: Resilience
Energy systems fail suddenly. This is part 3 of a short series on energy security. Part 3: Robustness
Energy can be available and still unaffordable. This is part 2 of a short series on energy security. Part 2: Affordability
Energy security is not just about supply. This is part 1 of a short series on the five types of energy security. Part 1: Availability
At this time of crisis, it's worth reminding ourselves that energy efficiency is a double win 👍👍 Of course, being more efficient uses less energy, and you therefore save money on your bills. theconversation.com/why-saving-p...
