"Utah produced more power from solar than any other source in May, marking a new first" Several quotes from me & @dvschroeder.bsky.social in the article, check it out! Zero fuel cost, reliable & fast-to-build renewables are the path to Utah's energy future! #utpol www.sltrib.com/news/environ...

Utah produced more power from solar than any other source in May, marking a new first

“Wind plus solar is on a tear right now,” said Utah climate scientist Logan Mitchell. “We may have achieved liftoff.”

sltrib.com

As @mliebreich.bsky.social has pointed out, this (electrifying 46% of final energy by 2040) is not going to happen. Fortunately, a great deal of electrification can occur even without coming close to this unrealistic and misleading goal.

David Roberts@volts.wtf · last wk.

Europe is jamming the accelerator on electrification.

A milestone for Utah! In May, for the first calendar month ever, solar was our number-one electricity source at 32.9%, surpassing gas (32.2%) and coal (28%). Three big new solar farms have boosted Utah's solar capacity by more than 50% over the last year. 🔌💡

DATA TOOL | The new version of our US electricity data explorer is now LIVE, bringing the US power transition into focus state by state 🔎⚡ Break US data down state by state – with a sleek intuitive design and new analysis tools ⤵️ ember-energy.org/dat...

Big fan of red line go up, not so crazy about blue line stay flat.

Simon Evans@drsimevans.carbonbrief.org · 2w ago

Renewables are now the world's largest source of electricity – and the main source of new supplies

Pretty cool and dramatic NASA animation showing the long-range transport of 2026 Canadian wildfire smoke.

The good folks at BNEF are far smarter and better informed than I. Nevertheless I'm gonna be the skeptical contrarian and predict that global solar generation will not surpass coal in 2032. Would be happy to consider friendly bets on this, which I'll hope to lose! 🔌💡 about.bnef.com/insights/cle...

Solar Set to Rule World’s Power Supply: Three Things to Know | BloombergNEF

ARTICLE By Vandana Gombar, Senior Editor, BloombergNEF Solar is set to oust coal as the leading generator of electricity within six years, BloombergNEF finds in its latest energy transition outlook, d...

about.bnef.com

I enjoyed listening to Bill McKibben on Ezra Klein's podcast. Its refreshing to hear a strong case for a future of clean energy abundance and highlight a lot of positive energy trends. That said, there are a few points where I'd add nuance to Bill's arguments. www.nytimes.com/2026...

The Rho Ophiuchi Nebula clears my garage roof for about an hour before going behind a tree. I had a week of clear and moonless evenings, enough to make this 2-panel mosaic. It turned out better than I hoped, but I will need to revisit it from a better spot. Details in ALT. #astrophotography

More than 4000 words on the future of electricity generation in Hawaii, and only the vaguest hints about what it's actually supposed to look like when they phase out fossil fuels by 2045. I assume someone there has an actual plan but I'll be damned if I can figure out what it is. 🔌💡

Canary Media Inc.@canarymedia.com · 4w ago

Read the full story:

Fascinating retrospective, at least for us oldsters, on what Amory Lovins was saying 50 years ago.

Tony Dutzik@frontiertony.bsky.social · 4w ago

New long read from me at @frontiergroup.bsky.social: A look back at Amory Lovins' "Energy Strategy: The Road Not Taken?" 50 years later - a paper that foresaw the disruptive potential of mass produced clean energy, "decoupling" and much more. frontiergroup.org/articles/the...

Minutes of a market's peak solar output that can be stored in total battery capacity, end of 2025. Hawaii was the highest I could find, at 92 minutes, while the EU-27 aggregate is just 8 minutes.

👀 That's a lot of new wind in the works. 🔌💡

Jenny Chase@solarchase.bsky.social · 4w ago

It's true that the German wind market fell off between 2018 and 2025, though we expect the auctions to bring it back up from 2026 to 2036.

Back in 1976, futurist (and Dr. Strangelove model) Herman Kahn wrote a book about the next 200 years. This seems like a good time to look at what he got right and wrong (so far). Notably, he didn't say exponential growth would continue for 200 years. especiallyfuture.blogspot.com/2026/07/the-...

The Path of Kahn

Herman Kahn’s 1976 response to the Malthusian pessimists was mostly right. The United States Bicentennial , back in 1976, was a pretty b...

especiallyfuture.blogspot.com

Today we (@energyinnovation.org) released an analysis of federal clean energy policy impacts of the past 18 months on the economy and health. You can find @ellanilsen.bsky.social's & @cnn.com's coverage here: www.cnn.com/2026/07/07/c... And our analysis here: energyinnovation.org/report/econo...

Trump promised to cut electric bills in half. His energy policy is doing the opposite, new analysis finds | CNN

A sudden electricity crunch in the US is colliding headlong with the Trump administration’s attacks on renewable energy like wind and solar. President Donald Trump presented his anti-renewable stance ...

cnn.com

Back in 1976, futurist (and Dr. Strangelove model) Herman Kahn wrote a book about the next 200 years. This seems like a good time to look at what he got right and wrong (so far). Notably, he didn't say exponential growth would continue for 200 years. especiallyfuture.blogspot.com/2026/07/the-...

The Path of Kahn

Herman Kahn’s 1976 response to the Malthusian pessimists was mostly right. The United States Bicentennial , back in 1976, was a pretty b...

especiallyfuture.blogspot.com

Impossible to tell from this report what's actually being promised. Taylor conflates cooling a reactor with cooling the heat engine that runs the generator. Of course you can air-cool a heat engine or a data center, but running all those fans uses more electricity so it's expensive. 🔌💡

Ben Winslow@benwinslow.bsky.social · last mo.

A waterless data center? An experiment between a nuclear power startup and a major AI computing company is under way in rural Utah: www.fox13now.com/news/politic... #utpol #Utah

SunZia, the USA's largest renewable energy project, achieved full operational status on Friday! It is a massive 3,650 MW wind system plus a 550-mile-high voltage transmission line. SunZia was constructed in three years. RE has big and small solutions. www.msn.com/en-us/news/t... #energysky

This is Germany - solar supply of 47GW at 2pm on that Tuesday, of grid load of 57GW. Solar was still supplying 18.8GW at 5pm. Can you imagine the situation 20 years ago when that solar contribution would have been negligible?

The UK doesn't yet have that much solar capacity, and neither does France; but even so, imagine the power grid last week if it *hadn't* had that big solar chunk (this is France last Tuesday, during a scorcher; at 2pm, load was 57GW and solar was 19.5GW).

It does feel insane that none of "the progressive case for aircon" mentions solar. If this heatwave had happened in 2010, the European grid would have buckled in the daytime! As it is, there were some issues in the evening when the sun went down. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Not just for rich people: the progressive case for air conditioning | Phineas Harper

Air conditioning can bring significant benefits but also real harms. The answer is for it to take its place alongside a comprehensive state plan for climate adaptation, says writer and curator Phineas...

theguardian.com

Sheesh. This is a remarkable and timely interview that I would encourage everyone to watch.

Michael Liebreich@mliebreich.bsky.social · last mo.

The interview they don't want you to watch. Former Secretary of State John Kerry is the guy who negotiated the JCPOA deal with Iran that President Trump tore up, and which he is now struggling to put back in place. Kerry does not mince his words. www.youtube.com/watch?v=cH1q...

Yuck.

Technically, they’re Remains now.

Mark Chadbourn@chadbourn.bsky.social · last mo.

A fifth of Leave voters have died.

Another day, another wise bit of life advice from @solarchase.bsky.social.

Jenny Chase@solarchase.bsky.social · last mo.

The converse is sillier. "How do we, a Chinese firm, get into European solar manufacturing to access the NZIA-protected auction volumes" and you know... you could just not. It's like wearing makeup or driving a flashy car, you can just not do it, the world won't end.

There was talk about extracting lithium from Great Salt Lake a few years ago and then it died down, presumably because lithium prices came down. Haven't heard much since, until this. Says they have a 10-year commitment from a buyer. Doesn't mention state permitting. Wonder if it'll actually happen.

Commercial Solar Guy@commercialsolarguy.com · last mo.

'Facility will use Lilac's Gen 5 ion exchange technology to extract lithium directly from lake brine & return the same volume of lithium-depleted brine back to the lake...non-consumptive process...does not lower lake water levels...5,000 tonnes per annum...first lithium production planned for 2028'

Utah's 2nd largest solar farm (400 MW ac) has come online. "The project is another sign of the momentum clean energy is gaining in the Beehive State. 2025 was a banner year for solar in Utah, and renewables now generate nearly a quarter of the state’s electricity." 🔌💡 www.kuer.org/business-eco...

Utah just plugged in a huge solar and battery farm in Emery County

The Green River solar and battery project in Emery County is being hailed as the largest of its kind in Utah and the Mountain West. It shows a potential path for the region’s transition from fossil fu...

kuer.org

Even at high noon, mid-summer, US solar generation is still far from displacing fossil fuels. Lots of room for growth! 🔌💡

For those who may not yet be fully aware of how much deadlier to pedestrians US vehicles have become, here's a detailed report full of careful analysis and animated simulations (gift link). www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

The Deadly Rise of Giant Trucks and S.U.V.s (Gift Article)

The vehicles on American roads have grown larger — and they are killing thousands more pedestrians, a Times investigation found.

nytimes.com

Seems like this is a huge opportunity. It would be nice to see more state-by-state analysis of what regulatory reforms could enable more solar on warehouse rooftops. (This article is kinda vague about enabling vs. incentivizing/subsidizing.)

Jeff St John@jeffstjohn.bsky.social · last mo.

Warehouse rooftops are open fields of urban solar development, with hundreds of gigawatts of potential across the U.S. Community solar programs are unlocking a fraction of that capacity—but there's a lot more states and utilities could do to expand it: www.canarymedia.com/articles/sol... #energysky