I regret to announce that the Energy Transition Show @transitionshow.bsky.social has ended. My statement is here: chrisnelder.com/ets-terminat...

thus do we understand half the reason for the NYT’s seething anti-Mamdani grudge

The Wall Street Journal@wsj.com · 15h ago

New York City’s business elites are long accustomed to direct access to City Hall, where even Democratic mayors felt the need to court the city’s wealthiest and most influential corporate leaders. That access is getting shredded by Mayor Zohran Mamdani.

Today on @volts.wtf: @climatecabineteducation.org's own Saleem Chapman talks with Dave Roberts about the paper Dave calls: "The first time I’ve seen a comprehensive strategy [for protecting consumers from the impacts of data centers] laid out in one place." www.volts.wtf/p/what-shoul...

What should state policymakers do about data centers?

A conversation with Saleem Chapman of Climate Cabinet.

volts.wtf

What was the most important paper in energy and the environment this year? Especially economics, but also law, poli sci, etc. What was the key thing the paper told you, especially as it relates to big picture changes in society, politics, technology, and the economy? Self nominations welcome!

This is how it’s done And I think this race will let the Dem establishment show they can back a progressive with the same vigor that, say, Bernie backed Biden in 2020. There are two wings in this party, nothing will change that, they need to cooperate

MeidasTouch@meidastouch.com · 3h ago

A gracious concession: “I want to congratulate Abdul El-Sayed on winning the Democratic nomination for U.S. Senate. He is a doctor, a community health official, a Rhodes Scholar, and a dedicated Michigander. I am proud to offer my support as he takes on Mike Rogers in the general election…

Utilities’ guaranteed-return regulatory model drives rising bills. Fix incentives via competitive markets, storage, and TOTEX ratemaking instead of letting utilities regain monopoly control over new generation. Data Centers are an opportunity to force major changes in how Utilities run.

Data centers didn't jack up your bill—utility greed did | Opinion

Data centers didn't break the grid—A regulatory model that rewards building over optimizing did.

newsweek.com

Check out the newest episode of the Apocalyptic Optimist! I talk with the director of @momscleanairforce.org about how caregivers across the country are turning protective love and "angry optimism" into political power. www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jxn_... @piqueaction.bsky.social @au-cece.bsky.social

How Moms Are Shutting Down Big Polluters

YouTube video by Pique Action

youtube.com

You know he's talking to investors, not ordinary ratepayers, when he says Florida Power and Light is an example to emulate in proposed Dominion-NextEra merger. www.eenews.net/articles/nex...

NextEra boss points to Florida as what to expect from proposed Dominion merger

“We've faced significant growth in Florida for 20 straight years, and have been able to do it by investing in new generation while keeping bills

eenews.net

I've studied investor-owned electric utilities over the past 30 or so years (and read about them since their inception in the early 20th century), and I've never seen this much scrutiny over ROE: www.utilitydive.com/news/utility...

Utility profits in the crosshairs amid affordability concerns

As states target utilities’ return on equity, Pepco’s rate case in Maryland, where the consumer advocate is arguing for an ROE cut, is being closely watched.

utilitydive.com

Oregon government is giving $450 million in tax breaks for data centers *this year*, a figure that is set to grow "enormously" in the years ahead Nobody wants this aside from tech companies and politicians getting checks from them

Mike Rogoway@rogoway.bsky.social · 18h ago

By a 3-to-1 margin, Oregonians say no more data center tax breaks. Two-thirds of voters want a temporary moratorium on new data center construction. via DHM Research

On Thursday, I'm talking with Ramón Mendez Galain, the guy who helped Uruguay decarbonize (see story below). Got questions?

He got an entire country running on clean energy. Can he do it again?

Ramón Méndez Galain helped Uruguay decarbonize its grid in just five years, with 98 percent of its energy coming from renewable sources.

washingtonpost.com

The head of Norway's oil fund is going to flip out when someone tells him what fossil fuels do 🧐🧐🧐🧐

Do we have a "made without genAI" badge or digital sticker that science communicators and artists can use so people know that our work is for humans by humans?

Smoke has arrived in Seattle, but the other side of the Cascades is absolutely brutal. Wenatchee and other towns (e.g., Plain, Entiat) have been over 1,000 AQI today. Please use air purifiers, N95 masks, and avoid being outdoors if you’re able - there is no safe level of wildfire smoke exposure.

i think we can learn a lot from this actually. there's this growing take that we need to figure out how to welcome data centers or else they will be placed in low-income communities... but people can actually just be against something full stop, and that can also make standards better for everyone

Madison Condon@madisoncondon.bsky.social · 20h ago

the original use of NIMBY was actually people opposing nuclear and hazardous waste disposal sites in the 80s, it got turned into opposing housing much more recently

“Timely and persuasive, this revelatory account is difficult to ignore.” My new book HYPERSCALE received a fantastic review from @publisherswkly.bsky.social. Less than three months until it hits bookstore shelves! Get more info and preorder your copy: hyperscalebook.com

for months, ive been trying to map out the ways the right and the left were uniting against data centers and AI both here's my story on my efforts, featuring steve bannon's anti-tech prophet, my girlfriend's high school english class, and the unabomber:

How Data Centers Broke American Politics

What the Unabomber, Steve Bannon’s tech guy, and Bernie Sanders taught me about the great data center backlash of 2026.

wired.com

Bombshell new report out from my investigators this morning spanning our four year investigation into Jeffrey Epstein’s financial records. This report shows exactly how Wall Street protected Epstein and enabled his sex trafficking for decades. Mega thread following with some key points:

Deutsche Bank, JPMorgan, BofA Enabled Epstein, Wyden Report Says

Democrat Ron Wyden cited nonpublic documents held by the US Treasury in a report that says banks delayed reporting suspicious financial transactions and calls for tougher anti-money-laundering rules, ...

bloomberg.com

Helpful piece from fire scientists Mojtaba Sadegh and John Abatzoglou on why the Spokane fires were so extreme and what can be done to reduce wildfire risk across the West.

Why the Spokane wildfires became so catastrophic

Extreme fire conditions converged in suburban neighborhoods built into the forests, shrubland and grasslands and quickly spread.

theconversation.com

The same people who have been telling us "we can't stop climate change, instead we must adapt" have been hammering our capacity to adapt, through their promotion of austerity. What they're really saying is "keep burning fossil fuels for the sake of our donors". www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

For those who’ve been looking for ways to help Spokane, a thread of donation opportunities👇

City of Spokane@spokanecity.org · 3d ago

As the Spokane community continues to face the devastating impacts of local wildfires, you can help your neighbors. We will continue to update this thread with more opportunities to help!

Okay so I haven't opened this or read the story, but uhhh Paul Weiss was the tobacco industry's favorite attorney and is now one of the top firms for oil majors (Exxon is a client)...in what universe were they ever not going to "surrender" to Trump? They're on the same team!

Right now NYC is getting 1,164 megawatts of clean hydropower electricity from Quebec via the newly-built CHPE transmission project. 🎉 ✅ lower energy bills ✅ less pollution ✅ good jobs Two big offshore wind projects are under construction right now… coming soon! 👍

“'The sad reality now is that the federal government is our biggest concern,' Brown [Washington AG] said, adding, 'It used to be that the Department of Justice was our No. 1 partner, helping states prepare for election-related issues.'" www.bostonglobe.com/2026/07/24/n...

Democrats prepare for possible election clashes with federal government - The Boston Globe

Democratic state officials are ramping up their preparations to protect against what they view as a new threat to election security: the federal government.

bostonglobe.com

A mostly unsung benefit of electric mobility (cars, bikes, wheelchairs, trains, etc.) is reducing the effectiveness of gas prices as a visible indicator of "THE ECONOMY" to people who don't pay close attention. Happy to take that particular knob of popular opinion influence away from oil barons.

Emily Atkin@emorwee.bsky.social · 2d ago

Idk who needs to hear this but Trump has not suddenly become a climate activist — he is just making empty threats to try and pressure oil companies to bring down gas prices before the election (they won’t)

Sonam Wangchuk fasted for 26 days to help win gov concessions on education accountability and reforms in India. As I write for @nybooks.com his use of Gandhian nonviolent resistance methods on behalf of his native Ladakh, a livable climate and India's youth is a logical extension of his life's work.

The New York Review of Books@nybooks.com · 2d ago

Sonam Wangchuk’s fast in Delhi, writes Jonathan Mingle, “was only the most recent in a series of efforts...to make the nation’s leaders and his fellow citizens attend to the precarity of India’s two most precious resources: its climate and its youth.”

I just replaced the filters in our air purifiers and ordered another set, in what has become a grim annual ritual. Wildfires and smoke are a natural part of life in the Northwest, but the burning of fossil fuels has made these events larger, more frequent and severe.

The Seattle Times@seattletimes.com · 2d ago

Wildfire smoke from a trifecta of catastrophic wildfires will roll in Tuesday and could cause the air quality to be unhealthy and reduce visibility.

This line really slaps: The missing chapter had a section about "the sway of an operative class that had become “generationally wealthy off politics” while steering Democratic strategy." www.nytimes.com/2026/08/03/u...

Author of Democrats’ 2024 Autopsy Says Party Left Out Key Chapter (Gift Article)

A dispute over the chapter between the author and the Democratic National Committee has added to the party’s turmoil as it tries to look forward, not backward.

nytimes.com

Excellent long-form interview about AI. With Jon Stewart and @doctorow.pluralistic.net the writer and activist who coined the term "enshittification"—the process by which digital platforms gradually become worse for users as they prioritize profits and business interests. youtu.be/-dAIJRjb-Bw

AI and the Enshittification Era w/ Cory Doctorow | The Weekly Show with Jon Stewart

YouTube video by The Weekly Show with Jon Stewart

youtu.be

Unlike that of the rest of southeast Asia, Pakistan's gas demand has been falling. Pakistan's solar boom is partly attributable to excellent do-it-yourself videos on Tiktok and youtube, and partly to two other factors, says Zainaab Basil in an interview with BNEF. www.bnef.com/insights/40017