Our 400+ page comment on the DOE climate working group report is now out. Our conclusion: The merchants of doubt are back, and they're coming for climate science.

Yesterday I wrote about how far the Inflation Reduction Act didn’t go, as comprehensive climate policy, even as it transformed how the state shaped markets.

Heatmap News@heatmap.news · 12mo ago

On the third anniversary of the signing of the Inflation Reduction Act, @heatmap.news contributor @advaitarun.bsky.social mourns what U.S. climate policy has lost — but more importantly, charts a course to what comes next:

"Free D.C.! Free D.C." Chants of protest against Trump break out in the 51st minute of tonight's Washington Spirit game at Audi Field.

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forms.gle

In addition to the AI Action Plan, a few new AI-related EOs out this evening. The most interesting for energy nerds is the Data Center Infrastructure EO. www.whitehouse.gov/presidential...

Accelerating Federal Permitting of Data Center Infrastructure

By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, it is hereby ordered: Section  1.  Policy and

whitehouse.gov

It’s hard to find a trend in the electricity system right now that *doesn’t* point to near-term rate hikes if not a broad affordability crisis. That’s a serious problem for climate policy, but also the American economy writ large. I wrote about it: heatmap.news/politics/ele...

but which one

"There is a way to apply a set of carefully crafted restrictions to wean us off Chinese supply chains, but . . . if we scatter rakes across the floor for companies to step on, they will just throw up their hands and send their investments overseas, leaving us more reliant on China than before."

a red car is parked next to a trailer that says u-tow on it

ALT: a red car is parked next to a trailer that says u-tow on it

media.tenor.com

🚨New Report🚨 🔌💡 The U.S. Senate's “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” #Energy Provisions, will cost America 300GW of new power, $960 billion in GDP, and 770,000 lost jobs. Check out the other economic impacts of the bill 👇 energyinnovation.org/report/econo... #greensky #energysky

Economic Impacts of U.S. Senate “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” Energy Provisions • Energy Innovation

The Senate's "One Big Beautiful Bill Act" will cost America 300GW of new power, $960 billion in GDP, and 770,000 lost jobs.

energyinnovation.org

Senate Finance Committee bill maintains tax credits for nuclear, geothermal, energy storage, and hydropower... but immediately terminates this other tax benefit? It's not clear that there's any replacement for MACRS elsewhere in the proposed text. #💡 🔌 yardsale.energy/removing-acc...

Killing MACRS depreciation for clean energy forces all credit-eligible energy projects into transferability markets rather than into tax equity transactions. Fine for S/W. But seems bad for nuclear and geothermal... which have no transferability markets bc they're emerging tech.

The infrastructure investments of the past four years represent the most significant progress since the Eisenhower era. But they are neither guaranteed nor permanent. If Congress and the Trump administration don’t act now, we won’t just cede economic advantage. We’ll see energy costs spike…

Implications of the US LNG export boom for domestic gas prices - from EIA's latest Short-Term Energy Outlook: "Higher natural gas prices in 2025 and 2026 are the result of strong export growth that persistently outpaces U.S. natural gas production." www.eia.gov/outlooks/steo/ 🔌💡

Electricity demand is growing. New natural gas capacity will take time to ramp up, likely 2030. Why kill support for the only resources that could actually scale deployment in the next few years? yardsale.energy/republicans-...

Finally, a good picture of DOE HQ! Really captures the feeling of being nestled within a forest of concrete and glass. So soothing.

The Washington Post@washingtonpost.com · last yr.

Across the government, the Trump administration is scrambling to rehire many federal employees dismissed under DOGE’s staff-slashing initiatives after wiping out entire offices, in some cases imperiling key services such as weather forecasting and the drug approval process.

There has been a lot of questions about the Loan Programs Office and the work that they did over the last four years to process a record $108B of loans to help commercialize technology across the United States. A 🧵

I wrote about a scandal in the Big Beautiful Bill that should really be shocking even if it isn’t surprising. Replacing jet fuel with corn and soybeans doesn’t pencil out for the climate, so Congress wants to take away the government’s pencils. @yalee360.bsky.social e360.yale.edu/features/cor...

The ‘Green’ Aviation Fuel That Would Increase Carbon Emissions

The U.S. agriculture lobby has long promoted ethanol for cars. If President Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill” becomes law, the industry would be given tax credits for producing crop-based fuel for planes, ...

e360.yale.edu

Every year on Memorial Day, I share this video of French caretakers who take sand from Omaha Beach in Normandy, and scrub them into the letters to give them the gold coloring. They do this for all 9,386 US soldiers who died. France also gave us this land as American soil.

MC stands for "Master Class." I would definitely listen to her thoughts!

MC Hammond@mchammond.bsky.social · last yr.

I put together some very initial thoughts on the four nuclear executive orders today. A lot of heavy lifting for LPO to do in there (10 AP1000s anyone?)

DOE issues first order attempting to keep a coal plant online that was slated to retire. The JH Campbell plan in Michigan. www.energy.gov/sites/defaul...

Highly doubtful that nuclear ITC phaseout for all post-2028 reactor starts will be sufficient to achieve industry liftoff, and it almost certainly kills most advanced reactor companies and the emerging US fusion industry.

What if big clean energy projects could earn the ITC while under construction? What if this existed and nobody knew about it? Qualified Progress Expenditures were added in the IRA and majorly benefit big projects like nuclear... if the credits survive. More at: yardsale.energy/qualified-pr...

Capacity accreditation is deep and nerdy and super important. What happened last PJM auction cycle was an ironic shift: gas underperformed in winter storm Elliot, so PJM assigned much lower capacity values to gas - dropping from ~90% to %60%. Now we had less capacity, so prices shot up #EnergySky

Coupled with the existing FEOC and "material support" restrictions it seems like there are projects which are already under construction that now won't even qualify...

Chirag Lala@cthelala.bsky.social · last yr.

There is no new development that could make use of 48E on these terms. Any project that fits into the narrow window is either already under construction or is days away from starting.

This is the deepest journalism I’ve seen yet on AI’s impact on the US power sector. I’m honored to be included w/ David Victor, Ari Peskoe, Costa Samaras, EPRI, and others. 🔌💡 www.technologyreview.com/2025/05/20/1...

One of the world's biggest data center booms is quietly underway just outside of Reno. Some projects have been covered, but few outlets have recognized the full scope of the plans. The developments will require gigawatts of new electricity generation & could consume billions of gallons of water.

The data center boom in the desert

The AI race is transforming northwestern Nevada into one of the world's largest data-center markets—and sparking fears of water strains in the nation’s driest state.

technologyreview.com

Wall Street read the Ways and Means IRA language and thought it was "better than feared": tax credits still only phased out intead of being cancelled immediately. Some clean energy stocks even went up. Then they realized the langauge would kneecap the storage industry heatmap.news/economy/wall...

Is Wall Street Wrong About the IRA?

Investors are only just now starting to digest what the proposed cuts will mean, especially for energy storage.

heatmap.news

Let's be real: if Republicans pass the House budget bill as is, it will murder the US nuclear industry, ruin our chances of winning the AI race (by constraining power supply), concede the global auto sector to China, and vaporize about half a trillion dollars of US manufacturing investment...

DOE's super useful guides to commercializing key technologies are back! You can find the collection of "Pathways to Commercial Liftoff" reports here: yardsale.energy/liftoff-reports Plus check out my amazing graphic design skillz!