This is just very good news. It's also not just about the solar and resulting energy bill and emissions savings. It is also an enabling move for more energy storage, more heat pumps, more dynamic energy management. There are huge potential benefits all round. www.businessgreen.com/news/4413004...

'A common-sense decision': Government reportedly preparing to make solar panels mandatory for new homes in England

Ministers expected to beef-up Future Homes Standard to ensure solar panels are installed on 99 per cent of new build homes from 2027

businessgreen.com

NEW Solar panels to be mandated on vast majority of new homes in England Currently about 40% of new builds have solar; new rules should push that to about 99% Story 👇 www.thetimes.com/uk/environme...

Solar panels on all new homes as part of Labour’s net-zero push

Sir Keir Starmer rejects Sir Tony Blair’s calls to reset ‘irrational’ climate policies because they were ‘doomed to fail’

thetimes.com

'But renewables will never be able to replace fossil fuels' Spain shows that they can. Wind 46%, solar PV 27%, hydro 23%, solar thermal 2%, other renewables 2%. www.pv-magazine.com/2025/04/22/s...

Spain hits first weekday of 100% renewable power on national grid

Spain’s grid ran entirely on renewable energy for the first time on April 16, with wind, solar, and hydro meeting all peninsular electricity demand during a weekday. Five days later, solar set a new r...

pv-magazine.com

Interesting looking new platform (if I can call it that?) to access social media from a variety of other platforms, including Bluesky, Mastodon, and Threads. Should help to democratise access to information and give far greater control over what you see. Definitely the direction we need to head in.

Surf@surf.social · last yr.

Watch @mmccue.bsky.social give a live demo of Surf at SXSW. Learn what Surf is for, how it brings together content and communities across platforms, and how to make your own custom feed. Audience questions at the end are also👌. flipboard.video/w/rFyohvCiuP...

Henry Paulson, former US Treasury Secretary (under Bush), making the case for accelerating uptake of clean energy to power growth in AI. '...sticking with gas would be to sacrifice speed of development and bet against the rapid decline of solar and battery storage costs' www.ft.com/content/1374...

Clean energy will be critical to winning the AI race with China

Rather than choosing one energy source over another, the US must quickly create the conditions for a mix to meet demand

ft.com

Some good news at last www.theguardian.com/australia-ne...

Valerie the dachshund is found safe and well after 529 days on the run on South Australian island

Rescuers on Kangaroo Island off South Australia say they are ‘overjoyed’ after the dog walked into one of their traps

theguardian.com

NEW: Why are hydrogen cars outsold by Ferraris (& EVs)? Why have H2 projections massively outstripped reality? Find out + see the latest hydrogen "ladder" by @iain-staffell.bsky.social based on new review with @mliebreich.bsky.social @dankammen.bsky.social www.carbonbrief.org/guest-post-w...

Astronomers have found thousands of planets outside the solar system. All of them are, to my knowledge, garbage. Happy Earth Day to the only good one 🌍

The battery giants really are battling it out.. Now CATL pushes past BYD with 520km on just five minutes of charging time. Incredible progress🤯 www.ft.com/content/b4c8...

China’s CATL says it has overtaken BYD on 5-minute EV charging time

New version of flagship battery cell can achieve 520km range compared with BYD’s 470km, claims company

ft.com

Feels like another important milestone reached for @bsky.app. For comparison, twitter had an estimated 40 million users in 2010: www.businessofapps.com/data/twitter...

If the link between decentralisation and democracy is not immediately obvious then have a read of Mike's article, and then follow this by reading a recent article by another person with some knowledge of the internet, the very founder of it, Tim Berners-Lee. www.ft.com/content/79d2...

Let’s knock down social media’s walled gardens

I envisioned the web as a place for the shared benefit of all — by reclaiming our data we can make that happen

ft.com

Mike Masnick@masnick.com · last yr.

I wrote a thing about how decentralization and democracy don't just go hand in hand. They're necessary components of the same system. For there to be true democracy there must be true decentralization. www.techdirt.com/2025/04/17/t...

Please watch this over the weekend and help spread the word. It's the story of a solar power project helping to save several hundred babies' lives each year in Sierra Leone. More than ever we need good news stories about clean energy, and people looking after each other. youtu.be/yMxJzLNc214?...

How Solar Is Saving Babies’ Lives in Sierra Leone — Ep204: Project Bo

YouTube video by Cleaning Up Podcast

youtu.be

Did you know how much of the power generation capacity added each year world-wide was in renewables? 2022 it was 80 % 2023 it was 86 % 2024 it was 92,5 % Not because the whole world suddenly turned „woke“, but because it’s the cheapest!

In 2017, @mliebreich.bsky.social started Project Bo, an initiative that brought solar power & batteries to a NICU in Sierra Leone, preventing life threatening power cuts. Now we need your help to further improve care & conditions. For more on how you can help, visit projectbo.org

Home | Project Bo

ProjectBo Saving Babies' Lives with Solar Power

projectbo.org

This is a screenshot from the remote monitoring of the #ProjectBo PV system at the Government Hospital neonatal unit in Bo, Sierra Leone. See that blue line? That's the batteries. Overnight 14-15th April, a long power cut. Only the minigrid kept the oxygen, heat & lights on! youtu.be/yMxJzLNc214?...

If you're in doubt as to the importance of international aid, then watch this excellent episode of Cleaning Up telling the story of how solar and batteries are helping to ensure the power remains on to help save the lives of vulnerable babies in Sierra Leone. www.youtube.com/watch?v=yMxJ...

The Power of Solar in Sierra Leone — Ep204: Project Bo

YouTube video by Cleaning Up Podcast

youtube.com

The data are in: Battery-electric cars require only 40% the repairs as internal-combustion-engine (ICE) cars BEVs: 4.2 breakdowns/year per 1,000 vehicles ICEs: 10.4 breakdowns/year per 1,000 vehicles www.carscoops.com/2025/04/new-...

Huge Study Shows EVs More Reliable Than ICE Cars With One Surprising Common Issue | Carscoops

EVs averaged 4.2 breakdowns per 1,000 vehicles, while similarly aged combustion models more than doubled that rate

carscoops.com

While generally I think China is in a stronger position on this trade war, the rare earths stuff is completely paper-tiger nonsense that will just shift more of the rare earths supply chain from China: 🧵 www.nytimes.com/2025/04/13/b...

China Halts Critical Rare Earth Exports as Trade War Intensifies

Beijing has suspended exports of certain rare earth minerals and magnets that are crucial for the world’s car, semiconductor and aerospace industries.

nytimes.com

The Good Friday Agreement was signed 27 years ago today. It was an act of delicate diplomacy, which delivered peace and security to a part of our country where those qualities had long been absent. Those achievements should never be taken for granted.

What China's push to replace exports to the U.S. with domestic demand looks like: Jingdong, China's biggest online retailer, pledges to buy 200 bn yuan ($27 bn) of goods from export firms over the next year. That's not pennies even for the huge firm, with 160 bn yuan turnover.

YouTechInfo@youtechinfo.bsky.social · last yr.

京东启动2000亿出口转内销扶持计划 京东宣布启动2000亿出口转内销扶持计划，未来一年大规模采购相关商品，助外贸企业开拓国内市场。京东将安排专业采销队伍驻点办公，直接采购优质产品，开设外贸优品专区。 #电商 #出口转内销 #京东 #外贸

What the dollar normally does in a crisis vs what it's doing now, via RBC

Spain is ignoring calls to reconsider its nuclear decommissioning plans, betting renewables and battery storage will make up for the upcoming energy shortfall. It migh be able to pull it off Free link to my latest on @bloomberg Green www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

Spain’s Nuclear Shutdown Set to Test Renewables Success Story

Plans to shut down all nuclear power plants by 2035 remain unchanged even as other countries delay closures and plan to build more.

bloomberg.com

Economic uncertainty update: The thing about veering wildly between policy positions, favouring and then discarding a new maverick advisor each week, and using contradictory justifications at every turn, is that even if one particular pivot is in the direction of sanity, chaos is the constant.

Strong message here from Ursula von der Leyen: The EU is prepared to deploy its most powerful trade measures and may impose levies on US digital companies if talks with Trump fail to end his tariff war against Europe. Interview by Roula Khalaf, Henry Foy & Andy Bounds

EU could tax Big Tech if Trump trade talks fail, says von der Leyen

European Commission president tells FT she wants ‘balanced’ deal but could hit US services in retaliation

ft.com

JPMORGAN: To argue that today’s 145% China tariff clarification “is somehow less of a shock as a result is very misguided .. The sudden stop of roughly $450bn in US imports and the resulting disruption to US supply chains would be a significant blow .. We maintain our call for a US recession ..”

Good morning. The United States now has the highest tariff rates in the world.

As you watch the trade war escalate between the world's two largest economies, keep these two charts in mind, from @davidfickling.bsky.social '[Chinese] companies and consumers will feel the pain from tariffs much less than Americans' www.bloomberg.com/opinion/arti...

Happy Liberation Day to all who celebrate the release of money from your retirement accounts into thin air.

Trade deficit. I have bought food from say, Chilis. They have never bought food from me. There is a trade deficit with Chilis. I’m still doing fine. The trade deficit argument SOUNDS compelling, but it’s a straw man with no relevancy

An amazing view above the Minnesota State Capitol in St Paul right now. This must be bigger than anyone imagined. 👏 These are some of the largest protests the US has seen in years. #HandsOff #FiftyFiftyOne (🎥 Sara Schmitt)