If you're even half interested in energy, I bet you've seen this chart. I call it The Most Hopeful Chart in the World. The point? We're embracing renewable power MUCH faster than expected. Hurrah! Only problem is, this chart has an evil twin. A chart we really need to discuss 🧵

This week, in China: > World's largest offshore solar (yes, open-sea solar) project starts generating power > World’s 2nd-largest solar plant (3GW) goes online after just 14 months of construction Meanwhile, lots keeping talking about hydrogen and SMRs, slowing decarbonization

EU subsidized fossil fuels more generously than renewables ('22) @davidfickling is back:✍️ "Need 1 piece of absurdity? US has more restrictions on importing Malaysian solar panels made with Chinese materials than it has on importing Indian diesel made from Russian crude oil."

However bad you think things are in the UK, it’s worse

ADORABLE! This Kid Is Dressing Up as a Coal Industry Lobbyist This Halloween in Order to Score More Handouts theshovel.com.au/2022/10/28/…

ƃuıɥʇʎɹǝʌǝ sı ɔıʇuɐɯoɹ @charli_xcx uoy ɘvol i charlixcx.lnk.to/bratcomplet…

AIM Architecture transforms oil silos in China into community park: dezeen.com/2024/06/16/cotton…

New: National Infrastructure Commission publish major report looking into the underlying causes of the UK's high infrastructure costs. Here are some of the key insights. 🧵

8. Also, we can get a lot more out of our existing infrastructure by increasing off-peak demand. Smart EV charging would allow us to electrify every car in the U.S. without increasing peak demand. Smart electric water heaters can heat water when capacity is underutilized and store that water for later use. Even smart pool heaters or driveway heaters. As long as they're not running during peaks, the cost to supply that electricity is tiny. There are all kinds of new things that consumers can do without requiring any new grid infrastructure. With technology improvements in generation, we're entering an era of energy abundance. We need to use one of our oldest technologies (price signals) to unlock the benefits of that new technology.

1. I don't think people realize just how expensive electricity used to be. Real electricity prices are HALF of what they were in 1960. The "good old days" of "cheap coal" is just cheap propaganda.

Today is the day the UK becomes the first G7 country to completely phase out coal power Since opening "Jumbo", the world's first coal power plant in 1882, the UK's coal plants have burned through a whopping 4.6bn tonnes of coal, emitting 10.4GtCO2 – which is more than most countries have ever released Here's the story of how that all came to an end: interactive.carbonbrief.org/…

No surprise here. #auspol

I've said this before. But in doing the podcast, interviewing people for 10 years, a consistent pattern is that the most interesting *thinkers* -- people with genuinely refreshing ideas and perspectives -- also have extremely good command of the facts and details.