energy
Where does the energy come from, and what is stopping it?
FilterEveryone, all time336 from 114 people
- BM
Bill McKibben quoted
Writer and climate campaigner
Their wordsIf what we’re worried about is reining in climate change, then we have to build huge amounts of clean energy and that has to quickly drive fossil energy down to zero. If we just build lots of both, or even just a little more of clean energy than dirty, than we haven’t gotten anywhere.
↗Making the Decent the Enemy of the Desperatebillmckibben.substack.com
- 1 day earlier
- SP
Sunil Pai quoted
Systems and developer-tools engineer at Cloudflare as of 2026
Our readingOriginal thoughts do not scale.
Their wordsalso, these original thoughts, they don’t scale. every new one needs an investment of time and energy, and there’s no guarantee that either that one’s good or the next one’s going to be good. you can’t reuse much of the work, and maintenance itself is a huge cost.
- 1 day earlier
- JC
John H. Cochrane quoted
Economist at the Hoover Institution
Their wordsSubsidies against fixed supply, like energy and housing, just drive prices up more.
- 2 days earlier
- BM
Bill McKibben quoted
Our readingThe United States is currently engaged in a battle against the transition to clean electricity.
Their wordsUnlike the 25 Asian countries that have outlined a strategy for transition to clean electricity, we’re currently engaged in a battle against that transition.
- 4 days earlier
- ZH
Zeke Hausfather quoted
Climate scientist and energy systems analyst
Their wordsMany countries have already seen their power sector emissions decline, the world as a whole appears to now be on the cusp of absolute declines in electricity sector emissions.
- 2 days earlier
- GR
Guillermo Rauch quoted
CEO of Vercel; creator of Next.js and Socket.IO
Our readingFree energy is humanity's final frontier
Their wordsThe last domino to fall will be free energy, which is humanity’s final frontier.
- 2 days earlier
- BD
Brad DeLong quoted
Economics professor at the University of California
Their wordsGlobally, solar's rise is a supply-side story: Chinese overcapacity, panels at $0.12/W, households and businesses defecting from the grid.
↗Rooftop Solar Rules Elsewhere!: CHART OF THE DAYbraddelong.substack.com
- BM
Bill McKibben quoted
Their wordsIf transmission corridors are matched by new gas pipelines, we haven’t made much progress.
- 4 days earlier
- BC
Ben Carlson quoted
Director of institutional asset management at Ritholtz…
Their wordsBut raising short-term interest rates isn't going to stop the war in Iran to bring energy prices back down.
↗Strange Timesawealthofcommonsense.com 2nd of 3 in this piece
- 3 days earlier
- PK
Paul Krugman quoted
Trade economist, Nobel laureate in 2008 for his work…
Our readingA diesel export ban would likely increase energy costs in some parts of the United States.
Their wordsBut in this case “the rest of the world” includes much of the United States. Both the Northeast and the West Coast buy much of their diesel (and heating oil, which is a closely related commodity) from other countries, so a ban on U.S. exports, by driving up world prices, would actually make energy more expensive in some parts of the country.
- PK
Paul Krugman quoted
Their wordsSo a diesel export ban would probably do little to assuage U.S. concerns about affordability. It would create uncertainty that deters business investment, in energy and other industries. And it would further weaken America’s hand in its geopolitical rivalry with China over energy.
- 1 day earlier
- YB
Yoshua Bengio quoted
Deep-learning researcher and Turing Award laureate
Their wordsFrontier AI should be licensed like other critical technologies; medicine, aviation, and nuclear energy, to incentivize safe development.
↗Professor Yoshua Bengio’s speech at the UN Security Councilyoshuabengio.org 3rd of 3 in this piece
- 1 day earlier
- NS
Nate Silver quoted
Forecaster, founder of FiveThirtyEight
Their wordsInflation in fuel prices is much higher in diesel-heavy farm states — and may explain some surprisingly competitive Senate races.
↗Diesel prices could crush Republicans in the heartlandnatesilver.net
- NS
Nate Silver quoted
Their wordsBut generally, Democratic polling overperformance has been strongest in the middle part of the country, in rural, agricultural states and in states that are big energy producers.
↗Diesel prices could crush Republicans in the heartlandnatesilver.net
- 1 day earlier
- DR
David Roberts quoted
Writes and podcasts Volts, on the technology
Their wordsif we're not careful, the incredible public fury toward data centers threatens to metastasize into a more generalized hostility toward electrification.
↗Volts community thread #30: what should I ask the Danes?volts.wtf 1st of 2 in this piece
- DR
David Roberts quoted
Their wordsAs I've said a million times, electrification is the heart of decarbonization, the heart of economic growth, the heart of everything.
↗Volts community thread #30: what should I ask the Danes?volts.wtf 2nd of 2 in this piece
- PK
Paul Krugman quoted
Their wordsAside from the outrageous nature of his demands, Trump’s remarks were interesting because they reveal the extent to which refined products, especially diesel, have replaced crude oil as the key bottleneck in the global energy crisis.
- PK
Paul Krugman quoted
Our readingRising diesel prices are even more likely than rising gasoline prices to drive up interest rates.
Their wordsFurthermore, rising diesel prices are even more likely than rising gasoline prices to drive up interest rates. Why? The Federal Reserve, which sets short-term interest rates, normally focuses on “core” inflation, which excludes volatile food and energy prices.
- PK
Paul Krugman quoted
Their wordsIt’s at least arguable that Ukraine’s air campaign, which has done much more damage to Russia’s refining than to its crude production, has therefore played a disproportionate role in driving up diesel prices.
- 3 days earlier
- BD
Brad DeLong quoted
Their wordsChokepoint risk does more than spike the spot price for a season. It re-prices geography permanently: it redirects the next decade of pipeline and terminal investment and hands a windfall to whoever sits on the alternative route.
↗CROSSPOST: SPENCER ACKERMAN: Fanute The Houthi Coupbraddelong.substack.com 3rd of 3 in this piece
- 1 day earlier
- DD
Daniel W. Drezner quoted
Political scientist writing Drezner’s World on international relations
Their wordsSo it does not seem as though U.S. preferences in the Persian Gulf will be achieved - which means prices in general and energy prices in particular are likely to stay high.
↗Donald Trump Is No Longer Feareddanieldrezner.substack.com 1st of 3 in this piece
- 1 day earlier
- KJ
Ketan Joshi quoted
Freelance climate and energy analyst in Oslo
Their wordswe produced our own conservative estimate, finding that the climate impact from 2025's use of NVIDIA'S AI products is on par with the state-owned Russian Coal company.
↗NVIDIA’S AI Climate hoax – reportketanjoshi.co 1st of 2 in this piece
- 1 day earlier
- BM
Bill McKibben quoted
Their wordsone way to understand a data center is that it's a device for burning natural gas, the latest excuse (after Ukraine and Iran) for the fuel that Big Oil is counting on to keep its business model afloat even as the world turns away from internal combustion cars and crude demand begins to drop.
↗The Two Horsemen, Riding in Formationbillmckibben.substack.com 1st of 3 in this piece
- EM
Elon Musk quoted
Founded SpaceX in 2002
Our readingSolar power's exponential growth will continue until all other energy sources are far below 0.1%.
Their wordsThe solar power exponential will continue until all other energy sources are <<0.1%
- 1 day earlier
- PK
Paul Krugman quoted
Their wordsClimate denial, we know from decades of experience, is fueled by an unholy trinity of financial interest (fossil fuel companies determined to keep their profits flowing), ideology (conservatives hostile to any form of regulation) and psychological insecurity (real men burn stuff.)
↗The MAGA Plot(s) to Destroy Humanitypaulkrugman.substack.com
- EM
Elon Musk quoted
Their wordsAI data centers resulting in lower electricity prices for consumers
- 1 day earlier
- TL
Tobias Lütke quoted
Co-founder and CEO of Shopify
Their wordsThe best way is to be strong, sovereign, hard-working and deeply competent. Ideally with an uncanny ability to start ambitious infrastructure projects and finish them on budget and on time. Shout-out to our nuclear energy sector for nailing that. Do that and every other problem melts away.
- 4 days earlier
- EA
Emily Atkin quoted
Climate journalist; founded HEATED in 2019 after reporting…
Their wordsdata centers are nowhere near the biggest climate problem with artificial intelligence.
↗We asked Big Tech about AI’s fossil fuel problem. The responses were atrocious.heated.world 1st of 3 in this piece
- NL
Nathan Lambert quoted
Machine-learning researcher on open language models
Their wordsFor knowledge work, which is roughly half of the U.S. economy, AI is as fundamental as electricity (or quickly will be so, with rapid improvements to agents in the next 18 months).
↗When will average people feel AI’s impact?interconnects.ai 2nd of 3 in this piece
- EA
Emily Atkin quoted
Our readingCloud providers' AI tools are being used by oil companies to increase fossil fuel production.
Their wordsAmazon's technology explicitly helps oil companies increase production.
↗We asked Big Tech about AI’s fossil fuel problem. The responses were atrocious.heated.world 2nd of 3 in this piece