So let me take an optimism break and talk about why batteries may save the world.
The decline in battery prices has been incredible. It’s like nothing anyone has ever seen before. Big, strong men with tears in their eyes come up to me and say, “Sir, have you seen the progress in batteries?”:
Why does this matter?
First, cheap battery storage of electricity greatly mitigates the problem of intermittency — the sun doesn’t always shine, the wind doesn’t always blow. This was a major concern early in the renewable revolution. Some energy economists scolded me for my naïve optimism when I first wrote about solar technology way back in 2011. But solar + batteries provides round-the-clock power.
Here’s a graph of California’s electricity supply generated by renewables and batteries over the course of 24 hours on April 1 that illustrates my point:
See elsewhere on this page – another round of ice storms is hitting the Upper Midwest this week, following similar events from last year. Extreme events and changes in seasons and hydrology are provoking concerns about the composition of forests, how they may be changing, and whether humans can mitigate or assist in adaptations.
As humans continue to heat the planet with greenhouse gases, potentially locking the Earth into a “hothouse” trajectory, according to new research, scientists worry that nature won’t be able to keep up with climate change.
“Forests have migrated and adapted to long-term changes in climate over thousands to millions of years; however, natural migration rates and adaptive responses of tree populations cannot match the rapid pace of current climate change,” according to a U.S. Forest Service study published in 2024. Relying on locally sourced trees for planting “may no longer be adequate.”
In Louisville, assisted migration involves planting tree species native to the area, such as the mighty bur oak, which can grow to over 100 feet tall, but sourcing them from further south and west in their North American range. Some species are different there, more suited to a hotter and harsher environment.
Assisted migration in Louisville can also mean planting tree species that are not native locally, such as the smaller but beautiful Lacey oak, with its delicate bluish-green foliage, from seed sources in Texas.
In either example, the idea is that these Southern-sourced trees from hundreds of miles away are likely to be better suited to the climate conditions anticipated in Louisville’s Ohio River Valley in 50 to 100 years.
Experts have said that Louisville by 2100 could be much more like today’s northeast Texas.
I watched weather radar as yet another ice storm raked the Upper Great Lakes Region last night. More coming this weekend. I’ve posted about the long term impact on forests and infrastructure. Each new event underlines to increasing costs of global change, even in this “climate haven”.
As climate change warms the Great Lakes region, one scientist thinks Michigan could be at a higher risk for more freezing rain events like the one experienced this past weekend.
“We see evidence that suggests that the Great Lakes region as a whole is in the middle of pretty fast warming,” said Richard Rood, a professor emeritus of climate and space sciences and engineering at the University of Michigan.
Rood currently has a paper in the peer-review process that analyzes freezing rain data in the Great Lakes over the past several decades.
“What we would call the average location of the freezing line is moving further and further north, which means that in places where it used to snow quite reliably, we’re now more likely to see freezing rain,” Rood said.
And in places further south, freezing rain is more often giving way to regular rain. On top of that, Rood said freezing rain is changing.
“It’s becoming very erratic,” he said. “You’re likely to see a very large freezing rain event, because there’s just more water available.”
Marty Baxter, a professor of meteorology with Central Michigan University, said the link between ice storms and climate change isn’t totally clear yet.
“In [the] future climate, you’ll have more available water vapor that could lead to more rain,” Baxter said. “But the real issue is, will you see ground temperatures cold enough to make freezing rain?”
Rood said northern Michigan’s recent ice storm checks all the boxes for a weather event that could’ve been influenced by climate change, but it’s too soon to tell.
For the average MAGA Republican white guy, they may be “shithole Countries”. But the most dynamic and rapidly growing markets of coming decades are in the developing world. They’ve been watching. Taking notes. The Trump administration’s energy policies have been shaped by gas barons like big donor Harold Hamm and his hand-picked energy secretary, fracking mogul Chris Wright. Their whole play is to cajole, coax, threaten or force US states and the developing world to build and lock in expensive natural gas infrastructure – pipelines, LNG export and re-gasifying facilities. They’ve also made it clear that they are untrustworthy, unreliable, and willing to brutally betray anyone that displeases them. 50 years ago there weren’t many other places to go for energy. Now, they have abundant and cost effective clean energy alternatives. What do you think they’re going to do?
Donald Trump’s war on Iran will have many unforeseen consequences that he won’t like. One of them is likely to be an acceleration of the global shift to low-carbon energy.
As my FT colleague Gideon Rachman points out, Iran has now proven that control of the strait “gives it a stranglehold over the world economy . . . Even if the Islamic republic decides, at some point, that it has an interest in reopening the Strait of Hormuz — it will always want to retain the option of closing it again as a visible threat to ward off aggressors.”
Heavy reliance on imported oil and gas, in short, means a chronic risk of severe and unpredictable economic shocks. The Iran crisis has focused the minds of governments around the world on this problem — and on how clean energy could help them address it.
“I think we should take this opportunity to transition to renewable energy more quickly and at a large scale,” South Korean President Lee Jae-myung told a cabinet meeting as the war escalated.
On Friday last week, economic ministers from south-east Asian countries agreed at an Asean meeting to “accelerate [the] renewable energy transition” to “strengthen regional energy security and resilience”.
California’s snowpack is supposed to reach its peak April 1, so today, state surveyors hold their final Sierra snow survey of the year.
But instead of peak snow, there’s almost none.
Snow across California’s Sierra Nevada measured just 18% of average Monday — among the smallest in decades. A month of record-shattering heat thawed the snow and sent runoff coursing into streams and rivers, leaving only minimal water in the mountains as the state heads into dry season.
The early melt is a symptom of global warming that scientists say is becoming more pronounced.
“This particular year is as clear an indication of the influence of climate change as anything we’ve seen,” said Peter Gleick, a leading water scientist and co-founder of the Pacific Institute. “Climate change is influencing California’s water system quickly and severely.”
This year the Sierra snowpack peaked on Feb. 25 at 73% of average.
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has named Tesla among 18 US companies whose Middle East operations it is threatening to attack in retaliation for the killings of Iranian military leaders. The threat carries an explicit deadline: 8:00 PM Tehran time on April 1.
Tesla has been rapidly expanding across the Gulf over the past year, with showrooms, service centers, and more than 30 Supercharger stations now operating in the UAE, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar — all directly in the crosshairs.
In a statement published through Sepah News, its official outlet, the IRGC declared that “for every assassination, a U.S. company will be destroyed,” and warned that 18 American firms should “expect the destruction of their respective units” starting Wednesday evening.
The full list includes Cisco, HP, Intel, Oracle, Microsoft, Apple, Google, Meta, IBM, Dell, Palantir, Nvidia, JPMorgan Chase, Tesla, General Electric, Boeing, Spire Solutions, and UAE-based AI firm G42.
Sticking to his guns, Trump official refuses to waffle on his teleportation claims. So if you’re trapped on your roof by a flood, no worries, he’ll beam you up.
In the wake of CNN’s bizarre report that President Donald Trump’s Federal Emergency Management Agency disaster chief Gregg Phillips has claimed that he was “teleported” to a Waffle House 50 miles away, Phillips doubled down, proclaiming “haters gonna hate” in a post to Truth Social.
“I have no regrets for my words nor my faith in my Savior, Jesus Christ,” wrote Phillips. “The Bible has many examples of the power of God.” He also claimed his words were taken “out of context,” and in another post structured like a poem, stated, “I know what I’ve experienced,” and compared himself to Jesus Christ being resurrected from the dead.
In addition to the Waffle House claim, Phillips said that at one point while he was driving, his vehicle was “lifted up” by supernatural forces and transported to a nearby church.
US Gas barons have been celebrating the death and destruction in the Middle East, as short term outlook is favorable for US LNG exporters. That may not be a permanent situation.
Stocks of U.S. liquefied-natural-gas companies have been on a tear, as higher gas prices will juice profits. But investors are ignoring the flip side of the Iran crisis: High prices are likely to rewire demand in ways that hurt the industry’s expansion plans.
LNG has the same chokepoint as oil. Around a fifth of global supply is trapped behind the Strait of Hormuz, and most of this LNG comes from a single Qatari facility that has been struck by Iranian missiles. Qatar says it will take up to five years to repair damage to the Ras Laffan site, which will delay how soon flows go back to normal and keep global prices high.
This is good for U.S. LNG producers whose supplies are still flowing. Shares in Venture Global, which has higher exposure to surging spot prices, have risen 74% since the start of the war. Cheniere EnergyLNG , which has more of its supply locked into long-term contracts, is up 25%.
But higher-for-longer prices muddy the long-term outlook for LNG. Exports of the fuel are marketed around the world as affordable and helpful for energy security. The U.S. Department of Energy has even referred to the fuel as “molecules of U.S. freedom.”
In the America I grew up in, we were, at least, we liked to think, the Good Guys. Now, we have gone full Bad Guy. MAGA seems to like that idea. Oil corrupts.
President Trump told aides he’s willing to end the U.S. military campaign against Iran even if the Strait of Hormuz remains largely closed, administration officials said, likely extending Tehran’s firm grip on the waterway and leaving a complex operation to reopen it for a later date.
In recent days, Trump and his aides assessed that a mission to pry open the chokepoint would push the conflict beyond his timeline of four to six weeks. He decided that the U.S. should achieve its main goals of hobbling Iran’s navy and its missile stocks and wind down current hostilities while pressuring Tehran diplomatically to resume the free flow of trade. If that fails, Washington would press allies in Europe and the Gulf to take the lead on reopening the strait, the officials said.
There are also military options the president could decide on, but they aren’t his immediate priority, they said.
Trump on Tuesday morning urged other countries to launch their own operation to wrest control of the strait from Iran, blaming countries like the U.K. for not joining the U.S.-Israeli mission against the Islamic Republic.
“Build up some delayed courage, go to the Strait, and just TAKE IT. You’ll have to start learning how to fight for yourself, the U.S.A. won’t be there to help you anymore, just like you weren’t there for us,” Trump posted on his Truth Social network. “Iran has been, essentially, decimated. The hard part is done. Go get your own oil!”
Description: Eric Nuttall, senior portfolio manager at Nine Point, said that oil disruption from war with Iran is projected to be worse than during the COVID pandemic as the Strait of Hormuz remains closed. Nuttall said that the oil companies are quickly working their way through the buffer supply of oil and expects that it will lead to physical shortages of oil barrels.
Below, a Wharton School professor: “I am more concerned than the average.”
Not just high prices, actual shortages of critical oil and gas supplies.
