This is Not Cool

Business as Usual Will Not Solve AI Energy Woes

Jigar Shah and Arnab Pal in Utility Dive:

Across the country, a particular brand of conventional wisdom has set in: The only way to power the AI boom is a massive buildout of gas — both on the grid and “behind the meter” at data center campuses. The assumption is that anything else will be too slow, too risky or too complicated.

But “gas first” is simply a reflex, and it comes with two problems that are colliding with politics. First, it’s expensive. New generation and the upgrades to support it cost real money, and the utility model often pushes those costs onto ratepayers. Second, it’s slow, particularly where the grid is constrained. In many regions, equipment timelines are now measured in years rather than months.

If states respond with peak-driven planning — building the grid to serve the hottest hour of the year plus a reserve margin — customers will pay for infrastructure that sits underutilized most of the time. In our analysis, the grid is only 50% used throughout the year. There’s a better way: Build smarter before you build bigger.

“Solar is the Cheapest form of Electricity”. We Knew That.

Energy analyst interviewed by Bloomberg news affirms what we know – Solar is the cheapest form of energy generation.
He points out that solar is intermittent, so has different characteristics than other generation. (all generators are intermittent, for different reasons and with a different frequency)
Below, graph compares California grid from 2022, top, to current, 2026.
The green line shows renewable generation, with the big solar bump during the day. In 2022, the purple wavy line, batteries, is not doing a whole lot – but much has changed.
This year, a new build of batteries is soaking up that solar during the day, and doling it out at night, especially during the peaky parts of the evening – but take a look, it’s providing energy all night long.
States like California and Texas with significant battery buildout are seeing a phase change in how the grids work.

No Way Out: Hormuz is a Strait Jacket for Trump

Trump is trapped in a death spiral.
Iran can bring more pain and pressure than he can, unless of course, he goes into an end stage narcissistic collapse and tries to nuke his way out of this.
We are all along for the ride.

Politico:

President Donald Trump on Sunday announced a U.S. naval blockade of the Strait of Hormuz and threatened to destroy “the little that is left of Iran” after peace talks in Islamabad fell apart overnight.

In a pair of Truth Social posts, Trump said the U.S. military would begin blockading ships entering or leaving the strait, and would also intercept any vessel that has paid tolls to Iran to transit it safely. He also said that any Iranian who fires on the U.S. military or other, peaceful vessels will be “BLOWN TO HELL” while the Navy works to de-mine the strait.

“THIS IS WORLD EXTORTION,” Trump wrote in one of the posts, “and Leaders of Countries, especially the United States of America, will never be extorted.”

The weekend talks, which were brokered by Pakistan and represented the highest level engagement between an American official and Iranians since the 1979 Islamic revolution, were aimed at reopening the Strait of Hormuz and resuming the flow of roughly a fifth of the world’s oil through it. Reopening the strait has become an economic imperative for Trump, whose approval ratings have sagged amid spiking oil prices and growing anxiety about the war’s toll on an already turbulent global economy.

New Studies: Birds Avoid Offshore Wind Turbines

Tundra Swans near Sebawing Michigan, important stopover for migration

Birds are not dumb, turns out.

EuroNews:

Critics say wind turbines endanger birds but two new studies have now analysed the risk in more detail. What they have found could change the debate.

Two recent studies have re-examined the risk of birds entering in collision with rotor blades of wind turbines.

The energy company Vattenfall and the tech company Spoor have analysed the extent to which wind turbines endanger birds at the offshore wind farm in Aberdeen.
Over a period of 19 months – from June 2023 to December 2024 – video recordings of a wind turbine were made with the help of AI-supported analyses. A total of 2,007 bird flight paths near the monitored turbine were examined.

“By combining AI-powered detection and detailed expert analysis, we can replace assumptions with concrete observations and measure actual behaviour in the immediate vicinity of wind turbines,” says Ask Helseth, Chief Executive Officer and co-founder of Spoor.

Premiers, Prime Ministers, and Midwest Farmers Agree, Renewable Means Energy Security

Reuters:

The energy shock from the Iran war has policymakers around the globe rethinking ways to reduce long-term dependence on oil and gas imports, with proposals to expand nuclear energy and renewables, grow strategic stockpiles and domestic production, and diversify foreign sources of supply.

Iran’s closure of the vital Strait of Hormuz shipping lane, after the U.S. and Israel attacked on February 28, marks the third time this decade that an international energy shock has forced governments to reckon with the risks of a world dependent on the free flow of vast quantities of petroleum to fuel its economic engine. It has also stoked the view that the fossil fuel age ‌must end, after pushback in recent years to ongoing efforts to mitigate climate change.

Chickens Coming Home All Over the Planet – Rolling Up Exxon’s Hackers

It was the Fuck-aroundiest of times, it was the Findy-outiest of times….

You’ll never guess who was behind an international hacking campaign aimed at clean energy advocates…
C’mon. Guess.

New York Times:

Amit Forlit, who has been charged by U.S. prosecutors with running a so-called hacking-for-hire operation that targeted environmental groups, has been extradited from Britain to stand trial in New York.

Mr. Forlit, 58, is accused of running a sprawling enterprise that operated around the world, including in Russia, India and Dubai. A 2022 grand jury indictment unsealed on Friday charged Mr. Forlit with conspiracy to commit computer hacking, conspiracy to commit wire fraud and wire fraud, which could result in up to 45 years in prison.

Prosecutors for the U.S. attorney’s office for the Southern District of New York confirmed Mr. Forlit’s arrival in New York on Thursday evening in a letter to Judge Jesse M. Furman, writing that he had been arraigned before a magistrate judge.

From at least 2012 to 2019, Mr. Forlit orchestrated “massive” crimes against corporations, organizations and individuals, according to the indictment. He is accused of working closely with Aviram Azari, who was convicted of crimes related to hacking in New York in 2023 and released from federal prison last year, and others. The schemes generated “tens of millions of dollars” in unlawful proceeds, the indictment said.

“Where Do They Poop?”- Flat Earthers React to Artemis Mission

Put down hot liquids.

“They want us to believe that’s the curvature of the earth.”
These guys obviously wayyy too smart to buy that NASA bullshit.

This science youtube’s John Oliver style commentary on the bonkers conversation definitely adds color.

UPDATE: There is more

How Solar Took Over the World

OK, it hasn’t taken over the world yet, but the arc is now pretty clear.

I can’t recommend this 9 minute report from Australian Broadcasting highly enough.
It’s a thumbnail history of the solar revolution, and no surprise, highlights Australian researcher’s considerable contributions – but there’s some really great archival footage of solar satellites, and how the US space program kept the technology percolating thru the oil soaked 60s.