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Abby L. Watson

@abbylwatson.bsky.social
2.2K followers 575 following 110 posts

Climate futurist, energy systems nerd, recovering policy wonk. Find me on Substack: @buildingpower

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Abby L. Watson @abbylwatson.bsky.social · 18h
buildingpower.substack.com/p/youve-hear...
buildingpower.substack.com
You’ve heard of software and hardware, but what about AI community-ware?
You know that feeling you get when you’re surrounded by “your people”, even when some of them you’ve never even met before?
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Abby L. Watson @abbylwatson.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
@simonmahan.bsky.social another one for your collection - this one is fully online!
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Abby L. Watson @abbylwatson.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
Curious what data center opposition looks like on the ground and what is actually motivating people? It’s not what you think. Check out my latest Substack from the shadow of Limerick, PA’s nuclear power plant 🔌💡 buildingpower.substack.com/p/dispatch-f...
buildingpower.substack.com
Dispatch from the data center frontlines
Organized opposition against an onslaught of faceless hyperscalers
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Abby L. Watson @abbylwatson.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
Gathering some on-the-ground insights at the town of Limerick, PA Board of Supervisors meeting to review a Conditional Use application for a 750 MW #datacenter development. Yes, that is a #nuclear generator in the background. Next week’s Substack is going to be 🔥
Protestors photographed from behind, facing two nuclear cooling tower and a roadway with a black automobile.
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Abby L. Watson @abbylwatson.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
So are the plasma donation ads interrupting my cheap Hulu stream, promising up to $800 in the first month, a recession indicator, or….?
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Abby L. Watson @abbylwatson.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
I started a Substack this week and now I’m in that horribly vulnerable period of wondering if anyone will ever read it. Send help. And/or subscribers. It’s free! Tips and hot takes welcome. buildingpower.substack.com
buildingpower.substack.com
Building Power | Abby Watson | Substack
Notes on electricity, resilience, and the power we build when we build it together - starting close to home. Click to read Building Power, by Abby Watson, a Substack publication. Launched 3 days ago.
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Abby L. Watson @abbylwatson.bsky.social · 08/09/2025
Do you ever experience phantom smells? Because as I was browsing this year’s #CommonGroundCountryFair fair book, I swear I could smell lanolin and Sweet Annie. Giddy with anticipation. www.mofga.org/fairbook/
mofga.org
Fairbook | Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners
Read the 2023 fairbook, the guide to the Common Ground Country Fair, online. View the schedule, participants and more.
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Abby L. Watson @abbylwatson.bsky.social · 01/04/2025
COR-EY COR-EY COR-EY!!!! 🙌🙌🙌🙌🙌🙌🙌🙌🙌🙌
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Abby L. Watson @abbylwatson.bsky.social · 11/03/2025
My YIMBY moment has come and I am Ready 👏 For 👏 It 👏 Came home to this little number tucked next to my mailbox. Already composing my comments. I have asks! Let’s see this as an opportunity to make the neighborhood better! Everyone deserves housing and we have to build more of it somewhere.
A photo of a neighborhood group flyer notifying us of a proposed low-income housing development. The flyer includes a redacted image of the neighborhood layout and handwritten notes emphasizing the meeting details and pointing to a Facebook page. The text reads:

Attention residents of the [redacted] neighborhood important notification!

The 4-acre property located at [redacted] (where the large house is next to the [redacted] former school) has been sold to a developer, [redacted], who plans on *building six buildings intended for low-income housing. This would include 60 apartments along with a 70-90 car parking lot.* The project would stretch back behind the houses on Hillside Drive, down toward the playground. 

The township has started to plan out how to change the topography of this green space and obtain the necessary permits needed to move forward with the construction of what is being considered a *Low Income Housing Tax Credit Program (LIHTC). 

Some questions to consider as a [redacted] resident:
- how will this impact the value of our homes?
- how will this impact the wildlife and vegetation that live in that lot and in our neighborhood?
- how will the impact traffic, the sewer system, storm water retention, and air quality in our neighborhood?

The next planning review is scheduled for [redacted]. Public comment will be part of this meeting and we are encouraging residents of the [redacted] neighborhood to attend. Additional important meetings regarding this project will be held on March 11 and April 8. Each of these meetings will work to move this project forward - we MUST get involved with this!

Please attend these meetings and voice your concerns. Please help save our neighborhood from further development!
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Abby L. Watson @abbylwatson.bsky.social · 05/03/2025
My kingdom for some clarity on whether the Canadian tariffs actually apply to electricity imports. I maintain that electrons are neither articles nor goods, but I only play a lawyer on TV.
spglobal.com
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Abby L. Watson @abbylwatson.bsky.social · 04/03/2025
Is this the future of the electric grid in North America? I sure hope not. That would be bad for everyone, especially homes and businesses in the US Northeast.
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Bill McKibben @billmckibben.bsky.social · 01/03/2025
We need to salute courage wherever it appears. The official snow reporter at Vermont's Sugarbush, where JD Vance came on a skiing vacation this weekend, pointed out in her snow report this a.m. that the Trump team is ignoring climate change. Her report was pulled down kottke.org/25/03/jd-van...
kottke.org
Good Trouble: JD Vance Chastised by Vermont Snow Reporter
JD Vance, fresh off of helping his boss ambush & insult a foreign leader in the White House yesterday afternoon, is on vacation in
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Abby L. Watson @abbylwatson.bsky.social · 01/03/2025
God bless Canada 🇨🇦
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Abby L. Watson @abbylwatson.bsky.social · 25/02/2025
Pine Tree Power, we hardly knew ye.
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Abby L. Watson @abbylwatson.bsky.social · 22/02/2025
When you bought The Sims on Temu.
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Abby L. Watson @abbylwatson.bsky.social · 22/02/2025
“Although I wandered for a while in the empty hallways of nostalgia searching for lost a time and a place that could never return, I had given up the futile search and chosen life. I had surrendered all false hopes and come to a new land seeking love and faith and sustenance.”
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Abby L. Watson @abbylwatson.bsky.social · 22/02/2025
The number of times I’ve found myself saying “Vichy” and “appeasement” lately says a lot about our state of affairs.
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Abby L. Watson @abbylwatson.bsky.social · 09/02/2025
Drool-worthy footage for grid nerds. Energy security is about building relationships with allies, not going it alone.
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Abby L. Watson @abbylwatson.bsky.social · 07/02/2025
The wholesome content we all need right now.
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Abby L. Watson @abbylwatson.bsky.social · 02/02/2025
Since it seems like our elected representatives are doing fuck all, let’s get loud. Show up to your state capitol on Wednesday and be more of a hero than they’ll ever be 🇺🇸
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Silvio Marcacci @silviomarcacci.bsky.social · 30/01/2025
Consumers will be forced to pay more this year because gas is a global commodity that always goes through volatile price spikes. Fossil fuel costs drive recession + caused up to 40% of recent inflation. Renewables keep power prices low and protect consumers. www.utilitydive.com/news/wholesa...
utilitydive.com
US wholesale power prices to rise about 7% in most regions in 2025: EIA
The agency expects that the average cost of natural gas will rise 24% from last year’s average, returning to prices last seen in 2023.
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Mark Cuban @mcuban.bsky.social · 29/01/2025
The property insurance industry knows what’s up with climate change and socio economic risk. It’s just about math and science to them. So it’s interesting to see what they have to say www.insurancebusinessmag.com/us/news/brea...
insurancebusinessmag.com
Three interconnected risk clusters reshaping insurance
Swiss Re Institute chief stresses proactivity in "age of polycrisis"
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Simon Mahan @simonmahan.bsky.social · 28/01/2025
My timelines be like
A meme of one girl playing a tuba directly into the face of another girl. The tuba girl is called "Jevon's paradox", the other is called "Deepseek efficiency".
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Abby L. Watson @abbylwatson.bsky.social · 28/01/2025
Incredible and insightful research supporting a different mode of public engagement on climate change! Aligns closely with a project we’ve been developing. Climate change discourse needs to be participatory and integrated with daily life and communities.
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Alex Steffen @alexsteffen.bsky.social · 15/01/2025
The crisis isn't insurance, it's insurability. All efforts to reverse loss of insurance for extremely risky properties end up transferring the cost of prior inaction from asset owners to the public. This is not a sustainable response to escalating impacts. www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/202...
washingtonpost.com
Opinion | California’s insurance crisis is a warning for America
Losses from the fires in Los Angeles are made worse by lack of adequate coverage.
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lukelukeluke @lukelukeluke.bsky.social · 01/01/2025
Here is a nice mushroom
A single 1” tall splitgill mushroom grows off the end of a broken branch, upturned so it’s underside can be viewed against a brown forest background 

All photos by me
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Simon Mahan @simonmahan.bsky.social · 23/12/2024
All yall on #energysky using the emojis 🔌💡, you're mostly iPhone users, right? Repost for yes, like for no.
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Abby L. Watson @abbylwatson.bsky.social · 24/12/2024
Yes, but why, Simon? Tell us what’s happening in Android world.
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Abby L. Watson @abbylwatson.bsky.social · 10/12/2024
Can we get a @dieworkwear.bsky.social hot take?
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Abby L. Watson @abbylwatson.bsky.social · 06/12/2024
Best Advice of 2024 award goes to:
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Abby L. Watson @abbylwatson.bsky.social · 06/12/2024
Anyone want to take the over/under on how long before an impending economic crisis triggered by failing insurers leads to a government (ie taxpayer) bailout? It’s not like that’s ever happened before…. amp.theguardian.com/environment/...
amp.theguardian.com
How climate risks are driving up insurance premiums around the US – visualized | Climate crisis | The Guardian
‘Tight correlation’ between premium rises and counties deemed most at risk from climate crisis, experts say
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Abby L. Watson @abbylwatson.bsky.social · 01/12/2024
10/10, no notes.
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Abby L. Watson @abbylwatson.bsky.social · 21/11/2024
Y’all. If your soul could use a soothing bit of beauty, I highly recommend the new Our Oceans docuseries on Netflix. Former U.S. President Barack Obama, telling you a cute little story about these little fish and their lives, alongside some truly breathtaking wildlife footage. A 🧵
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Abby L. Watson @abbylwatson.bsky.social · 20/11/2024
I read this as Quilting Carbon and that is the crossover of my personal interests I didn’t know I needed. Plenty to get jazzed about with electrifying homes, though. I did a deep dive specifically on water heaters once and there are some interesting barriers.
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David Haralson @laughlax.bsky.social · 19/11/2024
Psst. Hey. Psst. If you know power flow models (especially if you know interconnection studies) and want to work on the front lines of the energy transition getting grid-scale batteries built with me, send me a message. Job posting coming soon. 🔌💡
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Tyler Norris @tnorris.bsky.social · 11/11/2024
9 energy-climate starter packs: 1)Power go.bsky.app/RwCBCab 2)Media go.bsky.app/2TNd1Ya 3)Solutions go.bsky.app/Aa1sErQ 4)Science go.bsky.app/7Mbnoge 5)Legal go.bsky.app/R4ZUdPE 6)Women go.bsky.app/AGCURBf 7)Nuclear go.bsky.app/5EJY58V 8)EVs go.bsky.app/R4ZUdPE 9)Southeast go.bsky.app/AZ6Xw1U
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Abby L. Watson @abbylwatson.bsky.social · 12/11/2024
So Energy Twitter is all here now, right? Great! If you like podcasts and decarb, check out my latest newsletter edition on LinkedIn. We’ve got a pretty deep back catalog covering everything from GH2 policy to community engagement. tinyurl.com/mnrujtxm EnergySky bat signal activate 🔌💡
linkedin.com
The 2024 U.S. election is over. Now what?
Well. It has been quite a week.
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Jesse D. Jenkins @jessedjenkins.com · 10/11/2024
Hey y'all. If you're a new Energy Twitter ex pat, please follow the #EnergySky feed here bsky.app/profile/did:... And tag your posts with either the feed name or the emoji pair 🔌💡 and your post will show up in the feed. Please repost...
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Tyler Norris @tnorris.bsky.social · 09/11/2024
Here's a starter pack for electric grid & power systems - lmk if you want me to add your account! (Omissions 100% unintentional, still finding folks here :-) 🔌💡 go.bsky.app/RwCBCab
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Abby L. Watson @abbylwatson.bsky.social · 30/04/2024
Wait, what? If I were a major shareholder I’d be suing the board over this. Allowing the entire Supercharger team to be eliminated is crazy talk - they have a huge advantage in a growing market with loads of govt investment! 🤯 EnergySky friends, care to speculate? 🔌⚡️
electrek.co
Tesla conducting more layoffs, including entire Supercharger team
The newest round includes Tesla's policy team, director of new products, and the entire group responsible for Supercharger rollout.
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Abby L. Watson @abbylwatson.bsky.social · 26/02/2024
TFW @edcrooks.bsky.social likes your post 😍 we put our hearts into this report and the LinkedIn algo has throttled every post we've made about it. Big fan of @theenergygang.bsky.social! They feature quite often in my weekly energy thoughts + podcasts newsletter: tinyurl.com/bdfnh34d #EnergySky
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Abby L. Watson @abbylwatson.bsky.social · 26/02/2024
Not me with an entire category in my resource tracking database tagged "transformers".
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Abby L. Watson @abbylwatson.bsky.social · 22/02/2024
To be clear, I'm not saying we should be contracting OSW right now. We need a policy fix for interest rates on key infrastructure projects that goes beyond the DOE Loan Program
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Abby L. Watson @abbylwatson.bsky.social · 22/02/2024
@jessejenkins.bsky.social I was listening to your pod about the IRA and renewable energy deployment and a thought occurred to me: are we in the process of baking more inflation into our future energy mix? Hear me out: interest rates are high, with the intention of bringing down inflation 1/n
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Abby L. Watson @abbylwatson.bsky.social · 20/02/2024
For my first real post in this new blue place, it only feels fitting to share the first annual report published by Groundwire Strategies. We used a systems thinking approach to examine key trends that will influence renewable energy in 2024. Enjoy! www.groundwirestrategies.com/publications/
Cover image of a report with wind turbines on a mountaintop. The report is titled: Macro Meets Micro: Deciphering Renewable Energy Trends in 2024. The subtitle says: A systems thinking approach to the clean energy transition.
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Abby L. Watson @abbylwatson.bsky.social · 20/02/2024
This episode has my brain firing on all cylinders today. It's challenging and provocative and I love that. @tadziomueller.bsky.social makes arguments about the guilt we feel about climate collapse that remind me of my all-time favorite TV series, #TheLeftovers. Guilty Remnant vibes.
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