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Astrid Atkinson

@astridatkinson.bsky.social
881 followers 567 following 645 posts

Decarbonizing the grid with Camus Energy. CEO, founder, dog appreciator. Ex-Google. I know it gets dark, but there's always a light.

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Astrid Atkinson @astridatkinson.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
My son is the same age. It's unfathomable to think of kids appearing in court, alone, without representation or adult support, and being deported like this.
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Astrid Atkinson @astridatkinson.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
Minivans are highly underrated.
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Jerry Chen @jcsalterego.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
me: no worries (galadriel voice) but they were all of them deceived, for another worry was made
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Faine Greenwood @faineg.com · 22/09/2026
Back in 2023, deep-pocketed Effective Altruist funders launched a remarkably successful takeover of DC tech policy: today we're seeing the results in the form of "AI safety efforts tightly focused on distant existential doom, not AI taking jobs, scamming people, or harming the environment today."
politico.com
How a billionaire-backed network of AI advisers took over Washington
A sprawling network spread across Congress, federal agencies and think tanks is pushing policymakers to put AI apocalypse at the top of the agenda — potentially boxing out other worries and benefiting...
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Faine Greenwood @faineg.com · 22/09/2026
Normal, non-big-tech affiliated, non-effective altruist funded organizations working on ethical tech have been absolutely financially *devastated* in the last few years, thanks to both Trump and Big Tech deciding it no longer needs to pretend to care about ethics.
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Super Shoe @shoe.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
This is incredible nitter.app/banteg/statu... H/t @gregdoucette.bsky.social
nitter.app
banteg (@banteg)
>be me >discover effective altruism >apparently normal charity is inefficient >why donate to random sad thing when spreadsheet can tell you optimal sad thing >fair enough >buy mosquito nets >save live...
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Brad Johnson @climatebrad.hillheat.com · 18/09/2026
Yes, we're strip-mining the seas
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Michael Clemens @mclem.org · 12/09/2026
The US President's new proposal to tax international students has been approved by the White House for release this week. It's an unprecedented $100,000 tax on int'l grads who stay to work after graduation on Optional Practical Training (most grads do), a crucial bridge to remaining by any channel.
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Michael Clemens @mclem.org · 13/09/2026
This will devastate our research+innovation capacity, bedrock of the 21st century economy. 35% of *all* employed people in the US with STEM PhD degrees are both foreign-born *and* graduated from a US university. —> nap.nationalacademies.org/resource/292... Shutting them out is extremist folly.
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David Ho @davidho.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
All the plastic humanity has ever produced is ~10 billion tonnes. Humans emitted ~10 billion tonnes of CO₂ into the atmosphere in the first three months of 2026. When we appreciate orders of magnitude, we see how intractable the CO₂ problem becomes once we dump it into the atmosphere.
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Vince Outlaw @vinceoutlaw.com · 02/09/2026
Schoolhouse Rock, climate edition: "Climate change denial is a form of particularly potent disinformation — not misinformation, which implies that people might have made some honest mistakes — but disinformation with a 'D,' as in 'deliberate.'”
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Justin Gerdes @justingerdes.bsky.social · 17/08/2026
@ember-energy.org: "Solar met a record 10% of global electricity in H1 2026. Over a quarter of global electricity demand at midday becomes near-zero at night. New batteries installed in 2026 could shift 34% of new daily solar to the evening." ember-energy.org/latest-insig... 🔌💡
ember-energy.org
Batteries have unlocked the era of anytime solar | Ember
Solar hit a record 10% of global electricity in the first half 2026, a quarter at midday and near zero at night. Now, battery storage is unlocking the next stage of solar growth in the non-sunny hours...
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Brendan Pierpont @brendan.bsky.social · 11/08/2026
ESIG keeps knocking it out of the park on technical resources for addressing load growth from data centers and large loads in electricity market planning and operations: 🔌💡https://www.esig.energy/reports-briefs/large-loads-markets-operations/
esig.energy
Wholesale Market Design and Operations for Systems with Large Loads: Current Practices and Recommendations | ESIG
Wholesale Market Design and Operations for Systems with Large Loads: Current Practices and Recommendations examines how electricity markets and grid operations may need to evolve as large loads become...
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Stephen Judkins @stephenjudkins.bsky.social · 11/08/2026
The American zeitgeist is that EVs are something on the spectrum between a failed experiment and some primitive and early tech, but worldwide the EV revolution is happening very quickly right now
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Zeke Hausfather @zekehausfather.com · 05/08/2026
Published estimates of AI energy use per prompt (~0.3 watt-hours) appear reassuring small. But they are increasingly disconnected from how we actually use AI. Modern agentic tools use around 600 times more energy per prompt, as I discuss in my latest over at The Climate Brink www.theclimatebrink....
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Mark Gongloff @markgongloff.bsky.social · 17/07/2026
This is the way www.kqed.org/science/2001...
kqed.org
‘A Blessing from Heaven’: How Free Heat Pumps Are Saving Low-Income Californians From Extreme Heat | KQED
One Los Angeles contractor found a planet-friendly solution to a problem many California mobile home park residents face: dangerous heat and unaffordable cooling.
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Erik Nordman @eriknordman.bsky.social · 13/07/2026
Lazard released its 19th annual levelized cost of energy report today. Key message: "On a $/MWh basis, unsubsidized renewable energy remains the most cost-competitive form of new-build generation..." www.lazard.com/news-announc...
Graph of levelized cost of energy ($/MWh)
Solar PV - Community and C&I: $88-$197
Solar PV - Utility: $40-$98
Solar PV +Storage: $61-$156
Geothermal: $67-$111
Wind - Onshore: $37-$99
Wind + Storage - Onshore: $49-$140
Wind - Offshore: $105-$167
Gas Peaking: $144-$276
US Nuclear: $175-$255
Coal: $72-$177
Gas Combined Cycle: $51-$129
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John Kostyack @kostyack.bsky.social · 01/07/2026
The data center industry is building behind-the-meter fossil gas power plants at a frightening pace. If allowed to go forward, these 74 plants would generate 143 GWs of electricity – enough to power CA three times over. This new report provides pollution & demographic info for each of the projects.
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Brendan Pierpont @brendan.bsky.social · 30/06/2026
New @energyinnovation.org study from me, @matthiasfripp.org and @michelle-solomon.bsky.social shows that clean energy can meet rapidly growing electricity demand, saving money and reducing the risk of fuel price spikes. Read here! #energysky energyinnovation.org/report/let-t...
energyinnovation.org
Let The Sun In: Clean Energy Is The Cheapest Way To Meet Rising Demand
Meeting U.S. demand growth with fossil fuels will add $29.7 billion to customer bills per year by 2030, clean energy can do it for less.
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Dr. Jonathan Foley @globalecoguy.bsky.social · 28/06/2026
What *actually* works — right here, right now — to address climate change? Here you go. This is the result of thousands of hours of painstaking research and analysis from the Project Drawdown team.
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Astrid Atkinson @astridatkinson.bsky.social · 25/06/2026
I was in London at the start of the week during the early part of this heat wave. I grew up in Australia before AC and I know heat. Australia had fans, windows that open, air conditioning in public spaces. London has none of that. At 85f/30c it was dangerously hot in most indoor spaces.
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Astrid Atkinson @astridatkinson.bsky.social · 02/06/2026
I was going to vote for Steyer for climate reasons, but this really sold me.
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Ken Caldeira @kencaldeira.com · 02/06/2026
It is so tragic to see so many things built up over many decades of work by thoughtful, public-spirited, people destroyed in a matter of months by a corrupt, self-serving regime, supported by a corrupt foundation of Republican Senators, Representatives and Supreme Court Justices.
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Ken Caldeira @kencaldeira.com · 02/06/2026
On the scale of their criminality, this is a minor offense, but it points to the Republican regime's desire to destroy independent sources of information so they can be the sole arbiter of truth. www.nytimes.com/2026/06/01/c...
nytimes.com
Trump Administration to Dismantle Ocean Monitoring System
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Astrid Atkinson @astridatkinson.bsky.social · 29/05/2026
The us government discussing immigrants as an alien invasion is horrifying. I am an alien. I have an alien registration number that the US govt gave me. I came here, started a family, started a company, made a home. The white house staffers who did this can go fuck themselves.
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Astrid Atkinson @astridatkinson.bsky.social · 27/05/2026
These buildings are really beautiful (as is a lot of Vancouver's newer highrise development). I ran past them during the Sun Run 10k earlier this year. They have balconies built into fishtail shapes.
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Daniel Swain @weatherwest.bsky.social · 25/05/2026
I've got to say that I'm really disappointed in the recent discourse surrounding the RCP8.5 scenario. The lack of context and understanding is something I expected from the usual suspects, but it's frustrating to see such bad takes from people and outlets who should know better.
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Astrid Atkinson @astridatkinson.bsky.social · 19/05/2026
The power went out on Sunday night and we are entering day 3 of this outage. The batteries were offline this time. I have gotten too soft for this.
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Ian James @ianjames.bsky.social · 14/05/2026
The dire ‘math problem’ of the Colorado River I asked Anne Castle how far western states’ leaders are from really addressing the crisis. Her answer: Nowhere near. www.latimes.com/environment/...
latimes.com
A dire 'math problem' on the Colorado River and wholly inadequate responses
The Colorado River is severely overtapped and its reservoirs are declining to critically low levels. Experts analyze what it would take to head off disaster.
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molly taft @mollytaft.com · 13/05/2026
btw, regulators confirmed to us this morning that the 19 new turbines (and the 27 already on site) are not part of an air permit granted in March, meaning xAI has more than 1 GW of unpermitted gas power at Colossus 2 right now
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Senator Sheldon Whitehouse @whitehouse.senate.gov · 11/05/2026
Let’s remember: (1) the fossil fuel industry is desperate to pollute for free; if they can’t pollute for free, their business model collapses. 🧵
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Ed Hawkins @edhawkins.org · 08/05/2026
Spiralling global temperatures (1850-2026) It is exactly 10 years since I first put this animated graphic of changes in global temperature online. #ClimateSpiral It instantly went viral. People watched it over and over again. It still offers the power to shock a decade on.
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Ketan Joshi @ketanjoshi.co · 07/05/2026
Cursed to scream this into the void forever but: this is an absurd comparison and tells you absolutely nothing at all about whether aggressive deregulation and The Free Market results in a lot of clean energy @ramez.bsky.social should 1,000% know better than to say something like this A short 🧵
Ramez Naam
@ramez
Everyone who cares about climate should understand this. Texas, with no pro-climate policies, has blown passed California in clean energy. In large part because Texas has less red tape and makes it easier to build.
John Bistline @JEBistline.
23h
Texas just passed California in utility-scale solar. And it's not close in wind or energy storage.
Utility-Scale Solar
Storage
Wind
80
50
60
45
70
50
40
60
50
40
30
Installed Capacity (GW)
20
California
Installed Capacity (GW)
35
0 25 20
30
10
20
15
10
10
Installed Capacity (GW) 30 20
40
Texas
Texas
California
Texas
0
0
0
California
5
2010
2015
2020
2025
2010 2015
2020
2025
2010
2015
2020
2025
Chart by John Bistline (@JEBistline) with data from EIA-860 (updated March 2026)
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06 May 26
1.1M Views
2,535 Reposts
173 Quotes
16.7K Likes
1,929 Bookmarks
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Astrid Atkinson @astridatkinson.bsky.social · 30/04/2026
Had a meeting in a San Francisco cafe yesterday. The young students at the table next to us were fascinated with our drinks - a latte and a cappuccino. I am not sure they'd ever seen an espresso drink ordered "for here" in a nice mug before.
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Astrid Atkinson @astridatkinson.bsky.social · 29/04/2026
This is... really hopeful.
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Astrid Atkinson @astridatkinson.bsky.social · 28/04/2026
I visited Paris for the first time around 2007, rode across half the city in heavy traffic without bike lanes, got stuck blocking traffic in the Champs d'Elysee when the light changed. When I was back there last year it was leafy, clean, bikes everywhere. We can have nice things.
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Ari Peskoe @aripeskoe.bsky.social · 27/04/2026
Nice piece by @robinsonmeyer.bsky.social in the NYT. Draws readers in by leading with AI data centers (timely, newsworthy, hot) but then pivots to regional transmission governance, a topic no one reads about by choice. Also has fancy graphics. www.nytimes.com/interactive/...
nytimes.com
Opinion | Why Is Your Electric Bill Going Up? Blame the Broken Grid.
Our grid is too old and our supply of electricity too small. If we don’t meet this moment, we will face an impoverished future.
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Astrid Atkinson @astridatkinson.bsky.social · 23/04/2026
This is my dream.
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Nick Cunningham @nickcunningham.bsky.social · 16/04/2026
gas processing facilities like this are all over the Permian. Methane blasting out of flare stacks. This is where Europe gets its gas
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Astrid Atkinson @astridatkinson.bsky.social · 14/04/2026
As a human and a citizen I am in favor of universal health care. As an employer I am VERY in favor of it.
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Christopher Webb @cwebbonline.com · 14/04/2026
Xavier Becerra addresses single-payer healthcare in California in a way I can appreciate. He talks about the logistics of making it happen. He says it won’t be easy, but it can be done. I respect that. Too many politicians make it sound easy, then drop it once they’re elected. Becerra gets it.
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Climate News @climatenews.bsky.social · 03/04/2026
Consider for a moment how much the 2020-2025 period differs from the 2000-2005 period. Consider how small the temperature difference was that unleashed this level of chaos we are experiencing. Now consider how chaotic 2030-2035 will be considering it will be the same number of degrees warmer…
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Daniel Swain @weatherwest.bsky.social · 07/04/2026
There are innumerably many reasons why any exchange of nuclear weapons is horrifying to contemplate. But I want to dispel rumors that newer science suggests that large-scale consequences would be much less severe than perceived during Cold War era. That simply isn't the case.
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Justin Mikulka @justinmikulka.bsky.social · 05/04/2026
Things are moving fast in the energy world thanks to the latest war. I cover a lot of the highlights of the past week in this piece.
powering-the-planet.ghost.io
The Simple Math of the Death of LNG
Imagine you wanted to buy a new car.  Now imagine that you have a choice of two cars that are identical except one of the cars requires you to buy expensive fuel to run it and the other runs on free f...
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Joshua Foust 🪖🎮 @joshuafoust.com · 03/04/2026
“They’re destroying more than fifty research facilities across thirty-one states, labs that house decades of irreplaceable long-term science…And they’re replacing all of it — the offices, the scientists, the institutional knowledge, the professional independence — with fifteen political appointees”
hatchmag.com
Trump administration orders dismantling of the U.S. Forest Service
Late Tuesday afternoon, with the subtlety of a wrecking ball and the morality of a foreclosure notice, the Trump administration announced the most devastating attack on the U.S. Forest Service in the ...
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Dr. Genevieve Guenther (she/they) @doctorvive.bsky.social · 30/03/2026
Far from having fallen off the political agenda, climate change is at the center of Trumpism. 3/n
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Dr. Jonathan Foley @globalecoguy.bsky.social · 29/03/2026
Obviously, we need to phase out all gases and all sources as quickly as we can. Cutting methane and other short-lived gases will abate temperature increases in the near-term, which might really help with mitigation and prevent rapid warming impacts.
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Dr. Jonathan Foley @globalecoguy.bsky.social · 29/03/2026
The fact is, methane has caused about 30% of the warming we have seen to date. And all non-CO2 warming pollution, taken together, has caused about half of the warming so far. And of the CO2 warming we have seen, a big chunk of that has been caused by deforestation.
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Astrid Atkinson @astridatkinson.bsky.social · 28/03/2026
Lovely sign from the young woman standing next to me. On the other side, a 95 yr old woman musing that next time she would make a sign with some illustrated brown-nosing.
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