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Blair Willcox

@currenttech.energy
621 followers 715 following 267 posts

Energy nerd, Michigan sports, skiing. Working to let market signals tell us when to use electricity to electrify and decarbonize process and space heating (including steam!)

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Reposted by Blair Willcox
Allison Gill @muellershewrote.com · 09/10/2026
Regardless of the legality of posting armed national guard members at drop boxes, whether the boxes were open yet, or whether drop boxes qualify as polling sites under the law; the optics are what matter. Lawful or not, it’s overt, intentional voter suppression.
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Free DC @freedcproject.bsky.social · 09/10/2026
Soldiers positioned at voting locations is not legal behavior. These are Mississippi National Guard troops at a DC ballot dropbox yesterday. We demand the governors of Mississippi, Florida, and Georgia get your soldiers OUT NOW.
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Ed Porter @edporter.bsky.social · 09/10/2026
Germany: a two-hour battery earned €215k/MW/yr in September, with day-ahead spreads the widest since 2022. But revenues still fell 40% on the year. Wider spreads added money, nowhere near enough to replace what saturating aFRR markets took away. The ancillary premium is shrinking.
Chart: me bess de revenue stack
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Blair Willcox @currenttech.energy · 06/09/2026
Not sure why Michigan’s all-maize uniforms have tails
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RedditCFB @redditcfb.com · 05/09/2026
Colorado Mines vs Washburn is officially a tie in D2! While getting ready for OT, the air temperature hit 99° with a heat index of 108°, conference rules prevented resumption of play as long as wet bulb temperatures remained in an unsafe range and it wasn’t set to let up.
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David Roberts @volts.wtf · 06/08/2026
In July, on ABC, CBS, and NBC, there were 194 segments on the extreme heat waves rolling across the US. Number that mentioned climate change: 0.
mediamatters.org
ABC, CBS, and NBC aired nearly 200 segments about three U.S. heat events without mentioning climate change
From late June through July, successive heat waves swept across large portions of the United States, breaking temperature records and placing more than 100 million people at a time under heat alerts. ...
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David Roberts @volts.wtf · 31/07/2026
Hot! Rocks!
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Vice Mayor Burhan Azeem @burhanazeem.bsky.social · 02/06/2026
Most of our district, including the triple deckers everyone loves, was technically illegal to build. That's not an accident. It's the result of decades of rules that quietly banned the cheapest housing we ever built. Cambridge changed it last year. Every city in Massachusetts can too.
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Allison Gill @muellershewrote.com · 19/05/2026
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Jan Rosenow @janrosenow.bsky.social · 19/05/2026
The world’s largest sand battery got through Finland’s harshest winter in years. 2,000 tonnes of sand, heated to 500-600°C by cheap power, feeding district heating in Pornainen. And it worked. Result from one install: oil down 100%, emissions down 70%. Industrial process heat is the real prize.
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Rebecca Dell @rebeccawdell.bsky.social · 14/05/2026
It turns out the LNG export capacity has been in the works for a long time. From EIA:
Planned additions to north American LNG export capacity, from EIA
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Ari Berman @ariberman.bsky.social · 12/05/2026
This is absolutely outrageous. SCOTUS reinstated Texas gerrymander 15 weeks before primary because they claimed it was too close to election to block it but now allowing Alabama to gerrymander one week before primary after trial court found map was intentionally discriminatory against Black voters
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David Roberts @volts.wtf · 08/05/2026
Today on Volts: how do you coordinate the behavior of millions of distributed energy devices so that they work to the benefit of the larger grid? My guest today argues that real-time, dynamic retail prices -- communicated directly to devices -- are the customer- & privacy-friendly answer.
volts.wtf
The case for using prices rather than VPPs to coordinate distributed energy
Researcher Bruce Nordman explains how dynamic, real-time pricing can do the work of coordinating DERs.
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Oilfield Witness @oilfieldwitness.bsky.social · 30/04/2026
This Is Not A Drill is out and free to watch on Patagonia's Youtube channel. @txsharon.bsky.social is one of three activists featured in the film.
youtube.com
This Is Not a Drill | Patagonia Films
YouTube video by Patagonia
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Ian Carrillo @iansociologo.bsky.social · 30/04/2026
www.axios.com/local/nashvi...
axios.com
Blackburn pitches 9-0 GOP map for Tennessee after Supreme Court decision
Sen. Marsha Blackburn wants Tennessee to redraw its U.S. House map to help President Trump.
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Ian Carrillo @iansociologo.bsky.social · 30/04/2026
bsky.app/profile/tani...
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Ian Carrillo @iansociologo.bsky.social · 30/04/2026
Just hours after the ruling... These folks waste no time to advance racial disenfranchisement.
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David Roberts @volts.wtf · 28/04/2026
"Electrifying industrial heat in India is now cheaper than producing heat from natural gas and oil across all temperatures, and cheaper than coal in three of five temperature bands, representing 55 percent of the country’s industrial heat needs."
energyinnovation.org
Electrifying Industrial Heat in India
Cheap solar prices mean electrifying industrial heat in India is cheaper than producing heat from most fossil fuels, cutting costs and air pollution.
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TerraWatts2010 @terrawatts2010.bsky.social · 22/04/2026
Cache Energy’s pilot project harnesses excess wind power from UMN Morris’ two turbines to heat a carpentry shop and could be expanded across campus. 🔌💡 www.canarymedia.com/articles/lon...
canarymedia.com
A new thermal battery could help this Minnesota campus electrify heat
Cache Energy’s pilot project harnesses excess wind power from UMN Morris’ two turbines to heat a carpentry shop and could be expanded across campus.
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PM2.5 Kills ~9 Million People Each Year Worldwide @tkovach.bsky.social · 18/04/2026
"In PJM alone, consumers are already on the hook for $16.6 billion in capacity costs tied to data center demand forecasts that industry experts widely expect to be wrong."
linkedin.com
The Data Center Reckoning: Why Communities Are Saying No — And What Has to Change
Something significant is happening in the space between the AI hype cycle and the real world. Communities are pushing back.
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Mark Z. Jacobson @mzjacobson.bsky.social · 16/04/2026
Firebrick storage powered by WindWaterSolar electricity has huge potential to replace fossil furnaces at low cost web.stanford.edu/group/efmh/j... A Scotland distillery claims a world first - it produces & stores 1,200C heat with low and 0 carbon electricity, not fossils www.bbc.com/news/article...
web.stanford.edu
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The National @scotnational.bsky.social · 14/04/2026
A Scottish distillery is to use otherwise wasted wind power to heat its stills in a 'world-first' decarbonised heat project 👇
thenational.scot
Whisky distillery to use wasted wind power to heat stills in 'world-first'
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Jaap Burger @jaapburger.eu · 11/04/2026
The French government has announced the measures of its plan to accelerate electrification: - a ban on gas boilers in new houses from the end of 2026 - increased support for replacing old heating with heat pumps - 100 regions will pilot comprehensive heat transition plans to phase out gas by 2030
info.gouv.fr
Électrification : les mesures annoncées par le Gouvernement | info.gouv.fr
VIDÉO. Leasing social, pompes à chaleur, voitures électriques… : la France accélère son électrification pour réduire sa dépendance au gaz et au pétrole et renforcer sa souveraineté. Le soutien à l’électrification atteindra 10 milliards d’euros en 2030.
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Jan Rosenow @janrosenow.bsky.social · 10/04/2026
Heat batteries are a game changer for decarbonising heat. Polar Night Energy and Lahti Energia Oy have partnered to construct what is expected to become the world’s largest sand-based thermal energy storage system, to be built in Vääksy, Finland. www.environmentenergyleader.com/stories/worl...
environmentenergyleader.com
World's Largest Sand Battery to Supply District Heat in Finland - Environment+Energy Leader
A Finnish energy company is heating 2,400 tons of sand above 500°C to store renewable energy at scale. Can sand replace natural gas in district heating?
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Blair Willcox @currenttech.energy · 10/04/2026
Truly this was a super stressful way to get to OT
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Alex Carstens @carstens13.bsky.social · 10/04/2026
We are here now
The Bois tweet
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Karl Jacoby @karl-jacoby.bsky.social · 07/04/2026
I am not one of those who believes that history repeats, but consider the following from Herodotus: the Oracle at Delphi told the fabulously wealthy King Croesus that if he invaded Persia he would "destroy a great empire." Croesus invaded and lost--the empire he destroyed was his own.
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Brandon Friedman @brandonfriedman.bsky.social · 07/04/2026
The military must not follow any orders to destroy "a whole civilization." Sane members of Congress should say this loudly now.
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John Morales @johnmoralestv.bsky.social · 15/01/2026
Important update about Congressional efforts to prevent the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) from being dismantled. Last week the White House threatened to veto any appropriations bill that protects NCAR. Despite this attempt at intimidation ... (1/ )
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WIRED @wired.com · 08/01/2026
We've removed the paywall from this guide so everyone can access it. 👇 Stay safe.
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Shooti @bambooshooti.bsky.social · 03/01/2026
#ResistanceRoots Lynn Conway was born on this day in 1938 in Mount Vernon, N.Y. She was a computer scientist, electrical engineer and prominent transgender rights activist whose work at IBM and Xerox PARC fundamentally reshaped the architecture of modern computing and the semiconductor industry. /1
Lynn Conway.
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Brandon Friedman @brandonfriedman.bsky.social · 02/12/2025
Hegseth is very transparently blaming a Navy admiral for his own decision. Let this be a lesson for every other military officer: The Trump administration will issue unlawful orders, then blame you for following them.
@PeteHegseth on X: Let’s make one thing crystal clear: 

Admiral Mitch Bradley is an American hero, a true professional, and has my 100% support. I stand by him and the combat decisions he has made — on the September 2 mission and all others since.

America is fortunate to have such men protecting us. When this @DeptofWar says we have the back of our warriors — we mean it.
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Brent Toderian @brenttoderian.bsky.social · 29/10/2025
The most insanely frustrating thing about the #ClimateCrisis is how the breakthrough we so clearly need isn’t technological. It’s just a collective willingness, a determination even, to change in ways that would clearly be SO MUCH BETTER than the clear and obvious consequences of NOT changing.
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kate wehwalt @katewagner.wehwalt.net · 05/11/2025
dawg not the steakhouse wedding font
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HudsonRiverCroc @hudsonrivercroc.bsky.social · 05/11/2025
My fellow dudes, take the hint
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Oilfield Witness @oilfieldwitness.bsky.social · 24/10/2025
We were told that our video of the emissions at Elon Musk's xAI facility in Memphis has been taken down at Twitter/X. At least we can share it freely here. Please do. More communities will be poisoned by data centers replicating this model. www.youtube.com/watch?v=mSWg...
youtube.com
xAI Colossus Data Center Memphis Tennessee 05/13/2025
YouTube video by Oilfield Witness
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Blair Willcox @currenttech.energy · 20/10/2025
This plus price cannibalization and interconnection delays (mentioned further in the thread) are flipping utility scale solar on its head. We’re starting to see more off-grid solutions in high energy spaces like industrial heating. www.rondo.com/news-press/r...
rondo.com
Rondo Powers Up World’s Largest Industrial Heat Battery - Rondo Energy
100 MWh Rondo Heat Battery, world’s most efficient energy storage of any kind, now delivering 24-hour steam from off-grid solar power — proving a new path for factories to cut carbon and costs
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Jenny Chase @solarchase.bsky.social · 20/10/2025
1. To opinions! Solar is the cheapest source of bulk electricity in many countries, and the quickest to deploy, and now you couldn't stop it being built if you wanted to. The limits to PV build in most places are grid access, permitting, and sometimes installation labour.
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Jenny Chase @solarchase.bsky.social · 20/10/2025
Time for 2025 updates to my annual “opinions about solar” thread. If you like these, you might like the second edition of my book, Solar Power Finance Without The Jargon. A 30% discount code WSQ0437 is valid on publisher website until end of November 2025. www.worldscientific.com/worldscibook...
worldscientific.com
Solar Power Finance Without the Jargon
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Elizabeth Warren @warren.senate.gov · 11/10/2025
After Trump got his Covid shot, he chose to fire the scientists protecting the rest of us from diseases.
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Chanda Prescod-Weinstein 🌌 @chanda.blacksky.app · 30/09/2025
THEY CLOSED PUBLIC POOLS RATHER THAN SWIM WITH BLACK PEOPLE YOU ARE DEALING WITH THE SAME GROUP OF PEOPLE AS THE FOLKS WHO DID THIS PLEASE WAKE THE FUCK UP
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Danielle Froom 🏳️‍🌈 @danifroom.bsky.social · 30/09/2025
I don't think we'll ever get another sentence which sums up everything the New York Times embodies quite like "Some legal experts have called it a crime to summarily kill civilians".
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Laura Bassett @lebassett.bsky.social · 23/09/2025
More than 1800 detainees are missing after the closure of Alligator Alcatraz. Their families and lawyers can’t find them and they’ve vanished from the ICE database. Feels like this should be a much bigger story www.miamiherald.com/news/local/i...
miamiherald.com
Hundreds of Alligator Alcatraz detainees drop off the grid after leaving site
As of the end of August, the whereabouts of two-thirds of more than 1,800 men detained at Alligator Alcatraz during the month of July could not be determined by the Miami Herald.
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The Bulwark @thebulwark.com · 21/09/2025
Rep. Jim Himes: "Having the Defense Department kill alleged drug runners in the Caribbean is illegal...These folks are committing murder — murder defined as killing without a legal basis. I am mystified over why the rest of the chain of command is quite comfortable with it."
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Don Moynihan @donmoyn.bsky.social · 18/09/2025
What America is going through is not unusual in historical terms. Plenty of examples like it today elsewhere in the world. What makes it unusual is the rapid collapse from a set of widely espoused norms and values that centered on liberty. It is the sacking of the shining city on hill that shocks.
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Brendan Nyhan @brendannyhan.bsky.social · 15/09/2025
White House Officials Vow Vast Crackdown on Liberal Groups www.nytimes.com/live/2025/09... Open authoritarianism. Happening right in front of us.
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Chris Hayes @chrislhayes.bsky.social · 09/09/2025
Sure seems like Big Pharma spent way way more energy, money and lobbying capital on fighting Dems on prescription drugs than doing anything about the Secretary of HHS casually, and without any real evidence, telling everyone their products kill kids and give them autism.
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Tobita Chow @tobitac.bsky.social · 09/09/2025
UAW statement: "Unfortunately, the militarized federal crackdown on these workers further hurts safety at Hyundai. Workers are not the problem. Exploitative corporations are. The UAW will always stand with all workers—immigrant and native-born alike" uaw.org/uaw-issues-s...
uaw.org
UAW Issues Statement Condemning Dangerous Working Conditions and Immigration Raid at Hyundai - UAW | United Automobile, Aerospace and Agricultural Implement Workers of America
The UAW condemns Hyundai’s disgraceful record on worker safety. For years, Hyundai—including its joint ventures and the suppliers that work in its plants—cut corners on industry-standard safety precau...
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Commercial Solar Guy @commercialsolarguy.com · 08/09/2025
Normally I’m meh on BIPV because so much of my world’s building stock has been constructed…but India: ‘potential >300 GW of building-integrated photovoltaics (BIPV) on existing buildings..per World Bank 70% of the buildings India will need to become a developed nation by 2047 haven’t been built’
pv-magazine.com
Building a new solar industry segment
A study conducted by the German development agency Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) in collaboration with India-based think tank the Center for Study of Science, Technolog...
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