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Kevin J. Kircher

@kevinjkircher.com
23K followers 3.9K following 5.4K posts

Engineering prof (mechanical + electrical) at a big Midwest state school. Energy, climate, buildings, power grid, control, optimization, data science. He/him. Personal account. kevinjkircher.com Email: my last name at purdue dot edu

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Kevin J. Kircher @kevinjkircher.com · 26m
One thing to bear in mind about a federal permitting bill is that its mistakes would be essentially permanent - Dems could only reverse mistakes with a filibuster-proof 60-vote supermajority in the Senate. Repubs, on the other hand, could use captured courts to shave off bits their donors dislike.
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Costa Samaras @costasamaras.com · 2h
A big day for @cmu.edu, for Miami, & for Pittsburgh! One of the grand challenges the CMU-Miami campus will work on, together with regional institutions, is energy & climate resilience. Having energy & climate as a focus for all universities to work on, is essential. www.nytimes.com/2026/09/30/u...
nytimes.com
Donor Gives $3 Billion to Carnegie Mellon, the Largest University Gift Ever (Gift Article)
The donation by Kenneth Griffin, intended mostly to help build a campus in Miami, was the biggest single gift in the history of U.S. higher education.
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Meade Krosby @meadekrosby.bsky.social · 2h
I’ve been reminiscing with friends about Take Back the Night rallies we did at Cornell in the late 90s, and how now it’s our high school daughters planning rallies and signing petitions and it’s just incredibly demoralizing how little has changed.
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Dr. Genevieve Guenther (she/they) @doctorvive.bsky.social · 1h
None of the cheerleaders of the Permitting Reform bill are talking about the fact that it establishes a 150-day statute of limitations for lawsuits under *any* federal law challenging authorizations for coal, oil, and gas extraction. Forever. 150 days is no time at all.
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Kevin J. Kircher @kevinjkircher.com · 1h
As far as I can tell, the total funding in the Senate permitting bill is $255M/yr (0.0036% of 2025 $7T federal spending), not counting $200M/yr for historic preservation. $255M is enough to pay 2,550 people $100k. You'd think a bill meant to expedite permitting would hire/pay people to do the work.
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Kevin J. Kircher @kevinjkircher.com · 2h
Not a lawyer, but "SEC. 209. ENEPA TECHNOLOGIES" (pages 74-94) appears to require creation of AI tools for a) company use to generate environmental docs and b) agency use to review environmental docs. AI-generated forms reviewed by AI tools in understaffed/underfunded agencies! What could go wrong.
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Kevin J. Kircher @kevinjkircher.com · 2h
The Senate's permitting bill text is up. It's way too big/complex for anyone who didn't have early access to digest today, so beware hot takes, but this bit (p. 54 line 9) is funny: If an agency misses a deadline, the agency head can't travel >25 miles from their desk til the agency submits the doc.
energy.senate.gov
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isaac @sevier.io · 5h
🥳🥳🥳 Shoutout @cmmonwealth.bsky.social for their immense work to make this happen. In the US we lack organizations of their size + political parties capable of using their capacity but we are on the same path.
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Emily Sanders @emdashsanders.bsky.social · 5h
Next week, SCOTUS will hear args in Boulder's climate lawsuit that says oil giants deceived the public about the dangers of burning fossil fuels & should pay for local damages. A few things to know, ft my convo with @ishan-thakore.bsky.social @lesleyclark.bsky.social @alejandrocamacho.bsky.social
pointsourcenews.org
Three things to know about the upcoming Supreme Court climate case
The broader implications if Exxon and Suncor get their SCOTUS reprieve from state climate lawsuits. Also, what to make of a justice’s 11th-hour recusal.
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ryan cooper @ryanlcooper.com · 4h
oh man you know a small paper did good when the NYT reports on their reporting rather than ripping them off without credit www.nytimes.com/2026/09/29/n...
nytimes.com
Students at Cornell Daily Sun Pursued Sexual Assault Case for Two Years (Gift Article)
The student newspaper, The Cornell Daily Sun, covered the allegations of rape at a fraternity party since they were first made in 2024 and led the reporting on the case.
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isaac @sevier.io · 4h
In Lyon, France, activists for public ownership of the water system won their decades long struggle, along with enormously reduced water rates, better pay, and stronger unions. When the right took over, public ownership had such broad support from the community & workers that it has stayed public.
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Josh Lappen @jlappen1.bsky.social · 4h
Honored to have won this year's John Reps Prize from the Society of American City and Regional Planning Historians for my work on how electrification shaped greater Los Angeles! I'm likewise honored to be in such excellent company! Take a look at the full set of winners: sacrph.org/awards/past2...
sacrph.org
2026 Awards
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Erik Nordman @eriknordman.bsky.social · 7h
Michigan's utility regulator has proposed steps to contain rising costs & break the "seemingly endless litigation over rates." The article below features insightful commentary from two longtime @ipu-msu.bsky.social guest instructors, Mark Newton Lowry and Paul Alvarez. #EnergySky 🔌💡
utilitydive.com
Affordability concerns drive momentum for performance-based ratemaking
Michigan is among the states weighing reforms to rate case planning and utility profits. Experts and stakeholders told Utility Dive what works — and what doesn’t.
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David Roberts @volts.wtf · 5h
Today on Volts: Heat-pump water heaters use a fraction of the energy of the conventional kind, but they've often been bulky, loud, & a hassle to install. A company called Reservoir has made one that's smaller, quieter, & much smarter, installed in hours by their own plumbers. I talk with the CEO.
volts.wtf
What’s up with heat-pump water heaters?
A conversation with Luke Winston-Almanzar of Reservoir.
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Kashmir Hill @kashhill.bsky.social · 8h
Meta is using a radical interpretation of a tax credit for “research and experimentation” to get billions of dollars off GPUs for its A.I. data centers. My latest with Jesse Drucker, @elitan.bsky.social and @mikeisaac.bsky.social www.nytimes.com/2026/09/30/t...
nytimes.com
How Meta Uses A.I. Data Centers to Avoid Billions in Federal Taxes (Gift Article)
Meta is exploiting a lucrative tax break intended to support research and experimentation. Its own accountants say the gambit is risky.
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Brendan Pierpont @brendan.bsky.social · 5h
⚡⚡ Want to help policymakers understand the best ways to meet growing electricity demand, clean up the grid, and lower electricity bills for customers? Do you have deep grid expertise and experience managing research and analysis projects? Join our team! energyinnovation.org/about/career...
energyinnovation.org
Careers
We are committed to creating a diverse environment and are proud to be an equal opportunity employer.
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Justin Mikulka @justinmikulka.bsky.social · 7h
The Cornell Daily Sun: "This is not a dark chapter in Cornell’s history, it’s a morbid pattern, only rectified with thorough criminal investigations in the hands of parties independent of the University — the Ithaca Police Department and the Tompkins County district attorney."
cornellsun.com
EDITORIAL | Cornell Won’t, We Will
The Editorial Board demands that Cornell stops protecting the alleged Chi Phi rapists through the University's opaque sexual assault policies.
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John Kostyack @kostyack.bsky.social · 8h
@pkrugman.bsky.social on the political transformation underway due to AI and data centers. "Even the usual argument for pro-oligarch policies — job creation! — falls flat because hardly any jobs are being created even in the short run." Cites BLS stats on the job category including data centers.
BLS employment figures in the category that includes data centers
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ryan cooper @ryanlcooper.com · 7h
"Only 28 percent of Americans believe that AI technology should move full speed ahead. Everyone else wants it slowed down or stopped, temporarily or permanently." paulkrugman.substack.com/p/one-more-r...
paulkrugman.substack.com
One More Reason Americans Hate AI: It Does Nothing for Them
Trillions of dollars in spending, higher interest rates, hardly any jobs
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c0nc0rdance @c0nc0rdance.bsky.social · 9h
Omigod, this is the most heartwarming story possible! Backpack (bear 89) is the son of the 2019 winner of Fat Bear Week, Holly (bear 435). In 2007, he injured his foot & a practice of riding on momma's Holly's back had a new meaning: he was mobility-restricted while it healed. So Holly moved him.
From DISCVR blog's Facebook page, a momma bear & a yearling cub on her back in the shallow water.  I think the background has been swapped out, and I can't rule out some AI use there?  God, Facebook has become the social media for AI slop : (

The title of the article, which I link below, is "How Bear 89 earned the name Backpack"
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Prof Julia Steinberger 🌹🌱🌍 #ClimateAction #Fightfascism @jksteinberger.bsky.social · 9h
Rare and small victory celebration time: evil genocidal tech giant Palantir is officially excluded from the EPFL Forum (recruiting event), thanks to mass mobilisation. The Forum organisers stand by their invitation, however. 🤦‍♀️🤯 Thanks to everyone who protested! More context: clads.ch/en/condemnat...
screenshot of email announcing Palantir removal from event
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Joshua Basseches @joshuabasseches.bsky.social · 21h
This piece by @aripeskoe.bsky.social should embolden FERC to assert its authority over PJM governance: www.utilitydive.com/news/ferc-op...
utilitydive.com
FERC has options for modernizing PJM’s governance
The commission’s jurisdiction over transmission governance allows it to modify filing-rights allocations and adjust the PJM Interconnection’s nominating committee, writes Harvard Law’s Ari Peskoe.
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Nick Cunningham @nickcunningham.bsky.social · 21h
In China, heavy duty electric trucks on track to be 1/3 of sales by the end of the year www.bloomberg.com/news/feature...
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Joseph D. Ortiz @earthsciinfo.bsky.social · 19h
New research from my lab explores the use of multivariate statistics & ML to predict soil carbon, nitrogen and organic matter using VNIR spectroscopy in lab, field & remote sensing data sets. The method accounts for almost half the variance in each data set 🧪 ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/116...
ieeexplore.ieee.org
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Costa Samaras @costasamaras.com · 18h
Congratulations to Dr. @hollyjeanbuck.bsky.social on being named a MacArthur Fellow! www.macfound.org/fellows/clas...
macfound.org
Holly Jean Buck
Investigating the social, ethical, and political dimensions of climate and energy policies and emerging technologies.
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Kat Tenbarge @kattenbarge.bsky.social · 19h
A truly heinous man has doxxed the Cornell victim on X and the comments are predictably vile. Based on countless interviews I’ve done with survivors, the trauma they are subjected to for coming forward is oftentimes even worse than the initial trauma they experienced. There is no real justice system
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Rebecca Solnit @rebeccasolnit.bsky.social · 18h
Time for this classic again.
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isaac @sevier.io · 18h
One of the best things you can do for yourself if you put climate at the top of your priorities in politics today is to recognize this very effective pull to the right that is in motion from people you once thought were progressives.
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isaac @sevier.io · 18h
Lots of folks have plenty to say about "The Left" and what it (lol) should stop doing at a time when fascists are disappearing people in record numbers and there is no actual force stopping them or the fossil fuel industry that they are in league with.
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Ketan Joshi @ketanjoshi.co · 15h
If anyone I know lives in Austin, please sneak into this "powering data centres with fossil fuels" forum and get some choice quotes for me please www.bicmagazine.com/resources/sp...
Promotional sponsor board for the NatGas To Power Forum, Nov 11–13, 2026 in Austin, TX, naming WhiteWater as premier sponsor and showing a grid of energy and finance company logos (e.g., BP, ConocoPhillips, J.P. Morgan, Kinder Morgan, NRG).Headline "Powering AI with gas: 450+ decision-makers meet in Austin" above an article about the NatGas to Power Forum exploring use of natural gas to generate electricity for AI data centers, accompanied by sponsor logos and event date/details.
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Jonathan Koomey @jgkoomey.bsky.social · 20h
Related: Jonathan Koomey. 2013. Moving Beyond Benefit-Cost Analysis of Climate Change. Environmental Research Letters 8: doi: 10.1088/1748-9326/8/4/041005. iopscience.iop.org/1748-9326/8/...
iopscience.iop.org
Moving beyond benefit–cost analysis of climate change
Moving beyond benefit–cost analysis of climate change, Koomey, Jonathan
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The Onion @theonion.com · 29/09/2026
Cornell Vows That Rapists Will Be Forced To Write Much Longer Essays In The Future theonion.com/cornell-vows...
Cornell Vows That Rapists Will Be Forced To Write Much Longer Essays In The Future
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Danny Cullenward @ghgpolicy.org · 29/09/2026
I think this has a lot of explanatory power, at least with respect to WRI. (WBCSD isn't hiding its industry-aligned advocacy.) But there's more to it. Some people genuinely believe that theoretical accounting principles require outcomes that make no physical, scientific, or policy sense.
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Kevin J. Kircher @kevinjkircher.com · 29/09/2026
"“objective” methods of institutionalized cost-benefit analysis are riddled with value-laden assumptions, and objectivity rests on absurd ideas of commensurability and the ability to price all preferences." This essay makes a lot of good points that are relevant to energy system modeling.
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Hannah Daly @hannahdaly.ie · 29/09/2026
Genuinely great to see solar, heat pump and retrofit grants targeting vulnerable homes. It's also good to see the boiler scrappage scheme come immediately rather than in January. I'm sure a lot of people retrofitting right now, and the companies, are relieved they will qualify.
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Inside Climate News @insideclimatenews.org · 29/09/2026
Justice Samuel Alito, who holds investments in individual fossil fuel companies, just recused himself from a key climate case before the Supreme Court. But he participated in the decision-making process to hear the case in the first place.
insideclimatenews.org
Alito’s Recusal From Climate Case: Too Little, Too Late? - Inside Climate News
Justice Samuel Alito decided Monday to sit out one of the most consequential climate change cases to reach the Supreme Court, but legal experts expected continuing ramifications due to his ownership o...
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Inside Climate News @insideclimatenews.org · 29/09/2026
The Trump administration finalized the rollback of a major fuel economy standard for cars and trucks, a move critics say will cause more climate-warming pollution, human health problems and higher fuel costs for consumers.
insideclimatenews.org
Trump Slashes Fuel-Economy Standards in Blow to Climate, Health, EV Market - Inside Climate News
One observer called the move a "disaster for people’s health, the planet, and even U.S. automakers.”
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Katharine Hayhoe @katharinehayhoe.com · 29/09/2026
Don’t ask an elected official if they “believe” in climate change, it’s not a religion. Don’t ask if they think it’s serious: it is. Ask them what matters most: what are they doing about it? Excellent application here, 10/10 no notes 👏⬇️👏
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Nick Cunningham @nickcunningham.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
ah so much for the "cleanest" LNG in the world. FWIW I looked at these claims 5 years ago, yet Canadian and BC officials routinely touted hydro-powered LNG facilities as a reason not to worry about climate impacts Shell will instead use gas turbines www.desmog.com/2021/08/13/l...
desmog.com
LNG Projects Make Claims of 'Net-Zero' to Ease Way for Expansion
Under growing pressure to rein in greenhouse gas emissions, developers of liquefied natural gas (LNG) are turning to questionable claims about “carbon neutrality,” “net-zero,” or “green LNG,” in order...
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Josh Lappen @jlappen1.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
This one's a cri de coeur from @gruberte.bsky.social, @jmijin.bsky.social, and I: The coal sector's decline has created strong empirical evidence about how energy transitions play out, but most decarb scholarship and policymaking ignore it. That has to change. www.tandfonline.com/eprint/DJ88Z...
tandfonline.com
How to Save the Energy Transition: What Coal Scholars Can See Coming, and What to Do About It
The energy transition requires rapid, coordinated retirement of essentially all fossil fuel infrastructure with careful attention to impacts on workers and affected communities. Experience with the...
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J. Mijin Cha @jmijin.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
We have been through transitions before- we should learn from them! psyched to be on this with @jlappen1.bsky.social and @gruberte.bsky.social
tandfonline.com
How to Save the Energy Transition: What Coal Scholars Can See Coming, and What to Do About It
The energy transition requires rapid, coordinated retirement of essentially all fossil fuel infrastructure with careful attention to impacts on workers and affected communities. Experience with the...
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J. Mijin Cha @jmijin.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
By my count, the during the tenure of the current Cornell president, students were expelled for protesting a genocide, an extremely violent sexual assault was dealt with by apology essays, and he ran over a student's foot. Neat. Never, ever send me a alumni fundraising email. Never.
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Emily Grubert @gruberte.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
This is the paper that embodies the thing I do where I walk around with a felt bag of coal labeled "Coal" that is full of coal and say ~beware~ big thanks to @jlappen1.bsky.social for leading and to @jmijin.bsky.social for continuing to be one of the most correct people about coal transitions
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Nick Cunningham @nickcunningham.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Really interesting. Texas and California have added a lot of battery storage. PJM (midatlantic) hasnt. PJM has more threats of blackouts and much higher prices www.bloomberg.com/news/article...
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John Kostyack @kostyack.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Elections are a month away and the question of whether we want armed militias and white nationalists running our country is on the ballot.
wired.com
These Extremists Are Running for Election in November
With the threat of political violence at unprecedented levels, state and federal GOP candidates are openly sharing racist, pro-militia, anti-vaccine, sexist, antisemitic, and secessionist views.
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John Hanger @jrfhanger.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Filling a standard 275-gallon oil tank in Maine costs ~$740 more than last year, after the statewide average hit a record $6.02 per gallon. ~50% of Maine households used heating oil in 2024, down from 62% in 2018. Maine is a leader in heat pumps. www.bangordailynews.com/2026/09/28/b... #energysky
bangordailynews.com
Maine posts record-breaking heating oil prices amid Iran War
Heating oil reached a record high of $6.02 a gallon in Maine due to global conflicts and refining shortages, state officials said.
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molly taft @mollytaft.com · 28/09/2026
i did a little Climate Week postmortem on data centers: co2 emissions are far & away the most alarming part of the buildout. but there hasn't been much of a reckoning beyond climate spaces kind of wondering when it'll enter the larger convo, if at all, and what that may look like
wired.com
The Data Center Backlash Should Also Be a Climate Reckoning. It Isn’t Yet
Climate groups are latching onto the data center opposition movement, but it remains to be seen if they can get people to care about the facilities’ impact on the atmosphere.
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Dr. Genevieve Guenther (she/they) @doctorvive.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Over 120,000 people marched across France calling for action to halt global heating. www.lemonde.fr/en/environme...
lemonde.fr
Thousands march for climate across France: 'I wish there were more of us, after the summer we've just had'
From Bordeaux to Paris, organizers say 120,000 people took part in 260 demonstrations 'for the climate, for life, for peace, for social justice.
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Ketan Joshi @ketanjoshi.co · 28/09/2026
If a "climate tech" company is pivoting to servicing the needs of a generative AI industry that specifically hungers for fossil fuels, how on Earth is that still "climate tech"? That is petrotech - and we should call it that, when it is that. techcrunch.com/2026/09/28/t...
The pivot has helped many climate tech startups land fresh funding from investors. Total venture deal value has risen for four consecutive quarters, cresting the $14 billion-mark in the first quarter of this year, according to the most recent available data from PitchBook. It’s the best fundraising environment for climate tech in the last few years, with most of the deal value driven by sectors boosted by data center construction, including the built environment, grid infrastructure, and dispatchable energy that can be turned on or off when it’s needed.

Ultimately, the undercurrent at New York Climate Week was that the data center party won’t last forever, but it might last long enough to help startups build durable businesses. Once that happens, they can refocus on the carbon-cutting mission they were founded to pursue.
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J. Mijin Cha @jmijin.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
I really appreciate the Guardian's continued focus on what's happening in Gaza
theguardian.com
We followed five people in Gaza from dawn to dusk – this is what the headlines don’t tell us
Behind the stories of bombings and mass deaths, the everyday challenges facing Palestinians living under siege portray a quieter tragedy we rarely hear
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