iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Tennant Reed @tennantreed.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

OUT NOW: most 🌏 industrial emissions will soon be covered by (weak) carbon prices. A new paper argues key economies can build this up to a global market for cleaner products, by clubbing together to set floors and borders. Does it all add up? LMSU discusses! www.letmesumup.net/i-i-was-carb...

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Tennant Reed @tennantreed.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

OUT NOW and get in quick: a Low Carbon Liquid Fuels demand policy is being designed. Subs due next week! What’s in it? The only possible way to find out is via Let Me Sum Up, here: www.letmesumup.net/i-can-fly-hi...

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Tennant Reed @tennantreed.bsky.social · 27/08/2026

OUT NOW: suppose the world breaches 2C by midcentury. What might happen next? An elaborate student project explores four plausible futures on a spectrum from dismay to disaster. The Let Me Sum Up podcast grits its teeth and summarises for you! Pod: www.letmesumup.net/above-2degc-...

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Tennant Reed @tennantreed.bsky.social · 26/08/2026

Just re-upping this - the stoush about how to power QLD’s new data centres has an academic quality, at least at the transmission-connected level tracked by AEMO’s chart below

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Michael Pettis @michaelpettis.bsky.social · 25/08/2026

4/5 Capital-rich economies (and, adjusted for productivity levels, China is among the most capital-rich in the world ) tend to invest less than 20% of GDP. Rapidly-growing capital-poor economies (like China in the 1990s) tend to invest 30-35% of GDP. China invests over 40% of its GDP.

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Tennant Reed @tennantreed.bsky.social · 13/08/2026

OUT NOW: it begins! the 2026-27 Safeguard Mechanism Review gets underway with a consultation paper that is pretty clear on what’s out (radical change; A6 units); and suggestive of what may be in (ACCU access tweaks; cautious expansion; BoCA?). LMSU dives in here: www.letmesumup.net/live-free-an...

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Tennant Reed @tennantreed.bsky.social · 30/07/2026

OUT NOW: oil crises, solar booms, coal flat most places but surging in the US: there’s a lot going on in world energy! What better way to make sense of it all than with a comprehensive stat-tastic Review? LMSU dives in to 75 years of data tables! Pod here: www.letmesumup.net/i-see-tables...

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Tennant Reed @tennantreed.bsky.social · 28/07/2026

AEMO Quarterly Energy Dynamics for Q2 2026 is out! Lots of interest but 👀 the data centre chart - the connection queue is up 67% on the previous quarter, from 5.4GW to 9GW (but the in-delivery part only went up 0.1GW). Energy rule proposals around this will be timely! www.aemo.com.au/-/media/file...

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Tennant Reed @tennantreed.bsky.social · 16/07/2026

OUT NOW: how is energy governed in Australia, and could that be improved? LMSU declares interests, navigates conflicts, and dives in to a paper rich with ideas beyond The Three Body Problem. Pod here: www.letmesumup.net/nem-governan...

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Tennant Reed @tennantreed.bsky.social · 02/07/2026

OUT NOW: methane! Frankie’s apotheosis arrives as LMSU dives into a Climate Change Authority consultation on fossil CH4 leaks. How big a deal are they, what can be done, how should we prioritise them versus CO2 or nonfossil CH4? We discuss! Episode: www.letmesumup.net/when-is-20-m...

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Tennant Reed @tennantreed.bsky.social · 18/06/2026

OUT NOW: there’s a design out for the national gas reservation policy. What’s in it? Will it work, and how? What’s missing? the only possible way to find out is via LMSU, here: www.letmesumup.net/dont-cry-for...

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Tennant Reed @tennantreed.bsky.social · 04/06/2026

OUT NOW: a glorious 100th episode of Let Me Sum Up features: SummerUpperers asking us anything! A mysterious message from the beyond! Alarming thought leadership! What’s the biggest policy gap? What will we do once climate is solved? Whither China? Who is our royal patron really? Listen & see!

letmesumup.net

LMSU Episode 100 Tops Up The National Podcast Reserve

Your intrepid hosts navigate the curliest questions y'all could conjure in this Episode 100 Ask Me Anything spectacular!

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Tennant Reed @tennantreed.bsky.social · 22/05/2026

OUT NOW: proposed data centres could put vast pressure on the NEM. But how could they be operated to relieve pressures instead of- and what would it take to motivate that? LMSU assesses a semi-advertorial writeup of a cool trial. www.letmesumup.net/data-centre-...

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Tennant Reed @tennantreed.bsky.social · 07/05/2026

OUT NOW: a coalition of the willing met in Santa Marta recently to talk fossil fuel transition. What ideas were presented, and with only relatively cuddly fossil exporters present, what was agreed? LMSU summarises! www.letmesumup.net/santa-martas...

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Tennant Reed @tennantreed.bsky.social · 01/05/2026

An outright CBAM exemption for Ukrainian steel, absent Ukraine joining the EU ETS, would be a bad idea. 🇺🇦 is very sympathetic, but it isn’t about sympathy - the CBAM does not actually harm them, given intra-EU price impacts, and exemption would weaken nondiscrimination and invite more complaints

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Tennant Reed @tennantreed.bsky.social · 23/04/2026

OUT NOW: some businesses are for climate policy, some are agin’ it. A 2025 study examines how time horizons, rather than CO2 intensity, explain this. We wonder at their method! LMSU episode here: www.letmesumup.net/trust-no-one...

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Tennant Reed @tennantreed.bsky.social · 15/04/2026

The fire at Viva’s Geelong refinery, still apparently ongoing, could be a very big deal. Thankfully no injuries reported on site. Started in motor gasoline section and other parts of the refinery are still working. www.abc.net.au/news/2026-04...

abc.net.au

Out-of-control fire rages at one of Australia's two oil refineries

An "unprecedented" fire has broken out at one of Australia's two operational oil refineries, with residents in parts of Geelong told to stay indoors due to smoke.

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Tennant Reed @tennantreed.bsky.social · 10/04/2026

OUT NOW: how did Australia get so vulnerable on fuel, and what are the options to get more secure? IEFFA serves up a nice little survey of the terrain, and LMSU sums it up! Pod here: www.letmesumup.net/ieefa-grease...

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Tennant Reed @tennantreed.bsky.social · 26/03/2026

OUT NOW: world oil supply is down 20% for who knows how long. How does demand flex down in the near term? What makes longer term sense? The IEA was born to solve this - and LMSU was born to summarise! Pod here: www.letmesumup.net/oils-well-th...

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Tennant Reed @tennantreed.bsky.social · 19/03/2026

That’s, uh, not a very useful AI addition to the search results (The correct answer is 21,376 PJ, not 411 PJ or 411,000,000,000,000 PJ)

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Tennant Reed @tennantreed.bsky.social · 12/03/2026

OUT NOW: what happens to fossil energy systems when usage starts to decline? A new paper argues models of smooth contraction miss physical, financial and managerial constraints that make the ride bumpy indeed. LMSU summarises here: www.letmesumup.net/the-general-...

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Tennant Reed @tennantreed.bsky.social · 11/03/2026

Good piece on speed/scale limits to recently announced oil emergency supply measures

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Tennant Reed @tennantreed.bsky.social · 05/03/2026

www.abc.net.au/news/2026-03... No idea if this NSW data centre project with associated 700MW reciprocating gas generation will actually happen at full envisaged scale. But some quick thoughts: - a little surprised that local AI rushers are turning to gas as in US, given local gas adequacy fears

abc.net.au

Giant gas-fired power station planned for power-hungry AI data centre

A small town in the NSW Southern Highlands is watching the AI revolution take shape in its backyard, as plans emerge to build one of the state's largest gas-fired power stations to run a data-processi...

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Tennant Reed @tennantreed.bsky.social · 26/02/2026

OUT NOW: a new paper offers two simple tricks to fix the Budget, the economy and the transition: taxation of carbon and gas resource rents. Should Treasury salivate, or should PMO break out in a cold sweat? LMSU assesses! www.letmesumup.net/superpower-i...

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Tennant Reed @tennantreed.bsky.social · 22/02/2026

Whither a testing facility for an embryonic Australia battery industry? www.afr.com/policy/energ... Some thoughts: - strategic industry policy is hard to steer between the Scylla of “random abandonment of strategy” and the Charybdis of “fail to update strategy in light of experience”

afr.com

The vacant lot at the heart of Labor’s battery manufacturing dream

An empty field at an old coal-fired power station is all that remains of plans to build a high-tech battery manufacturing hub in Queensland.

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Tennant Reed @tennantreed.bsky.social · 19/02/2026

U.S. Tells International Energy Agency to Drop Its Focus on Climate Change www.nytimes.com/2026/02/19/c... Not great for the IEA’s ability to do the job the vast bulk of its members want done.

nytimes.com

U.S. Tells International Energy Agency to Drop Its Focus on Climate Change

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Tennant Reed @tennantreed.bsky.social · 16/02/2026

www.afr.com/companies/en... Transmission build costs are way higher than we thought they would be 5 years (and one global inflationary surge and series of interest rate hikes) ago. PEC was the one big 🇦🇺 T project in flight while we discovered this. Who should wear the difference?

afr.com

Grid owner wants consumers to wear $1.1b cost blowout

Households and businesses would pay for three-quarters of a huge cost overrun at the EnergyConnect cable under a plan by NSW’s high-voltage grid owner.

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Tennant Reed @tennantreed.bsky.social · 12/02/2026

OUT NOW: LMSU is back for 2026, kicking off with Summer Book Club. What could be more summery, or summary, than arguing climate policy goes wrong by focusing on managing tonnes rather than transitioning assets? Get ready to tonne police, or shake ya assets, here: www.letmesumup.net/should-we-do...

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Tennant Reed @tennantreed.bsky.social · 29/01/2026

To me this raises the prospect of a gas market/US dynamic comparable to that around manufacturing/China: involution/overproduction at home via policies part strategy part pathology; desperate search for markets abroad to soak the surplus; pushback from those who don’t want dependency/competition.

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Tennant Reed @tennantreed.bsky.social · 19/01/2026

www.afr.com/companies/en... System security might be a bigger factor than replacing megawatt hours here - the latest AEMO security report was extremely keen for syncons and peaker clutches to get done super fast, & not yet confident in full range of services from diversity of grid forming batteries

afr.com

Origin to keep country’s largest coal plant running until 2029

The energy retailing and generation major said it would extend the life of the Eraring station for two years to ensure the power grid remains stable.

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Tennant Reed @tennantreed.bsky.social · 08/01/2026

In terms of practical implications, a big one is that the US will have no voice at all in multilateral climate negotiations - no direct say or influence on topics of national interest, including governance of carbon markets, the intersection of trade and climate, etc etc

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Tennant Reed @tennantreed.bsky.social · 08/01/2026

www.nytimes.com/2026/01/07/c... Oof, this is a big, bad step. Unlike the Paris Agreement, the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change is a treaty requiring ratification by 2/3 of the US Senate to enter. It was remarkable the US passed that threshold decades ago; hard to see it happening again.

nytimes.com

Trump Pulls Out of Global Climate Treaty

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Tennant Reed @tennantreed.bsky.social · 05/01/2026

We got pretty worried about this because the total apparent level of data center electricity demand could be enormous, the rate of growth is hard to meet with supply, and the rate of change in projections of demand is hard for policy makers to keep abreast of.

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Glen Peters @glenpeters.bsky.social · 05/01/2026

In the latest carbon budget, we revised... * up land-use change emissions * up the ocean sink (now takes up 29% of total emissions) * down the land sink (now takes up 21% of total emissions) * the "budget imbalance" now has zero trend What does this mean? www.nature.com/articles/s41... 1/

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Tennant Reed @tennantreed.bsky.social · 31/12/2025

OUT NOW and just in time for New Year’s: the Let Me Sum Up Holiday Special Spectacular 2025! Whose paper prevails in THE WONKY AWARDS? What Princess Bride insights do we reveal? You *just* have time to listen before heading out to fireworks! Episode here: www.letmesumup.net/true-love-is...

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Tennant Reed @tennantreed.bsky.social · 18/12/2025

OUT NOW: so, so many reports, statements, plans and imbroglios on climate, energy and environment. Time for a year-end wrapup roundup Lightning Round on Let Me Sum Up. To mention is to cover, according to the Podstitution! Pod ep: www.letmesumup.net/we-summed-up...

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Tennant Reed @tennantreed.bsky.social · 16/12/2025

December 2025 Energy and Climate Ministerial Council communique is out! www.energy.gov.au/sites/defaul...

energy.gov.au

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Tennant Reed @tennantreed.bsky.social · 04/12/2025

OUT NOW: what happened at COP30, what is the deal with the 🇦🇺/🇹🇷 split COP31 Presidency, and what are the issues to push forward this coming year? LMSU cuts out the middleman and goes straight to circus horseman, COP maven-in-chief and Minister Chris Bowen! www.letmesumup.net/its-9058-mil...

A meme. On the dais of the COP31 closing plenary, urgent consultations are underway between the UNFCCC and the Brazilian COP President, do Lago. A smiling, beneficent Quokka has been added to the image. “The Quokka is here to help”, says the text.

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Tennant Reed @tennantreed.bsky.social · 24/11/2025

OUT NOW: what happened in the closing stages of #COP30? What’s the vibe of the innovative, complex 🇹🇷🇦🇺 shared COP31? And just how multidimensionally rude can Russia be to all of Spanish-speaking Latin America? Find out in LMSU’s wrap pod, hot off the editing desk! www.letmesumup.net/no-sweets-st...

A meme. On the right, Rodin’s sculpture “The Thinker”. On the left, COP30 President do Lago in a remarkably similar pose, pondering the negotiations and fate of his Presidency during the break in the dramatic closing plenary.

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Tennant Reed @tennantreed.bsky.social · 22/11/2025

Intense drama at COP30 provokes deep thought by President of the COP do Lago

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Tennant Reed @tennantreed.bsky.social · 22/11/2025

#COP30 is into extra time. No new texts yet, a plenary currently set for 10am Saturday Belém time. Doesn’t feel like we’re that close to wrapping up yet!

A meme. Grandma says “I remember when COP25 went through three presidency texts and into Sunday afternoon.” Adult daughter says “sure Grandma, let’s get you to bed.”

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Tennant Reed @tennantreed.bsky.social · 16/11/2025

OUT NOW: a super timely LMSU summarizes what’s happened at the halfway mark of COP30 in Belém, Brazil! It’s all happening here, and in our wild farrago of K-Pop, cranberry juice and Inception references you can decode the whole event. Episode here: www.letmesumup.net/k-cop-ndc-hu...

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Tennant Reed @tennantreed.bsky.social · 13/11/2025

For what is, I think, the first time, I have joined the immense coffee queue at the Australian Pavilion at #COP30. I am not a coffee person! But I hear we have tea…

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Tennant Reed @tennantreed.bsky.social · 12/11/2025

#COP30 food: there is rather nice Amazonian food available at Govinda, upstairs at the Gastronomic Center at the northwest part of the Blue Zone. I had maniçoba, pounded slow-cooked manioc leaf, for R89. Tasty! Steeper than the hotly-sought Sociobio, but much easier to get into yesterday.

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Tennant Reed @tennantreed.bsky.social · 10/11/2025

Will this tree in the corridor at #COP30 survive conditions inside for long? It’s the sort of nice idea whose rich symbolism starts out lovely and turns grim within 2 weeks!

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Tennant Reed @tennantreed.bsky.social · 10/11/2025

#COP30 food: the food court near the side event spaces (blue, lower right on the map) is pretty okay on first contact. Veggie rice and a drink for R90 is steep but it was at least tasty. Lots of people even for early lunch, but good aircon and a lot of seats (you will have to ask to share a table)

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