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David Roberts

@volts.wtf
110K followers 3.1K following 20K posts

I run a newsletter/podcast called Volts about clean energy & politics. Subscribe & join the community at volts.wtf!

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David Roberts @volts.wtf · 3h
Today marks the 5,694th time someone I barely know has spontaneously told me that I remind them of Nick Offerman.
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David Roberts @volts.wtf · 4h
I don't know what went wrong with the universe such that I don't live in Denmark. I don't understand it. I'm clearly supposed to live here.
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David Roberts @volts.wtf · 4h
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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Matt Dragon @mattdragon.com · 8h
🧵AI is already killing people by coaching children how to die by suicide, or how to best hide their suicidal ideations and self harm from their parents or other adults in their lives who could help them.
newsletter.mattdragon.com
AI won't kill us — At least not like that
Gen AI companies are laying the groundwork for escaping accountability. Don't let them.
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David Roberts @volts.wtf · 13h
I'm in Aarhus, which is a very very very nice hus.
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David Roberts @volts.wtf · 22h
You don't fucking say.
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Søren Have @sorenhave.dk · 29/09/2026
Exactly. Here's a summary of how we got there. bsky.app/profile/sore...
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David Roberts @volts.wtf · 29/09/2026
jfc
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David Roberts @volts.wtf · 29/09/2026
What if we just ate them instead?
nytimes.com
Washington Taxed Its Millionaires. Now the Rich Want It Repealed.
Washington State voters will get a chance to accept or reject the 9.9 percent income tax on millionaires approved by the Legislature, which broke the state’s taboo against levying income taxes.
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David Roberts @volts.wtf · 29/09/2026
In Denmark, 96% of private individual vehicle sales are electric these days. 86% of total (fleets are slightly slower).
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Razzball @razzball.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
How it started/how it’s going
Trevor Lee
@VoteTrevorLee
Thanks @nickshirleyy for hoodie.
We're cleaning up the fraud in UtahBREAKING: Utah state Rep. Trevor Lee has been charged with mortgage and communications fraud ksl.com/article/
516296... #utpol @KSLcom @KSL5TV
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David Roberts @volts.wtf · 28/09/2026
I'd bet a million dollars that the NYT got the idea for this story from my pod.
nytimes.com
The World Needs Better Power Grids. Why Smaller May Be Better.
Jonas Birgersson, a Swedish entrepreneur, wants to use decentralized networks modeled on the internet to transform how electricity is distributed.
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Carter Lavin @carterlavin.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
And if you aren't in Denmark and want to order it from the state-side website, check out @princetonupress.bsky.social press.princeton.edu/books/paperb... Get 30% off with discount code PUP30
press.princeton.edu
If You Want to Win, You've Got to Fight
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David Roberts @volts.wtf · 28/09/2026
The people are wondering: when is @aoc.bsky.social going to come on Volts?
nytimes.com
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on 2028: ‘Life Doesn’t Wait for You to Be Ready’
In a wide-ranging interview, the New York congresswoman offered her most detailed insight yet into how she is thinking about a possible presidential run.
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David Roberts @volts.wtf · 28/09/2026
Somehow I missed the fact that the Moss Landing battery caught fire *again*. Great work guys. Really helping the industry's reputation.
canarymedia.com
Vistra’s Moss Landing grid battery is on fire yet again
The California facility, with its outdated building and battery design, had a catastrophic fire in 2025. Now, a new fire ignited during the…
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David Roberts @volts.wtf · 28/09/2026
Cities rule, mayors rule.
time.com
We Need a Mayor for President
“As the federal government fails to address skyrocketing costs, the case for a mayor-president has never been stronger,” writes Alexander Heffner.
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David Roberts @volts.wtf · 28/09/2026
Great commentary in Nature Energy: "Smart energy must address enshittification risks." I really don't think people are taking these risks seriously enough.
nature.com
Smart energy must address enshittification risks - Nature Energy
Nature Energy - Smart energy must address enshittification risks
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David Roberts @volts.wtf · 28/09/2026
If you want to understand just how pathetic the clean energy is on politics, read this excellent piece in @washingtonmonthly.bsky.social. There are like a half-dozen quotes in here that make me want to jump off a fucking roof.
washingtonmonthly.com
Why Won’t the Clean Energy Industry Play Dirty?
After Republican attacks, why does the industry still spend so little on elections?
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David Roberts @volts.wtf · 28/09/2026
Hell yes.
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David Roberts @volts.wtf · 28/09/2026
I just completed my final professional obligation of the trip (excellent Denmark podcast incoming) and now I am standing on top of Copenhill, the giant waste incineration plant on the edge of Copenhagen, drinking a beer and looking out over the city. Life is good.
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David Roberts @volts.wtf · 28/09/2026
Love Daniel Dale & his work, but this piece is very frustrating. There's nothing in here about *why* Trump behaves the way he does, what it says about his psyche or his personality, how it ought to inform the way reporters or voters should deal with him. It's just, "gosh, he lies a lot!"
edition.cnn.com
I started fact-checking Trump 10 years ago. Here are 15 things I’ve learned | CNN Politics
Ten years ago this month, in my old job as Washington correspondent for the Toronto Star, I started what I believed would be a quick little side project: fact-checking underdog presidential candidate ...
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Will Stancil @whstancil.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
A great illustration of the way social media has essentially shredded society’s informational immune system: The USSR spent a fortune trying to spread conspiracy theories, without success because they couldn’t crack newsrooms. Today, you can reach the globe with a post that costs $20 to make.
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David Roberts @volts.wtf · 27/09/2026
I slept almost 12 hours last night. Zero hours the night before that. My poor f'ing brain has no idea what time zone I'm in any more. It's 12:30am Denmark time and I feel like I just did a shot of espresso. Blurg. 😵‍💫🥴😵
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David Roberts @volts.wtf · 27/09/2026
You say that a wave of nuclear hype is crashing on the shoals of "cost and regulatory hurdles"? Huh.
bloomberg.com
AI’s Nuclear Power Push Runs Into Cost and Regulatory Hurdles
Nuclear startups in the US have pulled in $4.6 billion this year. But even with surging demand from data centers, it will take many years for most new reactors to get switched on.
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David Roberts @volts.wtf · 27/09/2026
Don't look now, but Trump's DOE is doing ... a good thing.
canarymedia.com
Advanced grid tech gets a $1.9B DOE boost
As the U.S. grid strains to meet rising demand, 31 projects across 26 states get federal funds for high-tech cables, sensors, and controls to boost…
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David Roberts @volts.wtf · 27/09/2026
Good on @robinsonmeyer.bsky.social for coming back to the question on Trump & wind permits again & again, causing Chris Wright to cycle through several rounds of nonsense and end up saying, basically, 🤷‍♂️
heatmap.news
Energy Secretary Chris Wright on Trump’s Pro-Nuclear, Pro-Fossil Fuel Agenda
Plus more on nuclear, EVs, China, and more, recorded live at our Heatmap House event at New York Climate Week.
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David Roberts @volts.wtf · 27/09/2026
This is the second ruling against the illegal recision of Solar For All money. In a country with rule of law in effect, that would be it -- the money would be restored. But we have to ask ourselves whether Trump will simply ignore the ruling & if so whether there will be any consequences.
utilitydive.com
Federal judge restores $7B Solar for All program, says EPA illegally axed it
A Trump-appointed judge said the One Big Beautiful Bill Act did not convert the funding into “a lump-sum amount subject to EPA’s discretion.” Defendants acted contrary to Congress’ intent and with “no...
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David Roberts @volts.wtf · 27/09/2026
I love this paper so much. If I had my way every single journalist, pundit, analyst, and politician in the US would read it & then read it again. I want to quote all of it. www.frontiersin.org/journals/soc...
frontiersin.org
Frontiers | The problem with polarization research in an age of extremism
"I have been gravely disappointed with the white moderate. I have almost reached the regrettable conclusion that the Negro's great stumbling block i...
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David Roberts @volts.wtf · 27/09/2026
The real loneliness crisis is among poor people.
slate.com
There Is No Male Loneliness Crisis. What’s Actually Happening Is So Much Darker.
The data tells a different story.
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David Roberts @volts.wtf · 27/09/2026
I keep telling y'all, electric aviation is a dark horse.
techspot.com
The largest all-electric plane ever flew for 27 minutes, on $5 of electricity
Heart's X1 demonstrator flew for 27 minutes from a regional airport in upstate New York, running on battery power the entire time. The aircraft reached 1,100 feet...
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David Roberts @volts.wtf · 26/09/2026
The fraud is that they are paying for insurance ... but not using it? Who exactly is the defrauded party here?
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David Roberts @volts.wtf · 26/09/2026
I got to Copenhagen this morning and have been biking around all day and, y'all, I don't know if you've heard about this, but ... this place has pretty good bike infrastructure. You read about it but it's still just mind-blowing to see. Swarms of bikes, everywhere. Swarms!
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Chris Conaton @conatonc.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
A familiar story for anyone who follows @volts.wtf. “The Chronicle spoke to more than half a dozen grid experts…to try to understand why Texas’s notoriously unreliable grid had a remarkably reliable summer. The answer was unanimous: solar panels and batteries.”
houstonchronicle.com
Texas shattered energy demand records this summer. Here's why the grid held up.
Texas repeatedly broke electricity demand records this summer, but ERCOT avoided emergencies as booming solar and battery capacity helped keep the grid stable.
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David Roberts @volts.wtf · 26/09/2026
Well that's a shame.
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David Roberts @volts.wtf · 26/09/2026
Class solidarity.
hollywoodreporter.com
The Major Social Media Platforms Are All Rejecting Paid Ads for Alex Gibney’s ‘Musk’ (Exclusive)
YouTube, TikTok and Meta have all turned down the trailer for the Oct. 9 doc, citing "political" content. X won't even take Bleecker Street's calls. The distributor is appealing.
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David Roberts @volts.wtf · 25/09/2026
😐
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David Roberts @volts.wtf · 25/09/2026
Nothing but respect for my Avengers. 🦸
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David Roberts @volts.wtf · 25/09/2026
In the US context, there is one and only one political strategy that has reliably led to better climate & energy policy.
vox.com
This one weird trick can help any state or city pass clean energy policy
A political strategy that actually works.
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David Roberts @volts.wtf · 25/09/2026
Governors need to get serious about disciplining utilities. Or claiming some of their planning powers for the state. Or making them publicly owned. Enough of this shit.
canarymedia.com
US utilities get failing grade on clean energy transition
Too many utilities are keeping coal plants open, planning new gas plants, and building less renewable energy, the Sierra Club’s latest "Dirty Truth…
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David Roberts @volts.wtf · 25/09/2026
One grim conclusion I take from every Climate Week I've attended is that the core old-school "climate communicators" have not updated their priors or their approach in decades, despite everything that's happened, and still, on a deep fundamental level, do not understand conservatives.
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David Roberts @volts.wtf · 25/09/2026
Republicans made climate partisan. Republicans are keeping climate partisan. The exact words & tone that people who give a shit about reality use to talk about climate are not the reason climate is partisan. Using different words will not make climate less partisan.
time.com
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David Roberts @volts.wtf · 25/09/2026
I kind of think it's an ongoing testament to their pathetic cowardice and lack of moral character.
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David Roberts @volts.wtf · 25/09/2026
Every single word of this article seems custom designed to make me more furious than the last.
cbc.ca
Toronto needs more homes. These neighbours say they're paying the price | CBC News
An elderly downtown couple says they’re shocked and upset that the city has approved a duplex next door to their three-story Victorian home that they say will tower metres above their chimney and rend...
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David Roberts @volts.wtf · 25/09/2026
Mr. In-Between was better than 90% of these.
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David Roberts @volts.wtf · 25/09/2026
No YOU spent all climate week envying other dude's jackets.
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David Roberts @volts.wtf · 24/09/2026
Air traffic control fuckery and an impending nor'easter are making me extremely anxious about my flight out of town tomorrow. Everyone knock on wood for me.
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David Roberts @volts.wtf · 24/09/2026
Hot take: fuck Tucker Carlson.
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David Roberts @volts.wtf · 24/09/2026
Oooh, Copper has released the 2.0 version of Charlie, its electric induction range. It now can plug into a normal 120V outlet! Bigger battery, more power. NYC is gonna buy a bunch of these for public housing, help bring the cost down.
copperhome.com
Charlie - battery-equipped induction range
Meet Charlie, a powerful battery-equipped induction range that plugs into 120v and 240v outlets. Ranges are built in the U.S. and installed across the country.
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David Roberts @volts.wtf · 24/09/2026
Abandon hope for democracy, all ye who enter here.
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David Roberts @volts.wtf · 24/09/2026
"Taxes," and "inflation," and "the economy," do not mean to the median voter what they mean to wonks. To the median voter all these words just mean, how do things feel to me? What are the vibes? How do things seem, generally?
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