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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 · 19m
He rarely sees buses Erik.
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David Roberts @volts.wtf · 35m
"Absent policy steering, AI’s modeled effects increase the carbon intensity of the global economy and reinforce fossil fuel incumbency—outcomes that current analytical and governance frameworks do not fully capture."
nature.com
AI-driven productivity gains enable more CO₂ emissions than they avoid in a global energy–economy model - npj Climate Action
npj Climate Action - AI-driven productivity gains enable more CO₂ emissions than they avoid in a global energy–economy model
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David Roberts @volts.wtf · 56m
Super-excited to listen to this, but it's worth noting that the right is still engaging in exactly this tactic. And I mean, *exactly* this tactic.
subscriber.politicopro.com
POLITICO Pro: Inside the anti-climate campaign against researchers
A POLITICO investigation reveals more than 100 open records requests demanding documents from climate scientists nationwide.
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David Roberts @volts.wtf · 1h
A smarter, more digital, more inverter-based grid can actually *improve* cybersecurity if you build it right.
nytimes.com
Opinion | Hackers Could Overwhelm Our Power Grid. This Is How to Stop Them. (Gift Article)
The Trump administration should build a stronger alliance with clean energy companies in spite of its culture war with them.
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David Roberts @volts.wtf · 1h
Every NextDoor post sounds like a parody of a NextDoor post.
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David Roberts @volts.wtf · 1h
Remarkable: an industry that is dying because it can't compete in the market writes a Republican president, asking him to keep the industry alive by brute force, and he says, ok. What would it take for the GOP to lose its reputation as the "free market" party? Seriously, what would it take?
nytimes.com
The Coal Industry Asked for a Rescue. Trump Obliged.
In a previously unreported letter, a top lobbyist floated the idea of using emergency powers to keep aging coal plants open.
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Reposted by David Roberts
Jacob Kramer-Duffield @jaykaydee.bsky.social · 1h
this 2018 conversation between @chrislhayes.bsky.social and @volts.wtf on our epistemic divide remains I think the best conception of our current political moment.
podcasts.apple.com
The Information Crisis with David Roberts
Podcast Episode · Why Is This Happening? The Chris Hayes Podcast · 4 December 2018 · 53min
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David Roberts @volts.wtf · 1h
I wonder if there's any ancient wisdom to be consulted here regarding whether or not Twitter is real life.
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David Roberts @volts.wtf · 15h
The walk from an international arrival at SeaTac airport to the Seattle light rail is absurdly long. Like a mile. Impossible not to experience it as a expression of priorities.
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David Roberts @volts.wtf · 17h
Oh, finally that healthcare plan!
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David Roberts @volts.wtf · 22h
Lookin' good, atmosphere.
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David Roberts @volts.wtf · 03/10/2026
Nope. EVs are better under any circumstance. Plenty of research on this.
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David Roberts @volts.wtf · 03/10/2026
Ha ha yes
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David Roberts @volts.wtf · 03/10/2026
Jesus. TN is such a nightmare.
theguardian.com
Outgoing prison chief in Christa Pike case oversaw five ‘botched’ executions, lawyers say
Frank Strada will leave role next month after uproar over execution attempt sent Pike to hospital in critical condition
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David Roberts @volts.wtf · 03/10/2026
I generally have just one carry on, which I stow under the seat in front of me, so my strategy is always to be the last person on the plane. Especially on a 10.5 hour flight! So much sitting.
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David Roberts @volts.wtf · 03/10/2026
Same.
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David Roberts @volts.wtf · 03/10/2026
To wit:
nytimes.com
3 Billionaires Have Largely Funded Republican Nominee for Wisconsin Governor (Gift Article)
Under its current rules, Wisconsin has not had a race in which a small number of donors have made up such a large share of a campaign’s funding.
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David Roberts @volts.wtf · 03/10/2026
The gate for my flight was literally just announced - it doesn't even start loading for another half hour - and there are already old people standing in line. Why.
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David Roberts @volts.wtf · 03/10/2026
Not it!
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David Roberts @volts.wtf · 03/10/2026
Meanwhile, just over his shoulder, a TV is playing a BBC segment on children in Gaza who have had limbs blown off by Israeli bombs ... getting swimming lessons. 😭 Jesus I gotta get out of here.
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David Roberts @volts.wtf · 03/10/2026
Trump is smarter than he looks & a brilliant negotiator, but Ivanka is the real genius. Though Eric is ok too.
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David Roberts @volts.wtf · 03/10/2026
I hate to generalize but is there a single adult conservative who does not try to substitute vehemence & belligerence for evidence and logic? They all seem unshakably convinced that "arrogant dickhead" is the persona that's key to persuasion. Maybe it is for them I guess?
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David Roberts @volts.wtf · 03/10/2026
OMG, here I am all set up in the Amex lounge and this conversation has broken out next to me between a sweet old British professor & a muscle-bound polo-shirt alligator-shoes MAGA guy who is getting louder & louder. Kill me.
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David Roberts @volts.wtf · 03/10/2026
You can't get anyone in political media to say it plainly, but GOP strategy for several decades now has been built around the fact that its core goals/policies are *wildly unpopular*. Everything depends on a) polluting the information environment, b) cementing unfair structural advantages, & c) $$$.
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David Roberts @volts.wtf · 03/10/2026
I'm not good at math, is $800 million a lot?
electrek.co
FedEx believes $300M electric truck spend will save them $800M in diesel
In a record-setting commercial truck deal, international shipping giant FedEx has placed an order for 2,000 all-electric box trucks from...
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David Roberts @volts.wtf · 03/10/2026
The administration has found yet another way to fuck with solar power.
canarymedia.com
The USDA just made it way harder for farmers to get grants for solar
Even farmers who were already promised funds from the REAP program may never get them under the Trump admin’s new restrictions. Some are suing.
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David Roberts @volts.wtf · 03/10/2026
This stabby Islamist pilot has the British media positively tumescent.
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David Roberts @volts.wtf · 03/10/2026
God Heathrow is such a nightmare.
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David Roberts @volts.wtf · 03/10/2026
May this vile fucking man never, ever know another moment of peace.
nytimes.com
John Roberts and His Island
After decades of potlucks and paddle-boarding on Maine’s midcoast, rising anger and protests have left the Supreme Court’s chief justice more isolated than ever.
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David Roberts @volts.wtf · 03/10/2026
They ARE overrated Dave, don't let them silence you. 🍔
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Reposted by David Roberts
David Ho @davidho.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
I don’t think everyone realizes how bad things are for US science: For the fiscal year that just ended, the Trump regime withheld $1.4 billion from the National Science Foundation’s research budget, which is about 1/5 of its primary research budget.
nytimes.com
National Science Foundation Diverted $1.4 Billion in Science Funds Mandated by Congress (Gift Article)
The move, affecting about one-fifth of the National Science Foundation’s primary research budget, is the latest sign of how the White House is asserting more control over grants.
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David Roberts @volts.wtf · 02/10/2026
Pod coming next week!
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David Roberts @volts.wtf · 02/10/2026
Today on Volts: the best of September! Clips from each of the month's episodes, strung together into a highlights show, in case you missed anything. Lots of great stuff this month.
volts.wtf
Best of September 2026
Highlights from the seven conversations released last month.
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David Roberts @volts.wtf · 02/10/2026
Pod coming!
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David Roberts @volts.wtf · 01/10/2026
If you can stomach it, here's a detailed reported story from @dropsitenews.com on the schoolchildren that the US bombed in Iran. However angry you are, it's not angry enough.
dropsitenews.com
Massacre at Minab: The School That Became a Grave
The bombing of an Iranian school, killing 120 children, is one of the worst U.S. war crimes since Vietnam. Drop Site spoke to survivors, first responders, parents, and witnesses. This is their story.
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David Roberts @volts.wtf · 01/10/2026
I find responding to this fucking horror show with "not all men" disappointing.
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David Roberts @volts.wtf · 01/10/2026
No, really, nuke them all. Fuck your nuance.
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David Roberts @volts.wtf · 01/10/2026
I grew up there, left in 1994, and ... just holy fuck has it gone bad. Worse every day.
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David Roberts @volts.wtf · 01/10/2026
I crossed that threshold years ago and I'm not sure there's a social media site for us.
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David Roberts @volts.wtf · 01/10/2026
Tennessee remains a horror show run by the world's most repulsive people.
nbcnews.com
‘It was a mess’: Tennessee fails to execute woman after 2 lethal injections
Christa Pike’s attorneys said she was being treated at a hospital but her condition is unknown. May Martinez,, the mother of the murdered teenager Colleen Slemmer, called the botched execution “a mess...
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David Roberts @volts.wtf · 01/10/2026
Nuke all the frats from space. Jesus I hate living in this world sometimes. I want a better one.
thecut.com
What It Feels Like at Cornell Right Now
As a professor at the Ivy League school, Kate Manne has known many, many victims. There’s a palpable feeling on campus, she writes, that this is big.
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David Roberts @volts.wtf · 01/10/2026
static.klipy.com
PC Burned and Explodes
ALT: PC Burned and Explodes
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David Roberts @volts.wtf · 30/09/2026
My dad taught at TTU for 30+ years.
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David Roberts @volts.wtf · 30/09/2026
Its primary function is to serve as a pee stop on the Nashville-Knoxville drive. I don't recommend exploring any further.
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David Roberts @volts.wtf · 30/09/2026
Oops, forgot this one.
newschannel5.com
Two teens arrested after AI-generated explicit deepfakes shared at Tenn. high school
Two teens face juvenile charges after authorities say they used AI to create sexually explicit deepfake images of female students at Cookeville High School and distributed them on social media.
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David Roberts @volts.wtf · 30/09/2026
That place was shithole when I lived there. Now it seems to be a white supremacist, Christian nationalist, surveillance-state shithole.
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David Roberts @volts.wtf · 30/09/2026
Lots of good people with good-old down-home values.
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David Roberts @volts.wtf · 30/09/2026
Things seem to be going great.
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David Roberts @volts.wtf · 30/09/2026
Just checking in on my old home town of Cookeville, TN.
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David Roberts @volts.wtf · 30/09/2026
Yes!
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