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Willett Kempton

@willett.bsky.social
2.1K followers 72 following 116 posts

I research, publish, mentor & advise on #offshorewind power, electric vehicles #EV. Invented vehicle-to-grid power #V2G. Prof at U of Delaware. V2G pubs: crew.udel.edu/v2g/publications/ #energytransition #energysky 🔌💡 🔌🚗

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Willett Kempton @willett.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
Do NOT let your electrician put a GFI breaker on the EV circuit, the GFI is inside the charger. Then, just get any “level 2” EVSE that can be wired like that. Emporía Energy has a good one in many big box hardware stores.
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Willett Kempton @willett.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
No mass market v2g one I like yet. My advice on installing: if you have a Dedicated parking spot, whether in or outside, locate where you can wall mount and hook up to 240v. If your EV charges at 10kW or up, try to run it from a dedicated 50 amp (or more) circuit. 1/2
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Abbey @abbeyarletto.bsky.social · 23/06/2026
When reality surpasses fiction! Top: fictional forecast for August 2050, broadcast by French TV in 2014 to warn about the consequences of global warming. Bottom: Real French forecast for yesterday, June 22, 2026.
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Willett Kempton @willett.bsky.social · 22/06/2026
New data from Charles River Asoc: PJM electric demand now growing 5x faster, driven by data centers, semiconductor manufacturing & industrial electrification. By 2033, PJM projected shortfall 7.8 GW! #Offshorewind can reduce load-shedding risk by 40%. Link to report (free):
turnforward.org
Offshore Wind Can Help Address PJM’s Growing Energy Challenge - Turn Forward
Research by Charles River Associates Offshore wind remains a largely untapped resource that could play a major role in keeping the PJM grid both reliable and affordable. PJM’s current energy mix includes natural gas, nuclear, coal, renewables, hydropower, and storage. Keeping up with projected demand growth will require significant investment across generation, transmission, storage, and […]
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Covering Climate Now @coveringclimatenow.org · 20/06/2026
Last week, Trump’s DOJ gave up in the legal fight to defend the president’s moratorium on permitting wind projects. The plaintiffs — 17 states & Washington, D.C. — called the news “one of the most significant legal victories against the Trump White House’s campaign against the energy transition.”
buff.ly
Trump Administration Abandons Fight Against Wind Energy as Clean Energy Output Surges - Inside Climate News
The clean energy sector is showing resilience despite challenges thrown at it by a hostile White House, a recent report found. A string of legal victories has further dampened the Trump…
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Willett Kempton @willett.bsky.social · 01/06/2026
Gas prices are staying high. Let’s answer people’s questions about EVs! Snappy Q&A via Wired:
wired.com
Engineering Professor Answers Electric Car Questions
Professor Willett Kempton joins WIRED to answer the internet's most interesting questions about electric cars. Has Elon Musk's high profile public persona affected Tesla sales? Will electric cars ever charge as quickly as pumping gas for a traditional combustion engine? Why can't Americans by Chinese EVs? Answers to these questions and more await on Electric Car Support. Director: Justin Wolfson Director of Photography: Charlie Jordan Editor: Richard Trammell Expert: Willett Kempton Line Producer: Jamie Rasmussen Associate Producer: Brandon White Production Manager: Peter Brunette Production Coordinator: Rhyan Lark Supervising Casting Producer: Thomas Giglio Camera Operator: Caleb Weiss Sound Mixer: Brett Van Deusen Post Production Supervisor: Christian Olguin Supervising Editor: Eduardo Araujo Assistant Editor: Billy Ward
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Willett Kempton @willett.bsky.social · 01/06/2026
Gas prices are staying high. Let’s answer people’s questions about EVs! Snappy Q&A via Wired:
wired.com
Engineering Professor Answers Electric Car Questions
Professor Willett Kempton joins WIRED to answer the internet's most interesting questions about electric cars. Has Elon Musk's high profile public persona affected Tesla sales? Will electric cars ever charge as quickly as pumping gas for a traditional combustion engine? Why can't Americans by Chinese EVs? Answers to these questions and more await on Electric Car Support. Director: Justin Wolfson Director of Photography: Charlie Jordan Editor: Richard Trammell Expert: Willett Kempton Line Producer: Jamie Rasmussen Associate Producer: Brandon White Production Manager: Peter Brunette Production Coordinator: Rhyan Lark Supervising Casting Producer: Thomas Giglio Camera Operator: Caleb Weiss Sound Mixer: Brett Van Deusen Post Production Supervisor: Christian Olguin Supervising Editor: Eduardo Araujo Assistant Editor: Billy Ward
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Willett Kempton @willett.bsky.social · 07/02/2026
Don’t forget * putting stop work orders on construction of generation projects, adding $1.5 Mil per day to the cost of building new electric power. * Blocking permits for new wind and solar that already won least-cost power contracts, so we get only older, higher cost (& polluting) electricity.
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Willett Kempton @willett.bsky.social · 29/01/2026
Update on status of all four restarts. #offshorewind #energytransition www.canarymedia.com/articles/off...
canarymedia.com
America’s offshore wind farms get back to work after court victories
Ørsted, Equinor, and Dominion Energy have resumed construction on their massive offshore wind projects, nearly a month after Trump forced them to hit…
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Willett Kempton @willett.bsky.social · 29/01/2026
For 5 US #offshorewind projects, US Admin. halted construction just B4 Christmas. Courts have now ruled on 4 of 5, all “stayed” the halt and allow immediate construction restart. Courts also find Admin unlikely to win in full trial. 5 projects~6GW! #energytransition #wind
nytimes.com
Judge Revives Wind Farm That Trump Halted Off Martha’s Vineyard
The project, known as Vineyard Wind, was already 95 percent complete when the Trump administration ordered construction to stop.
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Willett Kempton @willett.bsky.social · 20/01/2026
Good list of names on your starter pack on renewable energy. Please add me to it. Thanks, Willett Kempton
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Willett Kempton @willett.bsky.social · 18/01/2026
Right. Remember for #V2G, to use that existing big🔋in garage, both the battery and inverter are on the car, which may be a different EV at different times. For interconnection, new standards are needed, which UDel, industry, SAE and UL have now developed. It’s complicated, but we’re getting there.
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Willett Kempton @willett.bsky.social · 17/01/2026
We’ve been demoing general V2G for 10 years. Now standards ratified and published. Each EV exporting to grid at 30 kW AC👍, not 1.5kW 👎. Now working on industrial adoption. #V2G ⚡️🚙
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Willett Kempton @willett.bsky.social · 17/01/2026
Jason, if your installer sets it up so the EV6 stores when there’s excess solar, and discharges when no sun, let me know. We’re trying to get that standardized enough that all the parts work together, even from diverse vendors.
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Willett Kempton @willett.bsky.social · 16/01/2026
Second court order this week allowing another #offshorewind project to resume construction. Low-competence DOJ lackeys didn’t even reply to most of developer’s points. At stake are affordable power and big #CO2 reductions. News: www.nytimes.com/2026... Legal summary: www.jdjournal.com/20...
nytimes.com
Empire Wind Project Can Resume Construction, Judge Rules
A federal judge said the Empire Wind project off Long Island would suffer “irreparable harm” if the Trump administration continued to hold up work.
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Willett Kempton @willett.bsky.social · 29/12/2025
States respond—the legal, power reliability, and industrial problems with the Administration’s suspend-activity order to under-construction #offshorewind projects. Concise, direct, clear. Worth a read. www.governor.ny.gov/...
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Willett Kempton @willett.bsky.social · 22/12/2025
Leading science journal: “The seemingly unstoppable [global] growth of renewable energy is Science’s 2025 Breakthrough of the Year.” Achieved by (slow) science discovery, then innovations, then industrialization. #solar #wind #EV #EnergyTransition www.science.org/cont... Or scim.ag/493Tpgx
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Justin Gerdes @justingerdes.bsky.social · 22/11/2025
"At their all-time high, in 2017, global sales of pure internal combustion vehicles hit 79.9 million units, per data from the International Energy Agency. Last year, 54.8 million internal combustion cars were sold, a 31% reduction." www.canarymedia.com/articles/ele... via @danmccarthy.bsky.social
canarymedia.com
Chart: EVs are ascendant — and gas cars are past their prime
Sales of gas-only vehicles are down by 31% from their peak, while electric vehicle sales are growing rapidly worldwide, largely due to China.
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Willett Kempton @willett.bsky.social · 06/11/2025
Correction, $4.31/Watt capital cost For scale, a 2.6 GW OSW wind project, at 55% capacity factor, would run the entire state of Delaware—houses, industry, offices, everything. After the paperwork it’s a 3 year build. And reduces electric bills (a little) statewide.
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Willett Kempton @willett.bsky.social · 06/11/2025
Largest US #OffshoreWind project by the numbers: 2.6 GW, 176 turbines (≈15 MW each) $4.31/MW total capital $84/MWh cost of energy 63¢ /month customer bill SAVINGS Utility-owned Q1Y26 first power into grid Q4Y26 expected completion Lowering bills & meeting VA's load growth!
utilitydive.com
Dominion says largest US offshore wind project on track
The 2.6-GW Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind project is set for completion by the end of 2026 despite vessel delays, the utility company said Friday.
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Willett Kempton @willett.bsky.social · 04/11/2025
Great detail on Dominion’s progress building 2.6 GW #offshorewind. First OSW project for this utility, new port, new installation vessel. And, unexpected glitches, like 200 punch list fixes for the big boat🤯. #energytransition @rtoinsider.bsky.social
ow.ly
Dominion Reports on CVOW Progress, Data Center Growth in Q3 Earnings
Dominion Reports on CVOW Progress, Data Center Growth in Q3 Earnings
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Willett Kempton @willett.bsky.social · 20/10/2025
New V2G demonstrations, but… Why Isn’t Progress Faster? Asks @dangearino.bsky.social in @insideclimatenews.org. Good analysis of reasons, including current projects and my perspective on fundamentals, recent advances, and overcoming barriers. #EV #V2G #storage 🔌💡
insideclimatenews.org
Vehicle-to-Grid Power Is Becoming a Reality, But Why Isn’t Progress Faster? - Inside Climate News
Your EV battery is often an underutilized resource that could be part of a network that acts like a power plant for your region.
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Willett Kempton @willett.bsky.social · 29/09/2025
That solves for the big BTM devices. Sure, also good to have access to premises smart meter. But we didn’t need that access for home solar (done with RECs+NEM), and I think we won’t need it for #V2G nor BTM home batteries.
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Willett Kempton @willett.bsky.social · 29/09/2025
Thanks, helpful link. We have successfully carved the turkey at different joints within 2222. Premises meter for kWh energy and TOD transactions at 1-h time resolution, settled with EDC via bill. Device meter for RTO A/S & capacity at 1-sec resolution, settled from RTO via aggregator. Running now.
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Willett Kempton @willett.bsky.social · 28/09/2025
Hi @jigarshahdc.bsky.social Our UD #EV group is now running EVs in PJM A/S markets; entering PJM Capacity market seems blocked by their market requirement to also sell energy (impossible for batteries), not blocked by data release problems. Clarify, who should release what data?
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jae holzman @jael.bsky.social · 26/09/2025
Scoop: Trump lost the legal battle over halting the offshore Revolution Wind project after Orsted, its developer, brought reams of evidence to court alleging the government was lying about military security concerns. It’s a sign truth can empower companies Trump targets. Via @heatmap.news
heatmap.news
How Trump’s Case Against Revolution Wind Fell Apart
The administration argued in the name of national defense — but Orsted had receipts.
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Willett Kempton @willett.bsky.social · 26/09/2025
Are US Administration worries about #offshorewind valid? South Fork Wind now has a year’s operating experience, Orsted has released a report on it, and @justingerdes.bsky.social has a quick-read summary—a factual, data-based alternative to today’s government propaganda.
quittingcarbonmedia.com
Trump claims offshore wind is worthless. This project proves the opposite is true.
South Fork Wind, the U.S.’ first commercial-scale offshore wind farm, is demonstrating the folly of the Trump’s administration’s misguided war on offshore wind.
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Willett Kempton @willett.bsky.social · 22/09/2025
Rule of law prevails! Big clean energy project can proceed. #offshorewind #energytransition 🔌⚡️
reuters.com
US judge allows halted US offshore wind project to resume construction
A federal judge on Monday granted a request by Danish offshore wind developer Orsted to restart work on the nearly finished Revolution Wind project, which President Donald Trump's administration halted last month.
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Willett Kempton @willett.bsky.social · 17/09/2025
Incisive article “Power Struggle” by @jefftheyoung.bsky.social on how US policy drives investment, factories and jobs out of USA, favoring China. Quote (below) by @billmckibben.bsky.social if US blocks new expanding technologies, it could become the Colonial Williamsburg of internal combustion.
Quotation by Bill McKibben in “Power Struggle” Newsweek article.
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Willett Kempton @willett.bsky.social · 15/09/2025
How fast can the world install 1GW of solar? Below graph 2004=1 year, up to 2023=1 day! As of 2025, 11.5 hours—see ember-energy.org/latest-updat... For explanation, see McKibben books.apple.com/us/book/here... (Similar acceleration seen for wind, next storage.) Growth now unstoppable!
ember-energy.org
Global solar installations surge 64% in first half of 2025 | Ember
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Willett Kempton @willett.bsky.social · 07/09/2025
US Rep Seth Magaziner bsky.app/profile/mag... asks Mr. Suess, Acting Ast Sec at DOI, why halt Revolution Wind for redundant US Gov. review? Why raise energy prices, put US workers on unemployment & kill new domestic energy? No answer: youtu.be/IWpW000opLU Also WSJ: www.wsj.com/us-news/...
bsky.app
Representative Seth Magaziner (@magaziner.house.gov)
Proud to fight for working people as the Representative for Rhode Island's Second Congressional District.
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Willett Kempton @willett.bsky.social · 04/09/2025
Even the US Chamber🎩is: “…concerned… halt work orders on offshore wind projects that already have permits, some… far along in construction… risks raising the cost of electricity… America needs every possible electron it can get, from any source,”💸
uschamber.com
We Need Permitting Certainty...from Start to Finish
The U.S. Chamber urges the need for permitting reform as well as the importance of providing certainty for energy projects already permitted.
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Willett Kempton @willett.bsky.social · 26/08/2025
From @slashklc.bsky.social , a very plausible explanation of why US Admin vehemently opposes some low-carbon energy technologies and neutral or mildly positive on others. Q: How to determine what is opposed? Look at current deployment sizes and growth rates. A: #solar and #windpower
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Willett Kempton @willett.bsky.social · 23/08/2025
I’m Willett @ U Delaware, leading research, development, & policy on #offshorewind & #EV, latter including #V2G (using batteries in EVs to make the grid more reliable & renewables-efficient). Practice sequence: find-huge-gap➡️research➡️ prototype➡️standards&enabling-law➡️educate-companies➡️better-world
W. Kempton holding one module of an EV battery pack, in EV labPart of UDelaware EV R&D team, in front of V2G capable EV.W. Kempton on boat in front of offshore wind project in Denmark.Vineyard Wind single turbine deployment (GE 13MW) out of New Bedford, Mass., using feeder-barge method with motion stabilizers.
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Willett Kempton @willett.bsky.social · 23/08/2025
Dept Interior issued work stoppage to Revolution Wind—700 MW of clean power, 80% built, power on this fall, contracted to RI and CT. All permits approved long ago. This is anti-business, chills investment, raises costs. Chokes off needed ⚡️🔌.
orsted.com
Revolution Wind receives offshore stop-work order from US Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management
On 22 August 2025, Ørsted’s subsidiary Revolution Wind LLC, a 50/50 joint venture with Global Infrastructure Partner’s Skyborn Renewables, received an order instructing the project to stop activities on the outer continental shelf related to the Revolution Wind project from the US Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM). Revolution Wind is complying with the order and is taking appropriate steps to stop offshore activities, ensuring the safety of workers and the environment.
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Willett Kempton @willett.bsky.social · 21/08/2025
🇺🇸Admin told Feds🫵favor energy produced using less land even if more$$ 😵‍💫. See great analysis by @mzjacobson.bsky.social; my refinements: corn🌽ethanol is not production, and space between turbines is not “used” (2nd link, tbl S28). Result: Fossil+nuc 1.6% land Renewables 0.16% So💨☀️🟰 ⬇️$ and ⬇️land!
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Willett Kempton @willett.bsky.social · 10/08/2025
Largest offshore wind project worldwide, Berwick Bank, 4.1 GW, approved contingent on avian study & mitigation if needed. How big 4.1 GW for Scotland? 🟰 power of 2x households OR 🟰 to taking ALL cars of the road. Running well before 2030. BBC: bbc.com/news/article... Dev: www.berwickbank.com
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Willett Kempton @willett.bsky.social · 08/08/2025
I agree that output is a better measure of effect or value. My prior message answered your why: It’s business advantage in competitive markets, not some secret. Also, I gave you links to data on many projects. The information is out there but you don’t seem to want to do the work to find or read it.
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Willett Kempton @willett.bsky.social · 06/08/2025
Power production is a highly competitive business. If you approach one project, right, their data is proprietary. Many reports summarizing data results, easy to find. Or, to analyze yourself, use pubic data, for example, click "download" on any of these: catalog.data.gov/dataset/util...
catalog.data.gov
Department of Energy - Utility-Scale Solar, 2023 Edition: Analysis of Empirical Plant-level Data from U.S. Ground-mounted PV, PV+battery, and CSP Plants (exceeding 5 MWAC)
Berkeley Labs "Utility-Scale Solar", 2023 Edition presents analysis of empirical plant-level data from the U.S. fleet of ground-mounted photovoltaic (PV), PV+battery, and...
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Willett Kempton @willett.bsky.social · 06/08/2025
You asked for a number, I gave you it, told you I’ve calculated it and it’s in textbooks. You replied saying it is fabricated and showed you don’t understand it anyway. So a waste of my time to be helpful. Parting advice:if you build things based on ideology rather than engineering, they fall apart.
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Willett Kempton @willett.bsky.social · 06/08/2025
U.S. mid-latitudes, installed capacity factors average 18% for solar, 30% for land-based wind, and 50% for offshore wind. That’s ± for equipment variants and local climatology. I’ve calculated these and reviewed with other analysts many times. They’re in intro textbooks. Don’t need to “find out”.
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Willett Kempton @willett.bsky.social · 04/08/2025
This thread, and the cited IEA Report, are based on measurements, experience, and expert review. You responded with unsupported qualitative claims from political blogs, quantitatively wrong plus ridiculous given > $1 Trillion invested this year. Try posting in a political thread for more reactions.
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Willett Kempton @willett.bsky.social · 03/08/2025
World energy investments. #Grid, #solar, and #wind dwarf all others—in $/year or in (not shown) new MWh/yr. Seems the current US Admin. missed this trend, and believes that blocking growing technologies in one country will change the many market drivers of their growth. 🔌 www.iea.org/reports/worl...
iea.org
World Energy Investment 2025 – Analysis - IEA
World Energy Investment 2025 - Analysis and key findings. A report by the International Energy Agency.
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Jeff St John @jeffstjohn.bsky.social · 30/06/2025
Senate Republicans are pushing a tax cut bill that would undermine billions of dollars of clean energy investment, kill jobs, drive up energy prices and add a new 'tax' on solar and wind so ugly that the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and Elon Musk oppose it: www.canarymedia.com/articles/cle... #energysky
canarymedia.com
New Senate GOP bill would kill clean power and spike energy costs
Under pressure from Trump, Senate Republicans unveiled legislation so restrictive that even Elon Musk and the Chamber of Commerce’s policy chief oppose it.
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Jesse D. Jenkins @jessedjenkins.com · 28/06/2025
The Senate version of GOP's budget bill dropped in the middle of the night. Astonishingly, it got EVEN WORSE. It raises energy costs, kills $100s of billions of investment in manufacturing, makes grids less reliable, increases pollution & constrains our ability to compete w/China on AI. Loser stuff.
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Willett Kempton @willett.bsky.social · 11/06/2025
First text is from my in-law, a capable #mariner. #Weather forecasts appear to be the same, but suddenly way less accurate. 2nd from meteorologist colleagues on how specific staff cuts degrade forecast accuracy. One of many ways the national infrastructure we rely on is being silently destroyed.
Report on navigating with current weather forecasts
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Vladimir Neskovic Kesma @kesma.wtf · 04/06/2025
This is giving me chills. Read it carefully. The math. chaos we’re adding into the climate is wiping insects off the planet. Even insects likely won’t be able to evolve fast enough to keep up. I’m scared to think about more complex organisms in the food chains. www.theguardian.com/environment/...
theguardian.com
‘Half the tree of life’: ecologists’ horror as nature reserves are emptied of insects
A new point in history has been reached, entomologists say, as climate-led species’ collapse moves up the food chain even in supposedly protected regions free of pesticides
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Jesse D. Jenkins @jessedjenkins.com · 25/04/2025
😲 “We built our last gas-fired facility in 2022, at $785/kW. If we wanted to build that same gas-fired combined cycle unit today…$2,400/kW" - NextEra CEO John Ketchum gasoutlook.com/analysis/cos... 🔌💡
gasoutlook.com
Costs to build gas plants triple, says CEO of NextEra Energy 
 - Gas Outlook
NextEra Energy’s CEO said that gas turbines have a multi-year backlog, leading to soaring costs for new gas-fired power plants.
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Willett Kempton @willett.bsky.social · 20/04/2025
Rhys, thanks for that great add/correction. Sure, China, Taiwan, and others have through policy created new “competitive advantages”. But having done that, that still fits Ricardo, no? We see that Tim Cook designs in California and assembles in China. Otherwise I agree with all your points.
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Willett Kempton @willett.bsky.social · 20/04/2025
David Ricardo's theory of comparative advantage explains why free trade can benefit both sides. This also helps understand the massive ignorance and coming damage of the new US #tariffs. First, a readable explanation from @gregor.us: bit.ly/3Gcac6u More theory: web.mit.edu/krugman/...
Containers being loaded onto a ship.Graph: American manufacturing has moved up the value chain, and so have jobs. (from: Financial Times)
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