Los Angeles Times: Allstate said this week that it expects to lose $1.1 billion due to the Los Angeles fires, making it the second major insurer to announce the financial impact of the country’s single most costly blaze. The Northbrook, Ill., company said the figure represents it … | Continue reading
As I’ve been reporting, more evidence that there is some magical spigot of oil that can be opened to lower the price of gasoline is a fantasy.Oil Giants have told the administration there is no way they will drill more, crash the price of oil, and their own stock.Some talk here b … | Continue reading
In aggragate, assuming large real estate gains in the next 25 years, the overall impact seems manageable. But for those caught in the cross fire between rising risks and rising costs of insurance in high risk areas, the consequences could be devastating. Wall Street Journal: Clim … | Continue reading
Releasing water meant for irrigation in the dry season, at the peak of the rainy season, makes no sense. This guy has a serious Napoleon complex, and he’s going to do a lot of damage. “I know more about the California irrigation and flood control system than anybody…” Washington … | Continue reading
Not an outlier, not unusual at all, it’s the most common thing you hear in the rural areas where clean energy is being most commonly sited. “I definitely voted for Donald Trump”, said Randy Elenbaum, when I interviewed him in a closed Caseville sports bar, in Michigan’s thumb reg … | Continue reading
So glad this song is back in rotation following the release of “A Complete Unknown”, the Dylan bio pic.This version really got to me – the fiddle break is heart rending. Must have struck some other folks as well, this version’s had 17 million views. And woof. A “lonesome Ocean.” … | Continue reading
Seems relevant. Energy Information Administration: In 2023, U.S. nuclear generators used 32 million pounds of imported uranium concentrate (U3O8) and only 0.05 million pounds of domestically produced U3O8. Imports accounted for 99% of the U3O8 they used in 2023 to make nuclear fu … | Continue reading
Got a break in the weather the other day and got myself up to Caseville, on the shores of Saginaw Bay, in Michigan’s thumb. Caseville is kind of a resort, harbor and beach community, but surrounded by large tracts of farmed land. The constant breezes here made this the first area … | Continue reading
That oughta do it. Project 2025 in action. See “Training video” above, which mentions that all reference to climate change must be “eradicated”, apparently from anywhere. ABC News: The U.S. Department of Agriculture has directed agency officials to review and remove content relat … | Continue reading
New York Times: Trump administration officials began releasing significant amounts of water from two dams in California’s Central Valley on Friday in a move that seemed intended to make a political point as President Trump continued to falsely blame the Los Angeles wildfires on w … | Continue reading
Visit the post for more. | Continue reading
You do smell a rat. Science: Climate change emerged as a driving factor behind urban rat swarms, the researchers report today in Science Advances. As temperatures rise, they conclude, and people flock to urban areas and convert formerly “green” spaces into neighborhoods and shopp … | Continue reading
ABC’s Ginger Zee explains solar cycles. Another related bogus meme is that we’re about to go into another ice age due to solar cycles. I spoke to a scientist who knows better. | Continue reading
I was interviewed on the “Left of Lansing” podcast. My interview starts at 15:39.What’s happening is Michigan is very much like what is happening throughout the Midwest, and the world. I think I pretty much laid out what I’m seeing. As energy transition squeezes fossil fuels, the … | Continue reading
Raw Story: Donald Trump’s mass deportations and threats against federal disaster relief could decimate efforts to rebuild after wildfires and floods in multiple states, including some that backed the newly inaugurated president. Thousands and thousands of homes have been destroye … | Continue reading
Boom. I said years ago that as climate liabilities increase, a collision of insurance companies and energy companies would be inevitable. Recent disasters that strain the resources of states and giant corporations leave lawmakers looking for solutions. Associated Press: Oil and g … | Continue reading
If Stupid really did burn we could power the world on Trump’s emissions. Michael Lynch in Fortune: Even now, most people probably don’t realize that we import nearly 5 million barrels per day (mb/d) of Canadian oil, primarily in the Midwest via pipelines. Further, we import about … | Continue reading
How is this real? and how is it that presumably (big presumption) rational Republicans do not revolt and leave their party in protest? Reuters: Denmark said on Monday it would spend 14.6 billion Danish crowns ($2.05 billion) boosting its military presence in the Arctic, following … | Continue reading
“DealBreaker”. Electrifying: Tesla’s CEO, Elon Musk, might be losing the brand its edge in the competitive electric vehicle market, according to new research from Electrifying.com. In the survey, 60% of car buyers now say Musk’s controversial reputation actively puts them off buy … | Continue reading
For much of 2024, we have heard about how the massive demands for electricity from AI and Data Centers was going to upend plans for an energy transition, and mandate massive new spends on fossil gas in particular, but also modular nuclear. Those of us with a long view of the ener … | Continue reading
Feel free to add your favorite respites and remedies in the comments. It was one of the grimmest, meanest weeks in our nation’s history. Even though we have prepared and braced for the impact of Trump 2.0, I am still astounded by the cruelty and stupidity of the Executive Orders. … | Continue reading
Still more shoes to drop? Ohio clearly is one of the most corrupt states in the Union, with some of the most high profile examples being related to energy issues, and that corruption has bled over into adjoining Michigan, according to local officials I have interviewed.In particu … | Continue reading
CNBC report on impact of California fires. There’s (maybe) enough resources, with Re-insurance, to handle the current demands. But upward pressure on home insurance rates has become a driver of stubborn inflation, unlikely to go away any time soon. | Continue reading
A perfectly normal thing for any American to say about a politician. Marc Morano has been a durable, and reliably shameless voice of climate denial for decades. In the past he’s called for climate scientists to be “flogged”, and who knows? He might live to see it.Unlike some, he’ … | Continue reading
Offshore wind will be held up by the Trump administration, but other clean energy sectors see continued growth.In a preliminary briefing from a well informed clean industry source last week, I was told that there would not be a change in plans for solar or wind projects in their … | Continue reading
Above, CBS report on the impact home power supplies can have during outages, which are becoming more frequent with extreme weather and aging grids. So you may say, “I’d like to get a home battery, but the only one I’ve heard of is the Tesla power wall, and I don’t want to patroni … | Continue reading
Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D) Rhode Island questions EPA nominee Lee Zeldin. Sierra Club: Zeldin is a politician and military officer who grew up in New York’s Suffolk County. From 2015 to 2023, he represented New York’s First District (eastern Long Island) in Congress, where he … | Continue reading
Short but important exchange with Senator Catherine Cortez Masto (D) Nevada. The other important player in implementing the administration’s energy policy will be Interior Secretary Doug Bergum, who will cruise to approval. Both men spin the “all of the above” line, and tend to u … | Continue reading
Poor sound on this video, but good information. From the UK but relevant everywhere. Description: Why is renewable generation not resulting in cheaper energy prices? This is one of the most common questions we hear from energy consumers. After all, the ‘fuel’ required to generate … | Continue reading
So, I produced a video critical of the new Secretary of Energy nominee, Chris Wright . Wright had made his own video with a number of claims, including that the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change had, in Wright’s mind, supported the contention that extreme weather events a … | Continue reading
Above, the recent bomb cyclone that impacted the UK started with the bizarre snowstorm that blanketed the American South.First ever blizzard warning on the Gulf coast. | Continue reading
Surprisingly great groove that I had not heard before. (YouTube algorithm comes through occasionally) | Continue reading
First they came for the Climate Scientists – with bullying, threats of physical and financial harm, even prison. Their emails were hacked, and their reputations dragged in the media. But I didn’t care because I was not a Climate Scientist. Then the Farmers who wanted wind turbine … | Continue reading
While the very smart people in the Coastal press stroke their chins and ask, “What could he have possibly meant by that?”, Musk goes ahead and addresses a Neo Nazi pep rally. Carol Cadwalladr in Broligarchy Substack: Zero days into the second Trump term and America’s most august … | Continue reading
Energy experts struggling to understand how “Drill Baby Drill” could be an actual policy. Fox Business: President-elect Trump’s nominee to serve as Treasury secretary, Scott Bessent, has touted a “3-3-3” economic plan that would seek to reduce budget deficits while boosting growt … | Continue reading
About the time Young Bob Dylan was stepping for the first time into Greenwich Village, and Rachel Carson was working up “Silent Spring”, Isaac Asimov published an opus of explanatory science writing. “The Intelligent Man’s Guide to Science” was on my parent’s shelf, and was forma … | Continue reading
CNN: No one was talking between the Democratic governor’s team and the newly inaugurated president’s, two people on Newsom’s team told CNN. Transition officials never responded to Newsom’s letter inviting the then-president-elect to visit two weeks ago, they confirmed, and the Wh … | Continue reading
We may be starting to get a little break, but the topsy turvy weather that’s been afflicting North America this week continues. Chicago news item above makes note of the temperature anomaly, relates it to climate, but does not give enough detail. | Continue reading
OK, take these for what they are, insofar as accuracy.But the point stands. Rich people who can afford extraordinary adaptive measures, expensive insurance, or even private firefighters, will do just fine in the mean new world. The rest of us, not so much. As University of Michig … | Continue reading
Cui Bono? Financial Times(Paywall): Donald Trump insisted he was serious in his determination to take over Greenland in a fiery telephone call with Denmark’s prime minister, according to senior European officials. The US president spoke to Mette Frederiksen, the Danish premier, f … | Continue reading
Above – Wall Street Journal looks at the challenges of fighting fires in LA’s new age of year-round fire season. Below: Fact checking Fire misinformation: ABC7: Claim: Gov. Newsom’s policies to blame for lack of water for hydrants This claim is false and is missing context. In a … | Continue reading
US Energy Information Administration expects gas prices to increase primarily due to massive increases in US exports of Liquified Natural Gas.Exports were banned by law until a decade ago, but now US consumers must compete for a limited resource with countries in Europe and Asia … | Continue reading
A takeover of a government-by-minority is a threat to democracy, and the planet. | Continue reading
People from all over the country have been hearing about this story from Otsego County in Michigan’s northern tip. It’s made it to Fox News, and to Pakistan and back.It’s a cautionary tale about the global reach of the fossil fuel misinformation machine. Bridge Magazine: For gene … | Continue reading
Big fire at Moss Landing energy storage facility in California is a black eye for the industry, that a lot of NIMBYs will use against future battery siting.Unless they actually look into it. Let’s dig in. Above, newer Sodium Ion batteries are much more stable than the lithium NMC … | Continue reading
Texas legislature doing its best to push gas and suppress renewables, still, it’s added solar and batteries that are keeping the lights on in bad weather. Doug Lewin’s Texas Energy and Power Substack: As Winter Storm Enzo approached Texas this weekend, the chances of rolling outa … | Continue reading
Heatmap (paywall): In other places, what stands out about Trump’s policies is their incoherence — and how few of his constituencies they will satisfy. Late on Monday, Trump suggested that he might impose 25% tariffs on Canada and Mexico as soon as February 1. Such an action would … | Continue reading
“The moral case for fossil fuels.” New York Times: Chris Wright, President-elect Donald J. Trump’s pick for energy secretary, tried to reassure Democrats at his confirmation hearing on Wednesday that he believed climate change was a “global challenge that we need to solve” and th … | Continue reading