Engineering prof (mechanical + electrical) at a big Midwest state school. Energy, climate, buildings, power grid, control, optimization, data science. He/him. https://kevinjkircher.com/ Email: my last name at purdue dot edu
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NEW: A handful of cities around the world are using lake and river water to cool their buildings. It's a fascinating alternative to traditional AC. But some (relatively shallow) bodies of water are warming fast - will they continue to be useful in the future? www.wired.com/story/people...
but the ideas are so pure that mere fascist billionaires couldn't possibly co-opt the movementtttt 🫠
One solar panel of 30 kg replaces 8 tonnes of coal (or 40 barrels of oil) and 25 tonnes of CO2 Let me show you:
Industrial electrification rarely gets the limelight with most of the attention diverted to electric cars and heat pumps in buildings. This article is a rare exception highlighting a major shift moving away from CCS and hydrogen towards electrification. www.economist.com/briefing/202...
Also, while wind and solar do put downward pressure on wholesale prices, all the new (and existing) gas will remain on the margin for a long time, delaying and blunting price drops. Waiting for supply-side changes to trickle down will be too slow (and too small) to register with most anyone.
I agree about messaging. I'm on board with firing people up over electricity bills, but generation is a small part of residential bills. If the attempted solution matches the messaging - just build more wind/solar - without addressing larger issues, then bills won't go down and people will be pissed
Icymi this is a big deal because some huge public investment funds are moving their big $$$ to pressure BlackRock and other massive Wall Street firms to clean up. 👏 We expect NYC to rock soon via @bradlander.bsky.social @nyccomptroller.bsky.social 👍 on.ft.com/3I7584q
Yeah. And text generators trained on American content are going to regurgitate and repeat a lot of our toxic nonsense, wherever they're used...
also i'm not a mathematician, but 80% of Americans live in cities and suburbs, and Trump did get more than 20% of the vote. . .
Great work, Jeff! And a very interesting thread on the challenges and lessons learned. Thank you!
1/x 🧵 🔌💡 #Greensky. Hey climate peeps! Here’s a local victory to celebrate, and some lessons from it. Last night, the Town of Poughkeepsie, NY, voted to overturn its 18-month moratorium (6 months, renewed twice) on grid-scale battery energy storage systems (BESS).
If the Trump White House wants to ban all transgender people from owning guns because a handful were responsible for mass shootings, wait until they hear how many shootings straight cis white guys have done.
Italian dockworkers: “If we lose contact with our boats [going to Gaza] … even for just 20 minutes, we will shut down all of Europe” www.politico.eu/article/ital...
My department @tulanepolisci.bsky.social is hiring! Assistant Professor in Comparative Political Economy. Sub-specialization open, but preference for energy transitions and climate politics! (1/) apply.interfolio.com/172989
The achievable carbon uptake from planting trees is much lower than previous estimates, and even lower than many nations have committed to. New paper by Wang et al. in Science. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/... 🧪🌏🌳🌲🌐
How do you heat a city with freezing cold seawater? The answer lies in Esbjerg, Denmark, where one of the world's largest heat pumps is transforming the North Sea into a sustainable energy source.
this is a good and interesting analysis. The IEA has said *for years* that the o&g industry is making progress on reducing methane; that methane reductions would pay for themselves (more gas to sell); and that its low hanging fruit. Very little evidence of progress. And industry continues to expand
This was completely predictable. As I’ve been noting for several years, if you build LNG terminals you will increase domestic natural gas prices. It is designed to shift wealth from US energy consumers to gas producers - and it’s working.
are you mad about NEPA, the federal law governing federal projects, or are you mad about local zoning and permitting rules that constitutionally cannot be changed through national legislation is a question I wish more people asked themselves
Important new report from @cleanaircatf.bsky.social seeks to distill best practices for engaging communities & building trust around renewable energy projects.
Dear World We're sorry. This is really fucked up.
NYers go tell Kathy to protect our future! publicpowerny.org/take-action/
I just got out of a meeting with the third lawyer colleague in as many months who's leaving their current role to go work for a Democratic Attorney General's office. This one literally said, "I'm going off to sue Trump." Heroes.
Nuclear Regulatory Commission members "expressed concern about whether the agency could continue to protect public safety amid staffing shortages and challenges to its independence." 😬 www.eenews.net/articles/tak...
"The numbers suggest rather that the housing crisis is less about shortage than the unequal distribution of homes around the population." Excellent long read in the FT from John Plender on the true causes of the UK housing crisis: policy drivennn financialisation and inequality. on.ft.com/4p7SiUk
"House price models suggest that a 1% increase in the housing stock reduces house prices by 1.5-2%, all else equal. This implies that even if we had built 300,000 homes across the UK every year between 1996 and 2017, house prices would have still risen by 134% in real terms, instead of 151%"
"Trends since 2015 suggest that building 1.5 million homes [in England] is likely to reduce the rent-to-income ratio in the private rented sector by just ~1 percentage point."
a classic!
On the Trump administration's assault on offshore wind: "Susie Wiles, the White House chief of staff, and Stephen Miller, a senior White House adviser, are leading the effort," report @maxinejoselow.bsky.social, Lisa Friedman, and @bradplumer.bsky.social: www.nytimes.com/2025/09/03/c... 🔌💡
Carbon Capture is no magic bullet. Time to end government capture and get on with decarbonisation more rapidly.
Earlier this week a paper dramatically reduced the realistic potential for forest carbon storage. Now another downgrades the capacity of geological storage. Emissions reductions are the only effective climate action.
In housing as in electricity, the volume and types of supply are small but nontrivial determinants of the actual costs that people bear. Policies that deal only with supply will likely have slower and smaller effects than approaches that also provide direct relief at demand-side pain points.
I have a new column out today in The Irish Times: “Why ‘No Additional Warming’ Is a Dangerous Climate Loophole.” www.irishtimes.com/environment/...
New paper in Nature finds that global geologic CO2 storage potential is ~90% lower than previously believed. Many candidate sites could leak CO2 back into the air or into groundwater, undermining climate mitigation efficacy or putting nearby human health at risk. www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Glad to see the California Heat Pump Group Buy highlighted! ICYMI, it's your opportunity to get a high quality heat pump installation at a fair price (and take advantage of the federal tax credits, before they expire at the end of the year!) More details here: www.heatpumped.org/c/groupbuy
Still wrapping my head around the fact they did this while we were under a red flag warning - gusty winds and low humidity meant firefighting crews were especially needed and facing higher fire danger that day.
Why in the year 2025 do UK Energy Performance Certificates still recommend people to install new fossil fuel heating systems but never recommend a heat pump? I have written about this issue 6 years ago. If you want to read my old article you can find it here: foresightmedia.com/historie/swp...
I will never make it as a voice actor (it’s so hard to sound normal when I’m not just talking about energy) but I felt that personally it was important to use whatever reach I have to send the message that cancer treatment isn’t linear - many patients continue treatment for a long time and can be 1/
"Over 40 months — from May 2021 to September 2024 — oil companies applied for more than 12,000 flaring and venting permits, while the Railroad Commission rejected just 53 of them, a 99.6% approval rate, according to the data." www.propublica.org/article/texa...
Texas Says It’s Strict on Oil Field Emissions. New Data Shows It’s Not. — ProPublica www.propublica.org/article/texa...
As Trump Pushes Liquified Natural Gas Exports, Residents in Pennsylvania Towns Push Back to Stop a Proposed LNG Terminal - Inside Climate News insideclimatenews.org/news/3008202...
an Abundance of oily rain
US Federal Judge got this exactly write when she concluded it was “difficult to conclude anything other than that defendants used antisemitism as a smokescreen for a targeted, ideologically-motivated assault on this country’s premier universities.” www.nytimes.com/2025/09/03/u...
The biggest scandal in US public life *ought* to be that we are the richest country in history & yet our infrastructure sucks, our transportation choices suck, our cities suck, our healthcare sucks, our public administration sucks, & in dozens of little ways, our daily lives suck.
It’s back-to-school for many right now, and students are showing us what climate leadership looks like. Read the full edition of the newsletter at the link below, and don't forget to share what you learn!
Having paid a billion-dollar bribe for exactly this outcome, I don't think the oil industry executives care much about how awkward their lobbyists look — all the decarbonization moves were just for show anyways. www.wsj.com/business/ene...
"Delegates at the United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA) were asked to estimate what percentage of the global population would say they were willing to give 1% of their income to help fix climate change. The average estimate was 37%, but recent research found the true figure is 69%."
On the overwhelming public support for climate action: Great to see Ximeng Fang and Stefania Innocenti quoted on their research that sparked the 89% Project. (And globally, 69% of people are willing to give 1% of their income to help fix climate change.) @coveringclimatenow.org
I see people bleating yet again that "elections are won from the centre". Let's examine this claim. 1. Not long ago, the current Labour government, with its grovelling to corporations and oligarchs, extreme deregulation, island of strangers rhetoric etc, would have been classed as radical right. 🧵
Electrification liberates us from dependence on countries who would do us harm. It is investments in European tech, European jobs, better health, lower prices and so, so much more.
"Estimates of emissions from the leak have varied, ranging up to the equivalent of millions of tonnes of carbon dioxide. Despite this, NT and federal regulators have not forced Santos to repair or replace the tank, or measure how much methane it leaks" www.abc.net.au/news/2025-09...
“Estimates of emissions from the leak have varied, ranging up to the equivalent of millions of tonnes of carbon dioxide.” If only human eyes could see methane plumes.
More than 85 scientists have issued a rebuttal to a recent Department of Energy report on climate change, finding it full of errors and misrepresentations. The Trump administration cited the DOE report in its proposal to roll back rules regulating climate pollution. More here ⬇️ on @npr.org
You really should read this fascinating and profound interview with Columbian President Gustavo Petro. How many other world leaders are acknowledging that "Climate change is just the atmospheric mirror of capital accumulation on Earth"?
Not counted as a heat death: “A 72-year-old Arizona man died days after falling on a sidewalk last year, with the hot surface burning 16% of his body. Cause of death: complications of thermal injuries because of prolonged exposure to elevated environmental temperatures on a hot surface.”
"The world's biggest academic association of genocide scholars has passed a resolution saying the legal criteria have been met to establish Israel is committing genocide in Gaza, its president said on Monday."
I think we need to stop saying that people hate crime. They like punishment. There are clear ways to reduce crime that involve systemic investment in communities but we avoid doing that in favor of ever more militarized policing because too many people in power like punishment.
Truly really enjoy @hankgreen.bsky.social's vids on energy and climate - this is a pretty cool new one -->> www.youtube.com/watch?v=XbQM...
Some background that might be useful. folk.universitetetioslo.no/roberan/t/gl...
I got to talk with @lataco.bsky.social's @eltragon.bsky.social about his tireless documentation of immigration raids in LA, and how his knowledge of the city's street food scene makes him a better immigration reporter
Research posts on Bluesky are more original — and get better engagement www.nature.com/articles/d41...
Best heat pump video! It’s accurate, engaging, and sharable—let's fight myths and misconception with good information.
Platner: No one cares that you pretend to be remorseful as you sell out to lobbyists. Symbolic opposition does not reopen hospitals. Weak condemnations do not bring back Roe V Wade. Maine deserves better than Susan Collins.
Wow: 78 year old congressman Jerry Nadler decides not to seek reelection, saying Biden fiasco showed need for "generational change." “Watching the Biden thing really said something about the necessity for generational change in the party, and I think I want to respect that."
hell yeah, looking forward to reading
nothing quite like the pleasure of reading an advance copy of a debut novel that is a) by a friend; b) really spectacularly brilliant. You all aren't ready for Avery Curran's SPOILED MILK. (March 2026!) It's like ... a lesbian 1920s boarding-school version of IT. Deliriously good.
Remembering when the NYT went on a weeks-long bender covering a decades-old real estate deal the Clintons were involved in, in which they *lost money*.
On this Labor Day, thank you to US solar & wind workers, who are being attacked by the Department of Energy, Department of Interior, Department of Transportation & POTUS. "Trump said that his administration would not approve any wind or solar projects." newrepublic.com/article/1997... #energysky
If you're in California and want to avoid the hassle of shopping around, you might be a great fit for the @heatpumped.org group buy! It's a great way to get quality equipment and installations at reasonable, transparent prices. Check it out here: buff.ly/clQKdYv (3/3)
"But they had 5 stars on Yelp!" Just a friendly reminder - it's really easy for companies to game online reviews. 5 star reviews are one datapoint you can use to evaluate a heat pump contractor, but don't let that be the only criteria you use in your search. 🧵 (1/x)
apropos of nothing, an appreciation post for @oilfieldwitness.bsky.social @txsharon.bsky.social www.youtube.com/watch?v=iGRV...
kinda amazing trajectory tbh. grateful to be here with you.
My personal transformation - as someone "from a 'red state'" who is a former oil and gas worker, raised evangelical - gives me some hope for the possibility of more at this time where we are being told all we can accept is less. More compassion, more cooperation, more pleasure, more life.
😑
oh nice!
I have an opinion piece in the New York Times today on how the labor movement has failed to step up to the moment in countering Trump, even as Trump unilaterally strips public sector workers of collective bargaining. Labor will die as a movement if this continues. www.nytimes.com/2025/09/01/o...
Love this image. www.euronews.com/green/2025/0...
I wish the @nytimes.com would go just one step beyond interest rates when they ask the question: Why does Trump want control of the Federal Reserve Board? The real answer is so much more interesting! tl;dr To keep income tax low he needs to issue shorter term bonds to help service national debt.
🧵New York could have 25,000 union jobs building a future for the next generation. Or we could let Kathy Hochul and Donald Trump pour pipeline poison on our planet. So if you're in New York, send a comment at publicpowerny.org/take-action to ensure we're leading. On Labor Day, and every day. ⤵️
Hey NY folks! Public Power NY has actions for you. On Labor Day especially but also all the time.
NPR is among the news organizations that has signed an appeal calling for Israel to stop attacks on journalists in Gaza, and demanding foreign journalists' access to Gaza. www.npr.org/2025/09/01/n...
I think there are other good interventions, like banning utility shutoffs and forgiving utility bill debt, but other than that, 100% agree.
Happy Labor Day, the Trump administration hates unions more than basically anything www.gravityisgone.com/a-lot-of-fol...
Some wise and still relevant words from 1936 👇
Player Piano is an excellent novel about automation and social dislocation, and includes a passing reference to Wabash College, located in my current town of residence.
Get your home efficiency and electrification upgrades in by the end of the year for the tax credits!
The consumer-targeted stuff was a more direct benefit--using IRA subsidies for a solar + heat pump install basically zeroed out my household's energy bill--but I suspect those mostly reached people who were already motivated/informed (thus not a politically-meaningful slice of the electorate)
The tax credits were faster and less paperwork, but only people rich enough to have significant tax liability could use them, and the $ amounts were not huge. I think to have a perceptible impact on elections, energy benefits would have to be much faster and more noticeable to many more voters.
Right, among the IRA energy stuff, the tax credits and rebates for home renovations came closest to being direct, visible, memorable, etc. But the rebate program was slow to roll out, involved a lot of paperwork, and was left to states to implement, many of whom ignored or slow-walked it.
Norway's government has a new tourism ad out, and it's refreshingly honest By @thejuicemedia.bsky.social!!!!
Supply-side policy is also great and necessary, but if IRA's repeal showed us anything, it's that waiting for the benefits of supply-side policy to trickle down & become visible to voters is too slow and indirect. The benefits were there - jobs etc. - but too slow & diffuse to move many voters.
Examples: Banning electricity shutoffs, forgiving electricity bill debt, cutting checks to cover some or all of people's electricity bills. Avoiding means-testing makes programs easily accessible without tons of paperwork. Things that are splashy, noticeable, direct, with great user experiences.
There are long- and short-term solutions. We need both, but if Dems manage to regain power, IMO they should pass policy that quickly, noticeably, memorably improves people's lives. On energy affordability, I think that means intervening as directly and visibly as possible, right at the pain point.
Yeah, the big retail price differences between residential > commercial > industrial are not IMO well justified. Good direction for incremental change.
I have used induction since 2005. Easy to control the temperature, easy to clean the cooktop, doesn’t heat up the kitchen as much, better air quality than gas, no repairs in that time, safer, more eco-friendly, win, win, win.
You can try out induction pretty cheaply if you want. An induction hotplate is about $65 at Ikea or similar.
"The contracting utilities will pay for this pipeline capacity every month and every year for 20 years, regardless of how much gas they actually use for power burn. These costs are passed directly to ratepayers."
And swapping generation types ain't it. We shouldn't confuse the stuff we need to do for decarbonization with the stuff we need to do for affordability. They overlap, but only to a degree.
I have no objection to using energy bills to stoke anger against Repubs. I just think if we do that, then we'd better be prepared to pass effective policy that actually lowers energy bills significantly enough for voters to notice and remember. Otherwise it's just so much hot air.
Anyway, "assume price inelasticity, make residential electricity free, pay for it by taxing the rich" seems workable to me.