Dan Schroeder

I think academic institutions can actually buy Bloomberg.com access, but I have no idea what it costs. My university pays a lot for NYTimes.com access for everyone, and that probably exhausts our budget for such things. (2/2)

When I asked my university librarians about access to Bloomberg.com they told me "We already have it!"

They mean delayed, text-only access through some aggregator, with many articles corrupted or missing entirely.

"Is there any way to get timely access to the actual articles?"

"No." (1/2)

Map of the contiguous 48 US states with a red dot for every utility-scale solar farm currently under construction. Dots are sized by solar farm capacity. There is a major concentration of dots in Texas. A notable band of dots runs from Michigan southward into Indiana, western Ohio, southern Illinois, and down the Mississippi river into northeastern Arkansas.There are also significant numbers across the southwest, from southern California through southern Arizona and New Mexico, and in Florida and the mid-Atlantic region. A few dots are scattered across other western states and Minnesota. Notable gaps. There are gaps with relatively few solar farms under construction in the northeastern states, the southern Appalachian area, the northern Great Plains, and much of the Northwest.

Interesting patterns in this map of under-construction solar farms. 🔌💡 seia.org/research-res...

God it just keeps coming and coming. So much negativity. Might have to unfollow some people.

I sent the link to Steve Waldrip (the guv's housing guy), whom I've met.

"For many 25-year-olds living in their childhood bedrooms, moving to a single-family house would be entirely out of reach. What they need to make progress in their personal and professional lives is a small apartment in the place where their career and social opportunities are located."

Thank you for this! It's exactly the message Utah's governor and other supposedly pro-housing leaders need to hear.

Thanks so much for catching this and reporting on it. Just bought a subscription to show I mean it.

Makes me so glad we pressed the city council to enact contribution limits back in 2009, after the Envision Ogden campaign finance money laundering scandal in 2007.

Great reporting from Bryan!

Utah has no contribution limits, but Ogden enacted limits after a scandal in 2007, when Mayor Godfrey and his allies solicited contributions to a "nonprofit" from banks, hospitals, other businesses, even the Governor's office, then laundered the money into campaigns.

I'm referring broadly to what I've seen from others, and to some extent from you. Of course I agree with the first line of your comment above!

Why the Price of Electricity Is Spiking Around the Country

Good accurate coverage of the new @berkeleylabemp.bsky.social and Brattle Group report on rising electricity prices in the NYT.

(Here’s a new drinking game: drink every time you see “spike” and “skyrocket.”)

🔌💡

Gift link-
www.nytimes.com/2025/10/30/c...

I'm really bewildered by the reaction to Gates's memo from people I admire. Comes across to me as small-tent politics where we attack anyone who deviates from the one pure truth. Wouldn't it be more fruitful to welcome diverse views and focus on the areas of agreement?

Despite Trump admin’s best efforts, interest in coal mining in Utah and across the West is falling flat The federal government recently offered up thousands of acres for coal mining across Utah. But recent coal mining leases have failed to attract viable offers. So why is no one betting on coal, despite the Trump administrations push to boost the industry?

The federal government recently offered up thousands of acres for coal mining across Utah. But recent coal mining leases have failed to attract viable offers. So why is no one betting on coal, despite the Trump administrations push to boost the industry?

I'm a big-tenter, willing to learn from almost anyone.

I try to focus first on the stuff I agree with.

When I disagree I try to be specific, and not to attack the person.

I'm here to learn, not just slot everyone into the "friend" or "enemy" category.

(Of course this is hard and I often fail.)

Wow. A lot of people I admire seem to have a visceral hatred for Bill Gates.

I read the whole memo and I honestly don't see what the big deal is. Lots of it is obviously correct. So what if you don't agree with every nuance?

Title: Know Your Acronyms Image: four colourful panels each containing four figures representing the disciplines listed. 1. STEM Science, technology, engineering and mathematics 2. STET Sword-swallowing, , trapeze, escapology and tightrope 3. STEP Swindling, theft, extortion and piracy 4. STEW Seance, telekinesis, exorcism and witchcraft below is the following text: From 'Physics for cats' by tom gauld - order it at www.tomgauld.com

One of the cartoons in my new book 'Physics for Cats' which is out now in the UK, USA, Canada, France, Spain and Germany. Order from your local bookshop or online: www.tomgauld.com/

☢️ 🔌💡 🧵

Thank you so much for covering this!

I would add that last year Ogden banned even the construction of market-rate apartments on most of the city's vacant land. Our current elected officials seem to be doing everything they can to raise housing prices and drive more people out onto the street.

Take a Look at Rare Photos of Red Lightning in New Zealand

Night sky photos and video with red sprites! (gift link) www.nytimes.com/2025/10/25/s...

Chart of world electricity generation, 12-month running totals, broken down by source, from January 2020 through August 2025. From top to bottom are curves for coal, gas, hydro, nuclear, wind, solar, other fossil (mostly oil), biomass, and other renewables (mostly geothermal). The data come from ember-energy.org. Most of the curves have been pretty flat for the last year or more, but wind is gradually rising to approach nuclear, while solar is quickly rising to approach both wind and nuclear. It appears that the solar, wind, and nuclear curves will cross within the next few months.

The three-way convergence approaches!

12-month world totals as of August 2025:
Nuclear 9.0%
Wind 8.7%
Solar 8.3%

Thanks to @ember-energy.org for the data update! 🔌💡☢️🌬️🌞

You can always increase your AC capacity factor by using a smaller inverter.

The hierarchy problem (finetuning) of the Standard Model of particle physics is often presented as the question 'why the weak scale is so much smaller than the Planck scale'

But there is also a geometric interpretation that can be understood with little maths (but a lot of physics)

🧵1/11

Chart of world electricity generation, 12-month running totals, broken down by source, from January 2020 through August 2025. From top to bottom are curves for coal, gas, hydro, nuclear, wind, solar, other fossil (mostly oil), biomass, and other renewables (mostly geothermal). The data come from ember-energy.org. Most of the curves have been pretty flat for the last year or more, but wind is gradually rising to approach nuclear, while solar is quickly rising to approach both wind and nuclear. It appears that the solar, wind, and nuclear curves will cross within the next few months.

The three-way convergence approaches!

12-month world totals as of August 2025:
Nuclear 9.0%
Wind 8.7%
Solar 8.3%

Thanks to @ember-energy.org for the data update! 🔌💡☢️🌬️🌞

Here's a gift link: bsky.app/profile/dvsc...

How China Raced Ahead of the U.S. on Nuclear Power (Gift Article) The United States was once the undisputed leader in atomic energy. Now it is trying to catch up.

Incisive comparison of US and China nuclear industries: "...the United States is betting too heavily on technological breakthroughs instead of focusing on the financing, skills and infrastructure needed to build plants, as China has." 🔌💡
www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

Thanks! The whole episode was fun to listen to.

Semantics aside, I wish I had a better understanding of the lifetimes of geothermal wells of various types. And of how long we'll have to wait before we have a clear picture of how much energy Fervo's technology can deliver.

Ah, so the battery has a receptacle to plug an appliance directly into it? I can see how in that case you might insert it between a refrigerator and a wall outlet. But pretty soon, owners would be running extension cords all over the house to hook up more appliances. What a mess.

Screen capture of a paragraph from the article at https://www.canarymedia.com/articles/batteries/pila-plug-in-backup-power-renters-homes that reads in part, "For now, Pila's software is configured to only allow power to flow from wall sockets into its batteries, not vice versa, Ashman emphasized."

So for now, you can charge the battery but not discharge it? How can this be right—or what am I missing?

Here's a little more about the buffer and BNEF's methodology, from the 2021 version of this thread. x.com/solar_chase/...

I suppose purchases or shipments could affect estimates for current or near-current years, but I doubt that even BNEF can get data on purchases for installation in 2035.