Mark Interrante

EVs Set to Displace 10mn b/d Oil by 2035 EVs set to displace 10mn b/d of oil by 2035 as electric vehicle adoption accelerates across global markets.

Given that 1.8 million barrels of oil per day are already being displaced by #EVs — before the real S-curve phase hits with 25% YoY growth — the writing’s on the wall. Every km on electrons is demand oil never gets back. No wonder the industry is panicking as it traverses a full-blown death spiral.

This person is at Harry Ransom center

Wind and solar covered all the growth this year

Congratulations to my UT Austin colleague Jason McLellan (@mclellanlab.bsky.social), who’s just received a well-deserved MacArthur Fellowship. His work has been instrumental in developing vaccines for RSV and COVID-19.

Some good news.

London is meeting legal limits for toxic NO2 pollution for the first time – almost 200 years earlier than predicted – following the Mayor’s "world leading air pollution policies," City Hall announces.

The Ultra Low Emissions Zone - and similar policies - really do work.

🚨 Big win for rooftop solar in Colorado: @colorado.gov just made instant permitting + fast, flexible interconnection a statewide priority.

That means more Coloradans powering up clean energy without the red tape. Other states: time to follow suit. ⚡
colorado.gov/governor/new...

How Skyrocketing Rents Are Forcing Your Favorite Restaurants to Close One thing we love to say here in the Observer food section: if you love a local bar/restaurant - go there.

Dallas has become a destination location for international concepts, leaving local restaurants in a lurch.

China's coal generation dropped from 62.7% in July 2023 to 55.1% in July 2025!

7.6 Point drop in two years!

Petrostate boosters hate that China is moving from coal to wind, solar, hydro and nuclear to generate their electricity.

EVs also were 55% of August 2025 auto sales.

#energysky

The air quality in Shanghai has been substantially improved over the past decade. Left: the medium-level haze event in 2013, right: the air is much more clear in 2025, although there is still air pollution.

In a new #ScienceReview, researchers discuss the latest understanding of secondary organic aerosol formation in urban China, providing a framework for identifying knowledge gaps and guiding future research into haze chemistry and pollution control strategies. https://scim.ag/3HCgNrX

6 2-story townhouses front wide-side (lots of light) to this French Quarter garden court, which sits on a quarter acre with the garden on only 1/10 acre. 24 units/acre looks pretty good, doesn’t it? Missing Middle Housing from before it went missing.

I wrote about how Imelda Padilla accidentally told the truth about what "local control" over land use policy actually means in practice: replacing actual planning with capricious, case-by-case decision making by elected officials.

www.maxdubler.com/blog/2025/8/...

Portland’s 2020 Residential Infill Project (RIP) opened most lots to middle housing, things like duplexes, triplexes, quadplexes, townhomes and more.

The result?

1,400 new homes, typically priced ~$300K less than nearby single-family houses.

📍Portland, OR

Latest on the "stalling" shift to electric vehicles, EU edition

There are more apartments available under $1,500 in Austin than there are under $4,000 in NYC*

(*that are listed on Zillow)

How States and Cities Decimated Americans’ Lowest-Cost Housing Option Low-cost micro-units, often called single-room occupancies, or SROs, were once a reliable form of housing for the United States’ poorest residents of, and newcomers to, New York, Chicago, San Francisc...

a year after i finished this article about the history of single-room occupancy (SRO) units, it's exciting to see Pew finally publish it. If you're curious about SROs or "micro-units," have a read! www.pew.org/en/research-...

This year, we Sierra Club opposed sensible CEQA reform to get more dense, pro-climate and conservation-friendly infill housing built in existing communities. But don't worry, there's no need to change existing land use patterns: just buy every household an electric F-150.

YIMBY organizing would not have gotten very far over the past several years if advocates weren't earnestly committed to explaining complex and highly technical issues in land use to laypeople.

Solar panels in West Texas

🌞 Solar that never sleeps? It’s no longer a fantasy.
With today’s batteries, we can now deliver near-constant solar power, up to 97% of the time, at prices cheaper than coal or nuclear.
Here’s why that changes everything 🧵 1/9 👇

This is the real doom loop. It will change everything about life in the Bay Area Already one of the oldest parts of the U.S., the San Francisco metro area is aging faster than any other major region. It will change every aspect of our lives.

The “real doom loop” is the dramatic aging of the Bay Area. There aren’t enough kids or young people.

The reason? Housing, housing, housing — a profound housing shortage that’s pushing out young families & young people generally.

We need to build so many more homes. We’re working hard to do that.

Window Heat Pumps Could Change the Game A new report from the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy has some exciting data for anyone attempting to retrofit a multifamily building.

NYC experimented with new window heat pump models in some public housing units. in winter, "The window unit-heated apartments used a whopping 87% less energy than the rest of the building’s steam-heated apartments did, cutting energy costs per household in half."

heatmap.news/sustainabili...

Good morning with good news: Arizona's solar generation skyrocketed 49% in April 2025 to 2002 GWh, up from 1342 GWh in April 2024.

Solar generated 25.1% of AZ's electricity in April 2025. Wow!

AZ April Solar Share
2025: 25.1%
2024: 16.6%
2023: 13.5%
2021: 11.1%
2019: 9.6%
2015: 6.4%
#energysky

One of the biggest obstacles to building new housing in California has now vanished After a decade of battling, lawmakers just exempted infill urban development from the California Environmental Quality Act, or CEQA.

A decade-spanning political battle between housing developers and defenders of CEQA, California’s preeminent environmental law, came to an end this afternoon with only a smattering of “no” votes.

The forces of housing won.

calmatters.org/housing/2025...

NYC’s Secure Bike Parking Plan Could Revolutionize Urban Cycling Across North America New York City is doing what many cyclists across North America have been dreaming of for years: tackling the bike parking problem head-on.

NYC’s Secure Bike Parking Plan Could Revolutionize Urban Cycling Across North America, with @transalt.org.
momentummag.com/nyc-bike-par...

US solar sets new records as renewables nearly match natural gas – EIA Solar hit 10.7% of US power in April, a new record, as wind + solar beat coal and nuclear, and renewables came within 2% of natural gas.

Good morning with good news: Renewables generated 32.8% of US electricity in April 2025, up from 24.4% in April 2020!

In April, utility-scale solar jumped 39.3% & small solar rose 11.8%. Combined PV grew 31.3%.

RE nears gas. which fell 4.4 points to 35.1%.
#energysky electrek.co/2025/06/26/u...

Good morning with good news: "Many sunny places can get at least 90% of the way to constant 24/365 solar generation" for ~100 MWh. That beats new coal!

In last year, prices for near 24/365 dropped by 22%, driven by a 40% fall in battery prices. Wonderful!
#energysky ember-energy.org/app/uploads/...

Safe Mobility is a Human Right Eight Steps Communities Can Take to Become More Walk and Bike Friendly

Safe Mobility is a Human Right. Rights-based planning involves actually prioritizing safe mobility over cars, an approach embedded in our Integrated Mobility Plan.
We need accelerated cost-effective active mobility infrastructure for all, now.

blog.altaplanning.com/safe-mobilit...

Good morning with good news: US solar set two generation records during May, when it generated a record 11% of USA's electricity and a monthly record 39.46 TWh!

May Solar Share
2025: 11%
2024: 8.65%
2023: 7.31%
2022: 6.14%
2015: 1.21%

Solar gained 2.35 points of share in 12 months. Wow!
#energysky

It's impossible to make sense of American zoning, historically or today, without understanding that it has almost nothing to do with separating residential and classic nuisance. It's a mechanism of segregation, that's it.

University Park’s newest restaurant serves Tex-Mex and barbecue in one place Think brisket Frito pie, King Ranch chicken and Wagyu fajitas.

It's a question all Texans must face at some point: Barbecue or Tex-Mex?

At Los Charros Tex-Mex Smokehouse, which opens soon in University Park, diners don’t have to choose.

Dallas Just Removed the Biggest Barrier to Opening a New Restaurant Parking minimums created artificial scarcity in real estate, and high-end restaurants paid their way out by hiring valets. Now we have sanity.

Parking minimums created artificial scarcity in real estate, and high-end restaurants paid their way out by hiring valets. Now we have sanity.