Brendan McEwen

German government looks to overhaul hydrogen subsidy schemes and increase focus on importing H2: senior official The roughly €20bn spent annually on renewables-related support has ‘traumatised’ some policymakers, energy ministry’s hydrogen head tells conference

Dear Germany - Import “hydrogen” as low GHG briquetted iron, ammonia, methanol, ethane/ethylene, & maybe LNG where you can dispose of the CO2, and give up this imported hydrogen nonsense. Love, a Canadian www.hydrogeninsight.com/production/g...

Very proud of MIT today

Very important paper by @gregorsemieniuk.bsky.social that shows, as I have argued, that tax policy is climate policy. We cannot phaseout #fossilfuels without attacking their wealth.
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

NEW: Biofuels globally emit more than the fossil fuels they replace, our latest study shows.

The first-of-a-kind study looks at global biofuels production today and the potential impacts of government biofuel targets.
🧵⤵️

We just made this graph showing most people in the world could get by on just some solar panels and batteries.

The X axis is basically latitude, but we filled in how many people live between the equator and a certain latitude.
The Y axis shows the amount of solar and batteries needed

Likely true, but to comply with electrical codes in USA & Canada (which could otherwise oblige you to upgrade service, sometimes at considerable $) you’ll need a power control system (see UL 3141) that actively controls between loads

Also, having the battery in a device already being installed significantly reduce the cost of storage… so much of the cost of residential battery storage is the labour, sales and permitting…

In addition to the value created by shifting off peak at the wholesale & utility distribution scale, battery integrated appliances could also coordinate to avoid peaks on building systems.

Like all the HPs in MURB could coordinate across a mesh network to not exceed capacity of building…

If this keeps up, if the air stays toxic due to constant flaring, you’ll see local support for LNG expansion in the Prince Rupert and Kitimat area vanish very rapidly.

BC friends, important piece by @iglikaivanova.bsky.social

She writes: BC’s own source revenue—taxes, fees & royalties—has plummeted from 19.2% to 15.4% of GDP over 25 years. This drop represents $16.8 billion in foregone revenues annually."

Tax cuts drive the deficit; progressive tax ⬆️ needed 👇

Will just leave this clip here of Kris Kristofferson, Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson and Waylon Jennings talking about what’s wrong with America from a 1991 interview and it’s still all very true today

I feel like all these people with way tidier homes than mine are committing micro-aggressions…

This is brilliant:

All the Pretty Horses

The God of Small Things

Other strategies to “square it”:

plant a pollinator garden to help the insects where there was previously monoculture grass.

Give $ spent on organic to nature conservation / farm workers advocacy, esp migrants (they need it these days)

Etc etc. 🙂

I used to buy organic… now I generally dont. I think it is largely a marketing hustle intended to separate those with means from their $. And a net bad, given yield impacts.

I do wish there was an independent food labeling scheme growers could apply to that had good contextual criteria.

Youth unemployment isn’t just a statistic. As these testimonials indicate, it’s a crisis shaping the lives & futures of young people.

A Youth Climate Corps could put thousands to work while supporting climate & community. Take action below 👇

If the world diverts tens or hundreds of millions of hectares of additional cropland to biofuels, it would lead to large-scale deforestation and ecosystem conversion, and would be a disaster for our efforts to fight climate change and biodiversity loss. It would also lead to higher food prices.

This is a great short piece worth thinking about when it comes to transportation & urbanism.

“We cannot optimise both proximity and mobility. Proximity and Mobility cannot be friends. We settle into one of two worlds: (a) high proximity, low mobility or (b) high mobility, low proximity.”

How Can We Live Together? - Boston Review Ezra Klein is wrong: shame is essential.

"Common decency stigmatizes people that do not participate in it—removes them from voluntary association. We indeed have to live with one another, but terms and conditions apply."

me on why Ezra Klein should be ashamed / why shame is Good Actually

www.bostonreview.net/articles/how...

there is this notion that electrification is driving car bloat - I really don't see it! Sure EVs are lower cost to operate, but trend towards the (very dangerous) large pickups & SUVs is predominantly driven by North American automakers selling ICE

As @cleanenergycanada.org documents, Europeans have access to lower cost EVs. The Federal govt of Canada should enable access.

What really strikes me about these cars is their modest size! So much safer for pedestrians, etc.

cleanenergycanada.org/report/missi...

“The announcement on autism was the greatest display of ignorance, unfounded blather, dangerous advice, recycled old nonsense and outright malpractice advice since Trump recommended bleach for Covid,” Arthur Caplan, professor of medical ethics at NYU.

www.the-independent.com/news/world/a...

30 Clean Tech “Moonshots” Could Unlock Net Zero Energy Breakthroughs New Climate Tech Atlas highlights opportunities for a net zero future

this is such a fun/exciting/important list... if you know any entrepreneurial or scientifically-minded people (esp. young people) trying to figure out what to devote their career to, this would be a good list to consult!

kudos @energyinnovation.org

thepowerline.substack.com/p/30-clean-t...

Vertical solar panels didn't decrease wheat yields at all.

Although exposure to sunlight was decreased, wind protection seemed to make up for it.

Everybody wins.
techxplore.com/news/2025-09...

I'm writing something on why Canada develops megaprojects instead of innovation systems

In 1957 staple theorist WT Easterbrook wrote Canada puts "a high premium on bigness in entrepreneurship" - that our capitalists seek security in gov't infrastructure projects.

#cdnhist #cdnpoli #elbowsup

I see AI-generated text everywhere in academic writing. And it's making me a bit sad.

It feels like all the argumentation is homogenized, and stylistically represents a consulting report (McKinsey style), with a lot of empty strawman arguments and other logical/intellectual blunders.

#GenerativeAI

This is the primary contributor to the acceleration in global warming in recent years. Cutting air pollution saves lives and is unequivocally worth doing, but it is also driving about a quarter (~0.14C) of the approximately 0.5C warming the world has experienced between 2007 and 2024.

Opinion | A Responsible Way to Cool the Planet A small, carefully scaled geoengineering program could compensate for the loss of cooling as we eliminate sulfur pollution.

I have a new @nytimes.com guest essay w/ @davidkeith.bsky.social about sunlight reflection. We note its not a solution for climate change and at best a band aid to treat systems, and suggest if its ever done it should only be to replace the cooling from air pollution today:

You: clean energy policy should only aim to exactly internalize the marginal damages of the social cost of carbon using hyperbolic discounting across a range of time preferences.

Me: we’re gonna built party lakes with tiki bars powered by geothermal energy.