Tom Solomon

NEW REPORT: U.S. Adds 58 GWh of New Energy Storage Capacity in 2025, Largest Single Year of New Battery Capacity on Record – SEIA The Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) is leading the transformation to a clean energy economy. Learn more at seia.org

SEIA: "The U.S. energy storage industry installed a record-shattering 57.6 gigawatt-hours (GWh) of new capacity in 2025, the largest single year of new battery capacity additions on record." seia.org/news/united-... 🔌💡

Judge blocks release of special counsel Jack Smith's report on Trump classified documents case A federal judge has permanently barred the release of a report by special counsel Jack Smith on his investigation into President Donald Trump’s hoarding of classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago estat...

Of course, corrupt Judge Cannon is once again covering for Trump and is previous crimes. Her allegiance is to Trump, not the Constitution. She should be investigated and, if necessary, face impeachment and disbarment.

apnews.com/article/trum...

Farm bankrtuptcies up in Minnesota and across the Midwest • Minnesota Reformer The Farm Bureau’s figures may underplay the extent of the financial challenges facing farmers in Minnesota and beyond.

A 325% increased in Chapter 12 farm bankruptcies in MN in 2025 due to high input costs and low crop prices.

2026 will be a lot worse as the mngop has now run off a major portion of the farm workers. minnesotareformer.com/2026/02/23/f...

Kakistocracy

Geothermal gets its day: Once underperforming New Mexico plant sees turnaround The plant, once on the verge of shutting down, is now home to the most productive pumped geothermal well in the nation.

Geothermal is working in New Mexico.
www.santafenewmexican.com/news/local_n...

America is becoming a petrostate The Trump administration’s energy policy will make the country sicker and poorer

“One wonders what risk premium might be put on a nation with less interest in high-growth industries, as well as dirtier water and air, especially at a time when the insurance industry wants to push more costs from climate-related disasters on to companies, banks and governments themselves.”

The climate emergency seems to be getting worse at a rate inversely proportional to the world’s collective political will to do something about it

🚨The most important graph in the world has another year of data, and it doesn't look good!🚨

NASA CERES satellites measure how much sunlight Earth absorbs and how much heat is radiated back to space.

The difference is heat accumulation, which has more than tripled!

Range of climate indicators for the last 2025 years

And, if you prefer more details, then a graphic with a more complete range of indicators is also available, including Arctic sea ice, ocean heat content, tropospheric temperatures, cherry blossom dates and humidity over land.

ed-hawkins.github.io/climate-visu...

Graphic showing changes in CO₂, global temperatures and global sea levels over the last 2025 years. Steep increases are visible after the industrial revolution.

Updated climate indicators graphics, now including 2025

ed-hawkins.github.io/climate-visu...

This is an interesting story @nytimes.com

It was even more interesting when I broke it a week and a day ago in The Intercept which you did not cite or mention.

An ICE agent shot and killed Ruben Ray Martinez, a US citizen and San Antonio resident, in March 2025. Then ICE and the Texas Department of Public Safety covered it up. He was 23 years old. I am calling for a full investigation into this shooting, including why there was an 8-month cover up.

Let me show you a wardrobe you can build with $1,700 🧵

‘Don’t go to the US – not with Trump in charge’: the UK tourist with a valid visa detained by ICE for six weeks Karen Newton was in America on the trip of a lifetime when she was shackled, transported and held for weeks on end. With tourism to the US under increasing strain, she says, ‘If it can happen to me, i...

A retired British primary school administrator with a British passport and a valid visa was shackled, chained and detained for six weeks by ICE

www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...

French prosecutors intervene in defense of TotalEnergies in climate trial In the trial brought by a coalition of advocacy groups and the City of Paris, opening Thursday, February 19, the prosecutor's office will argue that 'the scope of the due diligence law does not…

France’s first trial against a top oil and gas producer began Feb 19. Advocacy groups claim that TotalEnergies is in violation of French law, which says companies with more than 5k employees must consider risks to human rights and health. By @sfoucart.bsky.social and @stephanemandard.bsky.social...

He Was a Climate Activist. One Day, the F.B.I. Came Knocking.

He Was a Climate Activist. One Day, the F.B.I. Came Knocking. www.nytimes.com/2026/02/20/n...

Kellyanne Conway's polling firm has found:

83% of all voters, and 75% of Trump voters, agree that “solar energy should be used in the US to strengthen and increase our energy supply.”

Everybody loves solar.

Trump EPA Abandons Climate Working Group Report in Endangerment Finding Repeal Emails from the hand-picked, secretive group of climate crisis deniers revealed flaws in their methods and “animus” toward leading scientists.

Quite a good article by @desmog.com about the DOE Climate Working Group report. Well done, @sharonkelly.bsky.social.

www.desmog.com/2026/02/13/t...

#Geothermal education day in the NM Roundhouse today. Come and learn about the exciting future this presents to our state.

National lab projects enhanced geothermal cost could decline to $100/MWh by 2035 Declining costs for enhanced geothermal could make the technology a stronger competitor to solar plus storage. A national lab atlas shows wide potential for enhanced geothermal deployment, primarily i...

#Geothermal costs due to plummet. pv-magazine-usa.com/2026/02/02/n...

I was assured by Haley Stevens that we should be heartened by the presence of female ICE officers

‘We’re no longer attracting top talent’: the brain drain killing American science As Trump slashes science funding, young researchers flee abroad. Without solid innovation, the US could cease to have the largest biomedical ecosystem in the world

The brain drain from science in the US isn't to other countries, but from science to non-science (e.g., I know scientists driving for Uber). The one exception is that students and postdocs are choosing other countries over the US because of the lack of funding, the danger, and the uncertainty.

Man, just listen to this. Trump's effort to contain the Epstein scandal has failed, spectacularly.

Proponents are still deciding which proposed ballot measure to put forward. Some plans need only a simple majority to pass, but would likely require the state Supreme Court to revisit a 2003 ruling prohibiting mid-decade redistricting. Other plans may avoid this, but need to win 55% of the vote.

Invest in Solar Roadways : The Dawn of Intelligent Infrastructure The Dawn of Intelligent Infrastructure

Solar freakin Roadways! wefunder.com/solar.roadwa...

Trump’s Fave Snarling Spox Exits Stage Right Good Riddance Tricia McLaughlin, the DHS spokesperson who trafficked in scurrilous lies...

McLaughlin contributed to a particular Trump II aesthetic: young, photogenic, often blonde women going feral in front of cameras on behalf of Trump and his most odious nativist policies in a performative spectacle that rejected transparency and accountability.

Records tumble as nine wind and solar projects, 1 GW of batteries join grid in just three months If Angus Taylor thought there was "too much wind and solar" on Australia's grid back when he was federal energy minister in 2018, have we got news for him in 2026.

Australia: "Renewable energy supplied over half (51%) of all electricity in the NEM for the first time during Q4 2025, and reached up to 77% of peak demand when the grid was pushed to its limits during January’s extreme heatwaves." reneweconomy.com.au/records-tumb... via @racheljourno.bsky.social 🔌💡

Scientists: if you have pursued/secured philanthropic funding in the wake of federal research funding cuts, I want to talk to you.

Reposts appreciated!

Heat pump sales dipped in 2025. They still beat gas furnaces. Yet again, heat pumps were the most-shipped heating appliance in the U.S. And experts say the factors behind last year’s sales slide are temporary.

"Heat pumps outsold fossil gas–fired furnaces in the U.S. yet again last year. That’s the fourth year in a row," reports @alisontakemura.bsky.social: www.canarymedia.com/articles/hea... 🔌💡

Casa Pueblo Shows Puerto Rico a Path Towards Energy Independence - The Solutions Project

Puerto Rico, not waiting around for Solar.
thesolutionsproject.org/casa-pueblo-...