Jay Turner

For years, Sarah & Doug have been putting together such a clear-eyed, inclusive, and hopeful vision of mobility alternatives. Now they've distilled it into this great book! And it starts with a mind-boggling early Superman comic that they unearthed.

What more do I need to say? Go get it!

Apply for an ASEH Travel Grant to the 2026 Conference in Kansas City. Submission deadline is: Nov. 20

aseh.org

Visit the Germinate Website: g-ehr.com for all the latest content in ASEH's new digital publication: Germinate!

Exciting to see the range of schools on track - big state schools, small liberal arts colleges, etc.

Roxbury Community College did a big GSHP/solar project in 2016/17. I wonder how much that lowered their Scope 1 emissions?

Are they among the > 600 colleges in your dataset?

Reduction in direct emissions at decarbonizing HEIs. Keene state college with an over 90% reduction from waste vegetable oil. Missouri University of Science and Technology with an 88% reduction from ground source heat pumps. The rest (Ball State, Carleton, Oberlin, Miami and West Chester) all also used ground source heat pumps.

Carbon neutrality doesn’t always lead to decarbonization. But who is decarbonizing? We looked at >600 US colleges and universities and found 7 that have decarbonized direct (Scope 1) emissions by at least 50% (usually with ground source heat pump networks). This is possible folks! 1/6

Is the Trump slow down in clean energy manufacturing investments slowing down?

Based on events this week, the answer is no. Gotion's plans for the $2.4B gigafactory in MI are dead. Ford just paused F-150 Lightning production. And those are just the biggest slow downs...
bridgemi.com/business-wat...

Exciting thread from @jonasnahm.com on the beginnings of a research agenda to track the recent past and guide the evolution of industrial policy. #energysky

This is a really helpful report that explains what Community Benefits Agreements are and how they give communities leverage in negotiations around energy transition projects. Worth reading for the insights, four well-researched case studies, and excellent use of Storymaps!

https:www.the-big-green-machine.com

My @wellesley.edu students and I are tracking more than 600 clean energy manufacturing projects in North America at The Big Green Machine.

Check out our interactive dashboard and let us know what we are missing, what we’ve got wrong, and what needs updating. 🔌💡

Our website also has a lightning fast search feature, making it easy to look up details and sources for every clean energy manufacturing project we are tracking.

www.the-big-green-machine.com/search

For a complete list of all projects we are tracking that have advanced or slowed, request access to our dataset. It also includes summaries of investments by sector, state, country (USA, Mexico, Canada), and more.

www.the-big-green-machine.com/access-datab...

Chart showing that Republican-led congressional districts have seen $38.5 billion of clean energy manufacturing slow since 1/20/2025 compared to $7.4 billion in Democratic-led congressional districts.

Are the slow downs concentrated in Democratic-led congressional districts? Our tracking says no.

In general, slow downs are following the same pattern as investments in US clean energy manufacturing — meaning they are largely concentrated in Republican-led congressional districts. 🔌💡

Graphic showing how many clean energy manufacturing projects in the US have advanced versus slowed since Trump took office on January 20, 2025. The source is The Big Green Machine: https://www.the-big-green-machine.com

For the first time since Trump’s inauguration, projects that have advanced toward production exceed those that have suffered delays, been reduced in size, canceled, or paused across all metrics (number of projects, size of investment, and announced jobs).

Chart plotting when clean energy manufacturing projects were announced and, for those that have been canceled, paused, or closed, when the disinvestment occurred (this chart excludes projects have just been delayed or reduced in size). It shows a big boom in project announcements during Biden administration and surge of disinvestment since Trump took office, especially in Q2 and Q3 2025.

Is the Trump slow down in clean energy manufacturing investments bottoming out?

Our tracking shows that new investments in US clean energy manufacturing during Q3 2025 exceeded canceled or paused projects for the first time since Q3 2024. 🔌💡

www.the-big-green-machine.com/post-trump-s...

It is fascinating to see the expanding role of batteries on California's grid. gridstatus.io has the real-time data!

Remarkable that there have been no Flex Alerts for CA since 2022 - real gains for grid resiliency.

The Government Is Shut Down. But Not for Fossil Fuels.

Federal workers who issue permits for oil, gas, and mining operations are on the job, along with those working to repeal pollution limits, despite the federal government shutdown, reports Lisa Friedman: www.nytimes.com/2025/10/17/c... 🔌💡

Thanks. Good point. Hope we'll learn more about the economics of this and similar projects!

And if you got a heat pump before 2019 or w/o using the Mass Save incentive, you can upload documentation demonstrating eligibility at the site below starting November 1. www.eversource.com/residential/...

A definite downside for this specific project. But I was trying to look past that small detail and towards all of the other potential applications for decarbonizing industrial heat important to manufacturing the materials needed for renewable energy technologies!

LA’s long, troubled history with urban oil drilling is nearing an end after years of health concerns The Los Angeles area has over 20,000 active, idle or abandoned oil wells. The city and county have voted to ban new ones after studies showed health problems in residents living nearby.

Didn't we try that? theconversation.com/las-long-tro...

"Industrial heat accounts for about 25% of global energy use, from cement kilns to chemical plants. Rondo’s heat battery technology offers a simple way to decarbonize that sector."

No critical minerals or risk of toxic emissions. Runs on off-peak power.

Exciting. What are the downsides? 🔌💡

US postpones Wyoming coal lease sale after disappointing Montana auction The Trump administration has postponed a scheduled sale of coal leases on federal lands in Wyoming two days after a disappointing auction in Montana, an Interior Department spokesperson said on Wednesday.

New coal leases in the Powder River Basin have been paused after the first one had only a bid for 1/10th of a penny. They are trying to blame previous administrations, but the writing is on the wall. We should be supporting coal workers and communities not doing wtf this clown show is doing.

Why China Built 162 Square Miles of Solar Panels on the World’s Highest Plateau

“A quarter-century ago and flooded a vast area for the reservoir of the Three Gorges Dam. This year, China has been installing enough solar panels every three weeks to match the power generation capacity of that dam.” #energysky

www.nytimes.com/2025/10/10/b...

"Communities considering geothermal heat pump systems have been concerned about a long-term subsurface warming trend...Because of groundwater flow and winter shutoffs, we cannot identify any evidence of this trend [in this system]"
www.geosociety.org/GSA/Publicat...

MA utility's are adopting heat pump rates that reflect that winter-time heat pump use doesn't drive peak demand (which comes in summer).

This impressive study from @jpv.switch.box .box makes the case for why this make sense, and why the utility's should do yet more. www.switch.box/mahprates

Regulatory shifts cause North Carolina solar company to cut 500 jobs Blue Ridge Power said regulatory changes affecting renewable energy companies and shifts in the capital markets prompted its decision to wind down the business.

How many other local and regional solar installers are at risk in the coming years?

www.wral.com/story/regula...

Related, on the geoeconomic turn in decarbonization, is @jonasmeckling.bsky.social sky.social in this week's issue of Nature. 🔌💡

"Global competition for the economic benefits of decarbonization has emerged alongside global cooperation on the costs of mitigation."

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

This Town Was One of the First in the Nation to Install a Geothermal Network. Now Others Are Warming Up to the Idea. - Inside Climate News More than a decade after West Union, Iowa, tapped geothermal energy, the town’s heating and cooling network is a “celebrity” among clean energy advocates.

"It saves us money, and will continue to save us money,” Steve Fate, president of the West Union District Energy geothermal network in downtown West Union, Iowa, told @mckennapr.bsky.social: insideclimatenews.org/news/2009202... 🔌💡