Bob Mayo

Comparison of the UK and California

Any highlights?

Fake ChatGPT citation Friday: papers I’d like to see written.

Patel, R. K., & Owens, T. (2022). Invisible Smoke: Social Perceptions of Indoor Fossil Fuel Use. Indoor Air & Culture, 5(1), 32–48.

Is it a silicate? Maybe graphite would be a waste stream from the Sublime or Brimstone cement processes?

Smoking at home is not the classiest thing, even if it’s your appliances doing the smoking.

Is it viable as a commercial source of graphite?

Some garnet in there?

Watching California's SB 1221 pilot projects to decarbonize whole neighborhoods? The gas utilities have submitted their initial system maps and priority neighborhood proposals for CPUC review, and these submissions are largely coming up short. 🧵

If I was President, I’d make Arc GIS maps work on iPhones. Google maps is the model.

Policy fantasy day: residential natural gas should be shut off during the warmest seven months of the year. During those times it’s a high GHG luxury good. Yes, I know restating would be a pain, but we once landed on the moon.

Why do politicians brag about how much money will spent on a project, instead of how it will benefit the public? I want the most benefits from the least dollars.

A variant could be a heat pump with a modular field-replaceable backup unit. Gas for some, resistive strips for others, or a backup cold-weather heat pump in the future should somebody want that.

Effects of uncoordinated electrification on energy burdens for natural gas customers - Scientific Reports Scientific Reports - Effects of uncoordinated electrification on energy burdens for natural gas customers

Interesting new paper from @energymorgan.bsky.social et al. "Households that dont electrify may bear a 46% increase in gas bills on average over the next 15 years (relative to current costs). Targeted electrification may help to alleviate energy burdens." #enegrySky www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Love to see the Airform crew get a shout out! Super sharp team building heat pumps from the ground up on first principles. Definitely one to watch.

Nice. They pipe water around? Is the refrigerant-to-water heat exchanger outdoors? That would open up the possibility, eventually, of R290.

If we required gas pipes to be made of copper, building electrification would be a lot easier.

I don’t see how cooking relates to smart doorbells, but whatever.

Good opportunity to bring up farts, and the equivalent for fire.

And how will the poor afford their robots? We all know Elon is not in favor of things like USAID.

A lot of people are drawn to being a contrarian. They think the consensus is likely to be wrong, and their fringe group correct. It is their job to set people straight. They view themselves as warriors for the truth.

Being only an occasional visitor to Chicago, I’ve always wondered what is down there.

Walk between those two.

That’s pretty sloppy. Even a low level employee could be tasked with downloading all the cited papers and making sure they match the citation.

www.gov.ca.gov/2025/07/14/i...

Of course not. This is absurd.

someday renters will able to buy balcony solar, a few 1-2 kWh batteries, and window heat pumps - each for a few hundred bucks or less - plug them into each other or normal wall outlets, use them for cheap comfy carbon-free resilient heating and cooling, and take it all with them when they move

Only 3 years? I want 30-50.

I don’t like ratepayers paying. We need to lower electric rates to facilitate building electrification. Charge it to taxpayers instead.

(Yes, those are the same people but income tax is not a consideration when deciding to get a heat pump vs a gas furnace, while electric rates are.)

CO2 is a nearly-forever chemical, no?