David Youngs

What a momentous day for the British state. And what an iconic image to capture it

I've added new results to this post on solar and batteries taking over the world, include system cost breakdowns in components (solar, battery, fuel), simulations with much lower battery costs in 2050 (e.g. 50 €/kWh, also 20 €/kWh), curtailment, etc., as well as making data files available. Enjoy!

Injection Wells Will Haunt Us Forever In 1971 Orlo Childs was speaking at the annual Underground Waste Management symposium and posed the following question about the practice of using injection wells to dispose of America’s toxic waste. ...

Not paywalled with more of the details. powering-the-planet.ghost.io/injection-we...

Texas Oil Drillers See Salvation in Data Centers There are hopes that wastewater from fracking could be snapped up by Big Tech.

Texas oil drillers see salvation in data centers. Wow. First, why does the TX oil industry need to be saved?

And how would data centers save them?

It's about water.

Can you now see why the fossil fuel industry and the media are selling fossil fuel data centers?

They need each other.

Whatever the top awards are for investigative journalism, Justin Nobel should be getting them all for his work revealing the massive radioactive contamination issue in the oil and gas industry.

I think heat pumps are a far more important technology than AI.

Yep. You heard me.

The Feds Targeted Charlotte. Now a Local Democrat Who Helped ICE Faces Voters. North Carolina lawmaker Carla Cunningham voted to mandate compliance with ICE, and derided immigrants on the House floor. The Democrat faces an intense March primary.

A primary challenger to North Carolina state Representative Carla Cunningham criticized the Democrat’s support for working with ICE ahead of the federal crackdown in Charlotte. “It felt like a betrayal of the utmost.”

😕 ugly stuff here from the nashville banner… nashvillebanner.com/2026/02/19/i...

Russia’s New Car Prices Jump 46% Since Ukraine Invasion - The Moscow Times The average price of a new passenger car in Russia has risen 46% since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, climbing from 2.4 million rubles ($31,200) to 3.5 million rubles ($45,500), according to Serg...

The average price of a new passenger car in Russia has risen 46% since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, climbing from 2.4 million rubles ($31,200) to 3.5 million rubles ($45,500), according to Sergei Tselikov, head of the Avtostat analytical agency

www.themoscowtimes.com/2026/02/19/r...

Withering sass is one British value worth upholding.

Wonder if they can pull this off. Such low hanging fruit should be easy to pick but....

Just occurred to me that as Trump’s DOJ was investigating, indicting, and arresting Epstein — and talking that same summer to a woman accusing Trump of assaulting her as a child — across almost that exact same timeline he does all that crazy shit with Ukraine that ends up getting him impeached

Yoon Suk Yeol sentenced to life in prison for leading insurrection in South Korea Former South Korean president found guilty over failed martial law declaration in 2024

Justice for an insurrectionist.

The people of Bluesky genuinely do not give a fuck about attracting more people to the site or ass-kissing journalists and personalities to come here. This is largely a group of countercultural progressives who are fucking tired of the very status quo people who come here to complain.

Same as in China, no trust in the regime

Slovakia is shifting away from Russian oil after supplies via the Druzhba pipeline were halted by damage in Ukraine. Refinery Slovnaft ordered seven tankers from Saudi Arabia, Norway, Kazakhstan and Libya, with deliveries via Croatia and the Adria pipeline.

ru.themoscowtimes.com/2026/02/18/s...

A major redistribution of property in Russia, the largest since the 90s, has affected dozens of billionaires and about 20 top revenue companies. Assets worth about 5 trillion rubles were seized in 22–24, mainly benefiting state corporations and allies of Putin.

ru.themoscowtimes.com/2026/02/18/p...

From 24.02.2022 to 19.02.2026 (Day 1457), estimated losses #Russia suffered in #Ukraine.

Highlights:
+830 Personnel
+21 Artillery
+406 UAVs
+117 Other Vehicles

Statistics: redd.it/1r8r0zg

#RussianLosses

Credit cards cancelled, Google accounts closed: ICC judges on life under Trump sanctions Kimberly Prost and Luz del Carmen Ibáñez Carranza vow US reprisals will not affect work of international criminal court

Credit cards cancelled, Google accounts closed: ICC judges on life under #Trump sanctions

✍️ Ashifa Kassam

Kimberly Prost and Luz del Carmen Ibáñez Carranza vow US reprisals will not affect work of international criminal court

www.theguardian.com/law/2026/feb...

How has your country's climate changed over the past century? Find out here:

Authorities need to search Epstein’s “Zorro ranch” and get to the bottom of what crimes took place there, who may be covering them up, and what evidence still may exist there.

CNN Data Guru Delivers Bad News to Trump in 2024 Election Rematch If the 2024 election happened today, it would be a much different story, argues Harry Enten.

For those falsely claiming @kamalaharris.com can't win in 2028:

CNN’s chief polling expert says Donald Trump would get wiped out in an electoral rematch against Kamala Harris.

...if the 2024 election were to happen today, Harris would defeat Trump in a landslide.

"The US military will not obey illegal orders", they said

Reality: SOUTHCOM's own social media channels are openly publishing its key involvement in extralegal killings

Who Is Detaching Whom? The "Reverse Nixon" Was More A "Reverse Mao Zedong"

Hi All, Just sent this out. We are witnessing a historical failure to understand the limits on US power. People honestly talk about the US detaching Russia from China, when what we are seeing is a depressing detaching of the US from its democratic allies by Ru/Ch. open.substack.com/pub/phillips...

Today’s massive russian missile strike on critical infrastructure has failed.

The Ukrainian Air Force demonstrated high effectiveness — 25 out of 29 missiles and 367 out of 396 drones were shot down. That amounts to roughly 90% effectiveness.

Collage showing russian military recruits and a cemetery with graves adorned with russian flags. Text overlay reads 'russian Losses Exceed Recruits by 9,000.' Sources: War on the Rocks, russian media.

russia sustained around 9,000 more battlefield losses in #Ukraine than it was able to replace in January, according to assessments from Western officials cited by Bloomberg.

Source: United 24 Media

The electronic budget system shows a 3.55 trillion ruble deficit as of 10 February 2026

🇸🇰💶🇪🇺📰Honestly didn't see that coming - Slovak daily @dennikn.bsky.social buys EUobserver.

How -5 celsius feels after surviving a winter of -22 without heating

UK's wind and solar generation passed the 100 TWh milestone in 2025, reaching 105.6 TWh, up from 98.1 TWh in 2024.

W&S generated 36.1% of UK's electricity in 2025, up from 34.5% in 2024 and 23.2% in 2019.

W&S gained ~2 points/yr of market share.

They could be 50% by ~2032.

#energysky