Paulina Jaramillo

Can Data Centers Help the Grid They’re Straining? Paulina Jaramillo, Ph.D.

Data centers could consume 12% of U.S. electricity by 2028. Paradox: they could also stabilize the grid they’re straining. Will they? Probably not in time. #EnergySky
open.substack.com/pub/paulinaj...

The Hydrogen Crisis: How Political Winds Are Stalling Our Energy Future Paulina Jaramillo, Ph.D.

The federal retreat on hydrogen is frustrating, but it must not be the end of the story. States acting decisively now could position themselves as leaders in the hydrogen economy climate science tells us we desperately need.
#hydrogen #climate #energypolicy
open.substack.com/pub/paulinaj...

We just submitted comments to EPA on their proposed rescission of the greenhouse gas endangerment finding. The science is clear: GHGs are air pollutants that harm public health through multiple pathways. Policy should follow evidence, not ideology. #Climate #CleanAirAct #EPA

I have concluded that Democrats should not shut down the government. Why get in the way of letting the system collapse under the GOP's hands? Voting has consequences. Let the country feel them. I am sad that so many will suffer, but I don’t see another way to escape this chaos.

Use of the word "evil" in official congressional e-newsletters, over time, by party

Colombia is using “coral IVF” The country’s response to a devastating hurricane has turned it into a reef-restoration champion

Some good news from Colombia: using “coral IVF”
economist.com/the-americas...
from The Economist

The Digital Infrastructure Boom is Driving Up Everyone’s Electric Bill Paulina Jaramillo, Ph.D.

Data centers could increase US electricity costs by 8% and emissions by 30% by 2030. These trends create fundamental challenges for grid planning. Solutions exist, but policymakers must act now. Read more at Amped Up!
#Energy #DataCenters #Climate
open.substack.com/pub/paulinaj...

Scientists & Experts: Stop the EPA's Attack on Climate Science & Public Health The Environmental Protection Agency is attacking science and threatening to reverse a foundational climate protection. Join scientists and experts in speaking out in defense of science, public health,...

The Environmental Protection Agency is attacking science and threatening to reverse a foundational climate protection. Join scientists and experts in speaking out in defense of science, public health, and climate science. act.ucsusa.org/4okjCyf

The Great Republican Energy Contradiction Paulina Jaramillo, Ph.D.

New Post. Republicans can’t have their cake and eat it too.
open.substack.com/pub/paulinaj...

Americans could learn some things from the French.

Republicans are against considering race in college admission reviews, but get excited about considering race in immigration enforcement.

Beyond the Industry Talking Points: The Real Case for Efficiency Standards Paulina Jaramillo, Ph.D.

House witnesses this week will claim energy efficiency standards hurt consumers. But research shows the opposite: these policies help families achieve lower bills, healthier homes, and energy security while boosting US clean energy leadership.
Read more in Amped Up! open.substack.com/pub/paulinaj...

Two Promising Bills Signal Some Progress on Permitting Reform Paulina Jaramillo, Ph.D.

Two actually good permitting bills heading to House committee: ePermit Act (digital tools + coordination) and NEPA Data Act (empirical analysis of review timelines).
Bipartisan, evidence-based, working within existing frameworks.
New post:
open.substack.com/pub/paulinaj...

The Return to Coal: How Republicans Are Dismantling Environmental Progress Paulina Jaramillo, Ph.D.

Republicans are trying to innovate America back to the 19th century. Republicans would gut environmental reviews and expand coal mining while black lung disease resurges. It’s a stunning failure of imagination from the party that claims to champion innovation.
open.substack.com/pub/paulinaj...

Fighting Back Against Federal Climate Misinformation Paulina Jaramillo, Ph.D.

The DOE published a climate report that abandons science for ideology. My CMU colleagues and I called it out in our public comments: it’s not serious research, it’s a document designed to serve those who profit from climate inaction. Read our comments on Amped Up. open.substack.com/pub/paulinaj...

“Thoughts and prayers” don’t seem to be working.

America’s Property Insurance Crisis: An Economic Catastrophe in the Making Paulina Jaramillo, Ph.D.

America’s property insurance crisis could make 2008 look small. Insurers fleeing entire states, premiums tripling, millions of homes becoming uninsurable. $1.47T in property losses projected by 2055. The hardest truth: managed retreat is inevitable. New post: open.substack.com/pub/paulinaj...

Amped Up: Energy Policy Talk | Substack My personal Substack. Click to read Amped Up: Energy Policy Talk, a Substack publication. Launched 16 days ago.

If you haven’t done so yet, check out my new Substack Newsletter: Amped Up - Energy Policy Talk. I have already published a few essays about permitting reform and grid planning. I will soon write about capacity markets, data centers, and hydrogen. Subscribe now!
paulinajllo.substack.com

The Great Electricity Planning Challenge: A Story of Change and Uncertainty Paulina Jaramillo, Ph.D.

🔌💡 The lights come on when you flip the switch, but we may not be ready for what’s coming.
NERC warns of electricity shortages ahead while we’re juggling exploding demand, renewables, and climate change with broken governance.
Why our planning is failing:
open.substack.com/pub/paulinaj...

A Path Forward: How to Fix America’s Broken Permitting System Paulina Jaramillo, Ph.D.

Final post in my permitting series! A Path Forward: One Way to Fix America’s Overburdened Permitting System. From consolidating agency authority to cutting paperwork bloat, here’s what sensible reform could look like. Too bad we have a dysfunctional Congress. open.substack.com/pub/paulinaj...

The Road Not Taken: Did Democrats Miss Their Chance on Permitting Reform? Paulina Jaramillo, Ph.D.

New post: Congress rejected bipartisan permitting reform in 2024 that would have helped clean energy. Now we are facing the SPEED Act, legislation that would gut environmental review entirely. Sometimes imperfect compromise beats purity. 🔌💡
open.substack.com/pub/paulinaj...

Program managers indeed make the final award decisions based on recommendations from the review panels. However, program managers are typically career scientists and not political appointees.

Senior appointees are political appointees: “Senior appointees and their designees shall not ministerially ratify or routinely defer to the recommendations of others in reviewing funding opportunity announcements or discretionary awards, but shall instead use their independent judgment.”

New executive order puts all grants under political control All new funding on hold until Trump administration can cancel any previously funded grants.

Peer review is mentioned. The EO says explicitly that agency leads are not required to follow the recommendations from review panels when making award decisions. The order gives final granting authority to political appointees. Here is a helpful summary: arstechnica.com/science/2025...

Why Do We Need Permitting Reform? (And Are We Asking the Right Questions?) Paulina Jaramillo, Ph.D.

Here is my first essay on Permitting Reform. I am still struggling with this subject and will expand my thoughts in future posts.

open.substack.com/pub/paulinaj...

I used to know someone who thought cars are utterly unnecessary and we don’t need home refrigerators because we should eat fresh food every day. I used to call it “developed world privilege syndrome.” Fortunately, its sufferers will soon be healed as these luxuries become unavailable in the US. 🤦‍♀️

Improving Oversight of Federal Grantmaking By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, and to improve the process of Federal

And here is the EO: www.whitehouse.gov/presidential...

Oh, and awards should go to institutions with the lowest indirect cost rates. Basically, we are in a race to the bottom in research. I am starting to question the point of staying here, working in a university, and trying to do research.

It also establishes that grantees conform to Trump’s politics on gender, immigration, and the country’s exceptionalism. It specifically calls for grants to “be given to a broad range of recipients rather than to a select group of repeat players.”

🧵I have been operating under the assumption that I will not be able to get federal funding for the next 3.5 years. This EO just confirms my assumption. The order effectively removes scientific review from the grantmaking process.