Kristina Costa

Another day, another packet of evidence that the energy policy of this administration is a world-historic self-own that will leave the U.S. poorer and less competitive in a rapidly changing global economy.

Two more examples for you: Hillary did a 3-day Appalachia tour during the primary, meeting with voters on energy, jobs, health care, substance abuse. Biden had a massive effort to help fossil communities attract investment. Idea that either wrote off large swathes of “red” America is so frustrating.

Senate environment Dems have held several such hearings, starting around March of this year IIRC, including on the illegal efforts to freeze competitively awarded, contracted federal funds.

Greenhouse Gas Reductions Driven by Vehicle Electrification across Powertrains, Classes, Locations, and Use Patterns We assess the cradle-to-grave greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions of current (2025) light-duty vehicles (LDV) across powertrains, vehicle classes, and locations. We create driver archetypes (commuters, occasional long-distance travelers, contractors), simulate different use patterns (drive cycles, utility factors, cargo loads) and characterize GHG emissions using an attributional approach. Driven by grid decarbonization and improved electric vehicle efficiency, we are first to report electric vehicles have lower GHG emissions than gasoline vehicles in every county across the contiguous United States. On average, a 300-mile range battery electric vehicle (BEV) has emissions which are 31–36% lower than a 50-mile range plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV), 63–65% lower than a hybrid electric vehicle (HEV), and 71–73% lower than an internal combustion engine vehicle (ICEV). Downsizing also reduces emissions, with a compact ICEV having 34% lower emissions than an ICEV pickup. We present the first evaluation of LDV emissions while hauling cargo, showing that carrying 2500 lbs. in a pickup increases BEV emissions by 13% (134 to 152 g CO2e/mile) compared to 22% (486 to 592 g CO2e/mile) for an ICEV. Emissions maps and vehicle powertrain/class matrices highlight the interplay between vehicle classes, powertrains, locations, and use patterns, and provide insights for consumers, manufacturers, and policymakers.

🚗⚡ EVs win everywhere

A new study shows that in every US county, electric vehicles now emit less greenhouse gas than petrol cars, no matter how you drive them.

🔗 pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/...

#SciComm #EVs #ClimateAction 🧪

Their antipathy appears limited to the technologies that pose a near-term threat to an unnecessary gas expansion. Existing hydro has mostly already been uprated. SMR, conventional nuke, new hydro, marine kinetic energy sources will all take years to develop. Wind, solar, storage — not so much.

Solar executives warn that Trump attack on renewables will lead to power crunch that spikes electricity prices Renewable power executives say difficulty getting permits, rising costs due to tariffs and the end of key tax credits are making it tough to plan.

Solar executives warn that Trump attack on renewables will lead to power crunch that spikes electricity prices — via @cnbc.com www.cnbc.com/2025/08/24/s...

Forty Acres and a Sense of Hope Sunshine on a Cloudy Week

Wow: “If you grow an acre of corn, it will produce 900 gallons of ethanol, which will get you about 25,000 miles for a Ford F-150...which is, not bad I guess. But let’s say we put solar on that same acre. It will produce enough electricity every year to drive my Lightning 550,000 miles.”

Highlighting synchronous compensators is good; unfortunately Bloomberg is again repeating the fallacy that the precipitating event of the Spain blackout was solar failing. Thermal generators went down first, and then Spain’s grid regs (which can also be revised!) took solar offline as a precaution.

Link to the guidance for those who want to start their weekend with wonkery: aboutblaw.com/bjeL /🧵

In short, we've once again got further headwinds for clean energy developers, with smaller and tax-exempt players hurt the most, at a time when electricity prices are rising nationwide and we should be deploying all the solar, wind, and storage we can get. 7/

The differentiation between 'commence construction' for wind and solar vs other 48E/45Y technologies (plus 45Q, 45V, and 48D) continues to seem on shaky legal ground to me. Not an APA lawyer, but I'd think there are some pretty clear grounds to argue these changes are arbitrary and capricious. 6/

And small private developers don't have the market power to out-compete the big guys to take full advantage of physical work safe harbor. If I'm right, we'll see less deployment, less diversification of clean energy resources, and (as always with this administration) higher costs. 5/

I'm particularly concerned about what these changes will do to rural co-ops, Tribes, and smaller developers. Co-ops and other entities were going to blend tax credits with grants. If they get tangled in permitting chaos, they may not be able to begin physical work. Tribes may struggle even more. 4/

The guidance eliminates the cost safe harbor (previously 5%) altogether for everything except very small ( < 1.5 MW) solar projects. This is going to create chaos for segments of the market that cannot easily meet the physical work test, raise costs even for those who can, and reduce deployment. 3/

It clearly undermines Congressional intent and goes against the text of the GOP bill. The law as actually passed provided a (shorter than optimal) transition period using the longstanding commence construction standard. These changes go against that, and arbitrarily shorten the transition. 2/

Earlier today, Bloomberg published what appears to be updated 'commence construction' guidance for wind and solar projects seeking to claim tax credits under the GOP megabill. BLUF: We should take no comfort that it "could have been worse" and there is very little to celebrate. 🧵:

Literally lighting taxpayer dollars on fire, in pursuit of ignorance.

Donald Trump’s Backdoor Gasoline Tax Overturning the basis for America’s tailpipe emissions rules could actually raise prices at the pump — according to the Trump administration itself.

"It hasn’t attracted much attention, but a document filed by the Trump administration last week admits to something important: The Trump administration believes that it is going to make gasoline more expensive for Americans." — @robinsonmeyer.bsky.social

heatmap.news/politics/tru...

~17,000 Tribal homes in the U.S. still do not have electricity, including many in the Southwest. Off-grid solar and storage is by far the most cost-effective way to electrify these homes. Just needlessly, recklessly, pointlessly cruel to deny Tribal families access to power and refrigeration.

Sixth IRS commissioner in seven months unwilling to face jail time when directed to share confidential taxpayer data. Never thought I’d say this, but kudos to Billy Long.

Political appointees violating federal law at other agencies should probably take a good look in the mirror.

Renewables saving the day during record heat is THE story of the summer.

@ramez.bsky.social:
"Wow. 12 GWs of natural gas plants have unplanned outages in Texas right now, more than twice the amount the grid is supposed to be able to handle. Batteries keeping the lights on as we speak."

The “markets should reflect the full cost” people also often conveniently tend to forget that we are not pricing the externalities of fossil production and generation.

Yesterday Real World: Boston cast member / acting NASA head Sean Duffy said he wants to build a nuclear plant... on the moon.

Vogtle cost $30B without having to escape Earth's gravity.

Average cost of a resi system that can bring your grandma's power bill to zero = $15-$25k

Make it make sense.

The remarkable work EPA regulations have achieved over 50 years to improve air quality and public health in the U.S. being steadily undone by climate-fueled wildfire disasters both here and in Canada.

Under Siege From Trump and Musk, a Top Liberal Group Falls Into Crisis

Between Musk & the Trump administration, Media Matters has been squeezed to the brink. In settlement discussions, lawyers for X demanded the organization hand over all its cash and shut down — all because MM reported ads appeared on X next to antisemitic content. www.nytimes.com/2025/07/25/u...

The other Kristina Costa is a seemingly very rad baker in San Francisco and every so often I think I probably owe her an apology.

Going to staple this to the forehead of every Wall Street type who keeps claiming without evidence that this administration is interested in pursuing serious permitting reform. This is an unprecedented and unnecessary amount of new bureaucracy, all to raise transaction costs on disfavored sectors.

Major questions doctrine for thee but not for me

On July 5, as floodwaters were starting to recede, FEMA received 3,027 calls from disaster survivors and answered 3,018, or roughly 99.7 percent, the documents show. Contractors with four call center companies answered the vast majority of the calls. That evening, however, Ms. Noem did not renew the contracts with the four companies and hundreds of contractors were fired, according to the documents and the person briefed on the matter. The next day, July 6, FEMA received 2,363 calls and answered 846, or roughly 35.8 percent, according to the documents. And on Monday, July 7, the agency fielded 16,419 calls and answered 2,613, or around 15.9 percent, the documents sho

www.nytimes.com/2025/07/11/c...