Paul Eastwood

'A common-sense decision': Government reportedly preparing to make solar panels mandatory for new homes in England Ministers expected to beef-up Future Homes Standard to ensure solar panels are installed on 99 per cent of new build homes from 2027

This is just very good news. It's also not just about the solar and resulting energy bill and emissions savings. It is also an enabling move for more energy storage, more heat pumps, more dynamic energy management. There are huge potential benefits all round. www.businessgreen.com/news/4413004...

Solar panels on all new homes as part of Labour’s net-zero push Sir Keir Starmer rejects Sir Tony Blair’s calls to reset ‘irrational’ climate policies because they were ‘doomed to fail’

NEW

Solar panels to be mandated on vast majority of new homes in England

Currently about 40% of new builds have solar; new rules should push that to about 99%

Story 👇
www.thetimes.com/uk/environme...

'It's a huge loss': Trump administration dismisses scientists preparing climate report More than 400 experts were starting to prepare the latest national climate assessment report. They all received an email from the Trump administration dismissing them.

The Trump administration this week summarily dismissed more than 400 scientists and other experts who had begun to write the latest National Climate Asst.

As I say here, climate change puts us all at risk, and we all need this vital information. Without it, the future will be much more dangerous.

Spain hits first weekday of 100% renewable power on national grid Spain’s grid ran entirely on renewable energy for the first time on April 16, with wind, solar, and hydro meeting all peninsular electricity demand during a weekday. Five days later, solar set a new r...

'But renewables will never be able to replace fossil fuels'

Spain shows that they can.

Wind 46%, solar PV 27%, hydro 23%, solar thermal 2%, other renewables 2%.

www.pv-magazine.com/2025/04/22/s...

Interesting looking new platform (if I can call it that?) to access social media from a variety of other platforms, including Bluesky, Mastodon, and Threads. Should help to democratise access to information and give far greater control over what you see. Definitely the direction we need to head in.

Clean energy will be critical to winning the AI race with China Rather than choosing one energy source over another, the US must quickly create the conditions for a mix to meet demand

Henry Paulson, former US Treasury Secretary (under Bush), making the case for accelerating uptake of clean energy to power growth in AI.

'...sticking with gas would be to sacrifice speed of development and bet against the rapid decline of solar and battery storage costs'

www.ft.com/content/1374...

A good example of your last point. This is all pointing in a positive direction.

bsky.app/profile/surf...

Valerie the dachshund is found safe and well after 529 days on the run on South Australian island Rescuers on Kangaroo Island off South Australia say they are ‘overjoyed’ after the dog walked into one of their traps

Some good news at last

www.theguardian.com/australia-ne...

NEW: Why are hydrogen cars outsold by Ferraris (& EVs)?

Why have H2 projections massively outstripped reality?

Find out + see the latest hydrogen "ladder" by @iain-staffell.bsky.social based on new review with @mliebreich.bsky.social @dankammen.bsky.social

www.carbonbrief.org/guest-post-w...

Astronomers have found thousands of planets outside the solar system. All of them are, to my knowledge, garbage. Happy Earth Day to the only good one 🌍

China’s CATL says it has overtaken BYD on 5-minute EV charging time New version of flagship battery cell can achieve 520km range compared with BYD’s 470km, claims company

The battery giants really are battling it out..

Now CATL pushes past BYD with 520km on just five minutes of charging time. Incredible progress🤯

www.ft.com/content/b4c8...

Feels like another important milestone reached for @bsky.app.

For comparison, twitter had an estimated 40 million users in 2010: www.businessofapps.com/data/twitter...

If the link between decentralisation and democracy is not immediately obvious then have a read of Mike's article, and then follow this by reading a recent article by another person with some knowledge of the internet, the very founder of it, Tim Berners-Lee.

www.ft.com/content/79d2...

YouTube video by Cleaning Up Podcast How Solar Is Saving Babies’ Lives in Sierra Leone — Ep204: Project Bo

Please watch this over the weekend and help spread the word.

It's the story of a solar power project helping to save several hundred babies' lives each year in Sierra Leone.

More than ever we need good news stories about clean energy, and people looking after each other.

youtu.be/yMxJzLNc214?...

Eyeballing a trend suggests that China is gradually overtaking the US?

Did you know how much of the power generation capacity added each year world-wide was in renewables?

2022 it was 80 %
2023 it was 86 %
2024 it was 92,5 %

Not because the whole world suddenly turned „woke“, but because it’s the cheapest!

Home | Project Bo ProjectBo Saving Babies' Lives with Solar Power

In 2017, @mliebreich.bsky.social started Project Bo, an initiative that brought solar power & batteries to a NICU in Sierra Leone, preventing life threatening power cuts. Now we need your help to further improve care & conditions. For more on how you can help, visit projectbo.org

A screenshot of the #Victron remote monitoring of the solar/battery system at Bo Government Hospital - showing how the state-of-charge line dropping as the batteries kept the babies alive over the night of 14-15 April during a long power cut.

This is a screenshot from the remote monitoring of the #ProjectBo PV system at the Government Hospital neonatal unit in Bo, Sierra Leone. See that blue line? That's the batteries. Overnight 14-15th April, a long power cut. Only the minigrid kept the oxygen, heat & lights on!
youtu.be/yMxJzLNc214?...

Access to energy, something most people take almost entirely for granted.

bsky.app/profile/paul...

According to estimates by the @iea.org, around 750 million people lack access to electricity, the vast majority in Sub-Saharan African countries.

Chart from here: www.iea.org/reports/worl...

Kudos to @mliebreich.bsky.social for gripping this particular challenge and securing a solution. We need more champions like Micheal to corral international finance and combine with practical and accessible clean tech to end the lack of access to electricity faced by 100s of millions of people.

YouTube video by Cleaning Up Podcast The Power of Solar in Sierra Leone — Ep204: Project Bo

If you're in doubt as to the importance of international aid, then watch this excellent episode of Cleaning Up telling the story of how solar and batteries are helping to ensure the power remains on to help save the lives of vulnerable babies in Sierra Leone.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=yMxJ...

Bluesky is probably at a similar level of maturity to twitter 15-20 years ago, when the user base was in the low 10s of millions. Needs time, and engagement, to build up. Keep posting. Your piece is excellent.

Sorry to hear this, Michael. How are they shadow banning the video?

Huge Study Shows EVs More Reliable Than ICE Cars With One Surprising Common Issue | Carscoops EVs averaged 4.2 breakdowns per 1,000 vehicles, while similarly aged combustion models more than doubled that rate

The data are in:

Battery-electric cars require only 40% the repairs as internal-combustion-engine (ICE) cars

BEVs: 4.2 breakdowns/year per 1,000 vehicles
ICEs: 10.4 breakdowns/year per 1,000 vehicles

www.carscoops.com/2025/04/new-...

China Halts Critical Rare Earth Exports as Trade War Intensifies Beijing has suspended exports of certain rare earth minerals and magnets that are crucial for the world’s car, semiconductor and aerospace industries.

While generally I think China is in a stronger position on this trade war, the rare earths stuff is completely paper-tiger nonsense that will just shift more of the rare earths supply chain from China: 🧵

www.nytimes.com/2025/04/13/b...

The Good Friday Agreement was signed 27 years ago today. It was an act of delicate diplomacy, which delivered peace and security to a part of our country where those qualities had long been absent. Those achievements should never be taken for granted.

What China's push to replace exports to the U.S. with domestic demand looks like: Jingdong, China's biggest online retailer, pledges to buy 200 bn yuan ($27 bn) of goods from export firms over the next year. That's not pennies even for the huge firm, with 160 bn yuan turnover.

What the dollar normally does in a crisis vs what it's doing now, via RBC

Spain’s Nuclear Shutdown Set to Test Renewables Success Story Plans to shut down all nuclear power plants by 2035 remain unchanged even as other countries delay closures and plan to build more.

Spain is ignoring calls to reconsider its nuclear decommissioning plans, betting renewables and battery storage will make up for the upcoming energy shortfall. It migh be able to pull it off

Free link to my latest on @bloomberg Green

www.bloomberg.com/news/article...