Ted Nordhaus

Why I Stopped Being a Climate Catastrophist Recently, in an exchange on X, my former colleague Tyler Norris observed that over the years, my views about climate risk have evolved substantially. Norris posted a screenshot of a page from the book

Why I Stopped Being a Climate Catastrophist. by @tednordhaus.bsky.social www.realclearscience.com/2025/08/13/w...

Don’t Set Your Money On Fire My Advice to New Climate Philanthropists

Bracing advice from @tednordhaus.bsky.social on climate philanthropy.

www.breakthroughjournal.org/p/dont-set-y...

I would be interested in knowing too. I certainly haven’t found anything in Marty’s writing that would suggest this would be an appropriate application of tail risk in public policy.

"Secretary Kennedy reiterated misguided and unscientific ideas that would upend the livelihoods of American farmers, increase food prices for American consumers, and compromise the competitiveness of U.S. agriculture globally" as @tednordhaus.bsky.social told the Hagstrom Report.

This sucks. The Breakthrough Institute’s ag program is terrific, someone needs to fund it. @tednordhaus.bsky.social @danbr.bsky.social

RFK Jr. wants to ‘go wild’ on agriculture. That’s a big problem - Washington Examiner With the Senate now considering the nomination, we all need to take a hard look at Kennedy’s fringe points of view, including on agriculture.

“If confirmed, Kennedy would undermine decades of progress in agricultural productivity, environmental sustainability, and food security.”
www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/belt...

Trump Is Quitting the Paris Agreement. Poor Countries Should, Too. Decades of hypocritical climate policies have failed the global south.

Missed this piece from Vijaya Ramachandran and @tednordhaus.bsky.social when it came out. I have some disagreements with it but it's interesting and worth reading for those of us working on development and international climate policy foreignpolicy.com/2025/01/06/t...

Trump Is Quitting the Paris Agreement. Poor Countries Should, Too. Decades of hypocritical climate policies have failed the global south.

“Energy Austerity for thee but not for me.”

COP is a bad deal for developing countries says @tednordhaus.bsky.social and they should quit.

It’s supposed to be a deal: developing countries leapfrog fossil fuels with aid. But the deal isn’t working.

foreignpolicy.com/2025/01/06/t...

Has There Really Never Been An Energy Transition? By Ted Nordhaus

"There are, in short, no global energy transitions, only local and national transitions. Skeptics who argue that the world has never undergone an energy transition make the same mistake as proponents who claim that the world is in the midst of one." www.breakthroughjournal.org/p/has-there-...

BT crops go a long way wrt insecticides. Things like pivot + fertigation go a long way wrt to synthetic fertilizer. Cover crop + roundup ready can very significantly reduce total herbicide toxicity if not use. All more applicable to larger, well capitalized farms.

I agree with this too and appreciate Jason’s key nuance here: reducing synthetic chemical applications through better practices and technology, not eliminating them.

Courageous essay from @mikegrunwald.bsky.social
in NYT. Kudos to Mike for writing it and NYT for publishing it. nytimes.com/2024/12/13/o...

But private innovation won't succeed without innovation from America's nuclear regulator. There are still huge problem with proposed Part 53, on cumulative risk, safety analysis, and much else that still need to be addressed. Let's hope commission is up to the task.

The Case For Small Reactors By Ted Nordhaus and Adam Stein

There is now substantial policy support thanks to IRA and other recent laws. And a wave of next gen reactors that will hopefully prove better suited to liberalized electricity markets and the demands of data centers and other non-utility users. www.breakthroughjournal.org/p/the-case-f...

The Double Symbolism of the Three Mile Island Restart By Ted Nordhaus and Alex Trembath

Meanwhile, as Alex Trembath and I wrote this fall, the economic case for nuclear is stronger than it has been in decades. We have a once in generation opportunity to revitalize nuclear energy in US. www.breakthroughjournal.org/p/the-double...

Considering Nuclear Energy's Benefit to Society The Breakthrough Institute is an environmental research center based in Berkeley, California. Our research focuses on identifying and promoting technological solutions to environmental and human devel...

As @astein.bsky.social documented recently, commission will need to tear up Office of General Counsel recommendations on new mission and start over. thebreakthrough.org/issues/energ...

What comes next at NRC? We will soon have a Republican chair working with a Democratic majority. They will need to move forward with mission modernization and Part 53 licensing framework for advanced reactors.

‘Bridge or two too far’: Top Dem throws cold water on permitting The last-gasp push to cement a permitting overhaul is hitting roadblocks over the National Environmental Policy Act.

There was a lot of behind scenes horse-trading with Marzano vote and EPRA. So here's also hoping that pays off with a permitting reform deal. www.eenews.net/articles/bri...

E&E News: Senate confirms Nuclear Regulatory Commission nominee Matthew Marzano’s approval secures a Democratic majority on the panel.

Congrats to Matthew Marzano on confirmation to NRC
by vote of 50-45. Manchin yes. Sinema no. Multiple R Senators out. I sincerely hope he is better commissioner than I have feared and will work to advance the far reaching modernization that we need. subscriber.politicopro.com/article/eene...

Opinion | Reckoning With the Scale of California Wildfires

Nice David Wallace Wells write up of BTI's @patricktbrown31.bsky.social report on the massive cost of CA wildfires and massive benefits of fuel reduction. www.nytimes.com/live/2024/12...

Define "actual abundance." From a quick google search, that appears to include not flying.

The man detained in the McDonald's had written a "manifesto," according to two law enforcement officials.

I KNEW we weren’t getting out of this without a manifesto.

Progressives Against Abundance? No Representation Without Differentiation

"The groups" are anti-abundance. Alex Trembath
on the backlash from progressives and environmentalists against the abundance movement. www.breakthroughjournal.org/p/progressiv...

The Case For Small Reactors By Ted Nordhaus and Adam Stein

"Nuclear is slow" is a choice, not intrinsic to technology. Big tech is betting it doesn't have to be. As @astein.bsky.social and I argued recently, small next gen offer a different path but requires innovation from public as well as private sector. www.breakthroughjournal.org/p/the-case-f...

"Nuclear is too slow so don't do AI" is not an answer. Even if it doesn't fully living up to hype, forgoing brings substantial economic and national security costs. If choice is AI with gas or no AI, clear what US and every other country will do.

Artificial Intelligence wants to go nuclear. Will it work? The nuclear industry and big tech companies think they can solve each other's problems, but critics are skeptical the marriage can last.

I'm featured in
@gbrumfiel.bsky.social @npr.org All Things Considered this morning talking about nuclear and AI. Long story short, net-zero commitments X 24 hour clean energy matching don't leave many options for firm generation. www.npr.org/2024/12/09/n...

In recent years, there's been a push to do 24/7 matching of demand with clean energy supply. @tednordhaus.bsky.social says that change has forced companies to think about non-GHG sources of energy differently.

Solar and wind just aren't running enough to match demand day and night.

Having witnessed aftermath of Hermit's Peak/Calf Canyon fire at my family's ranch, I can attest these forests hadn't burned for 120+ years. Fire was intense. Damage extensive. @hannahnordhaus.bsky.social wrote about it in @nationalgeographic.bsky.social. www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/...

Wait… what???

This is the key tell in the endless debate around the trade offs between mitigating short term forcings like methane and carbon. If the trade off requires use of 20 year warming values to justify, it is not a serious climate mitigation action.