@bheard.bsky.social
Facilitating scholarship on clean energy systems and emerging technologies. Sr. Program Officer with the National Academies Board on Energy and Environmental Systems. 70% San Pellegrino by volume (the other 30% is coffee). brentheard.com
The scientific understanding of human-driven climate change is much stronger today than it was in 2009 when the EPA first issued the endangerment finding. There is no scientific basis for the Trump administration's decision to repeal it
Energy parks provide an innovative approach to meeting our increasing energy needs, particularly for data centers and advanced manufacturing. Join @nationalacademies.org on 2/12 for a webinar that will look at efforts to create energy parks and the issues they could address. bit.ly/3LOUy3Q
Increasing #energy costs are placing a growing burden on households, businesses, and institutions across the U.S.
Explore why energy bills are rising, how impacts differ by region and sector, and solutions to help improve affordability on February 4: https://ow.ly/BU3Z50Y6s6T
Do you appreciate @nws.noaa.gov's posts on Bluesky?
Did you know that this account is a pilot program that may or may not be continued and even expanded to NWS field offices?
NWS is soliciting comments here! www.surveymonkey.com/r/PrototypeN...
Press release:
www.weather.gov/media/notifi...
The US #electricity system is under stress, from growing demand & complex operating conditions. Join @nationalacademies.org for a webinar series exploring technologies & capabilities for improving reliability and resilience. Our first event on hardening the T&D system is tomorrow! bit.ly/42yNIF5
📢 Submissions are now open for the U.S. Climate Collection, a joint @theAGU + @ametsoc initiative.
This special collection will publish U.S.-focused climate assessment science that’s free to read, ensuring rigorous, accessible science informs decisions for years to come.
🔗 buff.ly/1tHUSLC
A new report by the prestigious US National Academy of Sciences concludes that the EPA’s 2009 endangerment finding was accurate, has stood the test of time, and is now reinforced by even stronger evidence:
Our new report explores the effects of greenhouse gas emissions on the U.S. health and welfare. Read more: nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/2923...
If you want to see what a best-in-class climate scientist with a lens on geopolitics and energy can do in the financial sector - read Sarah Kapnick's new report on energy system politics for JP Morgan. A few of my favorite figures below 🧵1/ www.jpmorgan.com/content/dam/...
Growing connections of AI/DC have now reached a level of complexity warranting a NERC alert, citing "rapid, major swings in load, experienced both in typical operations as well as in response to grid disturbances.” = more data + modeling needed.
www.nerc.com/pa/rrm/bpsa/...
So many companies do business in CA, this is a big deal, indeed. Investors can’t manage (at least well) what they cannot manage.
Two new papers find renewables are good insurance (they stabilize electricity price volatility in welfare improving ways)
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
🔌💡
re: cow’s methane-laced burps, viable emissions reduction solutions are scarce. now though, forays into methane destruction - and even atmospheric removal - are gaining traction. i explore one pathway, from Ambient Carbon, here:
Next week begins our @nationalacademies.org 3-part webinar series on greenhouse gas removals!
Experts will cover research priorities, governance challenges, and practical applications.
Learn more and RSVP here: www.nationalacademies.org/our-work/atm...
![Andrew Dessler, director of the Texas Center for Extreme Weather at Texas A&M University, said the new controversy that the Trump administration had stirred around climate science was a fitting subject for a fast-track effort by the National Academies.
“The National Academies [were] established exactly to do things like this—to answer questions of scientific importance for the government,” he said. “This is what the DOE should have done all along, rather than hire five people who represent a tiny minority of the scientific community and have views that virtually nobody else agrees with.”](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:uyemf6niinxjzirk7pbzzt3j/bafkreifnvpttyaxod2ph6vreng4vhllbzg45xhfklbuvw7asa6k5eki4by)
Nice article about NASEM review of the endangerment finding by @insideclimatenews.org
National Academies Will Review Endangerment Finding Science insideclimatenews.org/news/0708202...
It’s a signpost that grid planning + op are entering a new paradigm. System operators are rethinking how to maintain reliability in a BPS where inertia is no longer free and stability must be actively engineered.
spectrum.ieee.org/grid-scale-b...
Timely:
I love renewable energy tech because it's either "use quantum mechanics and semiconductor physics to leverage the photoelectric effect" or "put three spinny things on a stick"
Nearly half the US will wilt under hot, sticky conditions through the bulk of the week as temperatures and humidity soar from Chicago to NYC and New Orleans, boosting power demand and raising health risks.
It’s hard to find a trend in the electricity system right now that *doesn’t* point to near-term rate hikes if not a broad affordability crisis. That’s a serious problem for climate policy, but also the American economy writ large. I wrote about it: heatmap.news/politics/ele...
New report finds, yet again, that "The United States is failing to build the high-voltage transmission infrastructure needed to support the nation’s surging electricity demand and growing strategic industries."
Me in UtilityDive today re: a new $10bn data center announced for NC (the same is true for most states) 🔌💡 www.utilitydive.com/news/growing...
When it comes to Texas weather, I look to @theeyewallwx.bsky.social to cut through the nonsense. @mattlanza.bsky.social knows his business on this analysis of the tragic TX flash flooding.
REPEAT Project just completed our rapid analysis of the impacts of the Senate-passed version of the One Big "Beautiful" Bill (OBBB), which the House is considering now, on the US energy sector and emissions. Still working up full report, but here is a sneak peak...
🔌💡 🧵
This looks depressing, but there are reasons to be optimistic. Not naive, but truly hopeful.
Renewable energy technologies are cheap, and global GHG emissions are flattening.
We never had a better chance to get this done.
But a lot of work remains, and we cannot stop.
How much could clean electricity adoption change without tax credits? Existing modeling suggests that annual additions could slow by roughly half for many technologies to 2035. But these studies omit recently proposed excise taxes, which could further reduce project deployment.
This is a nice summary of the Spanish grid operator's reports on the May Iberian blackout. As with any big event like this, there were many interdependent causes, but the TL;DR is that 3 nuclear and 7 gas plants failed to provide the voltage control that the grid operator contracted them to provide.
Are you a grad student or early-career STEM professional interested in experiencing careers in #sciencepolicy? Apply for the 2026 #MirzayanFellowship
@nationalacademies.org in #DC Mar 2–May 22! I was a fellow & am happy to answer ?'s via DM! Apply by Aug 20, 2025: mirzayanfellow.nas.edu #energysky
Everything is melting and we're not doing much of anything about it www.theatlantic.com/science/arch...
