Brendan Pierpont

Coal’s Not Coming Back 19th century technology can’t compete economically with 21st century clean energy

"The cost of running coal plants rose 28 percent from 2021 to 2024, nearly double the rate of inflation over that time, forcing consumers to pay $6 billion in unnecessary energy bills," writes @energyinnovation.org's @silviomarcacci.bsky.social: thepowerline.substack.com/p/coals-not-... 🔌💡

Screenshot, job description: The “Ethical Technology Transitions to Mitigate Climate Change” program seeks one PhD student to be advised by Dr. Emily Grubert either in Notre Dame’s Civil and Environmental Engineering and Earth Sciences (CEEES) program (School of Engineering) or the Sustainable Development (SD) program (Keough School of Global Affairs). This position is fully funded for four years (anticipated stipend: $36,000/year) and will be supported by the resources associated with the Ethics and the Common Good program chair for three years, with remaining funding to come from other sources that might carry additional deliverable requirements (e.g., a secondary project) that will be clearly communicated to the candidate. The primary research area for this position will focus on ethical considerations related to technology deployment for reducing and removing greenhouse gas emissions from the atmosphere, with a particular focus either on modeling distributional effects of particular deployment patterns associated with net-zero greenhouse gas emissions pathways (CEEES PhD) or on designing governance systems for emerging technology systems, including Carbon Dioxide Removal (CDR); hydrogen; renewable electricity; or end use electrification technologies (SD PhD). Teaching requirements are aligned with the requirements of the specific degree program. Funding is available for conference attendance, and students will have the opportunity to work with and/or mentor undergraduate research assistants.

🚨job alert🚨

I'm looking to hire at least one PhD student for next year, looking at decarbonization-oriented technology deployment within an ethical frame of resource allocation and justice outcomes.

Full ad attached! Pref for CEEES admissions; deadline is 1 January.

What If Utilities Just Made Less Money? California energy companies are asking for permission to take in more revenue. Consumer advocates are having none of it.

I'm dense when it comes to finance, so the fact that I got to a point of understanding how utilities earn profit and why they should or shouldn't earn less means you can too. I stayed up till 3am trying to explain in an accessible way. Hopefully it was worth it!
heatmap.news/energy/calif...

One of many conclusions from Grid Strategies' updated load growth research. Check it out here: gridstrategiesllc.com/wp-content/u...

Some load forecasts using ‘unrealistically high load factors’: Grid Strategies VP “It's very challenging, at this point in time, for load forecasts to be accurate,” said Grid Strategies Vice President John Wilson.

Shocked to hear that data center load forecasts may be over-stated by as much as 25 GW. www.utilitydive.com/news/some-lo...

Increasing gas generation does not strike me as a responsive long-term affordability strategy.

Ok apparently this is actually not widely known: Gov. Shapiro withdrew Pennsylvania from RGGI today as part of a deal to pass a now-4month overdue budget.

Solar keeps blowing past expectations, but expectations are catching up. The latest IEA WEO now has PV topping 600 GW per year, though this year's scenarios are actually lower than last year's.

State Economic Power Project Resources - Climate Cabinet Education Check this page for policy resources related to insurance regulation, disaster recovery policy, and more.

Launched today: the State Economic Power Project! This dives into cost of living + climate, on 2 pillars: (1) household budgets and (2) state budgets. Thank you Sarah Bloom Raskin, @jordanhaedtler.bsky.social @kostyack.bsky.social @advitt.bsky.social
climatecabineteducation.org/state-econom...

Hoping this makes it into someone’s ANOPR comments this week.

Just wait until BYONCE and the ERIS tour team up!

If the US Has to Build Data Centers, Here’s Where They Should Go A new analysis tries to calculate the coming environmental footprint of AI in the US and finds that the ideal sites for data centers aren’t where they’re being built.

new from me today: not all data centers are created environmentally equal — and building them in states with cleaner grids and more access to water could go a long way in preventing environmental catastrophe

Same - I got one a few years ago and it’s great! The article doesn’t mention tariffs but that has to be part of the story. Hope they make it.

Rad Power Bikes faces shutdown in January without new funding | TechCrunch The company is "still fighting to find ways to continue" according to an email viewed by TechCrunch.

NEW: Rad Power Bikes has told employees it will go out of business in January without new funding.

The company said in a staff email that it had a "very promising" option to stay alive, but whatever that was, it fell apart.

Story with @kirstenkorosec.bsky.social

techcrunch.com/2025/11/10/r...

Corrected numbers:

1 cubic meter of this material stores over 2 kWh of energy according to the article

1 cubic meter of concrete, raised 100m in the air has a potential energy of 0.67 kWh, so about a third of the energy density.

Has anyone done the math on whether this approach stores more energy per cubic meter of concrete than EnergyVault’s idea of lifting that cubic meter to the top of a tower?

One reason taking the train is awesome is that it gets you off the highway and out of the airport and takes you through small town centers and landscapes (both natural and man made) that you wouldn’t otherwise see.

Fermi secures preliminary approval for 6GW of natural gas generation at up to 11GW campus in Amarillo, Texas Secures $150m agreement with first prospective client

😬 www.datacenterdynamics.com/en/news/ferm...

Want to know how to reduce power prices in PJM? Let clean energy projects connect to the grid. Great report from Gridlab and Aurora Energy Research 👇

gridlab.org/portfolio-it...

How DOE’s Proposed Large Load Interconnection Process Could Unlock the Benefits of Load Flexibility In the United States, the current system for interconnecting large electric loads, like data centers, to the grid has left all sides frustrated. Data center developers are mired in slow interconnectio...

This is worth a read as well - nicholasinstitute.duke.edu/publications...

He’s basically daring the world to tax extreme wealth and create a universal basic income so the productivity gains from AI go to everyone… right?

Dodging The Firm Fixation For Data Centers And The Grid • Energy Innovation We can meet data center electricity demand and build a more affordable, cleaner grid by utilizing clean energy and flexible solutions instead of relying on fossil fuels.

We’re trying, Dave. energyinnovation.org/report/dodgi...

OpenAI Wants Federal Backstop for New Investments Sarah Friar, the CFO of OpenAI, says the company wants a federal guarantee to make it easier to finance massive investments in AI chips for data centers. Friar spoke at WSJ’s Tech Live event in Califo...

Hold your wallets, everyone, OpenAI is talking about taxpayer backing so it can continue its data center building craze without having to show profitability. www.wsj.com/video/openai...

Great run down of Tuesday's election results.

Is the capital markets money spigot drying up or something?

Delighted that USA Today published my opinion piece today on @americanprogress.bsky.social's plan to undo Citizens United through state corporation laws.

Critics of renewables often point to land use as a reason not to do wind & solar. Land use IS a real issue for all energy assets incl renewables unless onsite.

But what critics conveniently forget is huge land impact of fossil fuels. Aerial view of fracking sites in Texas. 👇

Democrats Win 2 Key Energy Races in Georgia A “seismic change” comes for the state’s Public Service Commission.

In a key race for energy policy, Democrats just won 2 seats on Georgia’s utility commission — changing the dynamic for first time in nearly 20 years. Here’s a quick hit on what it all means. heatmap.news/politics/ali...

Good work today America.

According to Enverus, capital costs for new natural gas power plants now average $2,200/kW to $3,000/kW. An analysis by GridLab adds another $1,500/kW levelized for the 20-year cost of fuel and $500/kW for pipeline infrastructure, putting the cost of new gas generation at $4,000/kW to $4,500/kW. Kevin Smith, CEO of Arevon Energy, spent years working on natural gas projects alongside nuclear and renewables before transitioning to focus on renewables exclusively. He suggested there was a ceiling to how much gas could be built to meet near-term demand given the prices, pipeline constraints and interconnection queues. “Tens of gigawatts of new generation from natural gas is likely at least five years away, if not more,” Smith said.

Table: Comparison of typical cost and flexibility characteristics for various gas generation technologies: Natural Gas Combined Cycle, Natural Gas Combustion Turbine, NGCT Aeroderivative, and Reciprocating Internal Combustion Engine plants. From Ascend Analytics’ report on thermal generation.

Cost estimates for new gas power plants just keep rising! www.utilitydive.com/news/gas-pow... 🔌💡