alexckaufman.bsky.social - Profile | ThreadSky | a Reddit-style client for Bluesky

Costa Rica is aiming to become a major semiconductor manufacturer for the U.S. as Washington looks to diversify away from Taiwan. The Central American nation has something big going for it: a nearly 100% clean, firm power mix -- 72% hydro and 15% geothermal. kaufman.substack.com/p/costa-rica...

submitted 11 hours ago • 1 comment

Since the EU started talking about Carbon Border Adjustment in 2019, "44 other jurisdictions around the world have either implemented or are in the process of debating, at a formal level, carbon prices". CBAM is delivering as expected! mitsloan.mit.edu/ideas-made-t...

submitted 1 day ago • 1 comment

On supply chains: " If you’re building a project that involves a gas turbine, the largest manufacturers say you should be talking to your OEMs as long as seven or eight years out." www.power-eng.com/gas/turbines...

submitted 1 day ago • 0 comments

JUST IN: Gas utilities in Massachusetts must cut rates next month so bills go down ~ 5% for the remainder of the on-peak heating season The order from the state's Department of Public Utilities follows an outcry from residents over eye-poppingly high winter bills www.wbur.org/news/2025/02...

submitted 2 days ago • 2 comments

Given the class-defying ubiquity of microplastics and PFAS, I’m struggling to find the modern equipment of this tragic poetry. www.wsj.com/science/envi...

submitted 2 days ago • 1 comment

The great wave of electric vehicle bankruptcies crashes on another manufacturer: June 2023 — Lordstown Motors February 2024 — Arrival SA June 2024 — Fisker February 2025 — Nikola www.ft.com/content/4894...

submitted 2 days ago • 3 comments

not my size, but there’s a pretty sick Westinghouse Philippine nuclear power polo shirt on eBay right now

submitted 3 days ago • 1 comment

MTA suggesting that you'd need to go through NEPA to shut down congestion pricing is lol, dare I say it, L M A O storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...

submitted 3 days ago • 10 comments

When I was in Manila last summer, the big story was China’s coast guard ramming Philippine vessels. Now the conflict is in the air. I have a short piece in @gzeromedia.com on yesterday’s “dangerous” helicopter maneuver. Here’s the big analyst takeaway: www.gzeromedia.com/news/watchin...

submitted 3 days ago • 1 comment

Elon Musk has finally gone too far with voters, according to a new @dataforprogress.org poll provided exclusively to @heatmap.news. Nearly half say they're less likely to buy a Tesla because of him. Read more from @robinsonmeyer.bsky.social:

submitted 3 days ago • 11 comments

I made my debut in @newrepublic.com this morning with a short piece on where climate progress may continue under the new Trump administration -- featuring interviews with scientists and experts in New York, Louisiana, Germany, Mexico and New Zealand. newrepublic.com/article/1914...

submitted 3 days ago • 0 comments

Biden admin figured out the hard way where it went wrong on the electrical transformer shortage, and ultimately had to dial back its rule after it had opted to spend its DPA money on heat pumps instead. This is a good explanation of what's actually possible: www.greentape.pub/p/how-biden-...

submitted 4 days ago • 3 comments

In a testy interview, mayoral candidate Jim Walden vowed to partner with Trump to kill congestion pricing, said he didn't know how to cut emissions, and argued with @semaforben.bsky.social and @akashmehta.bsky.social over questions about zoning reform. nyeditorialboard.substack.com/p/jim-walden...

submitted 4 days ago • 4 comments

“I’m a disabled vet and the only thing I ever asked for from this country was this job, and they took it,” said the former EPA employee, who fought back tears. “I made all the money for my family. We don’t know what we’re going to do.”

submitted 4 days ago • 3 comments

NEW: This is a story about the company behind the first genetically modified animal approved for human consumption, the village in Ohio where it bet big, and its accommodating mayor. “How far do we go on hope?”

submitted 4 days ago • 6 comments

On one hand, Argentina’s inflation rate is at a five-year low. On the other hand,

submitted 4 days ago • 1 comment

While not winning gigafactory or new vehicle final assembly plants, Louisiana has been a different type of winner from BIL/IRA. Its petrochemical sector, port and river access, and proximity to Southeast gigafactory projects have made it a magnet for the midstream. 🔌💡 electrek.co/2025/02/17/5...

submitted 4 days ago • 2 comments

Nice piece in Oil Price aggregating my recent feature on Chinese nuclear oilprice.com/Alternative-...

submitted 5 days ago • 3 comments

Six years after Russia built the world’s first floating nuclear plant, UK developer Core Power is working on the West’s first floating atomic station in Texas, with plans to construct a fleet. Imagine the potential for places like Puerto Rico or Jamaica. www.world-nuclear-news.org/articles/cor...

submitted 5 days ago • 1 comment

Last week, @tnorris.bsky.social & his Duke colleagues put out an important new report showing that a smart & flexible grid would allow us to power a lot of new data centers around the country. He & I talked with @alexckaufman.bsky.social about the implications: 🔌💡 www.motherjones.com/politics/202...

submitted 6 days ago • 5 comments

It isn't just renewables; inflation is hitting all energy infrastructure. Duke just proposed building 2 gas-fired power plants in Indiana by 2030 for $3.3 bln, a stunning $2236/kw. For comparison, a facility in MI came on in '22 at $1000/kw and another in IL in '23 at $1083/kw.

submitted 6 days ago • 7 comments

A map from an American classroom in 1919, before the U.S. memoryholed "Porto" Rico and the other colonial territories.

submitted 6 days ago • 1 comment

SCOOP @bloomberg.com: Top officials at the US Department of Homeland Security received a memo from Sec. Kristi Noem on Friday ordering an immediate stop to work connected to climate change and the elimination of climate-related terms across the agency. Gift link: www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

submitted 6 days ago • 61 comments

submitted 6 days ago • 0 comments

Bingo. And I’d argue we need to separate offsets from cheaper land use offsets, which have many biodiversity, water retention, etc benefits but are impermanent, from additive, verifiable & permanent post FF & IPPU CCS mitigation & carbon dioxide removal, which serve usually one purpose & are $$$.

submitted 6 days ago • 2 comments

NEW: Scoop about the architect of the destruction of USAID. Pete Marocco was a USAID official in the first Trump Admin. On a trip to the Balkans, he secretly met with the Serb separatist leader. That was a no-no. Caused a big diplomatic incident. www.propublica.org/article/usai...

submitted 7 days ago • 44 comments

"West Virginia could lose out on millions of dollars earmarked to help state regulators clean up abandoned natural gas wells as a result of an executive order halting federal funding that President Donald Trump signed on the day of his inauguration." mountainstatespotlight.org/2025/02/15/t...

submitted 7 days ago • 4 comments

Arizona police arrested an Indigenous anti-mining activist for crashing a drone into a mine shaft transportation system in Energy Fuel's uranium mine before fleeing and crashing his truck. www.azcentral.com/story/news/l...

submitted 7 days ago • 2 comments

Are you an Energy Department worker who just got fired? Or the employee from another energy or environmental agency? I’d like to speak with you and I can protect your identity. Please contact me over Signal:

submitted 7 days ago • 1 comment

Trump’s EO last night establishing the White House’s new rules National Energy Dominance Council calls for: -approving new pipelines in “New England, California, Alaska, and other areas of the country underserved by American natural gas” -reopening of closed power plants -bringing SMRs online

submitted 7 days ago • 3 comments

Will Big Tech pick up the phone to protect their data centers? www.nytimes.com/2024/12/25/t...

submitted 8 days ago • 1 comment

Scooplet: The US Fish and Wildlife Service has issued stop work orders, frozen funding, and ceased communication for all of its international grants, jeopardizing critical conservation overseas. Much of this money is appropriated for Interior, not foreign aid. www.vox.com/down-to-eart...

submitted 8 days ago • 0 comments

Trump’s cuts to the Bonneville Power Administration are threatening the Pacific Northwest with blackouts — the very thing the administration vowed the solve. Great @maeveallsup.bsky.social scoop. www.latitudemedia.com/news/trump-a...

submitted 8 days ago • 1 comment

I would add that 18 USC 208 is a CRIMINAL statute. Trouble is, if the Office of Govt Ethics referred such a case to the Justice Department (which it won't, because the OGE director was just fired), we're left with Pam Bondi. So yeah, our nation is in one hell of a fix. via @alexckaufman.bsky.social

submitted 8 days ago • 10 comments

More fallout from the USAID shutdown: Bill Gates is slashing his grants to climate organizations to focus on public health. Great scoop from @kbrigham.bsky.social heatmap.news/climate-tech...

submitted 8 days ago • 7 comments

Elon Musk is raking in federal $ as he slashes government spending. Just this week: -Tesla gets $767M from Puerto Rico -SpaceX nets $8M from NASA -Tesla gets $400M to sell Cybertrucks to State Dept. One expert: "We haven’t seen this type of abuse until now.” kaufman.substack.com/p/elon-musks...

submitted 8 days ago • 5 comments

New on my Substack: I talked with UNM's @jfleck.bsky.social about why Colorado River negotiations are at an impasse and what happens when the federal government becomes an unreliable partner. www.westernwaternotes.com/p/q-and-a-th...

submitted 10 days ago • 0 comments

FYI: USAID has been one of the world's largest and most important funders of global biodiversity conservation — a chronically underfunded area. It has supported efforts to protect forests, reduce illegal wildlife trafficking, and end violence towards women defending the environment.

submitted 17 days ago • 1 comment