I finally did it - and joined Bluesky - you can find me @sovacool.bsky.social!

“Heat pumps are superior in efficiency to condensing boilers, even if the heat pumps are powered by electricity from a power station burning natural gas.” Not me saying that but the late Prof Sir David MacKay. More in my @CarbonBrief article 👇 https://t.co/rKlRE0ug1S

China’s rise as the world’s clean energy superpower is reshaping global decarbonisation. The full implications are only starting to sink in. An important new FT piece highlights that while much of the debate has focused on how Europe and the US should respond, the bigger story

https://t.co/Yx7oiN7sws

this goes incredibly hard.

Global deforestation is declining, a very good thing. Top 10 countries adding forests (2015-2025) 1 China: 1,686 hectares, per year, or 16.9m ha total (larger than Bangladesh or Greece) 2 Russia: 942 ha/ year (about the size of South Korea or Portugal) 3 India: 191 ha/year 4

https://t.co/BQeGq5fo6W

One of the world’s largest industrial heat pumps is coming to Boston. A 35MW system will use energy from the Charles River and deliver steam to heat more than 70 million square feet of buildings across Boston and Cambridge — hospitals, schools, homes, and businesses alike.

It’s that time of year again!

A new study has found that EVs offset their energy-intensive production and become cleaner than gas cars after just 3 years, according to Duke and Northern Arizona University. Gas-powered vehicles were also found to cause at 2X as much environmental damage over their lifetimes

You can be on the right or wrong side of history. But the change is coming.

Where are industrial electrification solution providers based? I created a global map. It includes industrial heat pump + electro-thermal storage manufacturers. Please take a look and make suggestions for changes - very much work in progress: https://t.co/IyRqnrfJBF

TOMORROW! Join CEID & @museumofscience on 10/30 at 4:30pm for a symposium on climate change & its impact on infectious diseases. The event will include opening remarks from @SenMarkey, expert panelists, & keynote by @WWF President @AdilNajam. https://t.co/7kRC5lB5Kc

What about this for an idea… If you don’t like EV, don’t get one. If you think they’re boring, don’t get one. If you hate them, don’t get one. If you think they’re rubbish, don’t get one. And if you don’t want to see EV content, stop commenting on it every day. Apparently

IGS Director Benjamin Sovacool Nominated as Coordinating Lead Author on Upcoming IPCC Seventh Assessment Report

Nice to see the student newspaper at Boston University accurately covering our energy justice work:

Great @nytimes article gets to the heart of why China keeps end running the west - they have mastered the “soft general purpose technology” of building big, complicated things on time and on budget.

The only state in the US that has seen their electricity prices fall since 2019 is North Dakota. Over the same period: - Wind generation is up 34% - Solar generation is up 425% - Coal generation is down 8%

This is the reality We are going backwards - at least to the Pliocene - and, without an imminent colossal change in our behaviour - we will rewind the clock back 50 million years to the Eocene hothouse

The cost of solar has dropped nearly 90% since 2010 and 99.8% since 1975. Solar is 500x cheaper than 50 years ago.

Business as usual = climate breakdown = economic and societal collapse It's coming