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Jeremy Fisher

@jeremyfisher.bsky.social

1.3K followers 360 following 230 posts

Energy systems and climate policy person with lots of opinions, few of which are wise to share. Total sucker for novel decarb pathways. Fanboy of functional democracies and a bit of grace.

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Jeremy Fisher, born 9 November 1954 in Te Ahora, New Zealand, was an Executive Director of the Australian Society of Authors (ASA). He is a writer and worked in publishing for 30 years. His best-known novel is Perfect Timing. .. more

Environmental science 35%

Art 9%

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Jeremy Fisher @jeremyfisher.bsky.social · 10d

Its like the great countdown. This year is 2.0? Looks like 2030 will be 0.0.

Declining coal sales from EIA Form 861M, 2008-2025, showing coal sales to power plants falling from 80 million tons per month to ~25 million tons

Jeremy Fisher @jeremyfisher.bsky.social · 29d

I'm excited to join As You Sow, S&P Global, and Colectric for a webinar today launching the report Compute and Consequence - looking at utility and climate risk of data center growth.
us06web.zoom.us/webinar/regi...

Jeremy Fisher on X: "I'm excited to join As You Sow, S&P Global, and Colectric for a webinar today launching the report Compute and Consequence - looking at utility and climate risk of data center growth. https://t.co/AP3GWLyX17" / X

x.com

Jeremy Fisher @jeremyfisher.bsky.social · Aug 29

Hey Nevada PUC web techs... y'all ok?

Jeremy Fisher @jeremyfisher.bsky.social · Aug 18

Not too late to get in on the action, and join thousands of others as we dig into the impacts - and mitigations - for data center buildout. Join us on Wed at 7pm ET / 4pm PT.

Jeremy Fisher @jeremyfisher.bsky.social · Jul 31

🔌On Aug 20, I'll be hosting a public webinar exploring the scale of data center buildout, how utilities are reacting, and what policymakers and the public can do to protect health, rates, and our climate targets.
Register here!
act.sierraclub.org/events/detai...

Data Centers: Power Plays - But Who Pays?

act.sierraclub.org

Jeremy Fisher @jeremyfisher.bsky.social · Aug 14

On August 20, I'll be running a public webinar on the impacts of unconstrained data center growth on affordability, climate, and health - and what we can do about it. Join us here and share around!
act.sierraclub.org/events/detai...

Data Centers: Power Plays - But Who Pays?

act.sierraclub.org

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Jeremy Fisher @jeremyfisher.bsky.social · Aug 11

A big old bubble? 23 utilities are claiming more than 700 gigawatts of data center in their "economic development pipeline" - which smells a lot like a speculation boom. www.sierraclub.org/articles/202...

Fools Gold: When 700 Gigawatts of Data Centers Come Knocking

Sir Martin Frobisher is the explorer that most of us outside of Canada never get to learn about. In 1577, after sailing past Greenland and getting stuck in the icebound northern reaches of what would ...

www.sierraclub.org

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Jeremy Fisher @jeremyfisher.bsky.social · Aug 6

I'm going to contend that DOE Sec Burgum's "capacity density" order is maybe the stupidest document ever leveled by that agency.
But, "based on common sense, arithmetic, and physics" what other metrics should we examine?
kWh per joule of insolation? tons of public land converted per MWh?

Jeremy Fisher @jeremyfisher.bsky.social · Jul 31

Data Centers: Power Plays - But Who Pays?

act.sierraclub.org

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Reposted by Anne Applebaum, Benjamin K. Sovacool, Anna O. Law , and 57 more Anne Applebaum, Benjamin K. Sovacool, Anna O. Law, Nandita Sharma, Dorothy Bishop, Glen P. Peters, Will Jennings, Jon Pierre, Peter Thorne, Brendan Nyhan, Paul R. Bierman, Ana Bastos, Wolfgang Crämer, Neil Pederson, John R. Hutchinson, Samuel L. Perry, Serge Guimond, Elizabeth Robinson, Michael Nelson, Elizabeth Pisani, Vu, Jenni Barclay, Gernot Wagner, Sabine Pahl, Dominik Wiedenhofer, Nick Pearce, Laura Pereira, Carolyne Larrington, Michael Kevane, Göran Bolin, Beth E. Scott, Devon Greyson, Keith Head, Melanie C. Green, Daniel Huppmann, Vincent Noël, Erol Akçay, Anne Norton, Juan Rocha, Mark Robinson, Thomas Hale, Daniel Angus, Christian Fisch, Scott Hamilton, Jos Akkermans, Andrew Novak, Stefan C. Aykut, Michael Westphal, Björn Heile, Halley E. Froehlich, Jack Stilgoe, Federica Genovese, Hisham Zerriffi, Alexandra Cirone, Hong, Colin Talbot, Prakash Kashwan, Jeremy Fisher, Michael Warren, Vincent Raoult

David Ho @davidho.bsky.social · Jul 30

Motherfucking wind farms…

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Jeremy Fisher @jeremyfisher.bsky.social · Jul 2

Join us for a public webinar on August 20th to learn about the data center explosion, and how states, regulators, and utilities are grappling with that growth.
act.sierraclub.org/events/detai...

Data Centers: Power Plays - But Who Pays?

act.sierraclub.org

Reposted by Jeremy Fisher

Sierra Club @sierraclub.org · Jul 1

We're calling on Big Tech to clean up their act.

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Jeremy Fisher @jeremyfisher.bsky.social · Jun 30

Yesterday, @sierraclub.org @amzn4climate.bsky.social @lcv.org and @publiccitizen.bsky.social published a full page open letter in SF and Seattle calling for big tech accountability for data center impacts!
www.sierraclub.org/press-releas...

Holding Google accountable for its climate commitments

Holding Meta accountable for its climate commitments

We Will Not Pay for Big Tech's Power Needs - Open Letter in SF Chron & Seattle Times

Holding Amazon accountable for its climate commitments

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Jeremy Fisher @jeremyfisher.bsky.social · Jun 10

We need attention on real issues, not smoke screens.
We need to ensure that large load customers, like data centers, are paying their own way.
We need to unlock low cost renewables that mitigate prices and fuel risk for everyone.
And we need to make tough decisions about living with climate change.

a baby is sitting on the floor playing with a toy and holding a cell phone .

ALT: a baby is sitting on the floor playing with a toy and holding a cell phone .

media.tenor.com

Jeremy Fisher @jeremyfisher.bsky.social · Jun 10

And now the very rapid rise of data centers and other very large load customers is having a very real effect on costs for customers as utilities scramble to build infrastructure.
www.synapse-energy.com/sites/defaul...

www.synapse-energy.com

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Jeremy Fisher @jeremyfisher.bsky.social · Jun 10

In the West, the cost of mitigating - and paying for - wildfires spiked electricity costs along the coast, leaving both utilities and regulators grasping at next steps. autl.assembly.ca.gov/system/files...

autl.assembly.ca.gov

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Jeremy Fisher @jeremyfisher.bsky.social · Jun 10

In electricity markets like PJM and MISO, new generation projects - and particularly renewables - got stuck waiting for approvals, at an enormous cost to customers.
blog.advancedenergyunited.org/in-pjm-renew...
www.synapse-energy.com/tackling-pjm...

In PJM, Renewable Energy Projects Are Getting Stuck

A two-year pause in formally accepting new requests will come with improvements in PJM’s interconnection process. They won't solve all the problems, but they are a good start, and they can’t come soon...

blog.advancedenergyunited.org

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Jeremy Fisher @jeremyfisher.bsky.social · Jun 10

Coal prices followed suit, taking advantage of utilities that didn't have a lot of buffer. Together, both impacts cranked up energy costs across the US. But there was more to come.
public.tableau.com/app/profile/...

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Jeremy Fisher @jeremyfisher.bsky.social · Jun 10

Between 2021 & 2022, gas prices shot through the roof thanks to a perfect storm of post-covid rebound (demand increasing while supply lagged), massive exports, and a fully globalized commodity exposed to wartime uncertainty. And those higher costs were passed right through to ratepayers.

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Jeremy Fisher @jeremyfisher.bsky.social · Jun 10

Yeah, it's true - the rates are just too damn high. Fuel cost spikes, wildfire costs, and slow interconnection are driving up electricity costs faster than inflation.
public.tableau.com/app/profile/...

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Jeremy Fisher @jeremyfisher.bsky.social · Jun 9

Here's the crazy part. While coal prices went up almost everywhere, coal prices in the eastern US - both Appalachia and Illinois basin - nearly doubled from 2021 to 2024, and Utah and Arizona coal plants both took huge step increases.

Jeremy Fisher @jeremyfisher.bsky.social · Jun 9

Great article from EI! Here's a companion dashboard showing that coal costs have gone up pretty much everywhere - and are staying up.
public.tableau.com/app/profile/...

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Jeremy Fisher @jeremyfisher.bsky.social · May 29

So what does a post at DOE LPO get Greg Beard? In theory oversight on a bunch of programs meant to accelerate innovative clean energy, and help manufactures shift over to more efficient generation.

Or maybe just run LPO into the ground, like he did Stronghold. (5/5)
www.sec.gov/Archives/edg...

sdig-20240930

www.sec.gov

Jeremy Fisher @jeremyfisher.bsky.social · May 29

And as pointed out in that lawsuit from Earthjustice, Scrubgrass's coal ash pile rocketed out of control once they started mining bitcoin there. (4/5)

Scrubgrass coal ash pile, July 2022 (Google Earth)

Scrubgrass coal ash pile, March 2025 (Google Earth)

Jeremy Fisher @jeremyfisher.bsky.social · May 29

There's probably not a clearer image of how dirty crypto proof of work (like bitcoin) gets than Stronghold.
When we talk about these plants being dirty, it's quite literal. Scrubgrass has one of the highest SO2 emissions rates in the country, and its coal ash piles are ridiculous. (3/5)

Stronghold's Panther Coal Plant. Image via Google Earth

Stronghold's Scrubgrass Power Plant. Image via Google Earth

Jeremy Fisher @jeremyfisher.bsky.social · May 29

Beard's crypto outfit, Stronghold, gobbled up two of the dirtiest coal plants in the country, Scrubgrass and Panther, and upped their output - and emissions and massive waste - to play the bitcoin game.
And then went about making toxic waste so much worse. (2/5)
earthjustice.org/press/2023/p...

Scrubgrass Cryptomining Facility to Expedite Removal of Toxic Coal Ash ‘Mountain’

Unpermitted massive coal ash pile growing for years near the Allegheny River will now be removed by next year, preventing contamination

earthjustice.org

Jeremy Fisher @jeremyfisher.bsky.social · May 29

Hey, a whole new level of gross. 🤢🤮
Greg Beard, who until March ran the dirtiest bitcoin op in the country, is now gearing up to run DOE's Loan Program Office. (🧵/5)
www.eenews.net/articles/doe...

DOE to name new loan program director

Greg Beard joined the Department of Energy in recent weeks as a political appointee.

www.eenews.net

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Jeremy Fisher @jeremyfisher.bsky.social · May 22

Kudos to AECJ for this clear-eyed investor resolution at Amazon.
Just for perspective, if AWS were a state, it would be the 35th largest electricity consumer *now*. And if we look at what's in the queue, its on its way to being the 20th largest, consuming more than states like OR, CO, or MA

Amazon Employees for Climate Justice @amzn4climate.bsky.social · May 22

"Real commitment would be a public plan with interim milestones to meet Amazon's net zero goals despite AI growth. Real answers mean no risks obscured, no solutions conflated or exaggerated...
It’s not just the future of the company that depends on it. All our futures depend on it."—Eliza Pan

First half of alt text: My name is Eliza Pan, and I’m an Amazon investor. I also worked at Amazon for 6 years. I’m here to point out a problem that Amazon execs have a blind spot about—Amazon’s fossil fuel-powered data center buildout. As investors, we need more information than management is giving us about how they’re handling these risks. I urge shareholders to vote for Proposal 7, requesting additional reporting on the impact of data centers on climate commitments.

In 2019, after being pushed by its workers, Amazon made a climate pledge that was a big step forward—but still gravely inadequate. Every season, we see more fires, more heatwaves, more multi-billion dollar disasters—and in many countries the impacts are far worse. Given that the current administration has abandoned climate efforts, this is a moment when companies must decide if they truly want a sustainable future.

AI is a climate disaster—Google and Microsoft’s carbon emissions have risen 30-50% as a result of AI growth. And Amazon? We don’t know; they won’t say. Amazon prefers a fog around the fact that data centers are a massive source of emissions—because data centers are also its biggest source of profit.

Second half of alt text: Executives say they’re committed to the Climate Pledge. But in 2023, Amazon was dropped from the Science Based Targets Initiative, and is now listed as having its “commitment removed.” With no interim goals nor a science-aligned plan to reach net zero, investors need more information about how Amazon is meeting its targets. Even when data centers purchase renewable energy, they’re often displacing the use of that energy by households, rather than catalyzing new renewables.

Real commitment would be a public plan with interim milestones to meet Amazon's net zero goals despite AI growth. Real answers mean no risks obscured, no solutions conflated or exaggerated.

Andy Jassy, are you committed to the Climate Pledge? If you are, then Amazon needs to detail to investors how it will meet its climate commitments even as AI power demand is expected to double within 2 years, and to continue growing long past that.

It’s not just the future of the company that depends on it. All our futures depend on it.

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Reposted by Jeremy Fisher

Amazon Employees for Climate Justice @amzn4climate.bsky.social · May 22

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Jeremy Fisher @jeremyfisher.bsky.social · May 9

🤨I've been digging through utility IRPs, rate cases, and investor decks, and the total claimed "economic pipeline" of data centers in just 23 utilities is > 320 GW (!!) - that's like 2/3rds of US demand today.
I'm picturing a bunch of kids cheering that they're *definitely* going to win the lotto.

oprah winfrey is wearing a red dress and holding a microphone while dancing on a stage .

ALT: oprah winfrey is wearing a red dress and holding a microphone while dancing on a stage .

media.tenor.com

Jeremy Fisher @jeremyfisher.bsky.social · May 1

Congrats to the Ohio legislature for finally putting a stinking garbage pile of corruption behind it by repealing HB6 yesterday.
What was HB6? Corrupt bailout for two awful coal plants and a nuke. Why was it corrupt? Glad you asked.
www.cincinnati.com/in-depth/new...

Selling out in the Statehouse

A timeline deep dive inside HB 6 and the biggest government scandal in Ohio state history.

www.cincinnati.com

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