Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

PM2.5 Kills ~9 Million People Worldwide Annually

@tkovach.bsky.social

2.9K followers 1.2K following 1.9K posts

Climate dad to E, J, and C. Working on decarbonization and environmental justice in Cleveland. Founded the Cleveland Refugee Bike Project. Supports Juventus & Eintracht. Opinions my own and probably wrong.

Posts Media Videos Starter Packs

Pinned

PM2.5 Kills ~9 Million People Worldwide Annually @tkovach.bsky.social · Nov 13

When scheduling your next meeting, think:

Could this Zoom have been a phone call?
Could that phone call have been an email?
Could that email have been a text?
Could that text have been a skeet?
Could that skeet have been a thought?
Could that thought have not existed?
Could I simply cease to exist?

1 7 38

Reposted by PM2.5 Kills ~9 Million People Worldwide Annually

Costa Samaras @costasamaras.com · 9h

Picture how big the Hoover Dam is. An absolute unit. The Hoover Dam has a power capacity of 2 gigawatts (GW).

The solar farm that the Admin just cancelled could have produces 6.2 GW of power. That's more than 3 Hoover Dams.

jael holzman @jael.bsky.social · 9h

SCOOP: The Bureau of Land Management says the largest solar project in Nevada — the Esmeralda 7 mega-farm — has been canceled

The news was quietly dropped via a sudden website update with no public word from any of the companies involved or a statement from the agency

@heatmap.news

Esmeralda 7 Solar Project Has Been Canceled, BLM Says

It would have delivered a gargantuan 6.2 gigawatts of power.

heatmap.news

67 1.4K 2.8K

PM2.5 Kills ~9 Million People Worldwide Annually @tkovach.bsky.social · 1h

He once went after me, a random nobody from Cleveland, on Twitter because I wrote a blog post in 2014 about a study that found a link between climate change and tropical storms in Southeast Asia. This was right after he published that piece for 538 that they had to retract.

PM2.5 Kills ~9 Million People Worldwide Annually @tkovach.bsky.social · 1h

This is dope

SAY HELLO TO THE WELCOME CARD! A NEW LIBRARY CARD FOR THE PEOPLE’S UNIVERSITY - Cleveland Public Library

Unlock a world of resources, programs, and endless discovery with a Cleveland Public Library (CPL) card. For library patrons without a current permanent residence, welcome card holders can check out u...

cpl.org

1 2 6

Reposted by PM2.5 Kills ~9 Million People Worldwide Annually

Justin M. Bibb @justinmbibb.bsky.social · 19h

Welcome aboard Carey! Cleveland will always remain a city that's committed to being welcoming and tolerant to all people, regardless of their gender or who they love. Looking forward to working with you to make sure we stay true to our values.

signalcleveland.org/cleveland-no...

Cleveland now has a full-time LGBTQ+ community liaison

LGBTQ+ Community Liaison Carey Gibbons is the first in the role full time for the city of Cleveland and maybe in Ohio.

signalcleveland.org

1 1 19

Reposted by PM2.5 Kills ~9 Million People Worldwide Annually

Kevin J. CREATURE @kevinjkircher.com · 16h

Over 40% of corn grown in Indiana is used to make ethanol that cars burn. One acre of corn yields about 16,500 vehicle-miles per year of ethanol, which sounds high until you realize that one acre of solar yields about 2,700,000 vehicle-miles per year: 16,000% more driving for a given plot of land.

29 290 760

PM2.5 Kills ~9 Million People Worldwide Annually @tkovach.bsky.social · 15h

The Platonic ideal of a New York Times editorial

PM2.5 Kills ~9 Million People Worldwide Annually @tkovach.bsky.social · 20h

Walk Bike Berkeley has tested out and done the math on several different e-bikes, and the numbers are nuts
sites.google.com/view/ebikest...

E-Bike 1000 MPG Project - Results

In our second test phase, we have continued the testing we did for the E-Bike Report. As we have collected more data, we have found a wider range of results than in our initial analysis for the Novem...

sites.google.com

1 3

Reposted by PM2.5 Kills ~9 Million People Worldwide Annually

Zac Estrada @zacestrada.com · 21h

Buttons, too

3 3

PM2.5 Kills ~9 Million People Worldwide Annually @tkovach.bsky.social · 1d

I don't understand why the Chad Powers writers felt the need to use the R slur 5 times in episode 3. Gratuitous and hateful.

PM2.5 Kills ~9 Million People Worldwide Annually @tkovach.bsky.social · 1d

Rebranding as mincemeatless pie

PM2.5 Kills ~9 Million People Worldwide Annually @tkovach.bsky.social · 1d

Indianapolis: City of Weird Mutt Asses

Did I read that correctly

PM2.5 Kills ~9 Million People Worldwide Annually @tkovach.bsky.social · 1d

“The sense of desperation and also the lack of hope for this population was palpable. One old gentleman in tears said to me, ‘If WFP doesn’t feed us, and the authorities won’t support us, then please drop a bomb on us — because we can’t continue in this way.’”

Starving children screaming for food as US aid cuts unleash devastation and death across Myanmar

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has repeatedly said “no one has died" because of his government’s decision to gut its foreign aid program.

apnews.com

3 9

PM2.5 Kills ~9 Million People Worldwide Annually @tkovach.bsky.social · 1d

Seems bad

Emily Pontecorvo @emilypont.bsky.social · 2d

Some additional info on the new list of axed DOE projects circulating.
- All 7 H2 Hubs
- All 13 IRA grants to convert at-risk auto plants to EV mfg
- 11 of 15 grants to speed domestic clean energy mfg in former coal communities
- 10 of 38 grants for battery materials
heatmap.news/politics/doe...

Trump to Axe All 7 Hydrogen Hubs, Bucking Bipartisan Law

A new list of Department of Energy grants slated for termination will hit clean energy and oil majors alike, including Exxon and Chevron.

heatmap.news

PM2.5 Kills ~9 Million People Worldwide Annually @tkovach.bsky.social · 2d

We're going to get so much ship money, Kelsey

Reposted by PM2.5 Kills ~9 Million People Worldwide Annually

Stephen Jarvis @stephenjarvis.bsky.social · 8d

New paper out in @pnas.org! We study the effect of air pollution on pets, finding increased vet admissions when air quality is worse. Tackling air pollution doesn't just matter for human health - it's important for animals too, including people's much loved cats and dogs www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

1 12 35

PM2.5 Kills ~9 Million People Worldwide Annually @tkovach.bsky.social · 2d

"In India, the world’s fourth-largest economy, fossil fuel electricity generation fell in the first half of 2025. Coal fell by 3 percent, and gas fell by 34 percent, the Ember report found. This was due in part to the country’s rapid build-out of wind and solar and in part because of mild weather."

Early Signs of a ‘Turning Point’ as Renewables Edge Out Coal

www.nytimes.com

2 15 46

PM2.5 Kills ~9 Million People Worldwide Annually @tkovach.bsky.social · 2d

As @jigarshahdc.bsky.social pointed out last week, demand for electricity is spiking even as capacity utilization rates have fallen from ~60% to ~40%. There's plenty of extra capacity for utilities to tap, but it requires shifting load to off peak periods.
www.latitudemedia.com/news/open-ci...

Is this moment for distributed energy different?

DERs are finally acting like real power plants. But utilities are still treating them like side projects.

www.latitudemedia.com

1 1

PM2.5 Kills ~9 Million People Worldwide Annually @tkovach.bsky.social · 2d

"Between installing heat pumps in homes with inefficient heating and cooling, and installing rooftop solar and storage, we can more than meet the projected load growth from data centers."

New report: Household upgrades could offset all new projected data center energy demand | Rewiring America

Our report, Homegrown Energy, finds household upgrades are the best, fastest solution for increasing energy demand.

www.rewiringamerica.org

1 2 3

Reposted by PM2.5 Kills ~9 Million People Worldwide Annually

Kate Schapira @kateschapira.bsky.social · 2d

Here's your guide to fighting utility shutoffs this winter. W/o the gov't open, few to no states will have funds for emergency bill payment program LIHEAP. This doc has scripts, state context, contact info for governors & commissions, everything you need. Please call! docs.google.com/document/d/1...

NO UTILITY SHUTOFFS scripts by state

🚨 WE NEED AN EMERGENCY BAN ON UTILITY SHUTOFFS DUE TO THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN 🚨 TAKE ACTION: ONE E-MAIL OR PHONE CALL! ⚡ Hello! Welcome to our crowdsourced effort to campaign for ending util...

docs.google.com

2 19 25

PM2.5 Kills ~9 Million People Worldwide Annually @tkovach.bsky.social · 2d

EIA says the US electric power sector used 15% more coal during the first half of 2025 due to rising natural gas prices, but coal's secular decline will continue and accelerate in 2026

Short-Term Energy Outlook - U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA)U.S. Energy Information Administration - EIA - Independent Statistics and Analysis

www.eia.gov

PM2.5 Kills ~9 Million People Worldwide Annually @tkovach.bsky.social · 2d

"The study from the federal government says fixed traffic cameras can reduce all crashes by 54% on a road, and injury crashes by 47%."

Could Cleveland bring back traffic cameras? City council is ‘carefully’ looking at the idea

Voters banned traffic cameras in 2014, but City Council is wondering whether cameras could make a comeback.

www.cleveland.com

2 2

PM2.5 Kills ~9 Million People Worldwide Annually @tkovach.bsky.social · 2d

"And the states moving most aggressively to add green power to their electric grids aren’t taking the brunt of rising utility bills, the POLITICO analysis shows."

Green power is sometimes the cheapest power — despite what Trump says

The Trump administration has targeted renewable energy for driving up electricity prices, but POLITICO’s analysis shows states that are growing their wind and solar power typically have lower power co...

www.politico.com

1 3

PM2.5 Kills ~9 Million People Worldwide Annually @tkovach.bsky.social · 3d

Clean energy has overtaken coal globally and is now driving down fossil fuel use

Ember @ember-energy.org · 3d

NEW | Solar and wind OUTPACED global electricity demand growth in the first half of 2025, leading to a fall in fossil fuels compared to this time last year ☀️🌪️

Record solar and steady wind growth is reshaping global power as renewables OVERTAKE coal for the first time.

https://loom.ly/c-MNZSk

PM2.5 Kills ~9 Million People Worldwide Annually @tkovach.bsky.social · 3d

The offer "equates to one-tenth of a penny per ton, underscoring coal’s diminished value even as President Donald Trump pushes to mine and burn more of the heavily polluting fuel.

Federal officials did not immediately say if they would accept the offer. It was the only bid received."

Company bids less than a penny per ton in biggest US coal sale in over a decade

A Navajo tribe-owned company has bid $186,000 to lease 167 million tons of coal on federal lands in southeastern Montana.

share.google

4 2

PM2.5 Kills ~9 Million People Worldwide Annually @tkovach.bsky.social · 3d

"When the work is complete, Warehouse A will have roughly 2 megawatts’ worth of rooftop solar panels, plus battery storage and numerous charging ports for cargo-handling equipment."

Major Midwest port begins electrifying operations to reduce emissions

The Port of Cleveland is adding charging ports, batteries, and solar to its main warehouse — work funded by a federal program that has so far survived…

www.canarymedia.com

1 6