Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Justin Mikulka @justinmikulka.bsky.social · 12h

He is on Bluesky @themountaingoats.bsky.social

Justin Mikulka @justinmikulka.bsky.social · 13h

I asked a Google employee a while back why they ruined search by putting the AI results first. The response was that in their opinion, the decision makers likely knew it wasn't ready but they needed to try to compete.

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Justin Mikulka @justinmikulka.bsky.social · 14h

I don't think anyone is suggesting these technologies will beat LI for short duration. However, there is a big need for longer duration and there are a lot of ways to go about it.

I agree that lithium also may be replaced for shorter durations with other tech, just not this.

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Justin Mikulka @justinmikulka.bsky.social · 15h

I wasn't great at chemistry. It still amazes me this works.

Iron air batteries.

Will this be the tech that wins out? I have no idea but iron and air are cheap and we've got more than enough.

SRP and ESS Announce New 50 MWh Long Duration Energy Storage Pilot Project

Salt River Project (SRP), a not-for-profit public power utility serving the greater Phoenix metropolitan area, and ESS (NYSE: GWH), a leading manufacturer of iron flow long duration energy storage (LD...

media.srpnet.com

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Reposted by Justin Mikulka

Dr. Jonathan Foley @globalecoguy.bsky.social · 2d

We need to talk much more about corn. And with it, excessive fertilizer use.

www.ewg.org/research/fer...

Fertilizing ‘continuous corn’ drives major source of farm greenhouse gases, but conservation can help

Millions of acres in four major Corn Belt states are used to grow "continuous corn” on the same fields year after year, requiring significant use of

www.ewg.org

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Justin Mikulka @justinmikulka.bsky.social · 17h

It would. But BNEF doesn't go near that discussion.

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Justin Mikulka @justinmikulka.bsky.social · 17h

Does the public or media know the difference between methane and natural gas?

No.

This headline informs the public that in Iowa they are turning methane into natural gas.

Eastern Iowa landfill turning methane into natural gas - Radio Iowa

There’s a new facility at a landfill in Davenport that allows the methane gas from decomposing trash to be collected and used for power. Scott County Waste Commission spokesperson Rachel Evans explain...

www.radioiowa.com

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Justin Mikulka @justinmikulka.bsky.social · 17h

As someone who lived in Albany for 15 years and was involved in local politics it does not surprise me that Cuomo is ending up in the same camp as Trump.

The culture of fear in Albany about speaking out against Cuomo and other corrupt democrats was intense.

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Justin Mikulka @justinmikulka.bsky.social · 17h

Just a reminder as it is clear most of the population doesn't understand this.

BNEF: Renewables Are Becoming Cheaper than Natural Gas in Southeast Asia

Despite the large number of benefits, many countries in Southeast Asia are planning to expand their use of natural gas.

energytracker.asia

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Reposted by Justin Mikulka

Kevin J. CREATURE @kevinjkircher.com · 1d

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.

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Justin Mikulka @justinmikulka.bsky.social · 17h

I live in a university town and the international students are subsidizing the whole town.

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Reposted by Justin Mikulka

Ron Filipkowski @ronfilipkowski.bsky.social · 19h

The man was 77 years old and his wife previously organized one of the local ‘No Kings’ protests. All he did was write ‘You Lack Values’ and got an intimidation visit from Desantis’s Gestapo.

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Reposted by Justin Mikulka

Kieran Healy @kjhealy.co · 20h

White House staff should just make and show him an AI-generated video where he wins, fly him to Duluth and tell him it’s Oslo, and dare the New York Times to say anything more than “Experts disagree about whether Mr Trump was awarded the Nobel Prize”.

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Reposted by Justin Mikulka

Dr Linda McIver @lindamciver.adsei.org · 19h

gosh, who could possibly have foreseen this?? 🙄

Alan Baxter @alanbaxter.bsky.social · 19h

"Put simply, only the extremely wealthy appear to be benefiting from all of this."

Bank of England Warns of Impending AI Disaster

The Bank of England has sounded the alarm, warning of an intensifying risk of a "sudden correction" due to an AI spending frenzy.

futurism.com

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Justin Mikulka @justinmikulka.bsky.social · 18h

It has been disappointing to learn how bad the BBC is.

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Justin Mikulka @justinmikulka.bsky.social · 19h

Oh my! Are people going to start looking at the technologies driving an unprecedented global energy transition as potential investment opportunities?

Analysis-'Every electron counts': Why renewables stocks are back in play

MILAN (Reuters) -A return of fund inflows into renewable energy stocks is helping to breath new life into these companies' shares, powering their strongest quarterly rise since the sustainability boom...

finance.yahoo.com

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Justin Mikulka @justinmikulka.bsky.social · 19h

"Turning the clock back 25 years."

Typically not how you build a strong economy.

Tony Dutzik @frontiertony.bsky.social · 20h

All the lip gloss being put on the AI boom as somehow good for climate or the energy transition is masking that, at the present moment, it's a disaster.

Not only more gas generation, but the worst, dirtiest, least efficient kind. Turning the clock back 25 years.
heatmap.news/energy/natur...

Data Centers Have Solved Their Speed-to-Power Problem — With Natural Gas

“Old economy” companies like Caterpillar and Williams are cashing in by selling smaller, less-efficient turbines to impatient developers.

heatmap.news

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Justin Mikulka @justinmikulka.bsky.social · 20h

Why won't these people listen to Scottie? Everything is better!

finance.yahoo.com/news/bessent...

Bessent says US ended fiscal 2025 with lower deficit-to-GDP ratio

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the US ended fiscal year 2025 with a lower deficit-to-GDP ratio than the year before. He sounded an optimistic note for 2026, noting that the US is on its way to ...

finance.yahoo.com

Justin Mikulka @justinmikulka.bsky.social · 21h

Hooray!

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Reposted by Justin Mikulka

Amy Maxmen, PhD @amymaxmen.bsky.social · 1d

When I was reporting in Sudan several years ago, a driver warned me not to tell government officials when I was leaving because the airport is where they stop and detain writers.

So, yeah, this is a very bad sign. www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

US anti-fascism expert blocked from flying to Spain at airport

Rutgers University professor who published book on antifa was informed at boarding gate that his trip was cancelled

www.theguardian.com

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Justin Mikulka @justinmikulka.bsky.social · 1d

Another expensive "solution" to replace fossil fuels that actually makes things worse.

So much wasted money as battery powered vehicles are cheaper and actual reduce emissions.

The decades long ethanol fiasco in the US should have been the end of biofuels but instead it was used as a model.

T&E @transportenvironment.org · 2d

NEW: Biofuels globally emit more than the fossil fuels they replace, our latest study shows.

The first-of-a-kind study looks at global biofuels production today and the potential impacts of government biofuel targets.
🧵⤵️

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Justin Mikulka @justinmikulka.bsky.social · 1d

Yup. This was one of those, "Is this April 1st?!" double takes for me.

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Justin Mikulka @justinmikulka.bsky.social · 1d

In 2019, I pointed out why we would get to this point. See how the bridge goes towards a wind farm? That is not AI. That is old school Photoshop work.

The Inevitable Death of Natural Gas as a ‘Bridge Fuel’

Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti recently announced the city is scrapping plans for a multi-billion-dollar update to three natural gas power plants, instead choosing to invest in renewable energy and s...

www.desmog.com

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Justin Mikulka @justinmikulka.bsky.social · 1d

I recently made the same case as Javier.

As Solar Dominates, the Sun Sets on the LNG Boom

Gastech is a big deal in the global methane/natural gas industry. Gastech also openly embraces the false claims that the gas industry is somehow going to “...accelerate the global shift toward cleane...

powering-the-planet.ghost.io

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Justin Mikulka @justinmikulka.bsky.social · 1d

Well, I guess I can move on to new topics for my work and let Javier take it from here.

"LNG is threatened by a pincer movement involving, ironically, the two old and new sources it’s supposed to bridge: coal and solar"

Liquified Natural Gas Risks Becoming a Bridge to Nowhere

The conventional wisdom says liquified natural gas is the future of energy — bridging the gap between the world abandoning fossil fuels and renewable supplies coming online. But that rosy outlook face...

www.bloomberg.com

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