Mike Munsell
LightNews LightNews
mikemunsell.bsky.social
Mike Munsell
@mikemunsell.bsky.social
1.2K followers 380 following 140 posts
VP of Partnerships @heatmap.news
Previously: Canary Media, Greentech Media
Occasionally writing
Living north of Boston
Posts Replies Media Videos
Reposted by Mike Munsell
jael.bsky.social
It’s wild to break story after story about the Trump administration meddling with solar and wind permits

And then hop on the phone with a member of Congress who told me he read all the stories and now it’s his top priority.

Anyway, that happened today. Read my big exclusive today in @heatmap.news
Trump Is the Biggest Wild Card in Permitting Reform
Congress is motivated to pass a bipartisan deal, but Democrats are demanding limits on executive power.
heatmap.news
November 25, 2025 at 9:08 PM
mikemunsell.bsky.social
My brother’s banjo company made @nymag.com The Strategist’s Christmas gift list!
The Friendly Banjo. From $234 designed by Zack Munsell.
November 22, 2025 at 10:52 PM
Reposted by Mike Munsell
michaelemann.bsky.social
An disturbingly apt metaphor.
Via @emilypont.bsky.social:
heatmap.news/sparks/cop30...
COP30 Is on Fire
Flames have erupted in the “Blue Zone” at the United Nations Climate Conference in Brazil.
heatmap.news
November 21, 2025 at 12:28 AM
Reposted by Mike Munsell
johnffarrell.bsky.social
This is 100% the right question to ask about our bizarre monopoly for-profit utility system. Thank you, @emilypont.bsky.social!
emilypont.bsky.social Emily Pontecorvo @emilypont.bsky.social · 8d
I'm dense when it comes to finance, so the fact that I got to a point of understanding how utilities earn profit and why they should or shouldn't earn less means you can too. I stayed up till 3am trying to explain in an accessible way. Hopefully it was worth it!
heatmap.news/energy/calif...
What If Utilities Just Made Less Money?
California energy companies are asking for permission to take in more revenue. Consumer advocates are having none of it.
heatmap.news
November 20, 2025 at 10:26 PM
Reposted by Mike Munsell
emilypont.bsky.social
A literal fire has erupted in the middle of the United Nations conference devoted to stopping the planet from burning.

heatmap.news/sparks/cop30...
COP30 Is on Fire
Flames have erupted in the “Blue Zone” at the United Nations Climate Conference in Brazil.
heatmap.news
November 20, 2025 at 6:27 PM
Reposted by Mike Munsell
emilypont.bsky.social
I'm dense when it comes to finance, so the fact that I got to a point of understanding how utilities earn profit and why they should or shouldn't earn less means you can too. I stayed up till 3am trying to explain in an accessible way. Hopefully it was worth it!
heatmap.news/energy/calif...
What If Utilities Just Made Less Money?
California energy companies are asking for permission to take in more revenue. Consumer advocates are having none of it.
heatmap.news
November 19, 2025 at 10:31 PM
Reposted by Mike Munsell
jael.bsky.social
woah this came outta nowhere. thanks!!!! wow!!!!!! omg!!!!!!!
November 19, 2025 at 3:35 PM
Reposted by Mike Munsell
heatmap.news
Mikie Sherrill cruised to victory in New Jersey’s governor race on the back of a promise to freeze electricity rates.

But what will that actually take?

@zeitlin.bsky.social has the answers:

heatmap.news/energy/new-j...
How an Electricity Rate Freeze Could Actually Work
New Jersey Governor-elect Mikie Sherrill made a rate freeze one of her signature campaign promises, but that’s easier said than done.
heatmap.news
November 17, 2025 at 11:02 PM
Reposted by Mike Munsell
jael.bsky.social
scoop: one of the largest renewable energy projects in the u.s. is quietly getting killed

say goodbye to leading light, the latest casualty of trump’s war on offshore wind

(also means there is essentially no more offshore wind in progress at all for new jersey)
Scoop: Giant Wind Farm Off New Jersey Coast Is Getting Killed
Leading Light can’t move forward, a legal counsel wrote to state regulators.
heatmap.news
November 11, 2025 at 9:57 PM
Reposted by Mike Munsell
jael.bsky.social
my latest: i spent weeks investigating how frustrations about data centers were about to swallow american politics…

…and then the 2025 election happened, proving the electoral impacts are already here.

read and share my deep dive on the bipartisan AI techlash shaping our elections before our eyes!
The Data Center Backlash Is Swallowing American Politics
Activists on both the left and the right are pushing back against rampant AI development.
heatmap.news
November 6, 2025 at 9:13 PM
Reposted by Mike Munsell
jessedjenkins.com
Today on SHIFT KEY: will EVs be bad or good for the grid? It all depends on how we coordinate charging (or don't), and today's guest is leading the charge to make charging cleaner, cheaper, and grid friendly. Listen wherever you get your podcasts or @heatmap.news heatmap.news/podcast/shif... 🔌💡
How EVs Can Actually Help the Electricity Crisis
Rob and Jesse touch base with WeaveGrid CEO Apoorv Bhargava.
heatmap.news
November 5, 2025 at 1:43 PM
Reposted by Mike Munsell
heatmap.news
Zohran Mamdani ran an ultra-disciplined campaign for mayor — one that barely touched on climate change. Once he's in office, how will the one-time self-described "ecosocialist" govern?

Here's @robinsonmeyer.bsky.social with the backstory:

heatmap.news/politics/zoh...
Zohran Mamdani’s Silent Climate Politics
The self-described “ecosocialist” ran an ultra-disciplined campaign for New York City mayor. Once he’s in office, the climate issue could become unavoidable.
heatmap.news
November 5, 2025 at 8:06 AM
Reposted by Mike Munsell
robinsonmeyer.bsky.social
scooplet: Palmetto, the solar/battery/HVAC “neo-utility” that has expanded during the Trump admin, is buying The Cool Down, a sustainability and lifestyle news site founded by alums of Bleacher Report and Yahoo News. a purchase price wasn’t disclosed. heatmap.news/energy/palme...
Scoop: Palmetto Is Buying ‘The Cool Down’
The North Carolina-based clean energy company has been on an expansion tear, even as the Trump administration has axed support for renewables.
heatmap.news
November 3, 2025 at 5:53 PM
Reposted by Mike Munsell
sammyroth.bsky.social
NEWS: CBS News gutted its climate team as part of the big Paramount layoffs this week. These journalists had been doing incredible reporting on extreme heat, flooding, clean energy investments and more.

I've got details for Climate-Colored Goggles: www.climatecoloredgoggles.com/p/cbs-news-g...
CBS News just gutted its climate team
Paramount and Bari Weiss aren't off to a great start. Here's why David Ellison should change course.
www.climatecoloredgoggles.com
October 31, 2025 at 12:55 AM
Reposted by Mike Munsell
emilypont.bsky.social
In the span of a year, Canadian company Deep Sky turned a vacant lot in Alberta into a DAC Hub, with 5 Direct Air Capture systems installed from 5 different companies, and more to come. I went to check it out and find out how they moved so fast.
heatmap.news/carbon-remov...
The DAC Hub Dream Is Alive in Canada. I Went to See It.
Deep Sky is running a carbon removal bake-off on the plains of Alberta.
heatmap.news
October 30, 2025 at 9:09 PM
Reposted by Mike Munsell
zeitlin.bsky.social
I talked to an ex FERC chair who helped stiffarm Rick Perry's efforts to get FERC to write the rules he wanted, but now Neil Chatterjee thinks Secretary Wright will have a far easier time of it heatmap.news/energy/chatt...
What an ‘Elegant’ Notice of Proposed Rulemaking Looks Like, According to Neil Chatterjee
The former FERC chair explains why Chris Wright is likely to succeed where Rick Perry failed.
heatmap.news
October 29, 2025 at 7:01 PM
Reposted by Mike Munsell
jeva.bsky.social
In case you missed it — I spent my last trimester working on this package for @heatmap.news on what happens after wildfires, from rebuilding to relocating. Grateful to all the survivors, hotshots, and fire experts who spoke to me for it, and proud of what came together!

heatmap.news/the-aftermath
The Aftermath
How to live with wildfires
heatmap.news
October 28, 2025 at 12:56 PM
Reposted by Mike Munsell
emilypont.bsky.social
Today, @heatmap.news published The Aftermath, a masterful series from @jeva.bsky.social on how the US is learning to live with wildfires, incl. stories on improving evacuations, contemplating relocation, lessons from hotshots, and fires that never made headlines heatmap.news/the-aftermath
The Aftermath
How to live with wildfires
heatmap.news
October 27, 2025 at 6:39 PM
Reposted by Mike Munsell
alexckaufman.bsky.social
Major scoop from @robinsonmeyer.bsky.social:

Stardust Solutions, the Israeli geoengineering startup led by a team of Israeli physicists, just raised $60 million to develop the technology to artificially cool the planet by reflecting sunlight as soon as the 2030s.

heatmap.news/climate-tech...
Exclusive: Stardust Solutions Raises $60 Million to Build a Solar Geoengineering System by 2030
A U.S. firm led by former Israeli government physicists, Stardust seeks to patent its proprietary sunlight-scattering particle — but it won’t deploy its technology until global governments authorize s...
heatmap.news
October 24, 2025 at 11:21 AM
Reposted by Mike Munsell
jael.bsky.social
Scoop: A court ruling last week quietly derailed battery storage development in more than half of L.A. County after activists successfully sued to kill a 400 megawatt battery in a wildfire risk area

@heatmap.news #greensky #energysky
How a Tiny Community Blocked Battery Storage in Over Half of Los Angeles County
Much of California’s biggest county is now off limits to energy storage.
heatmap.news
October 23, 2025 at 8:51 PM
Reposted by Mike Munsell
robinsonmeyer.bsky.social
On this new episode of Shift Key, @jessedjenkins.com and I talk to Dulcie Madden, the CEO of Dig Energy, which is building small rigs to build geothermal heat pumps for single-family homes and businesses.

Listen at Heatmap: heatmap.news/podcast/shif...

Or wherever: shows.acast.com/65bac3af0334...
The Startup Trying to Put Geothermal Heat Pumps in America’s Homes
Rob and Jesse hang with Dig Energy co-founder and CEO Dulcie Madden.
heatmap.news
October 22, 2025 at 9:04 PM
Reposted by Mike Munsell
zeitlin.bsky.social
when it comes to electricity, "new jersey governor" is actually pretty far down the org chart heatmap.news/energy/new-j...
New Jersey’s Next Governor Probably Can’t Do Much About  Electricity Prices
Though high costs have become central to the upcoming election, they’re mostly out of the state’s control.
heatmap.news
October 21, 2025 at 9:20 PM
Reposted by Mike Munsell
emilypont.bsky.social
Most public transit systems depend largely on fare revenue to fund basic operations, but ridership never recovered after the pandemic. I wrote about 3 major transit systems that are facing a fiscal cliff, and the somewhat lackadaisical political response to the crisis. heatmap.news/politics/chi...
October 20, 2025 at 9:30 PM
Reposted by Mike Munsell
dave.bzky.team
Thanks so much to @emilypont.bsky.social for covering what might be the most underrated climate battlefield there is. As I say in the piece, in the Trump era, there is no clearer opportunity for state and local elected officials to make a tangible difference on climate than saving transit.
3 of America’s Biggest Public Transit Systems Are Teetering on the Brink
Riders in Chicago, Philadelphia, and the San Francisco Bay Area are staring down budget crises, with deep service cuts not far behind.
heatmap.news
October 20, 2025 at 8:33 PM
Reposted by Mike Munsell
jigarshahdc.bsky.social
I am happy they are closing loans but I just want people to recognize that the private sector is not excited to engage with LPO today. Really very sad as we go into an affordability crisis. The cruelty to Lithium Americas and others is the goal and is making this tool less useful.
October 17, 2025 at 10:04 PM