Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Richard Wilson @fishrise.bsky.social · 6h

USA / stranded asset?

As the world switches to cheap renewables the US is losing both its lucrative fossil fuel export market and the competitive advantage of once cheap domestic FF energy.

The Chinese are the winners.

2

Reposted by Richard Wilson

Dr Paul Dorfman @drpauldorfman.bsky.social · 6h

2 10 19

Richard Wilson @fishrise.bsky.social · 9h

It’s not the tech. It’s you … you’re getting older.

All that frantic brand-this & herd-that is for the kids. Imo trainers peaked decades ago.

Enjoy!

Richard Wilson @fishrise.bsky.social · 1d

Thatcher gave one of the great climate change speeches. It still reads well today.

I doubt there’s a single senior Tory now who’d read this out loud and in public.

A truly ground breaking speech.

www.margaretthatcher.org/document/107...

Speech to United Nations General Assembly (Global Environment) | Margaret Thatcher Foundation

www.margaretthatcher.org

1

Richard Wilson @fishrise.bsky.social · 2d

Can fossil fuel companies get FOMO?

open.substack.com/pub/billmcki...

Something extraordinary just happened

But of course there's a but. Or two.

open.substack.com

1

Richard Wilson @fishrise.bsky.social · 2d

The amount of energy/venom expended by some on the left attacking the NYT etc amazes me.

Such righteous ideological purity!

MAGA through the looking glass.

Richard Wilson @fishrise.bsky.social · 4d

"Global renewable power capacity is expected to double between now and 2030, up by 4,600 gigawatts (GW). This is roughly the equivalent of adding China, the EU and Japan’s power generation capacity combined to the global energy mix."

I bet it will be bigger.

www.iea.org/reports/rene...

Executive summary – Renewables 2025 – Analysis - IEA

Renewables 2025 - Analysis and key findings. A report by the International Energy Agency.

www.iea.org

3 4

Richard Wilson @fishrise.bsky.social · 4d

"... last year, the world added a record 582GW of renewable energy capacity. That’s over 91% of all new power – with nuclear nowhere. In fact, each year, nuclear adds as much net global power capacity as renewables add every two days."

They're cheaper.

www.newcivilengineer.com/opinion/a-go...

A ‘Golden Age’ of nuclear? | New Civil Engineer

The reason is simple. Nuclear costs are huge and rising and significant delays are the norm. The result is that nuclear power faces the same fundamental

www.newcivilengineer.com

1 8 24

Richard Wilson @fishrise.bsky.social · 11d

Dead man's spiral.

It's what pilots without instruments do in fog/cloud. They think they're flying straight & level. But there's something in the human brain that makes fly in circles, each lower than the one before.

It usually ends badly.

1

Reposted by Richard Wilson

Adam Vaughan @adamvaughan.bsky.social · 11d

The UK's goal of 95% clean power by 2030 might sound Herculean.

But the UK has made more progress than many people think: it's already on 74%.

New official figures out today
www.gov.uk/government/s...

12 26

Richard Wilson @fishrise.bsky.social · 13d

The oil and gas industry needs to run faster just to stand still. Renewables, meanwhile, get cheaper even faster.

"Nearly 90% of annual upstream oil and gas investment since 2019 has been dedicated to offsetting production declines rather than to meet demand growth."

www.iea.org/reports/the-...

www.iea.org

2 4

Richard Wilson @fishrise.bsky.social · 14d

True, and they’re relying on Trump to support their market until they extract the last drop of value from their oil investment.

Next: Energy companies can flip investment strategies very quickly.

Countries need infrastructure & are much slower.

The price will be paid by Americans, not Exon

3

Reposted by Richard Wilson

Adam Vaughan @adamvaughan.bsky.social · 14d

Mad that the NYT is having to produce videos on basics such as "yes, climate change is happening" and "yes, renewables have become much cheaper"

But here we are. This is very nicely and clearly done by
@sominisengupta.bsky.social

www.nytimes.com/video/climat...

Video: Three Charts To Set the Record Straight On Climate Change

In his United Nations address, President Trump lashed out at wind turbines, environmentalists and allies around the world while dismissing the dangers of climate change. Somini Sengupta explains the f...

www.nytimes.com

1 9 22

Richard Wilson @fishrise.bsky.social · 14d

Market forces.

This summarises the bind the US government & its coal-chewing president finds itself in with all Renewables.

Bucking the market brings rising prices & lost competitiveness that accelerate over time.

They're shovelling water up a hill as a storm breaks.

1 1 5

Richard Wilson @fishrise.bsky.social · 15d

“Investment in energy around the world is likely to hit about $3.3 trillion (£2.4tn) this year. While more than $1tn of the total is still likely to flow into fossil fuels, double that amount – about $2.2tn – is expected for low-carbon forms of energy.”

Guardian

1 2

Richard Wilson @fishrise.bsky.social · 17d

“We are starting to glimpse the insidious price that the US will pay for clinging too long to old fossil fuel tech while China bets the farm on new electro-tech.”

Telegraph on the Chinese capture of global renewables market & its nuclear ambition.

digitaleditions.telegraph.co.uk/data/2199/re...

The Telegraph

digitaleditions.telegraph.co.uk

4

Richard Wilson @fishrise.bsky.social · 18d

With a mix of solar & cheap over-night home charging my annual EV fuel bill for 10k miles is about 10% that of a comparable petrol/diesel car.

Service costs negligible.

With home charging EVs are a financial no-brainer.

8

Reposted by Richard Wilson

Robert Ferry @robertferry.bsky.social · 18d

Here is the State of California. Note how much land area is devoted to built up area (pink areas) and fossil fuel infrastructure (black areas) in relation to how much land would be required for a 100% renewable energy economy (yellow, orange, blue, green areas).
landartgenerator.org/images/Calif...

Information graphic about energy landscape areas in California, including fossil fuel energy landscapes and a potential 100% renewable solar, wind, and water energy landscape scenario to supply 21st century economy. https://landartgenerator.org/blagi/archives/5535

5 11 34

Reposted by Richard Wilson

Prof. Bob Howarth @profbobhowarth.bsky.social · 19d

Christiana Figueres on the Production Gap report: "Fossil fuels are on their last legs.... Despite trillions in public subsidies,.... oil and gas has underperformed every other sector over the last 15 years.” 1/3
productiongap.org/wp-content/u...

1 5 18

Richard Wilson @fishrise.bsky.social · 21d

The article doesn’t say when they’ll come on line.

The risk is that the free-falling cost of renewables, and especially utility scale batteries, will make them stranded assets.

1 1

Richard Wilson @fishrise.bsky.social · 23d

As fossil fuel power stations fade away their grid connections are cannibalised by renewables.

Cheaper energy rises from the ashes.

Map from The Economist

infographics.economist.com/2025/2025082...

Old fossil power stations where renewables cannabalised by renewables for ther grid connections.

6 8

Richard Wilson @fishrise.bsky.social · 24d

“Trump’s anti-solar crusade may end up calling to mind the Eagles’ best-known hit, “Hotel California”. He can check out any time he likes, but he can never leave.” The Economist.

Cheap, reliable and profitable renewable energy is unstoppable.

Follow the money.

The Economist @economist.com · 24d

Analysts now think solar investment will rebound in America. There are two explanations as to why

Despite presidential animus, America’s solar industry is buzzing

And investment is on the rise

econ.st

11 35

Richard Wilson @fishrise.bsky.social · 26d

African Solar roll-out. Hardly needs a caption.

And also there's Morocco & the planned power cable connecting the UK grid to the huge wind farms on its Atlantic coast.

Shifting geo-politics & $$$s as renewables eat the FF market. Thanks to Hannah Ritchie.

African countries are piling into solar energy because it's cheap and profitable.

2 23 89

Reposted by Richard Wilson

Conrad Hackett @conradhackett.bsky.social · 27d

Time for the world to install a gigawatt of solar power capacity
2004: A year
2010: ~ a month
2015: ~ a week
Now: A day
ourworldindata.org/data-insight... 🧪

Line chart showing that there's been a rapid escalation in how quickly the world installs a gigawatt of solar power capacity.

34 900 2.5K

Richard Wilson @fishrise.bsky.social · 28d

Will someone pls tell Donald?

Dr Paul Dorfman @drpauldorfman.bsky.social · 28d

3