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Dr Iain Staffell @iain-staffell.bsky.social · Aug 19

Dirty or damaged solar panels waste vast amounts of clean power.

Introducing SolarSynthNet: a deep learning model that spots cracks, dust & snow. It's the new state-of-the-art with 97%+ detection accuracy and is built for real-world farms.

Paper: www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

SolarSynthNet (SSN): A deep learning framework for binary and multiclass classification of damaged or obstructed solar panels using images

The rapid rise in solar photovoltaic (PV) installations globally drives demand for tools to optimize system operations and maintenance. Machine learni…

www.sciencedirect.com

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Reposted by Dr Iain Staffell

Ken Caldeira @kencaldeira.com · Jul 31

Climate models have underestimated the departure of high temperature extremes from monthly means.

If we assume these model biases persist in future projections, then the climate models are also likely underestimating the magnitude of future high temperature extremes.

www.nature.com/articles/s43...

Historical model biases in monthly high temperature anomalies indicate under-estimation of future temperature extremes - Communications Earth & Environment

Models tend to underestimate mean monthly maximum temperature anomalies by 2-3% and extreme anomalies by 11-12% over the period 1980 and 2023, which could lead to temperatures 3 °C to 5 °C higher than...

www.nature.com

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Dr Iain Staffell @iain-staffell.bsky.social · Jun 29

Would this give supermarkets the incentive to lower the cost of the healthier food (and raise cost of the unhealthy) and for producers to make their unhealthy foods less calorie dense?

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Christian Breyer @christianonre.bsky.social · Jun 25

1/ New study @UniLUT on the techno-economic potential of global offshore wind power doi.org/10.1016/j.ap.... Potential within 200 NM & 1000 m depth adds up to 27.3 TW or 66200 TWh, with 2/3 on floating foundations. Economic potential is projected to grow, with declining costs.

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Dr Iain Staffell @iain-staffell.bsky.social · May 30

The UK is installing solar panels at its fastest rate in over a decade!

renewablesnow.com/news/uk-inst...

UK installs 57,000 rooftop solar systems in Q1

The UK showed a strong appetite for rooftop solar in the first quarter of 2025, installing over 57,000 systems, the busiest start to the year since 2012, according to the Drax Electric Insights analys...

renewablesnow.com

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Dr Iain Staffell @iain-staffell.bsky.social · May 15

There will be no transition without transmission!

Power grids are the hidden star of the net-zero story. Our new study maps how Europe's Transmission System Operators are using innovation to keep ahead.

From NWAs to AI, see what they are doing here: www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

How do electricity TSOs embrace innovation to future-proof their role in the energy transition?

Access to electricity is the lifeblood of modern society. Electricity grids are undergoing transformative changes, driven mainly by decarbonization, d…

www.sciencedirect.com

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Dr Iain Staffell @iain-staffell.bsky.social · May 7

From AI-driven dispatch to energy storage and dynamic line ratings - we interviewed the heads of innovation at 11 European TSOs to understand their priorities, best practices, and approaches to regulation.

What would you prioritise to keep the lights on?

The TSOs that were interviewed, and the size of their innovation teams.

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Dr Iain Staffell @iain-staffell.bsky.social · May 7

🕯️ The recent blackout in Spain & Portugal shows how the grid is the front-lines of the energy transition.

⚡ Innovation is key to keeping the lights on. Our new study reveals what Europe's TSOs are rolling out to stop it happening again...

📕 See where they are betting big: doi.org/10.1016/j.es...

The main areas of focus for European TSOs. Bars indicate how many of the interviewed TSOs mentioned these areas and technologies. Interviews conducted with the heads of innovation at TSOs across Europe (see the paper for details). The most widely mentioned areas were: dynamic line ratings, storage, AI & digital twins.

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Dr Iain Staffell @iain-staffell.bsky.social · May 3

It has worked well for you, but could bring a tenured white man play a part in this?

I see more online abuse directed to female sleuths, which could discourage them from going public.

Similarly, if you fear being sacked because you do something to rock the boat, is it fair to stay anonymous?

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Dr Iain Staffell @iain-staffell.bsky.social · Apr 30

Exactly! It was the amazing charts of @aukehoekstra.bsky.social that gave us the inspiration for this! Hydrogen projections are basically solar projections rotated 90 degrees!

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Dr Iain Staffell @iain-staffell.bsky.social · Apr 30

Well yes... Green Hydrogen needs a lot of water and infrastructure, so those are genuine concerns.

If you know of reports saying they don't matter, I'd love to read them.

And @mliebreich.bsky.social has strong (evidence backed) views, which are not a common symptom of rabies x

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Dr Iain Staffell @iain-staffell.bsky.social · Apr 30

Global hydrogen demand has grown 𝟯𝘅 𝘀𝗹𝗼𝘄𝗲𝗿 than the experts predicted.

For 50 years, analysts have projected rapid uptake (6-15% pa.). Instead hydrogen has tracked global GDP, growing ~3% pa.

Will hydrogen finally take off - or are we still being too optimistic?

📖: www.nature.com/articles/s44...

Projections of global hydrogen production across 100 years. a, Total
hydrogen production (high and low carbon) from selected historical scenarios (lines) and recent projections (boxes), set against actual production. Boxes represent the median and interquartile range; whiskers represent minimum and maximum. The compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of each scenario is given in the legend.

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Dr Iain Staffell @iain-staffell.bsky.social · Apr 30

Congratulations Jan, I'm looking forward to all the great things you'll do!

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Jan Rosenow @janrosenow.bsky.social · Apr 23

Why are Ferraris outselling all hydrogen cars combined?

Decades of R&D from top automakers couldn’t make fuel-cell cars mainstream. BEVs now outsell them 1,000-to-1.

Great breakdown by Nathan Johnson & @iain-staffell.bsky.social for @carbonbrief.org

🔗 www.carbonbrief.org/guest-post-w...

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Dr Iain Staffell @iain-staffell.bsky.social · Apr 23

We had got up to about 15k fuel cell vehicles selling per year in 2022, mostly in Korea and Japan... but that number is plunging back down again 😔

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Dr Iain Staffell @iain-staffell.bsky.social · Apr 23

We must stop focusing hydrogen research and investment into dead-ends.

EVs out-sell fuel cell cars 1000:1.

Find out what's hot and what's not as the famous @mliebreich.bsky.social Hydrogen Ladder enters the peer-reviewed literature.

New paper in Nature Reviews: www.nature.com/articles/s44...

Applications for hydrogen, qualitatively ranked in terms of competitiveness against alternatives.

a) The main applications for hydrogen across all sectors are grouped according to their current and potential future economic advantage against alternatives. Ranking derived from Liebreich's ‘Hydrogen Ladder’ and Espacito's ‘Hydrogen Policy’s Narrow Path’ report.

b) c) d) Give the annual sales of hydrogen, alternative and incumbent technologies in three example applications.

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Reposted by Dr Iain Staffell

Michael Liebreich @mliebreich.bsky.social · Apr 22

For decades, forecasts of a clean hydrogen economy have relied on rapid scale-up driving down costs. However, production costs are dominated by engineering and energy, and supplemented by transport, storage & usage costs which seem unlikely to exhibit rapid reductions.
www.nature.com/articles/s44...

Realistic roles for hydrogen in the future energy transition - Nature Reviews Clean Technology

Hydrogen has been proposed as a fuel for widespread use since the 1970s, but uptake has repeatedly fallen below projections, primarily due to high costs. This Perspective considers hydrogen’s potentia...

www.nature.com

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Simon Evans @drsimevans.carbonbrief.org · Apr 22

NEW: Why are hydrogen cars outsold by Ferraris (& EVs)?

Why have H2 projections massively outstripped reality?

Find out + see the latest hydrogen "ladder" by @iain-staffell.bsky.social based on new review with @mliebreich.bsky.social @dankammen.bsky.social

www.carbonbrief.org/guest-post-w...

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Reposted by Dr Iain Staffell

Tom Calver @tomcalver.bsky.social · Mar 30

🧵 NEW: Is Britain really a high tax country?

Our collective tax bill is at its highest share of GDP since the 1940s

But actually, the tax and NI paid by the average worker are at their lowest in decades.

What’s going on?

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@thetimes.com

Free link 🔗 www.thetimes.com/article/25aa...

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Dr Iain Staffell @iain-staffell.bsky.social · Mar 25

But they allocated only 93 MW in the auction, that's barely one decent sized farm...

Reposted by Dr Iain Staffell

Simon Evans @drsimevans.carbonbrief.org · Mar 12

📢ANALYSIS: UK emissions fell 3.6% in 2024 to lowest since 1872

🏭Coal lowest since 1666, when Great Fire ravaged London
🚗EVs pushed oil down despite more traffic, saving £1.7bn
🌇Gas down on "cleanest ever" power
📈📉Since 1990, CO2 -54% / GDP +84%

www.carbonbrief.org/...
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Masud Husain @masudhusain.bsky.social · Mar 6

Why academia is sleepwalking into self-destruction. My editorial @brain1878.bsky.social If you agree with the sentiments please repost. It's important for all our sakes to stop the madness
academic.oup.com/brain/articl...

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Oxford Biology @biology.ox.ac.uk · Mar 5

Despite how much we love hedgehogs, humans are a key factor in their decline 🦔

New from @drhedgehog.bsky.social @wildcru.bsky.social - a look at the status of our beloved garden visitors 👇
bit.ly/41H01yP

@mplsoxford.bsky.social

Humans are a key factor in hedgehog decline across Europe

bit.ly

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Dr Iain Staffell @iain-staffell.bsky.social · Mar 3

Thank you Lukas, I hope you enjoy the paper :-)

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Dr Iain Staffell @iain-staffell.bsky.social · Mar 3

Finally, for full disclosure:

All the credit must go to my superstar co-authors: Judy Xie, Nora Escher, Matilda Dunn, Yurong Yu & @joerirogelj.bsky.social.

And yes. I do eat meat. I do burn gas (it’s cold in winter). I don’t drive a car. I do fly. I am probably a hypocrite. I don’t care.

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