Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Rob Cheesewright @robcheesewright.bsky.social · 21h

It's a good gag.

Sam Freedman @samfr.bsky.social · 21h

This guy needs to be put in team with Danny Kruger.

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Rob Cheesewright @robcheesewright.bsky.social · 1d

Latest research on carbon offsetting: www.theguardian.com/environment/...

The key remedy is a contribution model:

"Instead of financing...through carbon offsets, they called for a contribution-based scheme that did not allow donors to claim it negated their own emissions.”

Carbon offsets fail to cut global heating due to ‘intractable’ systemic problems, study says

Analysis of 25 years of evidence shows most schemes are poor quality and fail to lower emissions

www.theguardian.com

Reposted by Rob Cheesewright

Jan Rosenow @janrosenow.bsky.social · 1d

Despite the noise, renewables keep rising now generating more electricity than coal.

@iea.org halved its US outlook, but raised India’s by 10%, putting it on track as the No. 2 growth market after China. MENA up 23%, driven by Saudi wind and solar.

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Rob Cheesewright @robcheesewright.bsky.social · 2d

The Tories plan to row back on Net Zero. Meanwhile...

www.eenews.net/articles/win...

Wind power pushes down UK electricity costs, report says

“People may not realize it, but their bills today would be higher without the increasing role [of] wind and solar farms,” says analyst.

www.eenews.net

Rob Cheesewright @robcheesewright.bsky.social · 6d

I can't get over how unserious the Kemi Badenoch Net Zero repeal stuff is. Not only is NZ essentially a fact of science - the only thing that stops the planet warming - but to have nothing to say on what will replace it, what their ambition is, how to replace the business certainly of NZ. Mad.

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Prof Matt Hannon @matthannon.bsky.social · 6d

The Tories are the self-professed party of the environment & family.

So it's rather hard to think of a single policy that would do a better job at both wrecking the environment, as well as the future prospects of our children and grand-children.

I wonder what most Conservative voters make of this.

Prof Matt Hannon @matthannon.bsky.social · 6d

www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Today formally marks the end of a 17 year cross-party consensus on climate change & an extremely dangerous moment in our history

Turning our backs on climate action is tantamount to accepting the full force of climate change. It is a self-imposed death sentence

Kemi Badenoch vows to repeal Climate Change Act

Tory leader says she would replace it with ‘cheap energy’ strategy, ending decades-long consensus on climate

www.theguardian.com

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Jan Rosenow @janrosenow.bsky.social · 8d

Renewables are a masterclass in learning-by-doing. Each doubling of deployment cuts costs via experience curves: better manufacturing, finance & supply chains.

Result:

Solar now cheapest new power in many regions
Falling battery costs enable flexibility
Electrification gets more attractive

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Jan Rosenow @janrosenow.bsky.social · 9d

Trump claimed last week at the UN: “They [China] build them, but they have very few wind farms. So why is it that they build them and they send them all over the world, but they barely use them?”

The answer is: they actually do. China has more wind power than any other country in the world.

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Rob Cheesewright @robcheesewright.bsky.social · 12d

Same goes for the BBC here in the UK. As useless as it has been at holding the line itself, at times.

Brent Toderian @brenttoderian.bsky.social · Aug 31

Make no mistake, everything that’s happening in the United States is being significantly enabled by the right wing oligarch capture of media.

Every other country needs to do everything possible to keep that from happening where they are.

Including protecting the CBC from Poilievre here in Canada.

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Rob Cheesewright @robcheesewright.bsky.social · 13d

Managed to attend a few New York Climate Week events from my desk in the UK. Missed out on some informal coffees (I prefer tea anyways), but have been in some great conversations, without the aviation emissions. Pretty happy with that.

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Rob Cheesewright @robcheesewright.bsky.social · 14d

Only one front line spinner in Ashes squad is brave

Reposted by Rob Cheesewright

James Austin @jamesdaustin.bsky.social · 21d

The key fact that the racist right really hates: multiculturalism works

Naomi Alderman @naomialderman.bsky.social · 21d

I love London so much. So much.

Did you know that London has the lowest level of ethnic violence of any city of comparable size in the world?

Multiculturalism has in fact worked here. They just don’t want it to be true because we happen to have a Muslim mayor.

Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan @london.gov.uk · 21d

In London, hate will never win.

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Rob Cheesewright @robcheesewright.bsky.social · 21d

Fossil fuel caused heat this summer led to the deaths of 16,000 people in Europe as well as doing £37bn of damage in EU countries. In a single summer of warming below 1.5C.

And yet there are people who say we cant afford net zero.

Reposted by Rob Cheesewright

Giles Wilkes @gilesyb.bsky.social · 22d

My most centrist dad take is that most governing politicians deserve sympathy because almost every policy that's actually any good for the country is unpopular, and almost every popular policy is probably bad.

Johnson's Brexit approach was far worse than Chequers IMHO but 20ppts more popular 1/

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Gabriel Milland @gabrielmilland.bsky.social · 22d

Seems like quite a moment. This morning, the UK was powered entirely by low-carbon energy, it seems.

Yes it's windy and sunny. But it's still a milestone.

WillP @wiilp.bsky.social · 22d

We could have declared "100% zerocarbon" this morning when renewables+nuclear were generating 100% of UK consumption.

As usual this drove our price down, so exports up, and we had to run gas just to power the exports.

NESO set hard target that ZCO has to include exports as well as UK demand.

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Rachel Salvidge @rachelsalvidge.bsky.social · 26d

EXCLUSIVE: England’s farms are being fertilised with a cocktail of toxic landfill juice + sewage sludge.

750,000 tonnes of landfill leachate tankered to sewage works every year → mixed into sewage → spread on farmers' fields. 1/

www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Thousands of tonnes of toxic landfill liquid added to sewage and spread on English farms

Exclusive: Leachate is tankered to treatment works where it mixes with sewage and industrial effluent

www.theguardian.com

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Jenny Chase @solarchase.bsky.social · 27d

To be fair, greentech deployment and climate action was never a race, it was a fitness program. Nobody has to win, everyone should want to improve.

Perfectly valid to say "well done China! Can I get a quote for some solar panels and batteries?"

Akshat Rathi @akshatrathi.bsky.social · 28d

6. China is winning the green-tech race. NO ONE has an answer.

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Rob Cheesewright @robcheesewright.bsky.social · Sep 5

I didn't think it was possible to feel second hand embarrassment on behalf of senior Reform grifters. And yet, here we are. 😬

Adam Bienkov @adambienkov.bsky.social · Sep 5

Reform Mayor and former Conservative minister Andrea Jenkyns is really struggling through her speech here. Unclear whether Reform is promising to turn Britain into a "superpammer" or a mere "supakpower"

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Jonathan Portes @jdportes.bsky.social · Sep 2

The Home Office's own (excellent) research summary says

a) asylum seekers come to the UK primarily because of social networks/ties

b) welfare and labour market policies are *not* a big "pull factor"

c) safe routes would help

freemovement.org.uk/wp-content/u...

nce 2017, the number of asylum applications in the UK has been increasing, by 2019 returning to levels seen during 2015-16 although the UK was relatively little affected by the European 'migration crisis’. This recent increase is likely due in part to movement to the UK by those already in Europe. • In 2019, at least 1 in 6 asylum applicants to the UK had made a prior application in a European country. • However, only a small portion of secondary movement across Europe is to the UK – in 2019, the UK produced just 6% of Eurodac hits relating to prior applications elsewhere in Europe. • While many entering the UK may travel through France, most top nationalities applying for asylum in the UK do not apply in France in large numbers (with the exception of Sudanese, Afghan and Albanian applicants). Social networks, shared languages and diasporas motivate asylum seekers to reach certain destination countries • Social networks aid migrant integration to society, acting as facilitators of information relating to life in the destination country. They are considered trusted sources and are likely to influence migration journeys more than information from formal institutions. • The presence of diaspora communities can motivate migrants to reach certain destination countries. The proportion of diasporas in the EU+ residing in the UK is correlated with the proportion of asylum applications across the EU+ made in the UK (see slide 21). Armed conflict, human rights abuses, poverty, political & economic instability and violence are factors that forcibly displace migrants • The majority (57%) of individuals escaping persecution are internally displaced within their own countries and most refugees displaced abroad stay within their region of displacement, living in countries neighbouring their countries of origin 1 2 . • Of the number of asylum seekers that reach Europe, only a small percentage claim asylum in the UK. In 2019, the UK received 6% of total EU+ asylum applications. • A …

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Will Jennings 🗳️ @drjennings.bsky.social · Sep 1

The failure of the government and many Labour MPs to leave X after the 2024 riots suggests they just don't get the challenge they face or the power they have to fight back. Completely weak and callow.

Sunder Katwala (sundersays) @sundersays.bsky.social · Sep 1

In his own voice, Elon Musk is fully committed to a replacement conspiracy theory as his main lens on UK politics.

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David Ho @davidho.bsky.social · Aug 31

How to hasten the AMOC collapse and make Britain uninhabitable (or at least really miserable).

Tories pledge to get 'all our oil and gas out of the North Sea'

The government warns Kemi Badenoch's plans would "only accelerate the worsening climate crisis".

www.bbc.com

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Rob Cheesewright @robcheesewright.bsky.social · Aug 29

Whats the professional, appropriate, Bluesky toned way of saying these people are the scum of the earth and I hope everyone involved steps on infinite upturned plugs?

www.reuters.com/business/ene...

Exxon sees natural gas demand surging in outlook to 2050

Global demand for natural gas will rise more than 20% by 2050 from last year's level, as it displaces coal to power industries and meet higher electricity use in developing countries, Exxon Mobil said on Thursday in an annual outlook.

www.reuters.com

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Rob Cheesewright @robcheesewright.bsky.social · Aug 22

Veggie BBQ. #superwoke

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Rob Cheesewright @robcheesewright.bsky.social · Aug 22

This is not a normal year. Or rather, by historical standards. In future, this may be a what we'll see a lot more of.

Hannah Ritchie @hannahritchie.bsky.social · Aug 22

The UK has also had a large year for wildfires:

Reposted by Rob Cheesewright

Hannah Ritchie @hannahritchie.bsky.social · Aug 22

Electric car batteries degrade over time, but typically less than a lot of people think. Many are still over 80% capacity after 200,000 miles.

Most manufacturers are now giving 8+ years warranty.

My Substack from this week:
hannahritchie.substack.com/p/electric-c...

How much do electric car batteries degrade?

Many electric cars will still have more than 80% of their initial capacity after 200,000 miles.

hannahritchie.substack.com

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