The media is full of elites saying how revolutionary LLMs are, full of stories of LLMs assisting in scientific breakthroughs, increasing productivity, and the promise of world-changing developments. Why shouldn't an ordinary person, aided by such powerful technology, stumble upon a breakthrough?
This is a great read.
The temptation (at least at first) is to think this man must have been exceptionally vulnerable, but, really, he was using the technology as its proponents advise.
torontolife.com/deep-dives/m...
We got 7.5k interest free loan from the Scottish Government as well. We also got a home battery which, coupled with a dynamic tariff, gets the running costs to ~1/2 that of gas.
Our first house (3 bed semi) cost £11k to replace entire system with heatpump + rads etc, our current house (4 bed) cost £17k. All new everything again.
UK government to increase heat pump grants to £9000 for those with oil and LPG heating. Generous for sure but fully closes the risk of a cost gap and may even provide a small excess for those with small homes (typically the least well off). (1/2)
“Ecotricity has since had to completely scrap its first biogas plant but is planning a new facility”.
Ok that makes some sense of the rather strange wording in the ecotricity press release.
Sorry I didn’t think you were, I was just replying to the thread in general
I also notice that, were Britain to rely on biogas to decarbonise the heating of its homes, the remaining emissions would be still be quite substantial ....
If their website is up to date, they *still* haven't got a green gas mill built and generating - they've been talking about this publicly going back to at least 2009 (thanks archive.org).
Nuclear power plants are easier to build!
www.ecotricity.co.uk/our-green-en...
Telegraph newspaper editorial on Mandelson's appointment in December 2024 versus editorial today
“The scale of the recent UK aid cuts had been so severe that people giggle at conferences where the UK claims to be thought leaders on the subject”
www.theguardian.com/world/2026/a...
The paper explores wide range of wood supply sources, inc. extreme pro-BECCS assumptions, e.g., 50% of wood comes from residues. We also provide transparent model anyone can use to change parameters and test results. No remotely reasonable assumptions generate benefits in reasonable time frames.
How would you reply to Drax’s response?
(They say that the paper’s assumptions don’t reflect Drax’s own sourcing practices)
www.theguardian.com/environment/...
I don't know, but if you view it from outside the UK, you don't get either the election coverage or the Climate heading (at top level). And if you look at older homepages, it hasn't been bumped from the top level by elections, wars, etc.
Bumped by "Elections 2026" it looks like.
Climate removed from top level navigation on BBC News.
“…Irreversible for hundreds to thousands of years”
“Irreversible”.
This is infinitely more consequential than Trump, oil prices, Hormuz etc. yet we continue to ignore it.
My grandfather, Labour MP and CND co-founder Tony Greenwood, on a Ban the Bomb March from Aldermaston to London in 1963. He would be spinning in his grave at what the Labour party has become under Keir Starmer.
flashbak.com/ban-the-bomb...
If growth in renewable generation exceeds Strait of Hormuz LNG, had LNG demand (and price) dropped prior to the war?
Everyone seems to think coal will get a big lift because of the oil&gas crisis, except for the professionals - the traders and plant operators. They're buying less of the stuff in April, not more. Note this includes within-country shipments which are big in e.g. China, Indonesia.
Research by Transport & Environment has revealed that the (Air) sector receives €26.4 billion of indirect subsidies every year through tax breaks on VAT (saving them €13.6 billion) and fuel tax (another €10.7 billion). In the EU, only domestic flights will pay VAT or value-added tax.
As Trump prepares to blockade the Strait of Hormuz, it’s worth knowing a staggering stat about the gas that comes through there:
If all LNG coming down the Strait in 2025 had been used for electricity, it would have been less that what was generated by solar power newly INSTALLED that year
🧵🧵 1/5
The article, about "brazen behavior", uses 5 x the word "to steal" = taking w/out permission or legal right.
We abuse w/out their permission hundreds of millions of animals every day. We imposed on the planet our invention of "legal propriety".
Isn't human exceptionalism the most brazen behavior?
Beirut, 1982 — being bombed by the Israeli military during its invasion
Your reminder that Israel has been bombing Lebanon since before Hezbollah existed
And why we need policies like a frequent flyer levy www.wearepossible.org/frequent-fly... @wearepossible.bsky.social
youtu.be/Oi265I48MdI?...
Good to hear Gary talk about how the richest people use the most energy but are also basically price insensitive when it comes to energy use. This is a problem in a short term fuel supply crisis, but also of course, in the long term climate crisis.
“for a household using no gas or oil appliances, and powered by electricity, a 30% rise in wholesale gas and oil prices would translate into only a 1.7% rise in energy bills in 2035.”
www.theguardian.com/environment/...
In tracking attitudes across society to immigration, culture/identity, I think there is emerging evidence of radicalisation within the toughest sixth of society, could rise to a quarter. That has various eco-system drivers (change in nature of X, the existence of GB News have different dynamics)
A fuel supply shock risks the poorest having to go without, but if the richest cut back a bit, there could still easily be enough for everyone’s needs.
