Lots places cutting fuel taxes (Spain, Ireland, Canada) or facing calls to do so (UK, Germany).
But subsidising fossil fuels during a crisis caused by supply scarcity is a poor use of gov funds.
Doubling down on electrification and clean energy (+ some targeted low-income support) is the way to go
In France, if you want to build a home above a certain size, you’re legally required to use a licensed architect.
Can you guess what that size is
Weirdly blasé piece on clothing basically coated in PFAS.
Even links to a seperate article that says "Avoid textiles that advertise their waterproof and stainproof qualities but don’t claim to be PFAS-free".
To say nothing of reducing the manufacture of these chemicals in the first place.
Very cool! Thanks for sharing
Beautiful day in dystopian London
Given the timelines of when these projects are starting/ending that makes sense. Although I do wonder if a few of those not-so-small Rolls Royce SMRs will end up on this site at some point in the future.
Seems like that's the idea. Although will be interesting to see what ends up at the site when the nuclear plant reaches end of life (currently 2030).
View standing on the sea wall by heysham nuclear power plant
View of heysham power plant from the beach
Went for a walk by Heysham nuclear power plant yesterday. Big piece of kit that’s been cranking out a whole lot of low-carbon power for 4-5 decades. Lots of offshore wind and a proposed 1GW battery project connecting in this area too. Impressive. 🔌💡
Absurd incompetence 🤦
Blues Brothers
Such a good chart.
economist.com/britain/2026...
Today on Volts: how can we get data centers hooked up without screwing over the grid or other ratepayers? Two of my favorite thinkers, @astridatkinson.bsky.social & @jessedjenkins.com, lay out a new model whereby data centers bring some of their own generation & utilities offer flexible connection.
We are launching a big project today with MIT —
The Electricity Price Hub!
You can view monthly electricity prices per kwh and avg. bills for every major utility in the country going back to Jan 2020.
electricity.heatmap.news
I have been mulling various use cases for this data. Great to see it made more accessible for researchers.
Disappointingly myopic approach. Fuel duty has been kept supressed for over a decade and there are other policy alternatives to deal with the recent spike in prices.
This is my favorite climate change chart. Japanese monks, aristocrats, and emperors kept meticulous records of cherry blossom festivals for 1,200 years and accidentally built the world's longest climate dataset.
Picture of iced coffee on a table
Encountered several coffee places now where I’ve got a small iced americano and thought “hey this tastes great”. Barista has subsequently confirmed that yes their default is 4 shots ☕️☕️☕️☕️. Gonna be a day of high highs and low lows
Very cool!
Main other website I've used to date that draws on similar Open Street Map data, but is a bit more lightweight, is openinframap.org (note: it's actually possible to use this to pull the spatial points/lines/polygons for research purposes which is cool).
Spot on. If a wind farm has a CfD with a strike price of £100/MWh, then in hours where prices <100 they receive a top-up and in hours where prices >100 they pay back the difference (all done via the CfD levy on your bill). So when prices skyrockted in 2022 this levy was negative and reduced bills.
Convenient modelling assumptions are really dropping like flies. I will miss the simplicity of "assume perfectly inelastic demand".
People do not appreciate what a vast, fundamental sea change batteries are bringing to the electrical system.
Good question. Have added two extra posts to the end of the thread. On the wholesale price side, UK certainly very expensive lately although broadly in line with most European peers who are using basically the same [wholesale] pricing method. See second post for retail price comparisons.
Average retail household electricity prices for select countries from 1990 to 2025. Can see UK used to be well below the EU average and Japan, similar to Korea and about 50% above the US. Has risen steadily since 2005 and now above EU average and Japan, and double US/Korea. Source: https://www.iea.org/reports/electricity-2026
Average retail household electricity prices for select countries in 2025. Can see UK one of the highest, above EU average but below Germany, Belgium and Denmark. Source: https://www.iea.org/reports/electricity-2026
Average retail household electricity prices for select European countries for 2019 and 2014 broken down by components (wholesale, network, taxes/fees/levies). Can see UK prices roughly double to just below Germany. Increase comes from doubling of both wholesale costs and other costs. Source: https://www.iea.org/reports/electricity-2026
For household retail electricity prices, UK prices have risen a lot from below the European average to near the highest (just below Germany/Denmark). Now double the US average and well above California. Wholesale costs have played a part, but other network/policy costs have also risen a lot. (+11)
Chart shows monthly average wholesale electricity prices for European countries from 2018 to 2026. Prices generally move closely together with a large common price spike in 2022. Spain/France somewhat lower in recent years due to fuel mix and policy interventions. UK generally middle of the pack and similar to Germany. Source: https://ember-energy.org/data/european-electricity-prices-and-costs/
Chart shows wholesale electricity prices from 2018-2026 for select countries around the world. European countries (France, Germany, EU average) move together in line with prior plot. Japan used to be highest in 2010s. US and Australia persistently have lowest prices. Source: https://www.iea.org/reports/electricity-2026/prices
Another reasonable question is if the market rules aren't fundamentally at fault, why are UK prices so high? First, UK wholesale prices are comparable to most European peers, although a bit more gas price sensitive. US prices have long been far lower. For much of the 2010s Japan's were higher. (+10)
In "normal" times these profits are more aligned with the ongoing fixed operating/capital costs of these plants. But during crisis periods prices spike so high that these plants earn excessive profits. Hence the solution of windfall taxes (see 2022) or some kind of new fixed contracts (like a CfD).
Yes could have been clearer. All newer (post-2014) renewables have CfDs and can cover costs at their fixed contract prices. For older renewables (that get RO subsidies) or nuclear, these do get paid prevailing wholesale power prices, and so benefit when gas prices spike (and lose when they fall).
Hear hear
Sigh. Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose
