In Ohio and across the country, tech companies are going all out to build off-grid natural gas power plants for their A.I. data centers. Great story by @rebeccafelliott.bsky.social and @harrystevens.bsky.social
www.nytimes.com/interactive/...
As @michael-thomas.bsky.social and his team at Cleanview found, most of the onsite power generation capacity at U.S. data centers will come from natural gas.
This equipment is often more expensive and polluting than equipment used in typical natural gas plants.
www.nytimes.com/interactive/...
A map of the United States showing natural gas plants that have been announced or are under construction. Plants that will not be connected to the grid are highlighted in blue, and grid-connected plants are in gray.
It's not just in New Albany. More than half of the gas plants being built to serve data centers will be off grid, according to data from @globalenergymon.bsky.social.
Gift link: www.nytimes.com/interactive/...
I have a new story with @rebeccafelliott.bsky.social on how Meta and others, seeking power for data centers, are building their own power plants.
These projects have transformed places like New Albany, Ohio, where farmland has given way to industry.
Gift link: www.nytimes.com/interactive/...
I was laid off from the Washington Post today, along with hundreds (!!!) of incredible colleagues. If you need a data journalist, chart designer, or wacky-idea-specialist, give me a shout!
The Trump admin has started to realize batteries are an important general purpose technology. www.nytimes.com/2025/12/23/c...
Exclusive: The Trump administration is moving to dismantle the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Colorado, according to a senior White House official, taking aim at one of the world's leading climate research labs.
The question isn't whether fusion will arrive—it's who gets there first, and what that means for the rest of the century. #FusionEnergy #EnergyTransition #Science
www.nytimes.com/2025/12/13/c...
In America, the lack of government support is one reason so many fusion researchers are joining start-ups, Dr. Liu said. Chinese officials, by contrast, are putting significant resources into a possible “ultimate solution” to humankind’s energy needs
In America, the lack of government support is one reason so many fusion researchers are joining start-ups, Dr. Liu said. Chinese officials, by contrast, are putting significant resources into a possible “ultimate solution” to humankind’s energy needs
"In America, the lack of government support is one reason so many fusion researchers are joining start-ups, Dr. Liu said.
Chinese officials, by contrast, are putting significant resources into a possible “ultimate solution” to humankind’s energy needs"
www.nytimes.com/2025/12/13/c...
Great @bradplumer.bsky.social @harrystevens.bsky.social piece on China's nuclear ambition. I'm biased but I think a good satellite comparison is worth 1000 words.
Incidentally, the score for aluminum smelters built since 1990 would be ~50-60 for China, 0 for the US.
www.nytimes.com/interactive/...
From NYT Climate, via @harrystevens.bsky.social and @bradplumer.bsky.social
www.nytimes.com/interactive/...
The EPA said it will stop updating a database that companies use to calculate the greenhouse gas emissions from their supply chains. In July, EPA suspended the database's lead scientist because he signed a letter criticizing the Trump administration.
www.nytimes.com/2025/08/08/c...
Figure showing coal, oil, and gas emissions from 1960, with a little red dot for 2025, with 0.5% growth in coal, 1% in oil, 1.6% in gas, and -1.1% for cement. These are all leap year adjusted since 2024 had one more day than 2025...
Based on fossil fuel growth rates from the IEA Coal Mid-Year Update, July Oil Market Report, & Gas Market Report Q3, fossil CO2 emissions would grow around 0.8% in 2025, reaching another record high...
We are only half way through the year, but don't build too much expectation for peak emissions.
About a quarter of the world’s oceans are experiencing temperatures that qualify as a marine heat wave.
www.nytimes.com/2025/06/09/c...
github.com/HarryStevens...
Since the IRA passed, companies have made plans to invest over $843 billion in clean energy projects. But just one-third of that has actually been invested, new data shows. Much of the rest is now at risk.
On the new House Republican plan to dismantle the IRA, with @harrystevens.bsky.social
Rebecca Dzombak, Max Bearak & @harrystevens.bsky.social look at the possible long-term consequences from seabed mining.
“Part of the challenge in understanding potential effects is that the pace of life is slow on the seafloor. Deep-sea fish can live hundreds of years. Corals can live thousands.”
The azimuthal equal-area projects the sphere onto a disk and preserves area across the projection. You can display the whole planet, but latitudes far from the center get very distorted. The clipped two-hemisphere approach avoids the distortion and fits nicely on a phone.
I first saw this last year in a map by @bananafish.bsky.social. Not sure if he invented it or saw it somewhere else.
www.washingtonpost.com/climate-envi...
A cylindrical or pseudocylindrical (in this case Patterson's Natural Earth) projection will start looking real scrunchy at around 600 pixels, but the stacked Lamberts work great down to 300 pixels — as narrow as you'll ever need.
A trick for fitting world maps on phones:
Stack two azimuthal equal-area projections, clipped at 90° longitude, each one rotated 180° from the other.
The bottom map covers the top's Antarctica, which reduces the total height and looks nice.
As seen in www.nytimes.com/2025/04/25/c...
ICYMI: C4ADS Program Director Krista Rasmussen spoke to @harrystevens.bsky.social about #China’s growing control of critical #mineral supply chains — building on our recent Refining Power investigation into ownership of Indonesian nickel refineries.
From @nytimes.com 👇
buff.ly/qJuK213
Jury Finds Greenpeace Liable for Hundreds of Millions in Damages
A lawsuit by pipeline giant Energy Transfer claimed Greenpeace had played a major, costly role in protests nearly a decade ago. Greenpeace has said a loss could put it out of business.
by Karen Zraick
www.nytimes.com/2025/03/19/c...
🦋 The study didn't investigate causes, but habitat disruption and pesticides likely contributed to declines. Climate change may have played a role: species saw larger drops in the south of their ranges, suggesting northward migration w/ temp. increase.
www.nytimes.com/interactive/...
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