Starting now

This starts in a little over an hour. Tune in to hear from @oliviarudgard.bsky.social & myself, alongside our colleagues Kyle Stock and Alastair Marsh.

You can submit your questions here: www.bloomberg.com/sessions/202...

American combat deaths in World War I: 54,000.
American soldiers killed by flu in World War I: 45,000.
They would have given anything for a flu vaccine.

Yuvelis Morales Blanco awarded the Goldman Environmental Prize 2026 YouTube video by The Fossil Fuel Treaty Initiative

Congratulations to Yuvelis Morales, your fearless defence of your lands from fracking is a shining light that so deserves this highest honour-- the 2026 Goldman Environmental Prize.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=QBXk...

Why is this a trash car?

I'm going to be answering questions in this live Q&A tomorrow, along with Bloomberg colleagues! Tune in to ask us about the energy transition and the Iran war.

🤔

How Chinese satellites have boosted Iran’s war effort As American images went dark, Chinese alternatives filled the void

How Chinese satellites have boosted Iran’s war effort
www.economist.com/china/2026/0...

France announces ban on gas boilers in new buildings starting in 2027 French Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu also announced on Friday a doubling of support for electrification by 2030, from €5.5 billion to €10 billion annually.

VERY BIG NEWS out of France a week ago:
"French Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu announced on Friday, April 10, a ban on installing gas heating systems "by year's end" in new buildings, including multi-unit housing, to curb France's dependence on fossil fuels."
www.lemonde.fr/en/environme...

In China, a humanoid robot bested the human half-marathan world record!

On Sunday in Beijing, a vivid-scarlet humanoid completed a half-marathon in 50m26s (7m faster than any man).

Rapid AI advances will bring machines to the real world faster than anticipated

www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

As Ed Miliband seeks to 'double down' on the UK energy transition to clean power, this is a reminder of why that matters to consumers:

The highest proportion of fossil fuels in the energy mix leads to the highest prices according to Fidelity international

www.ft.com/content/6b4e...

Absolutely absurd that in the year 2026 there is no solar panel emoji OR wind turbine emoji

that's what explains this bsky.app/profile/opin...

The Forces of Scarcity Hitting Asia May Soon Spread Across the World

📣 Breaking:
"Resource scarcity tends to unleash dark forces in human psychology and capitalism."
www.nytimes.com/2026/04/20/w...

California's power grid saw its lowest emissions since......I think at least this century, right?

ember-energy.org/data/us-elec...

What’s really shocking about the second China shock? While the Chinese export surge continues unabated, import volumes have been anaemic

Trump's foreign policy (tariffs and Iran war) could not have landed at a worse time for industries outside China.

Those factories were already facing cheap Chinese goods (because of weak yuan and domestic subsidies), then Trump raised tariffs and energy prices.
www.ft.com/content/4687...

YOUNG WRITERS' PRIZE — BSME The British Society of Magazine Editors has teamed up with award-winning journalist and BSME Columnist of the year, Caitlin Moran, to launch a bold new initiative: an annual prize to discover and support brilliant young writing talent.

If you are young and have writing ambitions do check out this ace competition, arranged by @mscaitlinmoran.bsky.social. Deadline not far off. Please share widely.

www.bsme.com/young-writer...

Scientists warn that no adaptation measure can sustain Venice as rising sea levels threaten to swallow the city.
➡️ https://l.euronews.com/ZzbG

This is for the "we have made no progress" camp

Chinese export data released this weekend and statements from Chinese firms suggest that the closure of Hormuz is leading to new interest in Chinese cleantech, as we've heard in cities across Asia.
www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

The scope of how dry it’s been in the Southeast is remarkable! Every area in the darker shade of brown is the driest stretch on record. It’s the vast majority of the SE and N #florida. 100% of the SE is in drought… 83% severe or worse… 1/

I’ve had the same editor since 1967. Many times he has said to me over the years or asked me, Why would you use a semicolon instead of a colon? And many times over the years I have said to him things like: I will never speak to you again. Forever. Goodbye. That is it. Thank you very much. And I leave. Then I read the piece and I think of his suggestions. I send him a telegram that says, OK, so you’re right. So what? Don’t ever mention this to me again. If you do, I will never speak to you again

Maya Angelou on the joys of being edited

THREAD: The IEA global energy review 2026

* CO2 record high, but growth nearly ground to halt
* Clean energy shaved 3bn tonnes off CO2
* Fossil-fuel power pushed into reverse
* Age of Electricity "confirmed"
* "Extraordinary" solar growth
* Batteries up 40%
* EVs up 20%
1/10

All federal wind power R&D at the Department of Energy is $0.137 billion. So the government is paying 7x the amount it spends on all wind power R&D just for a fee to kill one wind project. Seems bad.

Why are states like Victoria slashing fares on public transport?

Well, a little less road use makes a lot of difference when it comes to petrol, diesel and knock-on economic impacts.

In response to the war in Iran, petrol prices have surged by almost 50% & diesel prices have jumped more than 70%.

Power density Power distribution Load variability Heat density Energy storage Weight In the next few years, AI data centres are set to concentrate a peak power demand equivalent to 65 households in a space equal to a household refrigerator. AI data centres are shifting towards high voltage, direct current power distribution, building on technologies pioneered in EVs and renewables. AI data centres see repeated swings of server load of more than 50% of rated capacity within a second. AI data centres need to evacuate the heat equivalent to 30 natural gas boilers per server rack. To manage load swings, storage technologies, including lithium- ion batteries, are becoming critical for AI data centres, potentially making them more flexible, grid-friendly assets. In an AI data centre, a single server rack the size of a refrigerator can weigh more than a pick-up truck

Man these are wild stats. One server rack:

- Weighs as much as a pick-up truck
- Consumes 65 households worth of power
- Needs to evacuate 30 gas boilers worth of heat
- Swings wildly in power consumption

Mosquitoes reach Iceland for the first time as the Arctic heats up In what is possibly another sign of climate change, mosquitoes have landed in Iceland for the first time. For many years, the island was the only Arctic country that could claim to be mosquito-free. B...

Another indication of our climate-changed future.
#climate

phys.org/news/2026-04...

Pancreatic cancer mRNA vaccine shows lasting results in an early trial Scientists caution that more research is needed, but nearly all of the patients who responded to the personalized vaccine are still alive six years later.

"Pancreatic cancer mRNA vaccine shows lasting results in an early trial: Scientists caution that more research is needed, but nearly all of the patients who responded to the personalized vaccine are still alive six years later."

The canals lose 238 billion litres of water to evaporation each year.
Holding onto water and generating solar power. 👍
Should look at this or floating for artificial water reservoirs here in NZ.
#agsky #energysky #solar #evaporation

A red and green aurora apparition over a silhouette of houses and trees.

Throw back to this wonderful night in October 2024, photo taken in my back garden in Rochdale, UK - no post processing or filters. #astronomy #aurora #jupiter #pleiades 🧪🔭