Volts Community Thread #11
Open to all free & paid subscribers.
David’s Notes
1. I am, for the most part, recovered from a hellish September during which I left my appendix in Germany. I can’t tell you how much I appreciate all the well-wishes, by email and in the comments, and for your patience as I get back up to speed. In all the chaos, I skipped the September AMA, so I owe y’all one, which I’m recording on Monday. Leave your questions below!
2. No rest for the wicked! Earlier this week, I was in Jackson, Wyoming, for the Mountain Towns 2030 Summit (I had a great conversation with Ari Matusiak of Rewiring America, which I’ll release as a pod soon.) Next week, I’m off to Brooklyn for DERVOS 2024 (which has an absolutely incredible lineup). And finally, I’ll be in San Francisco on Nov. 13 for what is sure to be an awesome Canary Media event (you can buy tickets here). I was able to swing a few free tickets to each event for paid subscribers — if you were randomly selected, Sam has already sent you an email.
3. Donald Trump has promised to put Elon Musk (or some similar jerkwad) in charge of “cutting federal bureaucracy.” This NYT article offers a little glimpse of what that means in practice. None of these chodes has any idea at all what the federal bureaucracy does — the institutional memory it has accumulated or the way reduces risks. They are children with hammers.
4. A new study finds that green hydrogen is wildly expensive, and if it gets much cheaper… it will still be wildly expensive. This means we are not, contrary to the naive dreams of many policymakers, going to use it for bulk applications like home heating. It is going to be reserved for niche, high-value applications like ammonia production or airplane fuel. As Michael Liebreich has been saying …
5. ✅ Community comment of the month: I enjoyed nerding out with the DOE’s chief commercialization officer in Wednesday’s episode. Listener Jerry W. kindly summarized a few DOE-supported projects on his radar:
This is one of the very best Volts podcasts ever. I'm aware of 3 important commercial projects springing from this DOE mission. One is EOS Energy's aqueous zinc modular BESS for micro grids, now being produced at scale in Pittsburg PA. Another is Cyrq Energy, Eavor Energy & Chevron now under contract to develop 3 new Geothermal power production & storage projects for Sonoma Clean Power (SCP) within 3 years. A key roadblock was recently resolved when the CA legislature approved Sonoma County to administer the regulatory approvals for these projects. This new Geothermal power will eliminate all fossil gas power in the SCP portfolio. And finally, DOE is playing an essential role in developing massive California offshore wind resources.
Monthly Thread
This is your monthly opportunity to share! Use the comments section in this community thread to:
CLIMATE JOBS & OPPORTUNITIES: Share climate jobs/opportunities
SHARE WORK, ASK FOR HELP, FIND COLLABORATORS: Share your climate-related work, ask for help, or find collaborators
CLIMATE EVENTS & MEETUPS: Share climate-related events and meetups
EVERYTHING ELSE: Discuss David’s Notes or anything else climate-related
MAILBAG QUESTIONS: Ask a question for this month’s mailbag episode (anyone can ask a question but mailbags are a paid-sub-only perk). Volts has a form for those who are shy, but David prioritizes questions posted in this thread.
🚨 To keep organized, please only “REPLY” directly under one of Sam’s headline comments. Anything inappropriate, spammy, etc may be deleted. Be nice! Check out our Community Guidelines.
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