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We Fact Checked Everything Trump Has Said About Climate Change Since 2021
“Climate change is a hoax” is soooo 2016. In recent years, Republicans have gotten more savvy in their attacks on climate change — and, by proxy, on the Inflation Reduction Act, the landmark climate legislation passed in 2022. These days, it’s less the science of global warming that’s up for debate than the way we’re addressing it. Republicans are now fighting a multi-front battle against EVs, the energy transition, and climate science, on behalf of golden eagles and whales. And no one is leading the charge more obviously — or quantifiably — than former president and current presidential candidate...
The Brains Behind 2024’s Status Stove
Impulse Labs debuted its much anticipated induction stove at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas this week. Coming to grips with this high-tech culinary wonder is a little bit like that meme of an expanding brain. At first glance, the Impulse Cooktop is just a sexy-looking, $5,999 appliance: sleek black glass, burners that resemble a DJ turntable, knobs that add a satisfying analog touch to an otherwise fully digital interface. But then you learn it also has integrated temperature sensors that keep the burners at the precise temperature you want.And then you learn that the stove has a...
What Red Sea Airstrikes Are Doing to Energy Markets
Almost a third of global container traffic goes through the Suez Canal, and around 8% of the world’s oil and gas. Because of its pivotal location between the Indian Ocean and the Mediterranean, the Suez Canal — and thus the Red Sea, which feeds into the canal — connects the huge flow of goods and commodities from the Middle East and Asia to Europe.On Thursday, conflict in the Red Sea and its surrounding waterways reached a new pitch, with United States and allied forces striking several targets in Yemen as a response to weeks of attacks on shipping and...
I Own an EV But Won’t Rent One on Vacation. Here’s Why.
A year ago, before a vacation to see the eruption of the Hawaiian volcano Kīlauea, I found myself scrolling through my rental car options. A few users on the car-sharing service Turo offered up their Tesla Model 3s, and I was tempted by the idea of driving electric on holiday just as I would at home. One problem: There are no superchargers on the Big Island. I opted instead for a dependable, decade-old Hyundai Sonata — one that cost half as much per day.An electric rental car is an easier sell in a big city with plenty of fast...
Tesla's New Supply Chain Woes
Current conditions: An “Arctic outbreak” will bring bitter cold to much of the U.S. this weekend • 109 weather stations in China have broken mid-January heat records • Nearly a quarter of humanity now lives in drought conditions. THE TOP FIVE1. Red Sea tensions hit Tesla Berlin factory Tesla will suspend operations at its Berlin gigafactory for two weeks – from January 29 through February 11 – due to supply chain problems caused by the escalating tensions in the Red Sea, Reuters reported. Iranian-backed Houthi rebels who support Hamas in its conflict with Israel have been attacking vessels in the...
‘It’s Really Terrifyingly Good Satire’: A New Mexico Passive Home Builder on Showtime’s ‘The Curse’
Edie Dillman lives in the first certified passive house in New Mexico. She and her architect husband, Jonah Stanford, are founders of a company called B.Public Prefab that builds and supplies prefabricated panels for highly energy efficient homes. So when The Curse began to air on Showtime this past fall, following an aspiring HGTV host couple Asher and Whitney Siegel, played by Canadian awkwardness spelunker and conceptual comic Nathan Fielder alongside America’s sweetheart Emma Stone, who are trying to get their show, “Flipanthropy” — during which they build and sell passive homes in Española, a town half an hour north...
Joe Manchin Will Help You Sue the Biden Administration
It’s not often you hear a sitting U.S. senator invite the public to sue the federal government — especially when the president is a member of their own party. But most sitting senators aren’t Joe Manchin.Manchin continued his crusade against the Biden administration’s implementation of the electric vehicle subsidies in the Inflation Reduction Act on Thursday in a hearing of the Senate Natural Resources Committee to discuss the EV supply chain. Since the law’s passage, the Democrat from West Virginia has become obsessed with the idea that President Biden is trying to weaken rules around domestic content in order...
The Year’s Biggest Gadget Conference Is All About Electric Cars Now
The consumer electronics show in Las Vegas formally known as CES has evolved beyond a showcase for ever-larger screens, laptops, and niche gadgets looking to make it into big box retailers. CES is now, among other things, a full-fledged auto show, with the world's largest automakers announcing ambitious products alongside — and sometimes in partnership with — their tech counterparts. In recent years, new electric concepts from Chevrolet, BMW, and Ram have each captured attention. This year, it was Honda’s turn to make a splash. After two decades of dipping its toes into the electric vehicle market, the Japanese carmaker announced...
The IEA's Optimistic Renewables Report
Current conditions: The parade of winter storms continues today across much of the U.S. • The Congo River is at its highest level in more than 60 years after intense rains • This weekend's NFL game between the Kansas City Chiefs and the Miami Dolphins could be the coldest game in franchise history. THE TOP FIVE1. IEA report shows renewables expansion gaining momentumThe International Energy Agency (IEA) is feeling optimistic about the green energy transition. In its new Renewables 2023 report, released today, the agency says the world added 50% more renewable capacity last year than in 2022. This...
A Sublime Solution to Climate’s Hardest Problem
Over the past several months, in the sleepy city of Holyoke, Massachusetts, bulldozers have been tearing down a former paper mill. The newly leveled ground on the western banks of the Connecticut River is on its way to becoming the home of a big, industrial bet. If it pays off, what was once known as the Paper City could soon become the Clean Cement Capital — of the country, at least. Sublime Systems, a startup that has developed a process for producing the ubiquitous building material without releasing any carbon emissions, has chosen the site for its first commercial...
Does More Renewable Energy Lead to More Political Support? Not in Texas.
One of the central conceits of the Inflation Reduction Act, Biden’s landmark climate legislation, is that green investment will eventually lead to bipartisan support for the law. No Republican may have crossed the aisle to support the IRA in 2022, but when money flows into red districts, conservatives will come around. Or so the thinking goes.The reality is proving more complicated. Some academic research has indeed suggested that investments in the climate economy can lead to positive political feedback. There have also been notable examples of conservative politicians supporting factories that produce batteries and solar panels. But our home...
‘Green’ Is the New Republican Dirty Word
Our condolences to “woke.” It appears that Republicans have a new favorite boogeyman buzzword this election season: “green.” The word was on every Republican presidential hopeful’s lips on Wednesday, both at CNN’s debate in Iowa between Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley, and at former President Donald Trump’s competing town hall on Fox News.To start, DeSantis reiterated his promise to reverse President Biden’s clean energy policy – without, of course, actually calling it by its real name. After explaining that energy independence is “good to reduce inflation,” DeSantis continued, “So we’ll do that on day...
Super-Charged Clouds Are Dumping Rain and Snow on the U.S.
A surface cyclone dumped rain on the Northeast overnight, leaving millions of people under flood warnings. Streets were submerged in cities including Annapolis and Baltimore, Maryland; and Alexandria, Virginia. Washington, D.C. broke its daily rain record early Tuesday evening. The storm is also blasting states with strong wind gusts, and at least 15 tornadoes were reported in the South. More than 600,000 homes remain without power, most of those on the East Coast. The rain is tapering off, but the worst may be yet to come. As National Weather Service meteorologist Patrick Wilson told The New York Times: “The worst...
AM Briefing: Blizzards, Floods, and Tornadoes
Current conditions: A blizzard is slamming Turkey near Istanbul • Central and Southeast Asia are experiencing unusually high temperatures • Researchers confirmed 2023 was the hottest year ever recorded.THE TOP FIVE1. America’s carbon emissions fell for the first time since the pandemicAmerica’s greenhouse gas pollution from energy and industrial activities fell by 1.9% in 2023 compared to the year before, according to energy research firm the Rhodium Group. This marks the first time since the pandemic that carbon emissions have dropped. But perhaps more importantly, the reduction happened even as the broader American economy grew. “It’s the first time...
America’s Carbon Emissions Fell for the First Time Since Covid
For the first time since the pandemic began, both America’s economy and its carbon emissions moved in the right direction last year, according to a major annual estimate of the country’s climate pollution. America’s greenhouse gas pollution from energy and industrial activities fell by 1.9% in 2023 compared to the year before, even as the broader American economy grew, according to the Rhodium Group, an energy research firm. It’s the first time this decade that the United States has hit the important mark of growing its economy and cutting its climate pollution at the same time. Yet despite that progress, emissions...
The East Coast and Midwest Are Going to Need More Electricity
We’re gonna need a bigger electricity generation system. That’s what PJM Interconnection, the massive electricity market spanning 13 states on the East Coast and in the Midwest, said in a report Monday.PJM predicted that its peak electricity demand would increase every year by 1.7% in the summer and 2% in the winter. It also anticipates overall energy use to grow 2.4% annually over the next decade — an increase of 200,000 gigawatt-hours, or roughly 25%, by 2034. That increase in demand is also about three times a previous forecast, according to Utility Dive. PJM attributes the big jump to...
What Happened When Solar Installers in New York Tried to Unionize
President Biden’s pitch to get the American public behind the transition to clean energy is that it will bring good-paying, high-quality jobs — union jobs. But so far, that’s been more true in some areas than others. When Daniel Lozano first got hired at EmPower Solar, a rooftop solar installation company on Long Island last April, he thought he had landed a pretty sweet gig. He was 24, with a background in electrical work and construction, and was attracted by the company’s summer schedule of four tens — four-day work weeks, ten hours per day. But soon it became clear the...
AM Briefing: Weather Warnings Everywhere
Current conditions: A tornado struck the Florida panhandle • Two towns in Australia’s state of Victoria have been forced to evacuate due to severe flooding • It’s 69 degrees Fahrenheit and sunny in Tel Aviv, where Secretary of State Antony Blinken is meeting with Israeli officials to try to smooth relations in the region.THE TOP FIVE1. Severe winter storm moves across the U.S. After a weekend of winter weather, vast swathes of the U.S. are bracing for another storm system. It will cover nearly 2,000 miles in 72 hours, bringing blizzard conditions to the central and southern Plains, and...
The Texas Grid Is Bracing for Another Freeze
Winter has begun to arrive in Texas. In the panhandle, temperatures are expected to get as low as 22 degrees Fahrenheit on Monday, while the National Weather Service forecast office in Amarillo told residents to brace themselves for Tuesday, when “temperatures will plummet to some 20 to 30 degrees below normal.” The more populous parts of the state can expect more cold weather later this week and next; in Austin, lows could dip below freezing by Sunday and into next week, while in Dallas, the thermometer could reach down to 25 this weekend. Austin could have ice, possibly leading...
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Heatmap is a new media company focused on the biggest story of our time: climate change. We’re your guide to the transformation reshaping our planet, our economy, our politics, and our culture.
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