Rob

@robertferry.bsky.social

3849 Followers 2138 Following

Climate policy, society, and the built environment. Architect, LEED AP BD+C. https://landartgenerator.org

Misery in the Epicenter of Cyclospora: 'A Baseball Bat to Your Abdomen' The debilitating malady has gripped Monroe County, Mich.
How Spain’s solar power boom turned to bust Investors take fright as the country’s sunshine-driven energy glut cuts bills dramatically Hans van Leeuwen International Economics Editor Graphic is a brocken solar panel over the Spanish flag colors.
Spoke with Mitch McConnell today for 20 minutes. He says he's sorry about all the hypocrisy, deceit, obstruction, and cheating, blocking Garland, speed running Barrett, weaponizing the filibuster and debt ceiling, trying to take away healthcare, dismantling campaign finance law, fighting gun safety reform, glorifying the confederate flag. slashing funding for black lung disease, diverting $63 million of Kentucky public project funding to the southern border wall, and voting to acquit Trump after January 6.
Comparison of observed (ERA5, black) and modelled (blue and orange) temperatures across France from 2000 to 2080. Plot shows the maximum daily high temperature recorded in June for each year, after averaging temperatures across France. The model ensembles are bias-corrected CMIP6 model ensembles from the NEX-GDDP (blue) and CIL-GDPCIR (orange) projects. The dashed blue and orange lines are the ensemble averages. Credit: Prof Andrew Dessler.
Aerial image from Google Earth StudioSimon Ducroquet/The New York Times. Shows the multi-story additions being built over top of an existing (already tall) building.
The vertical-axis windmills of ancient Persia have been grinding flour for 1,000 years and counting.
Ornate Éolienne Bollée wind turbine against a clear blue sky.
Cross-sections of two firework shells. The colored balls, called “stars,” become colorful lights in the sky. On the left is a “triple core” shell featuring three concentric rings of stars. (Photo courtesy of Marutamaya Ogatsu Fireworks Co., Ltd.)
However, a significant amount of that energy surplus was lost due to inefficiencies. Existing contracts with coal-powered energy producers meant that a certain quota of energy had to be produced by burning coal, which in turn meant there was limited potential to fill demand with clean energy production. Rigid standards for electricity trading between regions also meant that areas with clean energy surpluses couldn't necessarily transfer that power to regions where there were deficits, forcing those regions to rely on local coal or gas facilities.
President Carter wearing a yellow sweater over a shirt and tie indoors during a televised address. Bookcase in the background probably has actual books on it.
Desmodesmus is a genus of green algae in the family Scenedesmaceae, commonly found in freshwater ponds, lakes, and soils, often forming colonies of two to sixteen cells arranged in a row. Seen here are four linked together with extensions reaching out on all corners.
Sad scale model of the triumphal arch at the 250 celebrations in DC with the Ferris wheel in the background. The only elements that were implemented in detail are the parts that were recommended not be done on the full scale version.
An entire entourage of heavy vehicles driving on the freshly painted reflecting pool surface before it was filled. This is an act that would almost certainly lead to failure in the integrity of the finish.
Simulated ad for a fragrance called "Aggrieved: A fragrance for white Christian men" with a young man looking to camera in black and white.
Two charts: one shows projections of CO2 removal (many light blue lines shooting up) and the actual CO2 removed (flat line near zero. The other shows projections of solar power generation, which all failed to predict its rapid exponential rise—outpacing all predictions.
Games The New Work Times The Athletic Today World Cup Lifestyle Mamdani's Picks Sweep New York House Primaries
"Yes, the planet got destroyed. But for a beautiful moment in time we created a lot of value for shareholders."
We have reached the end of the Gas Bridge. 2026 SUSD/MWh by region with and without CCS As the combined cost of solar and batteries continues to fall, even the most efficient gas power plant (combined cycle gas turbine or CCGT) will no longer be cost competitive. For less efficient gas peaker plants this has already been true for some time. Even in the U.S. where fossil gas remains cheap, solar + storage is still cost competitive. LCOE bottom-up at Lazard v17 midpoints; fuel May 2026 (U.S, $3.50, E.U. $15, Asia $18/MMBtu), CCS adds an energy penalty of 15%, capture capex/OSM, and CO2 transport & storage; 90% captured. * Solar + storage 24/7/365 (dispatchable solar anytime over the year) is based on Ember analysis, 'https://ember-energy.org/app/uploads/2025/06/Ember-24-Hour-Solar-Electricity-June-2025-6.pdf
100% battery electric touring bus going up a steep hill near Pike Street Market in Seattle.
Three cats. One in the front has a bell necklace. Background is the Old Souk in Bur Dubai.
An 1844 political cartoon shows James K. Polk and Henry Clay engaged in a cockfight. Former president Andrew Jackson looks on in the background (second from the right). Public Domain, Library of Congress. https://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2008661426/
Rivian's smaller-sized R2 but even smaller. Takes away the back seat and does nothing else to the design so it looks strange.
Photo of Seattle overlook. Sunset in background with the Olympic mountains. Two people in foreground look to the horizon. A red arrow points to the World Cup playing on two large screens.
ANALYSIS South Korea beats Czech Republic but why all the empty seats at World Cup's second game? FIFA There were swathes of empty seats at the Akron Stadium
protests. I felt it was very important to identify that the protesters themselves were being very aggressive and that they were half of these confrontations, and so I instructed my producers to find images in which we see the protesters acting aggressively. We found a picture of a protester chest-bumping an officer. We found a picture of an officer being hit in the head with a snowball. We culled together a lot of video of protesters screaming in the faces of officers because we were going to talk about the killing of Pretti and the killing of Good, and it seemed to me important to tell the audience about the entire context. I thought we'd done a really good job with this. We also included a picture of Alex Pretti before he was killed kicking out a taillight on a police car and made a point of saying, this is Alex Pretti and this is what he did.
While Donut Lab faces scrutiny, competition in the solid-state battery space intensified notably in the first quarter of 20 6. CATL has published extensive patent filings, Changan plans to deploy 400 Wh/kg packs before the end of the third quarter of 2026, Factorial Energy went public after a range test covering approximately 1,200 kilometers, and ION Storage Systems became the first US company to qualify a solid-state cell with a customer. Most of these providers, however, are targeting meaningful serial production volumes between 2027 and
Eric Swalwell Democrat 21,910 +0.34%0.34 Tim Nelson Republican 18,672 +0.29%0.29 Randeep S. Dhillon Republican 17,191 +0.27%0.27 Barack D. Obama Shaw Democrat 12,792 +0.20%0.20
Chart showing the cost to drive one mile comparing five different technologies (in order of most expensive high to low): ICE on gasoline, EV on level 3 charger, hybrid on gasoline, EV on grid electricity, EV on solar + storage (behind the meter). It has been cheaper to charge a car at home on retail electricity³ than to fuel it with gasoline for over a decade. What’s new is that, for a growing number of models, the sticker price of an EV now matches or undercuts a comparable gasoline car. What is truly new is how radically cheaper it is to get around if you have your own solar panels and a battery to charge from. You’ll spot that same green solar-plus-storage curve in the cost-per-mile chart, far below everything else. As more solar and storage join the grid, the other two options — public fast charging and home charging — should keep drifting down relative to gasoline. And as of the Iran War, gasoline is now the more expensive way to move a car down the road. We may be passing the point at which it never again can compete with home or rooftop-solar charging.
The star Monday was 11-year-old Agnes Hutchinson of Jonesville, who attended with her mother and three of her five siblings. “We’ve heard all the problems solar would cause so why put them in if they would cause such bad consequences?” Agnes told the commission. Among her concerns were where panels would go after they die and their proximity to her house and community schools. She said she used to enjoy the drive from Jonesville to Coldwater, but now the landscape is dotted with big blue rectangles installed as part of Heartwood Solar I. “It makes me sad to see all those solar panels.”
Why should forecasting practices evolve to capture EVs? EV charging represents a unique type of electricity demand. Vehicles are mobile — often called “batteries on wheels” — and can charge at different locations throughout the day, week, or year (unlike more static loads like your refrigerator or air conditioner). Their demand can also be significant: residential charging can be comparable to adding a large new appliance, such as a dual-unit air conditioner, while the power demand of some electric truck charging depots can reach the scale of an NFL stadium. Infographic: Charging infrastructure power needs compared to other sources of demand Small Highway Plaza 4 x 150-kW chargers (NEVI guidance minimum) 0.6 MW Large Highway Plaza Estimated to need 15 x 350-kW chargers 5 MW Large Truck Stop Estimated to need 19 x 1-MW chargers 19 MW ~5+ MW Outdoor stadium 9-10 MW; Empire State Building ~20 MW) Small town
Chart showing US solar panel and cell imports peaking in 2024 and haltingly going down to less than half that rate in the most recent quarter. US solar panel imports slid to their lowest quarterly level in nearly seven years in the first three months of 2026 as federal incentives and trade policies continued to reshape the photovoltaic supply chain. The US imported 4.5 gigawatts of solar modules in the first quarter, down almost 50% from the prior quarter and down 32.3% from the first quarter of 2025, according to the S&P Global Market Intelligence Global Trade Analytics Suite. That marked the lowest quarterly module shipment volume since the second quarter of 2019, the data showed, and came as the July 2025 budget bill's foreign entity of concern (FEOC) restrictions took effect. "FEOC compliance didn't take effect until the start of 2026, so there was a natural rush to ship modules and cells before that deadline," S&P Global Energy Horizons principal market analyst Alex Kaplan said in a May 26 email. Kaplan added that it is unclear "how much imports will recover," but there will likely "be a recovery after a quarter or two, and this was a natural lull after a policy-driven spike." The falling US solar panel imports mirrored declining imports of lithium-ion batteries, which are also subject to the FEOC restrictions.
Alexander Chee •@alexanderchee.bsky.s... • 1h I often think of how more people are employed by art museums than by coal mines now. Bloomberg News • @bloomberg.c... • 6h President Donald Trump is preparing to use Cold War-era authorities to dole hundreds of millions of federal dollars to support coal-fired electricity as well as US exports of the fossil fuel
Post shredded wheat original big biscuit cereal box photo.
The State of Carbon Dioxide Removal 1.2 Definitions of CDR This report builds on the definition of CDR used by the IPCCS: CDR refers to human activities capturing CO, from the atmosphere and storing it durably in geological, terrestrial or ocean reservoirs, or in products. This includes human enhancement of natural removal processes but excludes natural uptake not directly caused by anthropogenic activities. This definition contains three key principles. 1. The captured CO, must come from the atmosphere, not from fossil sources. 2. The subsequent storage must be durable, such that CO, is not soon reintroduced to the atmosphere (see Box 1.3). 3. The removal must result from human intervention that is in addition to Earth's natural processes. Applying the three principles of CDR The three principles required for a method to be defined as CDR Principle 1: capture CO: from the atmosphere Principle 2: store CO: durably Principle 3: result from human intervention Atmosphere Figure 1.2 Examples applying the three principles of CDR to different processes. To be defined as CDR, a method must capture CO? from the atmosphere (Principle 1) and durably store it (Principle 2) as a result of human intervention (Principle 3). Direct air capture with geological storage (DACCS) satisfies all three principles and is CDR. Several related approaches do not satisfy at least one of the principles and hence are not CDR. For instance, direct air capture of CO, for use in short-lived products such as electrofuels does not meet Principle 2. Capture and geological storage from sources of fossil CO, does not meet Principle 1. Natural uptake of CO, via processes such as tree growth can meet Principles 1 and 2, but they only meet Principle 3 and count as CDR if enhanced through human activity such as afforestation/reforestation. 20|
Five different color lines track the cost of energy sources for transportation. Conventional gasoline is now the most expensive, followed by EV Superchargers, Hybrid gasoline, and the least expensive: EV charging from the grid at home and EV charging from solar + storage, which is by far the lowest and getting lower.
Side elevation rendering of a data center showing vast areas of cladding that could have been BIPV. Mountain in the distance. Golden hour lighting. Sagebrush in the foreground.
Wind Forest announced the winner of LAGI Glasgow! TEAM Dalziel + Scullion, Qmulus Ltd., Yeadon Space Agency, and ZM Architecture ENERGY TECHNOLOGIES Vortex Bladeless™ wind turbines ANNUAL CAPACITY 900 MWh Wind Forest aims to transform the post industrial landscape of Dundas Hill with an enriched infrastructure, based on ideas around technology, landscape and context. On the site, forest groves with different spatial, sensory and environmental qualities are planned. A forest absorbs energy from the earth’s atmosphere and distributes this energy to its connected ecosystem. Wind Forest mimics this activity by absorbing energy from the wind passing through the site and distributing it to its diverse and connected community. Wind Forest works with the physical landscape of 100 Acre Hill into which a forest of one hundred 4 kW single stem-like wind turbines is ‘planted‘. These are not like conventional wind turbines; they have no blades but rather work through oscillation. Within this ‘boreal’ forest are a number of large ‘erratic’ boulders, which conjure up the massive geological processes that once shaped this landscape—in particular, the glacial drumlin that is 100 Acre Hill.
"Why is this peanut butter three times more expensive than it was a couple years ago?" Tonya Pearsall 52, Tonopah, Ariz. Pearsall, who runs a puppy-breeding business, voted for Trump in 2024 and believes conservatism means protecting the environment. Photo of Tonya in a pink t-shirt in front of a flowering plant.
Sixty Years of Monthly Average Oil Prices Shows how volatile oil is an an energy feedstock. Added to the chart is an arrow pointing to a flat line at zero labeled “solar.” (WTI, $ real 2026, log scale) 1978-81 Iranian Revolution 2010-11 Arab Spring 1973-74 Arab oil embargo 1990-91 Gulf War 2003-08 China super-spike 1986 OPEC breakdown 2001 9/11 2008 Great Financial Crisis Asian debt crisis Source: EIA; Liebreich Associates, BNEF. Note: Oil shock defined as a price move +/- 30% within one year Liebreich Associates 2018-19 OPEC+ vs demand 2021-22: Covid inflation & Russian invasion of Ukraine 2026 US-Israeli attack on Iran 2014-16 Shale-OPEC price war 2018 2020-21 Covid 2023
The discovery relies on connecting two composite materials, which change from solid to liquid and liquid to solid at different temperatures and electrical conductivity. Those differences can produce electricity. phase change material graphic “Only a small temperature difference is needed -- 1.8 degrees Fahrenheit, or 1 degree Celsius, will trigger energy harvesting,” LSU Professor of Mechanical Engineering Guoqiang Li said. “When we connect these two phase-changing materials, electricity is produced.”
Chart showing the ramp up times for various types of power generation technologies. Renewables stand out for their speed. As noted by the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC), large, voltage-sensitive loads like data centers require flexible, responsive grid solutions, not slow-ramping generators that can take 12 or more hours to come online. NERC’s recent Incident Review and Guidance on Voltage-Sensitive Large Load Integration describes an event in 2024 where a transmission fault triggered a sudden disconnection of 1,500 megawatts of voltage-sensitive data center load, leading to sharp frequency and voltage spikes that required operator intervention. The incident exposes the system’s vulnerability to instability when inflexible generation cannot respond to large load fluctuations. If a data center either loses access to load or goes offline rapidly, a grid’s generation needs to respond at sub-second speeds. The average coal plant ramp rate is 4 percent per minute which translates to spending over 20 minutes to respond to a large load event. From a cold start, the average coal plant would take over 12 hours to reach max capacity. Coal plants simply can’t respond fast enough to support the reliability needs of modern data centers. Whether it’s the hours-long startup time from a cold state or sluggish ramp rates to turn off, these plants are too slow to provide the real-time flexibility required during sudden load changes or outages.
Life-cycle greenhouse gas emissions of passenger cars sold in the European Union in 2025 Conventional cars — massive emissions Hybrids — very slight emissions reduction Electric cars —75% less life cycle emissions than ICE Life-cycle GHG emissions (g CO,e/km) Gasoline + biofuels Diesel + biofuels Natural gas + biogas Hybrid EV Plug-in hybrid EV Battery EV, 2025-2044 grid mix Battery EV, renewables Fuel cell EV, renewable hydrogen Fuel cell EV, natural gas hydrogen • Maintenance Battery manufacture Hydrogen tank manufacture • Vehicle manufacture • Fuel consumption Electricity production Fuel production
Hungry Bunny: Red marquee with a yellow cartoon bunny above looking very satisfied.
The beehive tombs of Bat, which are over 5,000 years old.
House in Oman. Three simple wall openings are balanced by a long site wall. Unpainted mud-based masonry finish complements the sandy landscape.
Fig 1. Proposed scenarios for CMIP7 showing (a) annual CO₂ emissions and (b) cumulative CO₂ emissions. Note the negative emissions on five of the seven scenarios. Data: https://github.com/chrisroadmap/cmip7-scenariomip/blob/main/environment.yml
Comment on a New York Times story. Jorge California · 3h ago Although it is refreshing to read a NYT article that pooh poohs the climate change hysteria that has gripped D politics, media narratives (every hurricane, rainstorm, drought or wildfire is caused by global climate change) and terrified so many millions of young people around the world, it would be good to get around to debunking the many false predictions that accompanied this scarestorm. The chief bringer of scary climate news was, of course, Al Gore, who "Inconvenient" predictions have been largely swept under the rug by folks who previously championed them. Yes, global temperatures are up a few degrees, and carbon dioxide levels -- loved by plants -- is up slightly. But the predictions -- and yes, they were predictions, and not "worst case" scenarios, honestly issued with low probabilities -- were fake news. Twenty years after Gore's climate movie Jeremiad, the most terrifying predictions have not come to pass. The ice caps are still capped. Polar bear populations have increased. The glaciers are largely still with is. Pacific islands are still poking above the waves. Miami is not an underwater Atlantis. Hurricanes are not more frequent or more powerful. Now, Gore is suggesting another scare: a new global ice age as depicted in the sci fi movie, "The Day After Tomorrow." These pronouncements have as little scientific basis as the the 6 - foot covid rule that closed down schools. Why not do a belated "fact check" on Al? Recommend 32
Meanwhile China's solar comRanies are struggling with a glut of supply. Frenzied investment has left them able to produce over 1,000 gigawatts ( GW) of solar-panel capacity in a year. That is far more than the already whopping 6ooGW that were installed worldwide in 2025 and probably more than the global market will ever be able to soak up, reckons Jenny Chase of BloombergNEF. ''We're running out of big countries that don't already have a lot of solar at this point."
Pielke's research and views on climate change have been a subject of controversy.[4][5][6] Climate publications and scientists have accused him of spreading climate denial talking points and misinformation.[7] Climate blog DeSmog lists Pielke in its Climate Disinformation Database.[8] Climate science blog Skeptical Science has accused him of spreading misinformation and misrepresenting scientific findings.[9] In a book review for Science Magazine, Kevin E. Trenberth criticized Pielke's work for mischaracterizing and "politicizing climate change science."[10]
Quoins on a masonry building illustrate this OPINION piece by ROSS DOUTHAT: The New A.l. Money Should Be Spent on Beauty May 23, 2026
Saratoga Passage Marine Stewardship Area We protect what we love. We love what we understand. Welcome - Did you know you are looking at a salmon freeway? Saratoga Passage is not only a maritime highway for boaters but a Bluff Erosion Brings Life to Our Shores Eroding bluffs help create our salmon-friendly shores. Currents carry sand from these? bluffs to nearby beaches. This creates ideal conditions for surf smelt, sand lance and salmon highway serving three large, fish-producing rivers - the Skagit, Pacific herring - our three forage fish. They use the sandy beaches and Snohomish and Stillaguamish. Juvenile salmon leave these rivers and adult salmon return every year. All life is connected. To assure the future offshore eelgrass beds to lay their eggs. of our Island County lifestyle, we must care for these shores wisely. Salmon, Orcas and Marine Birds Feed Here Magnificent orcas visit our waters every summer. They feed on the salmon that cat the forage fish. Orcas and Chinook salmon are federally listed as threatened due to habitat loss, pollution and other stresses. Marine birds such as the pigeon guillemot nest in bluff burrows and also feed on forage fish. The guillemot is the only sea bird to regularly breed here. Population treitds provide vital clues about forage fish and habitat health. Profic Herring Eelgrass and Forage Fish Our Bed and Breakfast! Forage fish prowl Saratoga Passage in vast schools, laying a banquet for salmon, sex birds and marine mammals. Eelgrass beds offer hiding places from predators/ Creek mouths, outfalls and small estuaries create transitional areas for young salmon to feed and adjust to the sea's salinity: What Does This Have To Do With Me? By understanding all these connections, we can make witer decisions about our beaches, bluffs, forests and gardens. Our actions as individuals add up. better or worse. We are all stewards of these waters for the next genecation. For More Information Island County has declared Saratoga Passage an …
“You want to wake up in the morning and think the future is going to be great—and that’s what being a space-faring civilization is all about. It’s about believing in the future and thinking that the future will be better than the past. And I can’t think of anything more exciting than going out there and being among the stars.”—Elon Musk
Two charts. One reading and one math for 13-year olds. The average score in LTT reading for 13-year-olds in 2023 was not statistically significantly different from 1971 and was 4 points lower compared to the previous assessment in 2020. The average LTT mathematics score for 13-year-olds in 2023 was 5 points higher than in 1973, but 9 points lower than 2020. Since the 1970s, the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) has monitored the academic performance of 9-, 13-, and 17-year-old students with what have become known as the long-term trend (LTT) assessments. Although the LTT assessments are typically administered every four years, the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) conducted this administration of the LTT assessments ahead of schedule to provide data on post-pandemic student performance. The reading and mathematics assessments at age 9 were administered from January to March of the 2021–2022 school year and the assessments at age 13 were administered from October to December of the 2022–2023 school year. The primary focus of this report is to enable long-term comparisons to performance on the first assessment year in each subject assessed. For a focus on short-term comparisons to 2020, the most recent data collection prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, see the highlights reports. Results in this report are based on the performance of nationally representative samples of 9- and 13-year-old students. Results for 17-year-olds are available for 2012 and previous assessment years.
May 2024 through April 2026 showing how battery power (blue) has completely overtaken gas power (yellow) for meeting Queensland Australia's demand peak.
DC250 Road to Revolution National Archives Through Aug. 6 The rotating exhibition series showcases original documents in the Rotunda Gallery, telling stories from 1775 through the creation of the Declaration of Independence. Collectively, it reveals that the journey from colonial resistance to American independence is not composed of a
DC250 MENU — The Spirit of Invention: Patent Office and Patentees National Portrait Gallery June 26 - June 6, 2027 On July 4, 1836, President Andrew Jackson signed into law an act of Congress to overhaul the nation's patent system and fund the construction of a Patent Office building in Washington, DC. The buildino has since served as the home
Sherwin Williams logo showing a paint bucket dumping blue paint all over the planet and the text "cover the earth."