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• Post #4389574

  SMR status update: same as it ever was. Two repurposed Russian naval reactors on a barge remain the only grid-connected SMRs in the world. They’re 35MW for a total of 70MW. China is still yet to produce a single grid connected SMR, though Linglong One (ACP100) may be soonish. Years after China started the ACP100 program it started working on Hualong One, a new domestic design for a traditional light water reactor. The first connected to the grid in 2021. There are now 10, with dozens more in t...

• Post #4382929

  The Arctic is cooking. Across northern Russia—a region that is famously bitter cold—temperatures this week have routinely surpassed 90 degrees Fahrenheit (32.2 degrees Celsius), adding to the mountain of broken heat records this summer has racked up so far. https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/its-90-degrees-in-the-arctic-right-now/ Paywall removed: https://archive.ph/X1z2s #ClimateCrisis

• Post #4172715

  One of my biggest, most hated lies (particularly when spread by Bitcoiners) is that gas flaring is good for the environment. No, no it is not. This is the worst and possibly most successful bit of greenwashing next to single use plastics. Idiots will routinely spout “It’s good that they’re doing this and it’s better than the alternative!” Methane having a much higher GWP than CO2 doesn’t mean gas flaring is “good for the environment”. The real alternative is Flare Gas Recovery Systems (FGRS),...

• Post #4071630

  Judge questions why Pete Hegseth can give testosterone to cis men but not trans men Trans people have been banned from the military over claims their care costs too much. The judge asked why that’s not true of the same care for cis people. https://www.lgbtqnation.com/2026/07/judge-questions-why-pete-hegseth-can-give-testosterone-to-cis-men-but-not-trans-men/ #uspol

• Post #4068545

  The GOP isn’t just denying the climate crisis, it’s actively engineering worker heat deaths. https://www.commondreams.org/news/republicans-worker-heat-protections #uspol

• Post #4014084

  If we’re going to do geoengineering/SRM the first thing we need to do is have a computer model showing how it would work where scientists agree the benefits outweigh the costs. It seems most people interested in the topic aren’t actually interested in doing that work and skip straight to the part where they pollute the environment with ballons filled with a highly toxic, corrosive pollutant https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/science/in-2022-a-california-startup-began-floating-sulphur-filled-b...

• Post #3929272

  Oh cool America is starting the water wars. Great job ya lot of war criminals. https://www.commondreams.org/news/iran-water-desalination-plants #uspol

• Post #3921355

  Once again watching this video reflecting on America’s greatest mistake being the thought it could do any better. Crumbling decadent empires. https://youtu.be/3NPxqXMZq7o #uspol

• Post #3891122

  America: where the Founders thought that the main way to punish crimes committed by the President was a conviction through the impeachment process, for which they set an impossibly high bar #uspol

• Post #3875918

  I like to consider myself fairly knowledgable about the history of nuclear disasters but TIL one of the greatest releases (possibly #2 after Church Rock, making TMI #4 overall) of radioactive material ever to happen in the US was deliberately engineered, which is why it doesn’t show up if you look for “accident” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Green_Run

• Post #3872476

  Sorry, are Trump’s roving death gangs openly threating to murder Democrats after their recent killing spree? America is becoming a dark, dark place. https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/tom-homan-ice-shootings-democrat-b3015843.html #uspol

• Post #3834625

  Apparently fascist bootlicker Mike Johnson went on some unhinged rant about the success of DSA-backed candidates in the US: “The barbarians are at the gate!” Yes, barbarians, who want to bring you free healthcare and affordable food and housing and child care, such barbarism. Not like Republicans, who will send roving death troops to indiscriminately kill random innocent citizens. Now that’s civilized! #uspol

• Post #3727838

  This is the most concrete concept I’ve seen for a hydrogen fuel cell aircraft that uses open fans / propfans driven by electric motors. This design solves problems with both propellers and ducted turbofans. Propellers hit a ceiling when their blade tips exceed the speed of sound which the tapered blades of a propfan solve. Ducted turbofans have gotten larger and larger to achieve higher bypass ratios, which means the duct gets heavier and heavier. Propfans ditch the duct but keep the fan. Hy...

• Post #3727735

  Apparently Emoulments Air lacks the defensive capabilities to actually function as Air Force One. Who’da thunk it? https://newrepublic.com/post/212902/trump-team-fumes-real-story-new-air-force-one-gets #uspol

• Post #3726802

  America, what a joke. A geochemist climate denier is now in charge of our nation’s top office on climate and authoring the nation’s top report on the subject. https://www.politico.com/news/2026/07/09/the-administration-has-a-new-climate-change-office-its-headed-by-a-climate-critic-00990916 #uspol

• Post #3599027

  Donald Trump’s legacy will forever be turning America’s 250th anniversary into one which makes Americans ashamed to be American and more certain than they have ever been in their entire lives that the country is careening for disaster. This July 4th I’m ashamed to be an American because my country isn’t free. https://www.ap.org/news-highlights/elections/2026/americans-pride-in-us-history-and-democracy-drops-and-fewer-are-proud-to-be-american-polls-find/ #uspol

• Post #3590092

  Heat pumps may soon outsell air conditioners in US For years, heat pumps have outsold gas furnaces in the U.S. — and now the superefficient appliances are coming for conventional ACs, too. https://www.canarymedia.com/articles/heat-pumps/heat-pumps-air-conditioners

• Post #3572410

  Once again, you can try to ignore the climate crisis but that doesn’t make it go away… “CANCELED: America's Independence Day parade called off over extreme heat” Organizers of DC's America's Independence Day Parade canceled as heat is expected to reach between 110°F and 115°F (43-46C) https://www.wusa9.com/article/news/local/dc/canceled-americas-national-independence-day-parade-called-extreme-heat/65-afcef538-20df-4224-9e14-78c47080422f #uspol

• Post #3525713

  Gas plants for US data centers to be major source of climate change-linked emissions, report says. Dozens of planned gas plants to ​directly power data centers in the United States could emit as much greenhouse gas annually as ‌Australia or France, according to a report by an environmental group published on Wednesday. The Environmental Integrity Project reviewed 74 gas-fired U.S. power plant projects proposed or planned to provide electricity directly to data centers, which would sidestep the...

• Post #3520500

  With Europe and the US in the grip of atmospheric blocking events / “heat domes”, I’ve seen renewed interest in geoengineering/SRM. A quick reminder that despite a lot of enthusiasm among laypeople, climate scientists are generally sour on the idea. A very important detail people don’t seem to grasp is that while geoengineering/SRM could help lower the *mean* temperature, it could actually make extreme heatwaves / “heat domes” worse by disrupting the global circulation of air https://news.mi...

• Post #3485397

  For anyone in Europe considering a heat pump but worried about the global warming potential of its refrigerant, you can always consider a heat pump which uses CO2 (a.k.a. "R-744") as its refrigerant. CO2 still has global warming potential of course, but it's among the lowest of any refrigerant you can get in a heat pump. (The CO2 used for R-744 is sourced from carbon capture anyway) #ClimateCrisis

• Post #3478414

  More than 1,300 excess deaths recorded in Europe heat wave: WHO https://phys.org/news/2026-06-excess-deaths-europe.html #ClimateCrisis

• Post #3434900

  Germany sees hottest temperature on record of 41.3C (106F) https://phys.org/news/2026-06-germany-hottest-temperature-413c-weather.html #ClimateCrisis

• Post #3422562

  Ex-NOAA employees re-create a valuable climate data site shut down by Trump. Scientists, educators, farmers and the broader public now have a new website for climate information in the United States. The site, Climate.us, launched this week and fills a void left when a government-run climate information website was shut down last year by the Trump administration. https://www.npr.org/2026/06/26/nx-s1-5869615/climate-noaa-data-trump-doge #ClimateCrisis

• Post #3410171

  Oh cool, SCOTUS just ruled on party lines that the Trump administration can violate international law, based on a selective interpretation of what the word “in” means. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/jun/25/trump-news-at-glance-supreme-court #uspol

• Post #3404256

  AIPAC 'Disappointed' as Jewish Progressives Celebrate New York Primary Sweep One progressive group said Brad Lander's victory was 'a blueprint for the future for both the Jewish community and the Democratic Party.' The Union for Reform Judaism, said the movement rejects 'the false choice between Jewish safety and Palestinian dignity https://www.haaretz.com/us-news/2026-06-25/ty-article/.premium/aipac-disappointed-as-jewish-progressives-celebrate-new-york-primary-sweep/0...

• Post #3366435

  I've pointed this out before but it's nice to see an article on it: International shipping is a problem that actually gets easier as we decarbonize, because it turns out that 40% of freight shipping tonnage and half of fuel spent on shipping is spent shipping other fossil fuel around the globe. Get rid of fossil fuel and half of our shipping problems go away! https://cleantechnica.com/2026/06/16/shipping-freight-energy-fossil-cargo/ #ClimateCrisis #RenewableEnergy

• Post #3342725

  Spain’s renewables revolution is paying off: Electricity bills are lower despite energy crisis The country has long had some of the lowest wholesale electricity prices in Europe (including significant periods of negative prices) but households often saw higher bills due to marginal costs like grid balancing with gas. Those costs have improved as others have seen costs rise, and Spain now has household electricity rates lower than the EU average, as well as their neighbor France https://www.eu...

• Post #3306533

  RE: https://mastodon.online/@mastodonmigration/116726959491336265 Would really be something if some financial disaster coming out of the SpaceX IPO were the pin that pops the AI bubble

• Post #3059691

  PBS did a documentary showing infrared/thermal drone footage of the massive gas turbine plants being built next to AI datacenters. As I’ve pointed out in the past, despite greenwashing these massive datacenter campuses being built by so-called “hyperscalers” are being primarily fueled by on-site gas turbines, which in addition to climate crisis-causing CO2 also emit high amounts of NOx and particulate matter. https://youtu.be/5p426fSlYH4 #climatecrisis