A record month for solar and wind power in the UK saved £1 billion in gas costs and the equivalent of 18 LPG tankers, currently stuck in the Strait of Hormuz. While you’re visiting Carbon Brief for that story, have a look at their broader work on Trump’s Iran crisis and how countries are responding. They’ve been busy.
“When America goes to war, the costs are distributed broadly, onto every American who drives a car or heats a home. The benefits are distributed narrowly, flowing to a small group of men whose compensation is designed to capture exactly this kind of windfall.” Emily Atkin on how oil executives profit directly from war.
I made a passing mention of how refills have failed to go mainstream in the UK in a post this week. Until they do, refill shops are holding a space for those wanting to bring their own containers, and Recycle Now just launched a refill locator to find your nearest shop. Still none near me.
The story of the fishing industry off the US West Coast demonstrates how fish stocks can recover when you just leave them alone. Having collapsed entirely by 2000, today it has a smaller and sustainable fishing industry.
Scientists have discovered that data centers produce so much waste heat that they can create local micro-climates and heat island effects. More reasons why we should locate them in cold places, and capture and use that heat.
It’s been a quiet couple of weeks round here with the Easter holidays and my writing time directed to other things, but here are some recent articles.
Recent highlights
The carbon cost of expanding Luton Airport
This week the UK’s Supreme Court waved away the last remaining opportunity to halt the expansion of Luton Airport. With all legal options exhausted, it will now go ahead with its plans to double passenger numbers to 32 million a year by the early 2040s. The court are the latest in a long line of…
Capitalism, now with AI
Watching the World Cup this summer, I couldn’t help but notice the ads for AI. They were everywhere, most prominently in the form of Google Gemini as the lead sponsor of ITV’s coverage in the UK. It didn’t seem to matter that there was no link between Gemini and football, we were still encouraged to…
What if we stopped talking about growth?
Andy Burnham has become Britain’s new Prime Minister, promising to “put a laser-like focus on growth”. It’s a full reset from his predecessor Keir Starmer, who told the country that “the defining mission of this government is to grow the economy.” Keir replaced Rishi ‘Seven Bins’ Sunak, whose advice was to “relentlessly focus on growth”.…
The Earthbound Report 