SweetLightning

Externalities Is your life really worth nothing?

Environmental reality is less forgiving than economic spreadsheets.

#climate #climatechange #science #economics #environment #globalwarming #ecology

www.sweetlightning.eco/externalities/

Voyager 1 greeting from 170 AU (25,5 billion km)
1.2.26

it takes almost 24 hours for the signal to get to Earth.

live
www.youtube.com/watch?v=SkRS...

How much renewable energy do we use? Probably less than you think.

In all the energy we use planet-wide, how much is renewable?

www.sweetlightning.eco/how-much-ren...

#climate #climatechange #climatefight #globalwarming #decarbonization #energy #fossilfuels #renewables #science #engineering

Efficiency - A Little Bit Goes a Long Way Like comedian Rodney Dangerfield, energy efficiency "don't get no respect," but it deserves more policy attention and more widespread application.

When you want to compare internal combustion cars to electrics, the engineer's "efficiency" view offers remarkable insights.

#climate #climatefight #climatechange #globalwarming #co2 #energy #fossilfuels #science #engineering #climateaction #electriccars

www.sweetlightning.eco/efficiency-a...

Standing on a dock looking out to the Salish Sea on a cool winter's night. Lights from docked sailboats reflect in the water. In the distance, quiet music and muted voices make the peace seem complete.

Standing here, silently, is therapy all by itself.

#SilentSunday #water #peace #light

Stator The Art: The Electric Motors In Your EV Electric motors are fundamental to modern civilization and will become even more important as we increasingly electrify to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

EV motors: dive into the state of the art. Do we REALLY need all those scarce heavy metals?

www.sweetlightning.eco/stator-the-a...

#climate #climatefight #climatechange #globalwarming #CO2 #fossilfuels #science #engineering #climateaction

Torque wars Electric motors make a comeback.

Torque wars: electric vs internal combustion.

#climate #technology #history #climatechange #EV #car #internalcombustion #energy #environment

www.sweetlightning.eco/torque-wars/

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No One Said It Would Be Easy An Australian mining company's first attempt to build an entirely gravity-powered ore train doesn't quite work (yet), but we shouldn't be discouraged.

Quest for a large-scale gravity-powered ore train shows how scientific research and real-world applications work together to produce results.

#climate #climatefight #climatechange #globalwarming #energy #environment #methane #co2 #research #transportation

Keep Up the Measurement Pressure Although SweetLightning talks about many promising ways to reduce greenhouse gases, emissions are still rising. One thing we can do about it: Keep measuring, and be specific.

Measurement helps with the climate fight. Article for subscribers only ... but subscription is free, and you are welcome to join us.

#climate #climatefight #climatechange #globalwarming #energy #environment #extinction #methane #co2 #pollution

EVs Deliver Lowest Lifecycle Carbon Footprint Everywhere Cradle-to-grave GHG emissions of light duty electric vehicles are lower than all forms of their internal combustion-engined equivalents, no matter the region

Extensive study of #emissions across geographies and #vehicle types. #EVs are the low-carbon champions.

#climate #climatefight #climatechange #globalwarming #co2 #energy #fossilfuels #science #engineering #climateaction

Cooler Cement Changing the surface microstructure of cement reduces concrete's contribution to global warming by keeping structures cooler

Cement can retain and re-emit heat. That might be good in a greenhouse in winter, but isn't good when in structures that are already too hot. "Cooler #Cement" is important.

#climate #climatefight #climatechange #globalwarming #energy #environment #science #climateaction #engineering #construction

The EPD was done by Climate Earth, who have evaluated a broad variety of materials. See climateearth.com. That's the best place to start with such a comparison.

One New Way of Making Low-carbon Cement Even cement production can be electrified, for a 90% reduction in GHGs

We must lower the carbon footprint of #concrete. We examine one of several approaches.

#climate #climatefight #climatechange #globalwarming #energy #environment #science #lies #research #action #climateaction #engineering #construction #science

Climate for the win! The Vermont Greens FC won their 2025 national championship. Why it matters for climate change.

If a sports team made climate a priority? It'd look something like this.

#ClimateCrisis #climate #climatefight #climatechange #globalwarming #energy #environment #science #decarbonization #methane #soccer #sports #football

www.sweetlightning.eco/edit-climate...

Sentinel 5 ... Away! The new spectroscopic instrument Sentinel-5A launched on August 12, 2025. It's ready to help us understand what's going on in our atmosphere.

The newly-launched Sentinel-5A extends our atmospheric measurement to aid in the #ClimateCrisis .

#climate #climatefight #climatechange #globalwarming #energy #environment #science #power #decarbonization #methane

Teach your children well If we have hope, it will be realized from the impact of coming generations.

What gives us hope? People who will save the world.

#climate #climatefight #climatechange #globalwarming #energy #environment #science #power #decarbonization #grid #children #recycling

More Fish in the Sea Marine preservation areas work well when properly managed. That's great ... because we need them.

We summarize two recent articles in Science that look at #Marine Protected Areas. The conclusion: they work when they are well done.

#climate #climatefight #climatechange #environment #science #anthropocene #fish #parks #climateaction #research

Gravity Energy Storage Using the whole planet to store energy!

How delightful that a Swiss corporation has built a gravity storage device reminiscent of a giant cuckoo clock. Minus the cuckoo.

#climate #climatefight #climatechange #globalwarming #energy #environment #science #lies #truth #media #research #action #climateaction #engineering #gravity

Weird-looking cluster of mushrooms emerging from the side of a tree.

Fungus photos are fun!

#nature #photography #fungus #photo #naturephotography

Hot Glass, but a Cooler Climate Glass blowing, an ancient art that has always had a dreadful carbon footprint, finds ways to improve.

Want to see change? You can make change happen.

Glassblowers have found a path to carbon neutrality. #Inspiring story.

#climate #climatefight #climatechange #globalwarming #energy #environment #science #lies #truth #media #research #action #climateaction

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Science Is Not Enough The gap between peer-reviewed certainty and public indifference creates problems.

The paradox at the heart of modern science: We know more than we’ve ever known, but action seems harder than ever.

#climate #climatefight #climatechange #globalwarming #energy #environment #science #lies #truth #media #research #action #climateaction

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A pioneering ‘second-life’ battery startup begins major Texas… Armed with lessons from five years of hooking up used EV batteries to the grid in California, B2U is making a 100-MWh foray into Texas’ volatile energy…

People often ask about what happens to old EV batteries. They can be recycled, or used for much needed power grid storage. "Putting old EV batteries to work on the grid tackles the waste stream created by the growing adoption of EVs"
www.canarymedia.com/articles/ene...

EROI and The Net Energy Cliff EROI is measures the fundamental idea that the less energy you need to invest to get energy in return, the more will be left over for society to do other things that keeps civilization going.

To get energy, you have to spend energy. A nuanced discussion for our paid subscribers. (We have lots of free articles too!)

#climate #climatefight #climatechange #globalwarming #energy #environment #science #power #decarbonization #grid #solar #wind #nuclear #engineering

Antarctic phytoplankton communities restructure under shifting sea-ice regimes - Nature Climate Change The authors use a machine learning approach and in situ pigment samples to identify summer shifts (1997–2023) in the abundance and composition of Antarctic phytoplankton. While smaller phytoplankton g...

Antarctic phytoplankton communities restructure under shifting sea-ice regimes www.nature.com/articles/s41... #jcampubs 🌊

AI Data Centre Powered by Renewables and Used BEV Batteries Synergistic pairing of renewable energy with used BEV batteries to power AI data centre standalone microgrid.

Repurposing used #EV #batteries and renewables for on-site green power...for #AI computation.

#climate #climatefight #climatechange #globalwarming #energy #environment #science #power #decarbonization #grid

Part of a series on environmental hope.

Solar Takes Over Fossil fuels are so last decade

Solar power continues its momentum. At some point, it will be unstoppable.

#climate #climatefight #climatechange #globalwarming #energy #environment #science #power #decarbonization #grid

sweetlightning.ghost.io/hope-solar-t...

Sand Batteries A company in Finland has brought on line a high-temperature heat storage installation, using crushed local soapstone, to store off-peak and renewable energy for use during peak demand periods

A "sand battery" can deliver the heat of 50 home furnaces by storing energy from off-peak surplus.

Free subscriptions to our energy/environment newsletter.

#climate #climatefight #climatechange #globalwarming #energy #environment #science #thermal #storage

sweetlightning.ghost.io/sand-batteri...

Improvements, Still A new 3D printable substrate improves solar distillation by an order.

Solar distillation is an old technology that makes pure water using just sunshine, but recent innovations will make it work even better.

#climate #climatefight #climatechange #globalwarming #energy #environment #science #water #solar

sweetlightning.ghost.io/improvements...

Misinformation, Disinformation, Malinformation, and Distrust of Climate Science Misinformation, disinformation and malinformation are forms of rampant pollution of the information ecosystem. This pollution is toxic, promoting distrust in science, and holding back efforts to comba...

False information can be seen as a #virus propagating through cognitive space. It does real harm. We collect some of the best insights for you in this short piece.

#climate #climatefight #climatechange #energy #environment #science #lies #truth #media

sweetlightning.ghost.io/draf-misinfo...

Solar was the leading source of electricity in the EU last month, says report | CBC News Coal generation fell to a record low during June 2025, and experts say that the EU's power system is changing. The picture is very different in Canada, where solar is still a small share of total elec...

Solar was the leading source of electricity in the EU last month, says report
Picture remains very different in Canada, where solar is still a small share of electricity generation

www.cbc.ca/news/science...