Marc de Faoite

Rise in wind, solar capacity connected to national grid An additional 189 megawatts of wind and solar capacity was connected to the electricity grid during the first two months of this year.

An additional 189 megawatts of wind and solar capacity was connected to the electricity grid during the first two months of this year

View Boris Gamazaychikov’s graphic link Boris GamazaychikovBoris Gamazaychikov • 1stVerified • 1st Head of AI Sustainability @ SalesforceHead of AI Sustainability @ Salesforce 32m • Edited • 32 minutes ago • Edited • Visible to anyone on or off LinkedIn The gas-powered data center craze has come to Europe. Yesterday, a 110MW off-grid AI data center outside of Dublin was switched on - and it's powered entirely by fossil fuels. Developers went with natural gas engines (specifically RICE) to bypass the grid connection queue. They claim the engines "could" be switched to HVO, and that the project will attempt to connect to the grid "when possible". What does this mean for Ireland's climate goals? According to my estimates, this single project will increase the entire country's annual GHG emissions by ~1%. Assumptions: - The project seems to be using Rolls Royce (mtu) 4000 Series RICE which have an electrical efficiency of 44% https://lnkd.in/eRX4PRuf - Modifying the NREL life cycle gas emissions factor with this efficiency yields 656.75 gCO2e/kWh https://lnkd.in/gfgs2X6P - Assuming a 90% capacity factor because AI hyperscale data centers run near 24/7 to recoup massive GPU costs - Ireland’s 2024 GHG emissions = 53.8 million tCO2e https://lnkd.in/ejjRgRpE hashtag#DataCenters hashtag#Sustainability hashtag#ArtificialIntelligence

Royce (mtu) 4000 Series RICE (natural gas) Al Data Center

Ireland's new fossil-fuelled #Petrotech data center will increase Ireland's **total** (everything, not just the power sector) emissions by ~1%

Absolutely nuts. A 1% national increase - for what? Come on boosters, explain why this is worth it 🫠

www.linkedin.com/posts/bgamaz...

Rebecca Solnit Says Trump's Strongest Foil Has Been Here All Along | The Interview YouTube video by The Interview

"Nice ladies actually change the world"- @rebeccasolnit.bsky.social
www.youtube.com/watch?v=sOJ_...

It's a few years since I went to Ireland. I was lucky enough to be able to take a spring dip in the sea at both Balbriggan and Tramore.
Unrelated: I now have a cold.

Off-grid is good, right? Not so fast. Not when it is burning fossil gas. It can also use biofuels, but should it? #FoodNotFuels

Well done.

Interesting and good. Do you see any car parks complying with Article 40 de la loi ApER to add solar panels yet? Over here in Haute Savoie I haven't seen much (though apparently there has been an extension to the time frame to comply)

Know something really useful that doesn't use fossil fuels?
A bit more than a year ago I made a leap of faith and had an induction hob installed. I was sure nothing could equal gas. But I had weaned fossil fuels from my life over the years and this was the last hurdle. Induction cooking is very good

Throughout his presidency, Macron has done everything he could to block renewables, claiming that "zero-carbon nuclear power" made France exempt. France consistently falls behind EU targets on environmental questions, whether solar farms, wind turbines, rooftop solar, EVs, heat pumps etc

“English, strictly speaking, is not my first language by the way. I haven’t yet discovered what my first language is so for the time being I use English words in order to say things. I expect I will always have to do it that way; regrettably. I don’t think my first language can be written down at all. I’m not sure it can be made external you see. I think it has to stay where it is; simmering in the elastic gloom betwixt my flickering organs.” Pond — Claire-Louise Bennett

“No mockery in this world ever sounds to me so hollow as that of being told to cultivate happiness. Happiness is not a potato to be planted in mould and tilled with manure.”
Charlotte Bronte (Villette)

api.solarpowereurope.org/uploads/Sola...

Can Adrian Electrify his Home for Free ? EPISODE 1 YouTube video by Electrification Alliance

I am electrifying my life - for 'free'!(Ok, cost neutral)
Still, might be a good time for you to do the same? Have a watch of this first episode and I will walk you through the whole process.

youtu.be/lm1LmpbhnVk?...

No one ever waged a war over solar power or wind turbines (though if someone was to wage a war over wind turbines we know who that someone would be). Renewables are energy security. Renewables are national security.

"I thought you were human. You're just a fucking man."
A line from A.L. Kennedy's excellent novel 'Serious Sweet' that made me splurt coffee through my nose.

"Solutions nearly always come from the direction you least expect, which means there’s no point trying to look in that direction because it won’t be coming from there.” - Douglas Adams

a close up of a red fox 's face looking at the camera . ALT: a close up of a red fox 's face looking at the camera .

Fox News is Fake News.
I went to their website and couldn't find any information about foxes or what they might be up to at the moment.

The EU’s Plan for a European “Supergrid” Explained YouTube video by TLDR News EU

www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ql86...

Bags packed. Off to a wet island on the outer western rim of the European continent tomorrow.

Which goes to show that people instinctively understand that the Agent Orange, Bored of Peace, unprovoked attack on a foreign power has nothing to do with peace or democracy and everything to do with oil.
If we move away from fossil fuels we mitigate climate collapse but we also move away from war.

Multiple accounts of empty pumps at local petrol stations as people panic-buy reserves here in France. I expect to see a run on flour and sugar next.

The Primary Energy Fallacy finally laid to rest! YouTube video by Just Have a Think

I often (apparently wrongly) assume that most people understand why renewably produced electricity is superior to burning things to run our lives. Dave Borlace addresses this and more in his latest video.

#JustHaveAThink
www.youtube.com/watch?v=qokw...

The Primary Energy Fallacy finally laid to rest! YouTube video by Just Have a Think

Agreed. There is no simple binary all or nothing solution, but the more we electrify, the more efficient energy use becomes, leaving fossil fuels to do the lifting that we haven't fully solved yet.
Dave Borlace made a new video that addresses this better than I can.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=qokw...

India is taking a shortcut YouTube video by Simon Clark

Good news from @simonoxfphys.com (but not good enough)
www.youtube.com/watch?v=BPqR...

good to know, thanks

Haha. I might get caught in tomorrow, or the next day, an unending sequence of February 30ths

Five! Oh no! I should have looked before I leaped/leapt. I just downloaded vol iii

The conceit is intriguing. She's stuck in a situation, but how she copes is the story. Also, knowing there is a vol iii gives a major hint that the resolution (if there even is a resolution) won't be coming in vol ii. It ends on a sort of low-stakes cliff-hanger, so I will probably read vol iii

I liked it enough to finish it. It read a bit like an interrail trip, but a very unexciting one. Then a whole addendum on the Roman Empire in the end. In some ways its a very European book, but then the temperatures are in Fahrenheit, which annoyed me (or maybe that's just the translation I read).

Just finished On the Calculation of Volume II by Solvej Balle. She's Danish, but apparently so is Dublin, so by extension ...
Also very slowly reading The City Changes Its Face
by Eimear McBride