Lots of snow in the capital. Neighbors been riding anything they can down the hills, from boxes to tub lids to swimming inflatables. Can't go anywhere as everything is a chunk of solid ice and snow but that's why you stock up for a few days of shutdown.
This weather front is going to mess up lower division football in Europe at the weekend. The jet stream is heading eastwards at up to 250 mph.
Well, if this puts a knife in the back of Trump's crusade to end the ban on fossile energy and marginalizes his voters hope for reopening mines/wells/whatever... https://www.dailystar.co.uk/news/world-news/china-finds-limitless-energy-source-34772576
Texas keeps kicking ass in terms of building clean energy. But it has been so successful that Republicans in the Texas house are trying to pass laws to kill solar and wind. Official data is in for Q1 2025:Texas built more solar than any other state.Texas built more wind than any other state.Texas built more storage than any other state. pic.twitter.com/MBObu74389— Alec Stapp (@AlecStapp) May 8, 2025
They may have built the most lately but still trail Ca in total capacity. Top 10 states for solar power production the United States. State Solar power production February 2025 (MWh) Percentage of national solar power production California 5,203 23.4 Texas 3,548 16.0
Looking at it another way. Renewable energy as a total % of electricity produced. 1. Vermont - 99.6 2. South Dakota - 81.4% 3. Washington - 75.7% 11. California - 43% 19. New York - 28.1% 26. Texas - 26.5% 42. Florida - 6% 46. Pennsylvania - 3.1% 50. Mississippi - 2.7% https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._states_by_renewable_electricity_production?wprov=sfla1 I think politics has less to do with it than the availability of resources but some states clearly aren't trying.
Just thinking outside the box here, what if we put wind turbines in Florida that could capture all the energy of a hurricane? And then we NUKED THE HURRICANE! That's stable genius level thinking, right there.
So, about that filibuster.... https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2025/05/republicans-kill-filibuster-senate-trump.html This plan rests on a bold evasion of the filibuster. Trump’s EPA and Senate Republicans want to repeal California’s emissions standards under a law called the Congressional Review Act. This statute allows Congress to nullify rules that were recently issued by federal agencies, and to do so with a simple majority in each chamber, bypassing the filibuster in the Senate. Once the president signs a CRA repeal into law, agencies are forever barred from passing any regulation that is “substantially the same” as the one Congress nullified. Republicans claim that the California waivers qualify as an agency “rule” subject to repeal under the CRA. And they are racing to kill it through a mechanism that would, in theory, prevent the EPA from ever granting such a waiver again. Why dose that matter (and why this thread)? The GOP’s current crusade against the filibuster is the result of fierce lobbying from the fossil-fuel industry, especially the American Petroleum Institute, against California’s stringent emissions requirements. The Clean Air Act expressly permits California to set its own, higher standards with approval from the Environmental Protection Agency. In January, at the end of Biden’s presidency, the EPA granted the state “waivers” to impose a package of strict requirements designed to accelerate the adoption of electric vehicles. Weeks later, though, after Trump took over the EPA, the agency concocted a scheme to repeal those waivers—and bar California from obtaining waivers in the future. Now congressional Republicans seem ready to give the president a necessary assist. The CA waiver was because CA is scheduled to prevent any gas power vehicles from being sold in the state by 2035. They are about to be prevented. Because, you know, Republicans believe in states' rights and all that.
Meta signs a deal with a nuclear power plant in Illinois. We’ve signed an agreement with @Meta for the emissions-free output of Clinton Clean Energy Center. Deal supports Meta’s clean energy goals and operations in the region while enabling us to relicense and continue operating Clinton for another 20 years. 1/3 https://t.co/VQnTVnl1jp— Constellation (@ConstellationEG) June 3, 2025