Michael Thomas
I write stories and make videos about climate change.
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- This week, Republicans released their budget bill that aims to repeal the Inflation Reduction Act. I analyzed every clean energy project that has been built since the IRA passed—3,570 in all. The proposed budget bill would hurt Republican districts the most. www.distilled.earth/p/the-republ...
- How are tariffs going to impact the solar market in the US? At Cleanview we just published a new dataset and dashboard to help folks understand the potential impact of the latest tariffs. Here are a few takeaways from the data: cleanview.co/content/sola...
- 🌎 Climate tech job alert 🌎 I'm hiring a Data Engineer at @CleanviewEnergy to build data pipelines that will power our clean energy intelligence platform. If you know anyone who loves working with clean energy data, please send them my way. docs.google.com/document/d/1...
- Texas will add more battery storage capacity in 2025 than any other state. Developers plan to build 7 GW of new capacity—as much as the entire US built in 2023.
- One of the most overlooked energy stories of 2024: Battery storage grew 65% last year, with the U.S. adding 10.9 GW of new capacity. And growth is accelerating—we're on track for 18.1 GW in 2025, a 68% increase. Just 5 years ago, this technology was considered experimental.
- One of the most promising clean energy trends over the last year has been the growth of solar in Republican states in the South. - AR added 943 MW of capacity (99% vs. 2023). - MS added 794 MW of capacity (647% vs. 2023). - LA added 726 MW of capacity (230% vs. 2023). cleanview.co/annual-repor...
- Texas is going to build a massive amount of solar this year. It's worth noting that 80% of the capacity (~9 GW) in the chart below is already under construction and therefore protected against Trump's recent orders.
- Over the last few months, I've been analyzing data on clean energy trends in America. Today I published a report with ~50 trends that I found in my research. One major takeaway: The U.S. added 47% more clean energy in 2024 than the year before. cleanview.co/annual-repor...
- Moss Landing, the largest battery in the US caught fire yesterday. A journalist just asked me, "Are batteries safe?" I told him the fossil fuel plants batteries replace kill 1,000s of people in the US / year. Batteries aren't perfect. But they're way better than coal/gas.
- Reposted by Michael ThomasGreat article from @mchediak.bsky.social on the issues with shutting off transmission lines like the one that MAY have caused the #EatonFire. I want to emphasize a few points here in a thread. www.bloomberg.com/news/article...
- Mark Zuckerberg: "Companies need more masculine energy." Meanwhile, there are more Fortune 500 CEOs named John than there are Fortune 500 CEOs who are women. www.nytimes.com/interactive/...
- I think one of the funniest forms of audience capture is the people who gained big followings on Twitter by talking about Tesla when Elon wasn't nearly as crazy and now have to stick by him. One day you're posting car specs. The next you're supporting fascism. Oops!
- The shift from fossil fuel to electric appliances isn't going to happen if the sustainable option costs 2-3x more. We need to get these installation prices down fast.
- Another takeaway from my upcoming 2024 clean energy trends report: The US added a huge amount of battery capacity to the grid in 2024. But the vast majority of it was built in just 4 states: California, Texas, Arizona, and Nevada.
- New data from a report I'm working on: The U.S. added a record amount of solar capacity in 2024. The country added 34 GW of utility-scale solar, which is 74% more than last year's record year.
- There's a famous study (Fritz 1961) that found after natural disasters people in affected communities often show altruistic behavior and temporarily suspend social divisions. In the digital world, it increasingly feels like the opposite is true.
- 2024 was another record-breaking year for clean energy in the U.S. Here are some stats from an upcoming report I'm working on for Cleanview: - 96% of new power capacity was carbon-free - 74% more solar added vs. 2023 - 99% more battery capacity added vs. 2023
- Reposted by Michael ThomasThese extraordinary photos of the LA fires have been shared widely on social media, often without crediting the photographer. These are all the work of Ethan Swope, an LA-based photojournalist working for AP. You can follow his remarkable reporting here👇 www.instagram.com/ethanswopeph...
