In a recent article, California Refineries Close as Gasoline Demand Slips into Permanent Decline, I wrote that diesel consumption in California had not declined even as gasoline demand slipped. Jeremy Martin from the Union of Concerned Scientists reached out to me to point to some data I’d missed. I reviewed … [continued]
According to the latest Nature Index results, Harvard University is now the only American institution left in the top ten list of research organizations by contributions to leading scientific journals. It sits in second place, but far behind the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), which has pulled ahead by a … [continued]
California’s refinery sector is contracting, and the reasons are not as complicated as operators often suggest. When refinery owners announce closures, they usually point to the burden of environmental regulations, the costs of compliance, or fines from state agencies. Those factors are real, but they are not decisive. The more … [continued]
The Trump administration’s stop-work order on Ørsted’s Revolution Wind project has already become a defining event for investors and developers in the United States energy sector. The project was nearly complete, with billions already invested in turbines, monopiles, offshore cables, port infrastructure, and labor. Every required federal and state permit … [continued]
India’s electricity system is undergoing a shift that signals broader changes in global energy markets. For decades, its fossil generation rose steadily to meet rising demand. In the first half of 2025 that changed. Coal- and gas-fired electricity both fell as renewables surged, with total fossil electrical generation dropping 4%, … [continued]
Canada has put a stake in the ground by deciding which megaprojects are now officially in the national interest. Out of an initial list of 32 candidates I analysed recently, five made the cut. That is a small number on paper, but the financial and climate commitments stretch out for … [continued]
Recently, I had the opportunity to sit down with a global expert on minerals processing and battery minerals, Lyle Trytten. We were closing out an engagement to do a technoeconomic assessment of seabed mining and it was a great opportunity to discuss the space and some of the things we … [continued]
Supernal’s decision to pause work on its eVTOL aircraft is a signal that the sector is entering a different phase. Hyundai created Supernal with strong funding, a long timeline, and a clear plan to bring a five-seat air taxi to market around 2028. If a global automaker with significant resources … [continued]
The publication of Kim and Macfarlane’s 2026 study on small modular reactors is a moment worth pausing over. Nuclear energy sits at the margins of most serious decarbonization pathways today, but SMRs have been marketed as the technology that could change that. They are advertised as cheaper, safer, faster to … [continued]
I recently read Why Nations Fail, the 2012 book by Daron Acemoglu and James Robinson, who won the Nobel Prize in 2024 for Economics for their work on how institutions shape economic prosperity, and was struck by how confidently it placed the United States on a path of enduring greatness. … [continued]
