Researchers modeled bamboo as a feedstock for liquid transportation fuel and estimated a production cost as low as $2.75 per gasoline-gallon equivalent. Their life-cycle analysis calculated emissions of 3.5 grams of CO₂-equivalent per megajoule, compared with 90–95 grams for conventional fossil fuels. These figures are modeling results rather than evidence from commercial-scale production, so further development is still needed.

I published this analysis today in The Business Times on Southeast Asia's growing dependence on concentrated battery supply chains.

The central issue is not simply reliance on Chinese battery manufacturing, but how that dependence affects ASEAN countries differently, from Indonesia's nickel processing industry to regional battery manufacturing and Singapore's cross-border electricity strategy.

As battery storage becomes increasingly important to power systems, supply-chain concentration is emerging as an energy security issue, not just an industrial policy concern.

The article examines the implications for procurement, supplier diversification and regional energy cooperation.

I’m beginning to think that this Trump fella is really not all that good at making deals.

The technical issue highlighted in this case involves documented testing where smart meters continue to register continuous usage ("creep") even when an electrician has completely isolated a property by shutting off the main breakers.

Grid experts on the case note that Total Harmonic Distortion (THD) levels on modern residential loops are routinely reaching 40% to 50% due to modern energy-efficient devices and variable frequency drives (VFDs). This distortion creates significant current and voltage waveform errors that digital metering software fails to accurately calibrate, leading to inflated consumer bills and subsequent shut-offs.

Despite this empirical testing data, the action was dismissed under Rule 12(b)(6) before reaching discovery. Opening this up for discussion—has anyone else tracked public utility commission data regarding calibration vulnerabilities under high THD environments?

Buenas a todos!!. Mi pareja y yo nos acabamos de mudar juntos a nuestro primer piso y, sinceramente, el tema de la luz nos tiene un poco mareados con tanta tarifa y letra pequeña. Un compañero del curro me recomendó echarle un ojo a Imagina Energía porque dice que no le han pegado sablazos raros en los meses que lleva con ellos, pero prefería preguntar por aquí antes de firmar nada.

Alguien por aquí la tiene o la ha probado últimamente?

The grid math hasn't changed, every kilowatt you never generate is the cheapest one on the books, and winter peak is a real problem heading at real wires. What's actually broken is the delivery, premiums on the high-tier units, rebates that cover the equipment and pretend the panel doesn't exist, and a contractor base nobody thought to fund.

You can read that two ways, the mandates are wrong, or the mandates are right and starved. And it's worth asking who benefits when the programs stay thin. A utility that gets paid per kilowatt has no incentive to fund the thing that sells fewer of them, and the Republican legislatures defunding the rebate programs keep taking utility money. We spent two years of political airtime fighting about gas stoves and lightbulbs while the actual bottleneck, the panel upgrade and the installer base, never got a dollar. The mandates aren't detached from reality. The funding is detached from the mandates. The places covering whole job costs, panel and all, are the ones where the complaints are quietest.

I drive about forty miles a day for work. Yesterday's fill ran me fifteen bucks more than the same tank in January, which works out to something like sixty a month that just isn't there anymore. Somehow it's become a (losing) sport and a war surcharge on getting to work.

Everyone's posting the EV sales charts like they're a feel-good story. It's not a story, it's people running from a fuel bill. My coworker ordered a Leaf out of pure spite. And if this thing spreads to the refineries, my heating bill in November gets real interesting. Trump and the administration owe the country a straight answer about how this ends, and none of them has said one word.

Got quoted $127k to bring proper three-phase to my shop building. For context, that's more than a 150kW natural gas genset installed. Spent the weekend talking to a guy who runs a metal fab shop out in the county, he's been running on a 80kW Cummins for six years, burns maybe $400/month in fuel, maintenance contract is $8k/year. Breaks even against the demand charges he was getting hit with, apparently. I'm not there yet on load factor, but staring at this utility worksheet really changed how I think about 'behind the meter.' Anyone else run the numbers on industrial self-gen lately? Feels like the crossover point moved closer than I expected.

Oil futures tell you the price of a barrel. They don’t always tell you what it costs to actually get that barrel where it needs to go. CNBC says tanker rates have surged: recent charters from the U.S. Gulf Coast to Asia reportedly cost roughly $76 million to $77 million. On a vessel carrying about 2 million barrels, that adds close to $38 per barrel in transportation costs. So while futures may imply one oil price, physical buyers are paying much more once shipping is included.

Europe wants to protect its industries. But what will that mean for the people working in them? 🇪🇺

Hey everyone! 👋 We're EUobserver, and we're following the European Council summit in Brussels.

One of the big discussions today is about Europe's economic future, particularly its relationship with China.

EU leaders are finding more common ground on protecting European industries from Chinese competition. But they're much less united when it comes to carbon pricing and how to keep European businesses competitive while meeting climate goals.

And behind all these discussions are real concerns about people's lives.

For workers, it's about whether their jobs will still be there in a few years. For households, it's about energy bills and the price of everyday products. And for younger generations, it's about what kind of economy they'll be entering.

How do we protect European jobs and industries without making the green transition more difficult or leaving ordinary people to carry the costs?

It's a question that goes well beyond this week's summit #EUCO, and one worth discussing here.