I write stories and make videos about climate change. Subscribe to the Distilled newsletter and YouTube channel here: http://linktr.ee/distilled.earthhttps://bsky.app/profile/michael-thomas.bsky.socialhttps://bsky.app/profile/michael-thomas.bsky.social/post/3msizthkcds2oThis week I found permits and satellite photos suggesting Amazon is backing what could be the largest gas power plant ever built in the US. I just got off the phone with the company and confirmed they're behind it. Full story here: https://newsletter.cleanview.co/p/scoop-amazon-is-behind-one-of-the07 Aug 2026 17:00 +0000at://did:plc:xfycvygit2cyxd2oqlku47su/app.bsky.feed.post/3msizthkcds2ohttps://bsky.app/profile/michael-thomas.bsky.social/post/3m3sc3mhk322dThis was surprising to me: In states with the highest electricity demand growth—from sources like data centers—electricity prices actually fell over the last 5 years. Totally opposite of the prevailing narrative that data centers raise electricity prices. 🧵22 Oct 2025 16:43 +0000at://did:plc:xfycvygit2cyxd2oqlku47su/app.bsky.feed.post/3m3sc3mhk322dhttps://bsky.app/profile/michael-thomas.bsky.social/post/3m3cz3e2vdc2gFor the last few months I've been going through public documents, permits, and satellite images to track the largest data centers in the US. Today I published the first story about what I've learned. 🧵 https://www.distilled.earth/p/these-data-centers-are-getting-really16 Oct 2025 14:52 +0000at://did:plc:xfycvygit2cyxd2oqlku47su/app.bsky.feed.post/3m3cz3e2vdc2ghttps://bsky.app/profile/michael-thomas.bsky.social/post/3lsrjnxq5wc22I just published a story with @emorwee.bsky.social about the latest Senate bill. The bill is much worse than climate advocates thought possible. The window to stop it is rapidly closing. But to do that climate advocates need to speak up. https://www.distilled.earth/p/urgent-the-latest-senate-bill-is29 Jun 2025 20:39 +0000at://did:plc:xfycvygit2cyxd2oqlku47su/app.bsky.feed.post/3lsrjnxq5wc22https://bsky.app/profile/michael-thomas.bsky.social/post/3lptynriiis22In the coming weeks, the Senate will decide the fate of clean energy in America. So I decided to crunch some numbers and see how much solar, wind, and storage capacity has been built in each Senators' state.23 May 2025 15:57 +0000at://did:plc:xfycvygit2cyxd2oqlku47su/app.bsky.feed.post/3lptynriiis22https://bsky.app/profile/michael-thomas.bsky.social/post/3lp5cuu24ys24This 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. https://www.distilled.earth/p/the-republicans-who-could-save-the14 May 2025 15:29 +0000at://did:plc:xfycvygit2cyxd2oqlku47su/app.bsky.feed.post/3lp5cuu24ys24https://bsky.app/profile/michael-thomas.bsky.social/post/3lmaixhpwq22uHow 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: https://cleanview.co/content/solar-imports-by-country07 Apr 2025 17:40 +0000at://did:plc:xfycvygit2cyxd2oqlku47su/app.bsky.feed.post/3lmaixhpwq22uhttps://bsky.app/profile/michael-thomas.bsky.social/post/3lltvqfqaqc2a🌎 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. https://docs.google.com/document/d/1K4FyBNpcHcOKHepiwTqAPkEb_JuhnKeB82ya42LTjLg/edit?tab=t.0#heading=h.6ot1vabd3vqm02 Apr 2025 17:24 +0000at://did:plc:xfycvygit2cyxd2oqlku47su/app.bsky.feed.post/3lltvqfqaqc2ahttps://bsky.app/profile/michael-thomas.bsky.social/post/3ljpqwe3ayc25Texas 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 2023.06 Mar 2025 14:57 +0000at://did:plc:xfycvygit2cyxd2oqlku47su/app.bsky.feed.post/3ljpqwe3ayc25https://bsky.app/profile/michael-thomas.bsky.social/post/3ljnifgencc23One 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.05 Mar 2025 17:19 +0000at://did:plc:xfycvygit2cyxd2oqlku47su/app.bsky.feed.post/3ljnifgencc23https://bsky.app/profile/michael-thomas.bsky.social/post/3lik6vh7ktc2iOne 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). https://cleanview.co/annual-report-202519 Feb 2025 16:26 +0000at://did:plc:xfycvygit2cyxd2oqlku47su/app.bsky.feed.post/3lik6vh7ktc2ihttps://bsky.app/profile/michael-thomas.bsky.social/post/3lif5srp53222Texas 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.17 Feb 2025 16:23 +0000at://did:plc:xfycvygit2cyxd2oqlku47su/app.bsky.feed.post/3lif5srp53222https://bsky.app/profile/michael-thomas.bsky.social/post/3lhykowft5c2nOver 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. https://cleanview.co/annual-report-202512 Feb 2025 16:09 +0000at://did:plc:xfycvygit2cyxd2oqlku47su/app.bsky.feed.post/3lhykowft5c2nhttps://bsky.app/profile/michael-thomas.bsky.social/post/3lfxwfxxtnk2rMoss 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.17 Jan 2025 23:15 +0000at://did:plc:xfycvygit2cyxd2oqlku47su/app.bsky.feed.post/3lfxwfxxtnk2rhttps://bsky.app/profile/michael-thomas.bsky.social/post/3lfqgwwfmn22zMark Zuckerberg: "Companies need more masculine energy." Meanwhile, there are more Fortune 500 CEOs named John than there are Fortune 500 CEOs who are women. https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/04/24/upshot/women-and-men-named-john.html14 Jan 2025 23:50 +0000at://did:plc:xfycvygit2cyxd2oqlku47su/app.bsky.feed.post/3lfqgwwfmn22zhttps://bsky.app/profile/michael-thomas.bsky.social/post/3lfqgajhozs2fI 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!14 Jan 2025 23:37 +0000at://did:plc:xfycvygit2cyxd2oqlku47su/app.bsky.feed.post/3lfqgajhozs2fhttps://bsky.app/profile/michael-thomas.bsky.social/post/3lfq37qpoek24The 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. [contains quote post or other embedded content]14 Jan 2025 20:20 +0000at://did:plc:xfycvygit2cyxd2oqlku47su/app.bsky.feed.post/3lfq37qpoek24https://bsky.app/profile/michael-thomas.bsky.social/post/3lfpw2ezc6c2gAnother 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.14 Jan 2025 18:48 +0000at://did:plc:xfycvygit2cyxd2oqlku47su/app.bsky.feed.post/3lfpw2ezc6c2ghttps://bsky.app/profile/michael-thomas.bsky.social/post/3lfno2e4z7s2xNew 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.13 Jan 2025 21:19 +0000at://did:plc:xfycvygit2cyxd2oqlku47su/app.bsky.feed.post/3lfno2e4z7s2xhttps://bsky.app/profile/michael-thomas.bsky.social/post/3lffuqllx7k25There'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.10 Jan 2025 18:58 +0000at://did:plc:xfycvygit2cyxd2oqlku47su/app.bsky.feed.post/3lffuqllx7k25https://bsky.app/profile/michael-thomas.bsky.social/post/3lffnn5l5x2242024 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. 202310 Jan 2025 16:50 +0000at://did:plc:xfycvygit2cyxd2oqlku47su/app.bsky.feed.post/3lffnn5l5x224https://bsky.app/profile/michael-thomas.bsky.social/post/3lfbjeiuttc2jThis is a really interesting thread. [contains quote post or other embedded content]09 Jan 2025 01:23 +0000at://did:plc:xfycvygit2cyxd2oqlku47su/app.bsky.feed.post/3lfbjeiuttc2jhttps://bsky.app/profile/michael-thomas.bsky.social/post/3lfbazbzat22tOk this is wild. In 2020, California's state insurer of last resort program had $436 million of exposure in the Pacific Palisades zip code. Four years later, in Sept 2024, they had ~$3 billion in exposure (~7x more) in that single zip code (90272).08 Jan 2025 22:54 +0000at://did:plc:xfycvygit2cyxd2oqlku47su/app.bsky.feed.post/3lfbazbzat22thttps://bsky.app/profile/michael-thomas.bsky.social/post/3lfbaxajoa22tLast year State Farm dropped 70% of their customers in Pacific Palisades. As of Sept. 2024, the state's insurer of last resort program had $5.9 billion of exposure in the area. https://www.cfpnet.com/key-statistics-data/08 Jan 2025 22:53 +0000at://did:plc:xfycvygit2cyxd2oqlku47su/app.bsky.feed.post/3lfbaxajoa22t