Tony Dutzik
@frontiertony.bsky.social
Assoc. Director/Sr. Policy Analyst, Frontier Group, part of The Public Interest Network. Transportation, climate and energy policy, mostly.
Reposted by Tony Dutzik
"U.S. data centers would add 24 million to 44 million metric tons of carbon dioxide annually to the atmosphere through the end of the decade... The build-out also is projected to drain 731 million to 1,125 million cubic meters of water... equivalent to the household usage of 6 million to 10 million"
3-year study maps CO2 spikes from AI data center boom
The analysis also examines water use and offers a road map for lower emissions through states with considerable renewable resources.
www.eenews.net
November 10, 2025 at 3:01 PM
"U.S. data centers would add 24 million to 44 million metric tons of carbon dioxide annually to the atmosphere through the end of the decade... The build-out also is projected to drain 731 million to 1,125 million cubic meters of water... equivalent to the household usage of 6 million to 10 million"
Reposted by Tony Dutzik
It's not just the AI sociopaths pushing the idea that we need data centers. The oil and gas industry desperately wants us to believe we need them and must power them with gas.
November 8, 2025 at 12:51 PM
It's not just the AI sociopaths pushing the idea that we need data centers. The oil and gas industry desperately wants us to believe we need them and must power them with gas.
Reposted by Tony Dutzik
Far from serving as a sort of grid-expansion gym to help training for incoming electrification, data centres are actually eating up the finite resources need to accomodate billions of homes, vehicles and industrial facilities
Here's a remarkable example from Tasmania, Australia
Here's a remarkable example from Tasmania, Australia
There is really no escaping the fact that electrification = an overall massive reduction in energy consumption *but* a massive increase in *electricity* consumption.
This is why curbing pointless data centre growth is so important: make way for the socially critical stuff like electrification ->
This is why curbing pointless data centre growth is so important: make way for the socially critical stuff like electrification ->
Paper mill owner told not enough power for coal to electric conversion
Australia's only paper mill uses coal-fired boilers, which its new owner wants to convert to electric, but he says he has been told there is not enough local power in the Tasmanian grid to support thi...
www.abc.net.au
November 7, 2025 at 12:27 PM
Far from serving as a sort of grid-expansion gym to help training for incoming electrification, data centres are actually eating up the finite resources need to accomodate billions of homes, vehicles and industrial facilities
Here's a remarkable example from Tasmania, Australia
Here's a remarkable example from Tasmania, Australia
Reposted by Tony Dutzik
In 1979, a Mining Test Ravaged the Pacific Seafloor— 44 Years Later, New Evidence Reveals It’s Likely Forever
dailygalaxy.com/2025/11/in-1...
dailygalaxy.com/2025/11/in-1...
In 1979, a Mining Test Ravaged the Pacific Seafloor— 44 Years Later, New Evidence Reveals It’s Likely Forever
A 1979 deep-sea mining test left marks on the Pacific seafloor that remain nearly untouched over four decades later. New research uncovers what really happened in the ocean depths—and why it matters m...
dailygalaxy.com
November 6, 2025 at 3:47 PM
In 1979, a Mining Test Ravaged the Pacific Seafloor— 44 Years Later, New Evidence Reveals It’s Likely Forever
dailygalaxy.com/2025/11/in-1...
dailygalaxy.com/2025/11/in-1...
New post from me, inspired by our new Clean Energy Across America data dashboard, on why the "systemic change vs. individual action" debate is outdated ... esp. since individuals and households have more access to better clean energy tools than ever before. frontiergroup.org/articles/bui...
Building a cleaner future, one household at a time
Individual action for a cleaner future is no substitute for systemic change. But that doesn't mean it's not essential. The growth of clean energy shows why.
frontiergroup.org
November 6, 2025 at 4:35 PM
New post from me, inspired by our new Clean Energy Across America data dashboard, on why the "systemic change vs. individual action" debate is outdated ... esp. since individuals and households have more access to better clean energy tools than ever before. frontiergroup.org/articles/bui...
Excited to share this tomorrow. Millions of Americans are taking part in the transition to cleaner energy - investing their time, money and faith in new technologies and practices. Let's give them their due ... and figure out how to help millions more to join them.
TOMORROW: The growth of clean energy is often measured in megawatts. But it can also be measured in people - the rising number of Americans incorporating clen energy into their daily lives.
Look for our new dashboard with state-by-state data on clean energy adoption.
Look for our new dashboard with state-by-state data on clean energy adoption.
November 4, 2025 at 4:44 PM
Excited to share this tomorrow. Millions of Americans are taking part in the transition to cleaner energy - investing their time, money and faith in new technologies and practices. Let's give them their due ... and figure out how to help millions more to join them.
This essay is one of the first I’ve seen to grapple with the intersection of the burgeoning “techlash” with “abundance” but gets the political valence backwards. brinklindsey.substack.com/p/abundance-...
November 4, 2025 at 1:41 PM
This essay is one of the first I’ve seen to grapple with the intersection of the burgeoning “techlash” with “abundance” but gets the political valence backwards. brinklindsey.substack.com/p/abundance-...
Reposted by Tony Dutzik
We’re out at the JP #openstreets event all day today, come say hi on Centre St. at the corner of Chestnut Ave. in Jackson Square!
November 2, 2025 at 3:01 PM
We’re out at the JP #openstreets event all day today, come say hi on Centre St. at the corner of Chestnut Ave. in Jackson Square!
Who could have possibly foreseen this, besides everybody?
November 2, 2025 at 1:08 PM
Who could have possibly foreseen this, besides everybody?
Reposted by Tony Dutzik
"If Oklo couldn’t win approval from the agency charged with protecting the public from nuclear accidents, they would, essentially, go after the regulator, in much the way Uber Technologies Inc. and other Silicon Valley startups have obliterated regulatory roadblocks."
The Risky Movement to Make America Nuclear Again
A Silicon Valley startup called Oklo is leading the charge to bring nuclear power back to the US with small reactors. Its backers have wealth and political connections that could undermine nuclear saf...
www.bloomberg.com
November 1, 2025 at 8:16 PM
"If Oklo couldn’t win approval from the agency charged with protecting the public from nuclear accidents, they would, essentially, go after the regulator, in much the way Uber Technologies Inc. and other Silicon Valley startups have obliterated regulatory roadblocks."
The videos of wastewater "purges" in this story are wild. Excellent journalism here. www.propublica.org/article/okla...
Toxic Wastewater From Oil Fields Keeps Pouring Out of the Ground. Oklahoma Regulators Failed to Stop It.
Salt water laced with cancer-causing chemicals, a byproduct of oil and gas drilling, is spewing from old wells. Experts warn of a pollution crisis spreading underground and threatening Oklahoma’s drin...
www.propublica.org
October 31, 2025 at 7:13 PM
The videos of wastewater "purges" in this story are wild. Excellent journalism here. www.propublica.org/article/okla...
Just got this in the mailbox. A welcome sight to say the least.
Tomorrow, 11/1, tens of thousands of Massachusetts residents who heat their homes with #heatpumps will start getting a discounted electric rate that lasts through April.
The notifications (like the one attached) have been going out for the last few weeks. www.wbur.org/news/2025/08... @wbur.org
The notifications (like the one attached) have been going out for the last few weeks. www.wbur.org/news/2025/08... @wbur.org
October 31, 2025 at 2:27 PM
Just got this in the mailbox. A welcome sight to say the least.
The World War II-style mobilization of resources that folks have been calling for to address climate change turns out to have been possible all along. We’re just deploying it to build MegaMind instead.
October 31, 2025 at 2:04 PM
The World War II-style mobilization of resources that folks have been calling for to address climate change turns out to have been possible all along. We’re just deploying it to build MegaMind instead.
Some of us never put much stock in the adequacy or wisdom of the "breakthrough" approach to addressing global warming, but I imagine that for some folks who sincerely invested their hopes for future generations in it, this is going to feel like a huge rug-pull. In a year full of rug-pulls.
Bill Gates has a new memo out calling for a “strategic pivot” on climate change, downplaying “doomsday” talk to focus on filling enormous post-USAID budget gaps in global health and vaccine funding. I got an early glimpse of his thinking last week:
7 New Takes From Bill Gates on Climate ‘Doomsday’ Talk and Global Health
“I mean, God bless the Europeans for caring about climate.”
heatmap.news
October 28, 2025 at 9:25 PM
Some of us never put much stock in the adequacy or wisdom of the "breakthrough" approach to addressing global warming, but I imagine that for some folks who sincerely invested their hopes for future generations in it, this is going to feel like a huge rug-pull. In a year full of rug-pulls.
I’ve spent more than a decade trying to catalog the damage done by America’s century-long and counting highway building spree and lo and behold but this wonderful book taught me about a bunch of impacts to wildlife that I’d barely even stopped to consider.
October 28, 2025 at 12:29 PM
I’ve spent more than a decade trying to catalog the damage done by America’s century-long and counting highway building spree and lo and behold but this wonderful book taught me about a bunch of impacts to wildlife that I’d barely even stopped to consider.
Reposted by Tony Dutzik
It's been a while since I've done a non-political nerd thread. And I wish I could do them more often! So let's do a palette cleanse to talk about this article from WaPo that is technically true, but deeply misinformative about US electric markets. www.washingtonpost.com/climate-envi...
There’s a reason electricity prices are rising. And it’s not data centers.
It’s not data centers or AI, it’s something else.
www.washingtonpost.com
October 26, 2025 at 2:10 PM
It's been a while since I've done a non-political nerd thread. And I wish I could do them more often! So let's do a palette cleanse to talk about this article from WaPo that is technically true, but deeply misinformative about US electric markets. www.washingtonpost.com/climate-envi...
Grateful for this piece. The bear dens are among my favorite places in Boston - mysterious in a way that fewer and fewer places in the modern city are. Fodder for the imagination.
Something that won't depress or upset you: I wrote for @GlobeIdeas about two of my favorite places. Franklin Park's bear dens and a re-wilded industrial site in Buffalo called Silo City. Both are mirrors to our complicated past *and* a potentially brighter future.
www.bostonglobe.com/2025/10/23/o...
www.bostonglobe.com/2025/10/23/o...
Old urban landmarks are not just portals to our past but glimpses of our future - The Boston Globe
From old bear dens to grain silos, the unsavory pasts of industrial sites is what makes their renewal profound.
www.bostonglobe.com
October 26, 2025 at 12:14 PM
Grateful for this piece. The bear dens are among my favorite places in Boston - mysterious in a way that fewer and fewer places in the modern city are. Fodder for the imagination.
Reposted by Tony Dutzik
What we have wrought:
Heat Has Essentially Wiped Out 2 Key Coral Species on Florida Reefs
www.nytimes.com
October 24, 2025 at 6:18 AM
What we have wrought:
I would like this, too. But transportation reformers have been pushing for better transparency/accountability around federal highway funds *for decades* only to be undercut by officials whose fiscal conservatism has a big “except highways” asterisk next to it.
October 24, 2025 at 1:22 PM
I would like this, too. But transportation reformers have been pushing for better transparency/accountability around federal highway funds *for decades* only to be undercut by officials whose fiscal conservatism has a big “except highways” asterisk next to it.
A: Yes. Yes, they would. The evidence being US highway expenditures long ago departed from the realm of the rational. www.bloomberg.com/news/article...
October 24, 2025 at 12:20 PM
A: Yes. Yes, they would. The evidence being US highway expenditures long ago departed from the realm of the rational. www.bloomberg.com/news/article...
Reposted by Tony Dutzik
California will spend $31 billion on transportation this year with about 3% of that budgeted for support for transit agencies. lao.ca.gov/Publications...
October 23, 2025 at 11:32 PM
California will spend $31 billion on transportation this year with about 3% of that budgeted for support for transit agencies. lao.ca.gov/Publications...
Reposted by Tony Dutzik
I love the image this evokes, happy little batteries just relaxing on the pasture, eating grass and living their best calm life, recounting the stories of crazy adventures they had.
(from @volts.wtf interview of Colin Campbell about Redwood)
(from @volts.wtf interview of Colin Campbell about Redwood)
October 22, 2025 at 4:56 PM
I love the image this evokes, happy little batteries just relaxing on the pasture, eating grass and living their best calm life, recounting the stories of crazy adventures they had.
(from @volts.wtf interview of Colin Campbell about Redwood)
(from @volts.wtf interview of Colin Campbell about Redwood)
Reposted by Tony Dutzik
For the first time in more than 100 years, Chinook salmon have been spotted at the confluence of the Sprague and Williamson rivers in Chiloquin, the government seat of the Klamath Tribes in Southern Oregon.
Salmon clear last Klamath dams, reaching Williamson and Sprague rivers
Just a year after four dams were removed, a group of fall Chinook have migrated nearly 300 miles into the Upper Klamath Basin.
www.opb.org
October 18, 2025 at 3:30 AM
For the first time in more than 100 years, Chinook salmon have been spotted at the confluence of the Sprague and Williamson rivers in Chiloquin, the government seat of the Klamath Tribes in Southern Oregon.
The stories coming out of the Klamath dam removal are inspiring. It’s like nature was standing patiently by the door waiting to be let back in.
www.opb.org/article/2025...
www.opb.org/article/2025...
Klamath River ecosystem is booming one year after dam removal
Despite the hopeful strides the river has taken in healing, scientists say federal funding cuts pose a setback to continued scientific monitoring.
www.opb.org
October 17, 2025 at 1:53 PM
The stories coming out of the Klamath dam removal are inspiring. It’s like nature was standing patiently by the door waiting to be let back in.
www.opb.org/article/2025...
www.opb.org/article/2025...
Reposted by Tony Dutzik
Holy wow, +3.5 ppm CO₂ last year, up from +2.4 ppm average the past decade, and +0.6 ppm in the 1960s.
It gets scarier the closer you look at it. All this is a stress test for the planet, and it's buckling.
Two big reasons for the massive increase: wildfires, and the ocean sinks are shutting down.
It gets scarier the closer you look at it. All this is a stress test for the planet, and it's buckling.
Two big reasons for the massive increase: wildfires, and the ocean sinks are shutting down.
October 16, 2025 at 7:02 AM
Holy wow, +3.5 ppm CO₂ last year, up from +2.4 ppm average the past decade, and +0.6 ppm in the 1960s.
It gets scarier the closer you look at it. All this is a stress test for the planet, and it's buckling.
Two big reasons for the massive increase: wildfires, and the ocean sinks are shutting down.
It gets scarier the closer you look at it. All this is a stress test for the planet, and it's buckling.
Two big reasons for the massive increase: wildfires, and the ocean sinks are shutting down.