Mike Munsell
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mikemunsell.bsky.social
Mike Munsell
@mikemunsell.bsky.social
1.3K followers 390 following 140 posts
VP of Partnerships @heatmap.news
Previously: Canary Media, Greentech Media
Occasionally writing
Living north of Boston
Posts Replies Media Videos
mikemunsell.bsky.social
The Other Startup Promising 100 Hours of Cheap Energy Storage

Noon Energy just complete a successful demonstration of its reversible solid-oxide fuel cell.

heatmap.news/climate-tech...
The Other Startup Promising 100 Hours of Cheap Energy Storage
Noon Energy just complete a successful demonstration of its reversible solid-oxide fuel cell.
heatmap.news
January 27, 2026 at 10:49 PM
Reposted by Mike Munsell
zeitlin.bsky.social
the grid by and large survived the storm — what issues we had were poles and wires, not load shedding — but now the grid has to face a week of very low temperatures, which means persistent high demand heatmap.news/energy/winte...
The Grid Survived The Storm. Now Comes The Cold.
With historic lows projected for the next two weeks — and more snow potentially on the way — the big strain may be yet to come.
heatmap.news
January 26, 2026 at 10:40 PM
Reposted by Mike Munsell
emorwee.bsky.social
Wrote myself a pep talk to get back to work tomorrow. It helped me. Hope it helps you.
I don't know how to do this
But I'm going to keep doing it anyway.
heated.world
January 26, 2026 at 12:19 AM
Reposted by Mike Munsell
emilypont.bsky.social
The DOE revealed today that it cancelled some $30 billion in loan guarantees for Biden-era clean energy projects and is "revising" another $53 billion worth. Those numbers include public cancellations from last year like Grain Belt, but the remainder is ????

heatmap.news/sparks/83-bi...
Chris Wright Is Overhauling $83 Billion of Loans. He Won’t Say Which Ones.
The Secretary of Energy announced the cuts and revisions on Thursday, though it’s unclear how many are new.
heatmap.news
January 22, 2026 at 10:05 PM
Reposted by Mike Munsell
jeva.bsky.social
The U.S. oil takeover in Venezuela is bad for the planet, of course. But we don’t know exactly the ways in which it’ll be bad for *Venezuela* because the region is yet another blind spot for science in the Global South. heatmap.news/climate/vene...
Venezuela’s Oil Is Only Part of Its Climate Story
The country is already suffering the effects of climate change. A lack of data makes it that much more difficult to adapt.
heatmap.news
January 22, 2026 at 7:39 PM
Reposted by Mike Munsell
emilypont.bsky.social
Vineyard Wind is sounding the alarm that Trump's stop work order is getting in the way of its efforts to replace the defective blades that caused the 2024 broken blade fiasco, paradoxically creating new hazards.

Scoop w/ @jael.bsky.social heatmap.news/politics/tru...
Scoop: Trump Administration Refuses to Allow Safety Fixes at Vineyard Wind
The offshore wind developer was in the process of completing necessary repairs when the administration issued its stop work order, according to court filings.
heatmap.news
January 21, 2026 at 9:00 PM
mikemunsell.bsky.social
Zanskar Raises $115 Million to Propel Geothermal Discoveries

By @kbrigham.bsky.social via @heatmap.news
heatmap.news/climate-tech...
Zanskar Raises $115 Million to Propel Geothermal Discoveries
One of the buzziest climate tech companies in our Insiders Survey is pushing past the “missing middle.”
heatmap.news
January 21, 2026 at 2:33 PM
Reposted by Mike Munsell
robinsonmeyer.bsky.social
I wrote about US Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, who has spent his entire career praising liberty: heatmap.news/politics/dou...
Burgum didn’t win the 2024 nomination, and he wasn’t — as some hoped — picked for vice president on the ticket, either. But he won control of Trump’s energy agenda. Today, Burgum not only runs the Interior Department, but also chairs the National Energy Dominance Council, an ad hoc body that oversees energy and environment policy. He’s kept talking about freedom in his new role — and he connects liberty to the eternal human struggle to flourish. “Human flourishing in this world has always been dependent on affordable and reliable energy,” he told Stanford students last year. Which is why I was astounded to see this post last week: [a tweet from Burgum consisting of a map describing flight times between Anchorage, Washington DC, and Greenland's capital Nuuk, labeled "The New Interior"] Now, Burgum is a light-hearted guy, and obviously, we’re meant to chuckle. It’s a joke. Alaska and Washington, D.C., are part of the “old interior,” but Greenland’s capital, Nuuk, is the “new interior” — future American territory. Burgum defended himself on Fox News last Thursday. “Who knew that posting a factual map of Alaska and Greenland would be triggering to those folks who do not fully understand the importance of Greenland and the strategic nature of protecting the United States of America?” he said. Burgum is wrong. His map was not factual: Greenland is not part of the American interior; it is part of Denmark. To describe it as the “interior” of America should humiliate Burgum’s liberty-loving soul. But what we can tell from this tweet is that Burgum is mentally preparing himself for a terrible betrayal of the values and ideas he once celebrated. What would that betrayal be? Nothing less than the open theft of Greenlanders’ most fundamental freedoms. On Fox, Burgum said that Trump wanted to “buy” Greenland — but this is such a twisting and abrasing of the truth as to make a patriot yelp. Trump desires Greenland by any means, and he is willing to use the military to bully Denmark and the Greenlandic people into selling their sovereignty. This is not friendly commerce between two equals, as a free market requires, but rather petty and corrupt gangsterism. Trump is shoving a gun in Denmark’s face, muttering, We can do this the easy way or the hard way. Burgum claims to see nothing wrong with this degeneracy. He should. Less than two years ago, Burgum praised the Constitution and “the historic and aspirational vision presented by our Founding Fathers.” That cohort’s insight — the reason we remember its members now, despite their flaws — was that the most fundamental political freedom is political self-determination. “All men are, by nature, equal and free,” wrote James Wilson, one of only six men to sign both the Declaration and the Constitution. “No one has a right to any authority over another without his consent: all lawful government is founded on the consent of those who are subject to it.” Yet Burgum would help establish Trump’s authority over more than 55,000 Greenlanders without their consent and over their objections — a government that would reek of illegality from its birthpangs. And Burgum would be its midwife. The Office of Insular Affairs, which he oversees as part of the Interior Department, manages America’s territories and freely associated states, such as Puerto Rico and Palau. Greenland could soon fall under its purview, too. Burgum could easily become Greenland’s colonial governor, its federal subjugator. All lawful government is founded on the consent of those who are subject to it. I have been to Greenland. It is an austere and beautiful country, home to a population of independent and freedom-loving people who want to prosper, raise their families, farm, hunt, thrive, and flourish. It should sound familiar: Greenlanders are not so far from Burgum’s old North Dakota constituents. [quote continues, should be visible to OCR]
January 20, 2026 at 11:02 PM
Reposted by Mike Munsell
zeitlin.bsky.social
when is green power really green, when is new power really new, when are data centers really sustainable heatmap.news/energy/meta-...
Why Meta’s New Nuclear Deals Pissed Off Even Some Pro-Nuclear People
“Additionality” is back.
heatmap.news
January 16, 2026 at 9:14 PM
Reposted by Mike Munsell
robinsonmeyer.bsky.social
NEW: A federal judge has lifted Trump’s stop-work order for New York’s Empire Wind project, allowing construction to continue and dealing yet another legal blow to the president’s war on offshore wind

@jael.bsky.social reports:

heatmap.news/sparks/new-y...
New York’s Empire Wind Project May Resume Construction, Judge Says
The decision marks the Trump administration’s second offshore wind defeat this week.
heatmap.news
January 15, 2026 at 5:41 PM
Reposted by Mike Munsell
robinsonmeyer.bsky.social
NOW ONLINE:

Heatmap’s 2026 Climate Insider Survey

This is our annual questionnaire of climate academics, business leaders, engineers, and former officials…

…answering some of the biggest open questions in the field.

And you can find it all online now: heatmap.news/insiders-sur...
a screenshot of the landing page, including questions like: The Most Promising Company in Climate Tech Will Data Centers Slow Down Decarbonization? Who’s the Worst Trump Official for Climate — Other Than Trump Himself?
January 14, 2026 at 4:04 PM
Reposted by Mike Munsell
jeva.bsky.social
🚨 I'm so back 🚨 heatmap.news/adaptation/m...
The House Just Voted Against Life-Saving Standards for Mobile Homes
Properly known as “manufactured homes,” they’re extremely vulnerable to extreme heat.
heatmap.news
January 13, 2026 at 11:00 PM
Reposted by Mike Munsell
moreperfectunion.bsky.social
At least 25 data centers were canceled last year as communities organized and pushed back against them. That's four times as many as 2024, according to Heatmap News.

heatmap.news/politics/dat...
Scoop: Local Opposition to Data Centers Is Surging. So Are Canceled Projects.
A Heatmap Pro review of public records shows that 25 data centers were scrubbed last year after local pushback — four times as many as 2024.
heatmap.news
January 13, 2026 at 6:13 PM
Reposted by Mike Munsell
zeitlin.bsky.social
Google is spending tens of billions of dollars a year on its data center buildout and its hiring some human capital too: some of America’s most prominent energy wonks heatmap.news/energy/googl...
Google Is Cornering the Market on Energy Wonks
The hyperscaler is going big on human intelligence to help power its artificial intelligence.
heatmap.news
December 23, 2025 at 2:08 PM
Reposted by Mike Munsell
frontiertony.bsky.social
100% this. The market for ever-more-expensive cars and trucks is showing signs of being tapped out, leaving a lane wide enough for affordable, reasonably-sized EVs to drive through - if manufacturers can deliver.

heatmap.news/electric-veh...
More Affordable EVs Are Coming in the Nick of Time
Just as Americans have started to revolt against expensive cars.
heatmap.news
December 19, 2025 at 7:59 PM
Reposted by Mike Munsell
jessedjenkins.com
It's not every day we get to welcome a totally new clean energy technology into commercial operation. Today on Shift Key, we talk with Eavor Technologies CEO Mark Fitzgerald about how the company brought online the first-ever closed-loop geothermal heat & power project this month in Germany! 🔌💡
December 17, 2025 at 3:23 PM
Reposted by Mike Munsell
jael.bsky.social
My latest for @heatmap.news:

It’s now safe to say the “all-of-the-above” Republican Party is dead.

A new anti-renewables movement is gaining steam in Congress and could derail the chances of a comprehensive deal to change the federal permitting process. And they nearly sank it today.
The Party of ‘All of the Above’ Is Now ‘Anything But’
The tension between the two GOP energy philosophies — one admitting renewables, the other firmly rejecting — could tank the SPEED Act.
heatmap.news
December 16, 2025 at 10:05 PM
Reposted by Mike Munsell
emilypont.bsky.social
New "foreign entity of concern" clean energy tax credit restrictions will kick in Jan 1, but the Trump admin has still not published guidance that was due in August, so nobody really knows yet what they'll need to do to adhere to them.
heatmap.news/politics/feo...
Trump’s Missing Tax Rules
The president set an August deadline to deliver guidance for companies trying to qualifying for clean energy tax credits. Four months later — and two weeks before new rules are set to kick in — they’r...
heatmap.news
December 15, 2025 at 11:04 PM
Reposted by Mike Munsell
robinsonmeyer.bsky.social
This weekend is the 10th anniversary of the Paris Agreement. I wrote about the biggest change to global climate politics since its passage: The climate story *is* the China story now, and how countries pursue decarbonization is itself a wager on China’s future. heatmap.news/climate/pari...
10 Years After Paris, China Is Shaping Our Climate Future
The seminal global climate agreement changed the world, just not in the way we thought it would.
heatmap.news
December 13, 2025 at 4:08 PM
Reposted by Mike Munsell
alexckaufman.bsky.social
New feature in @heatmap.news:

When the Energy Department gave out $800 million to GE-Hitachi and Holtec's reactors last week, I couldn't help but wonder: What happened to NuScale?

The company was once the leading SMR project.

But forerunners ≠ frontrunners.
heatmap.news/energy/nusca...
What Happened to NuScale?
How America’s one-time leader in designing small modular nuclear reactors missed out on $800 million.
heatmap.news
December 12, 2025 at 1:56 PM
Reposted by Mike Munsell
emilypont.bsky.social
Out: bans on natural gas hookups or appliances
In: bans on central air conditioners that can't do heating

Once again, California is testing it out first.
heatmap.news/politics/cal...
California’s Latest Climate Gambit: Turn Air Conditioners Into Heat Pumps
Cities across the state are adopting building codes that heavily incentivize homeowners to make the switch.
heatmap.news
December 11, 2025 at 2:03 PM
Reposted by Mike Munsell
kellyhereid.bsky.social
@heatmap.news and especially its podcast Shift Key w @robinsonmeyer.bsky.social and @jessejenkins.bsky.social. Catch up on basics w summer school episodes. And their guest list has been incredible.
December 10, 2025 at 5:52 PM
Reposted by Mike Munsell
emilypont.bsky.social
New: Key Senate Democrats told @jael.bsky.social they want a permitting deal that supports transmission and clean energy, and that the current House proposal, the SPEED Act, "does not meet that standard."
heatmap.news/politics/sch...
Exclusive: Key Senate Democrats Oppose Permitting Bill
A trio of powerful climate hawks are throwing their weight against the SPEED Act.
heatmap.news
December 9, 2025 at 10:53 PM
Reposted by Mike Munsell
heatmap.news
EXCLUSIVE: Senate climate hawks are throwing their weight against the SPEED Act.

Here's @jael.bsky.social with the scoop:

heatmap.news/politics/sch...
Exclusive: Key Senate Democrats Oppose Permitting Bill
A trio of powerful climate hawks are throwing their weight against the SPEED Act.
heatmap.news
December 9, 2025 at 10:16 PM
Reposted by Mike Munsell
emilypont.bsky.social
Permitting reform is back, and there's a lot of motivation on both sides to get a deal done — Trump's war on wind and solar, interest in AI leadership, energy affordability.

The debate is impenetrable as ever, so I wrote this guide to help you (and myself tbh) follow it heatmap.news/politics/per...
Permitting Reform is Back. What Are We Even Talking About This Time?
Get up to speed on the SPEED Act.
heatmap.news
December 5, 2025 at 8:38 PM