Zane Selvans
@zaneselvans.org
Data Liberation Engineer @catalyst.coop. Climate, energy, bikes, cities, co-ops, and the strangeness of Our Modern Age. A former space explorer, now lost in the misty highlands of Mexico.
https://amateurearthling.org
🇺🇸/🇲🇽 he/él
https://amateurearthling.org
🇺🇸/🇲🇽 he/él
$0.60/W installed rooftop solar in a week or two!
Today on Volts: you've probably heard that Australia has cheap rooftop solar power. You've probably also heard some rumors & myths about it. (Is it destabilizing the grid?) I called my favorite Australian energy expert to clear it all up. This is a fun one!
www.volts.wtf/p/whats-the-...
www.volts.wtf/p/whats-the-...
What's the real story with Australian rooftop solar?
Saul Griffith joins me to debunk the myths surrounding Australia's massive influx of solar energy.
www.volts.wtf
December 28, 2025 at 3:36 AM
$0.60/W installed rooftop solar in a week or two!
This pod also had some interesting background on the China-USA-Venezuela trade triangle.
www.energypolicy.columbia.edu/luisa-palaci...
www.energypolicy.columbia.edu/luisa-palaci...
December 26, 2025 at 6:43 AM
This pod also had some interesting background on the China-USA-Venezuela trade triangle.
www.energypolicy.columbia.edu/luisa-palaci...
www.energypolicy.columbia.edu/luisa-palaci...
If they don't have the courtesy to use exponential backoff, you just gotta send them into a black hole.
Car traffic is a DDoS attack on cities.
December 26, 2025 at 5:02 AM
If they don't have the courtesy to use exponential backoff, you just gotta send them into a black hole.
Reposted by Zane Selvans
I see there’s a post about microplastics going around with a photo of drinking straws, so here is my semi-regular reminder that the 3 biggest sources of microplastics are tires (45%), synthetic clothing particles (35%) and paint (~10%).
Lay article attached:
Lay article attached:
One of the biggest microplastic pollution sources isn’t straws or grocery bags – it’s your tires
Every few years, the tires on your car wear thin and need to be replaced. But where does that lost tire material go? The answer, unfortunately, is often waterways, where the tiny microplastic particle...
www.pbs.org
December 24, 2025 at 4:49 AM
I see there’s a post about microplastics going around with a photo of drinking straws, so here is my semi-regular reminder that the 3 biggest sources of microplastics are tires (45%), synthetic clothing particles (35%) and paint (~10%).
Lay article attached:
Lay article attached:
Reposted by Zane Selvans
Year 1 data on congestion pricing in Manhattan…
* Vehicle traffic: -11%
* Foot traffic: +3.4%
* Storefront vacancy: -0.9%
* Pollution: -22%
* Revenue for mass transit: $548M
So YES this has been a huge success.
* Vehicle traffic: -11%
* Foot traffic: +3.4%
* Storefront vacancy: -0.9%
* Pollution: -22%
* Revenue for mass transit: $548M
So YES this has been a huge success.
December 23, 2025 at 2:00 PM
Year 1 data on congestion pricing in Manhattan…
* Vehicle traffic: -11%
* Foot traffic: +3.4%
* Storefront vacancy: -0.9%
* Pollution: -22%
* Revenue for mass transit: $548M
So YES this has been a huge success.
* Vehicle traffic: -11%
* Foot traffic: +3.4%
* Storefront vacancy: -0.9%
* Pollution: -22%
* Revenue for mass transit: $548M
So YES this has been a huge success.
In 2019 I read this book about electric power systems, and my takeaway was that the end of the "Steampunk Grid" was within sight. But it's bigger than that. It's the end of heat as our civilization's main energetic expression. #EnergySky #BookSky
amateurearthling.org/2019/01/04/t...
amateurearthling.org/2019/01/04/t...
The End of the Steampunk Grid - Amateur Earthling
We live with a Steampunk Grid: a gloriously analog artifact of the Victorian Era, that will soon be replaced by a seething, self-aware electricity system.
amateurearthling.org
December 24, 2025 at 5:38 AM
In 2019 I read this book about electric power systems, and my takeaway was that the end of the "Steampunk Grid" was within sight. But it's bigger than that. It's the end of heat as our civilization's main energetic expression. #EnergySky #BookSky
amateurearthling.org/2019/01/04/t...
amateurearthling.org/2019/01/04/t...
The holiday tax and asset rebalancing puzzle season makes me feel like a modern day Smaug, but instead of snuggling into a cozy hoard of gold and jewels I'm just obsessing over a spreadsheet.
December 23, 2025 at 10:03 PM
The holiday tax and asset rebalancing puzzle season makes me feel like a modern day Smaug, but instead of snuggling into a cozy hoard of gold and jewels I'm just obsessing over a spreadsheet.
Reposted by Zane Selvans
Woman who starts riding a bike not sure if she should be a poor unemployed loser who can't afford a car or an elite smug entitled asshole with a toy, asks neighbourhood Facebook group to help out.
December 23, 2025 at 6:16 PM
Woman who starts riding a bike not sure if she should be a poor unemployed loser who can't afford a car or an elite smug entitled asshole with a toy, asks neighbourhood Facebook group to help out.
Reposted by Zane Selvans
The natural world is a wonderful place. This is timelapse video from a few years ago of a marine sponge sneezing. It has mucus inside that traps the sort of particles that might clog it up, and expels them in periodic contractions every 3-8 hours. Atchoo!
www.youtube.com/watch?v=yJqI...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=yJqI...
Timelapse footage shows a sea sponge sneezing
YouTube video by Guardian News
www.youtube.com
December 23, 2025 at 7:05 PM
The natural world is a wonderful place. This is timelapse video from a few years ago of a marine sponge sneezing. It has mucus inside that traps the sort of particles that might clog it up, and expels them in periodic contractions every 3-8 hours. Atchoo!
www.youtube.com/watch?v=yJqI...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=yJqI...
Manually uploaded a couple of years of processed EQR data if anybody would like to play with it. Working on the automated builds now. There are 4 directories, one for each EQR table under this path:
s3://pudl.catalyst.coop/ferceqr/
Each directory contains one Parquet file per quarter of data.
s3://pudl.catalyst.coop/ferceqr/
Each directory contains one Parquet file per quarter of data.
December 23, 2025 at 5:59 PM
Manually uploaded a couple of years of processed EQR data if anybody would like to play with it. Working on the automated builds now. There are 4 directories, one for each EQR table under this path:
s3://pudl.catalyst.coop/ferceqr/
Each directory contains one Parquet file per quarter of data.
s3://pudl.catalyst.coop/ferceqr/
Each directory contains one Parquet file per quarter of data.
Nice, RETALIATORY, forgiving, and clear.
The comments on this video on TikTok are so interesting to me because it is a lot of people saying that we can’t do this because what if Republicans try it to or what if Republicans reverse it. “We have to change the court the traditional way.”
did a video a few days ago making the case for supreme court expansion www.youtube.com/watch?v=NjB_...
December 23, 2025 at 9:00 AM
Nice, RETALIATORY, forgiving, and clear.
December 23, 2025 at 6:49 AM
Now every year new renewable generation capacity is a few percent of *total primary* energy consumption, and a unit of electricity can displace 2-4 units of primary thermal energy. It's a tangled race between energy demand growth on one side, and electrification + deployment on the other.
Global solar deployment in 2024 shattered records, with nearly 600 gigawatts (GW) installed worldwide, a massive increase driven primarily by China, followed by the U.S. and India. 2025 will shatter that record, hitting over 800 GWs, despite the glass-half empty reporting out of the USA.
December 23, 2025 at 3:56 AM
Now every year new renewable generation capacity is a few percent of *total primary* energy consumption, and a unit of electricity can displace 2-4 units of primary thermal energy. It's a tangled race between energy demand growth on one side, and electrification + deployment on the other.
Reposted by Zane Selvans
I don’t mean to sound extreme, but I don’t think we should have torture camps for people with criminal records either.
December 23, 2025 at 1:51 AM
I don’t mean to sound extreme, but I don’t think we should have torture camps for people with criminal records either.
Reposted by Zane Selvans
iCloud, Mega, and as a torrent. Archivists have uploaded the 60 Minutes episode Bari Weiss spiked.
Archivists Posted the 60 Minutes CECOT Segment Bari Weiss Killed
iCloud, Mega, and as a torrent. Archivists have uploaded the 60 Minutes episode Bari Weiss spiked.
www.404media.co
December 23, 2025 at 12:15 AM
iCloud, Mega, and as a torrent. Archivists have uploaded the 60 Minutes episode Bari Weiss spiked.
Reposted by Zane Selvans
Bringing back Limewire to illegally rip copies of reporting suppressed by the government is definitely some cyberpunk shit
December 23, 2025 at 1:08 AM
Bringing back Limewire to illegally rip copies of reporting suppressed by the government is definitely some cyberpunk shit
Reposted by Zane Selvans
Data center loads are driving enormous uncertainty in load forecasts, and utilities and ratepayers are bearing a lot of the risk.
Great resource on large load forecasting - problems with current approaches and ways utilities can do a better job going forward. 🔌💡 www.esig.energy/large-loads-...
Great resource on large load forecasting - problems with current approaches and ways utilities can do a better job going forward. 🔌💡 www.esig.energy/large-loads-...
Large Loads - Forecasting - ESIG
Forecasting for Large Loads: Current Practices and Recommendations reviews utilities’ and system operators’ approaches to forecasting large loads—including from data centers, oil and gas, emerging ind...
www.esig.energy
December 22, 2025 at 9:45 PM
Data center loads are driving enormous uncertainty in load forecasts, and utilities and ratepayers are bearing a lot of the risk.
Great resource on large load forecasting - problems with current approaches and ways utilities can do a better job going forward. 🔌💡 www.esig.energy/large-loads-...
Great resource on large load forecasting - problems with current approaches and ways utilities can do a better job going forward. 🔌💡 www.esig.energy/large-loads-...
Reposted by Zane Selvans
"O donde escuches tus podcasts."
It's important _not_ to give up on podcasts — because their concept is radical, and fights back against big tech (and fascist policy makers) being able to control people's voices through their platforms: www.anildash.com/2024/02/05/w...
December 22, 2025 at 9:56 PM
"O donde escuches tus podcasts."
ABOLISH THE FILIBUSTER.
EXPAND THE COURT. 🔥
EXPAND THE COURT. 🔥
did a video a few days ago making the case for supreme court expansion www.youtube.com/watch?v=NjB_...
Why Democrats need to expand the Supreme Court
YouTube video by Takes™ by Jamelle Bouie
www.youtube.com
December 22, 2025 at 9:53 PM
ABOLISH THE FILIBUSTER.
EXPAND THE COURT. 🔥
EXPAND THE COURT. 🔥
I can't believe both my grandmothers were born well before the baby in Train Dreams. One in a missionary compound in Guangzhou. The other in Pittsburgh with her daddy working on the Pennsylvania Railroad.
December 22, 2025 at 4:52 AM
I can't believe both my grandmothers were born well before the baby in Train Dreams. One in a missionary compound in Guangzhou. The other in Pittsburgh with her daddy working on the Pennsylvania Railroad.