Jesse B
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jesseb4me.bsky.social
Jesse B
@jesseb4me.bsky.social
🇳🇿Kiwi in 🇬🇧Luton, England
Now on land after life at sea
Putting sails back on ships is cool
Also plants 🌱
Trustee, Pride In Luton 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️
Pinned
I work in decarbonising shipping for a UK ship owner, making our existing fleet more efficient as well as investing in new ships with new technologies and fuels.

Who knew that ships could use sails to harness wind energy (apart from thousands of years of seafarers) 🤓
In my first few days back at work, we had our first (for our team) ‘speed trial’ for a ship following its drydock where we had recommended ~$500k of efficiency measures.

This trial is a series of controlled runs at different speeds, in an attempt to establish how the ship is performing.
Spotted this coming in iOS26:

Adaptive Temperature automatically adjusts your thermostat to your preferred temperature when you’re on your way home, and adjusts to save energy when you leave for the day or go on vacation.
September 9, 2025 at 10:04 PM
When I first put solar panels on my house, I was opening the app all the time to see what was going on with them. Were they generating? How much? How much power was I using?

While that obsession has calmed down, now I find myself doing the same with our ships using sails…
July 20, 2025 at 10:39 AM
We’re just days away from taking delivery of our fourth wind-equipped ‘AeroPower’ vessel.
The first ever newbuild, and the first tanker, to have BAR Technologies WindWings fitted!

With 2.5x the wing area of an A380, we expect to save over 1,200 tonnes of fuel and 3,800 tonnes of CO2 each year.
June 4, 2025 at 5:49 PM
Something weird with the location data on Thameslink today, around St Pancras/Farringdon area -

Both this morning and now on my way home, my phone ‘Automatic’ time zone has decided I’m in Jerusalem.

A bit of a surprise to look at my watch and see I’ve lost two hours 😳😅
May 19, 2025 at 5:55 PM
Reposted by Jesse B
NOAA, the agency with ocean scientists who are the most concerned about deep seabed mining's environmental impacts, just promoted the Trump admin's deep seabed mining Executive Order in a news release. www.noaa.gov/news-release...
‘The next gold rush’: President Trump unlocks access to critical deep seabed minerals
Historic executive order will boost economic growth, support national security
www.noaa.gov
April 25, 2025 at 5:18 PM
One of my favourite people launched her new podcast today, ‘RSE for Grown-ups’.
They cover the UK relationships and sex education curriculum, with extra insights from her work in outreach at Luton Sexual Health.

The first three episodes are out, with more to follow 🤓

youtu.be/opT3JfEBYp0?...
EP 1 RSE for Grown-ups: Welcome & Introduction
YouTube video by Luton Sexual Health
youtu.be
April 25, 2025 at 8:00 PM
Home Assistant things I’m doing in my fresh start system, based on learnings and frustrations of the past…

1) More template sensors for key things like solar generation where I want a long-term history. Means I can point the template at a new device if/when I need to, and not lose history.
April 23, 2025 at 5:22 PM
After almost 4 years of running 24/7, and the last year especially being pushed a little hard… my tiny computer running Home Assistant died today.

Was I diligent in keeping backups?
No… the last one was from Jan 😅

Will I restore that backup?
Tbh not sure - sometimes starting fresh is nice!
April 18, 2025 at 8:37 PM
You’re probably going to hear (or already have) about the Supreme Court’s ruling on trans people today.

Weirdly, the Supreme Court didn’t hear from a single trans person when making their decision. Funny how that keeps happening, huh!

www.wearequeeraf.com/uk-supreme-c...
www.wearequeeraf.com
April 16, 2025 at 5:10 PM
This series, now 6 years old, hits even closer to home now than it did when it first aired.
Right down to Viv’s particular shade of makeup…

www.netflix.com/us/title/802...
Watch Years and Years | Netflix
After a fateful night in 2019, the future of Britain and the lives of an ordinary family change dramatically over the course of the next 15 years.
www.netflix.com
April 15, 2025 at 9:38 PM
I think many miss the significance of this -
The IMO Net-zero Framework is the first in the world to combine mandatory emissions limits and GHG pricing across an entire industry sector.

A sector that is one of the most difficult to decarbonise too!
www.imo.org/en/MediaCent...
April 13, 2025 at 8:44 AM
Big moves today, making ‘business as usual’ more expensive for shipping.

This makes every tonne of fossil fuel that much more expensive to use, helping drive the uptake of zero-GHG energy globally.
www.bunkerspot.com/global/64864...
GLOBAL: Global GHG pricing mechanism approved by MEPC 83 after rare vote
Bunkerspot provides news, in-depth analysis, expert comment and price indications for the global marine fuels industry
www.bunkerspot.com
April 11, 2025 at 12:10 PM
It’s here!
Or first sails setting… well… sail!
Just the first in our AeroPower order book 🤓

www.rivieramm.com/news-content...
April 10, 2025 at 6:53 AM
Yes it is still winter.
Yes I did still sow some seeds at the allotment today.

And yes, I did finally put a salvaged curved glass shower door to use to help add some warmth to the seeds!
March 15, 2025 at 4:54 PM
As well as all the current shipping stuff (Suez Canal not in use… new EU regulations this year… new global regulations being discussed…)

USA is said to have locked and loaded yet another executive order imposing tariffs on ships built in, or ships from fleets with ships built in, China.
March 15, 2025 at 9:10 AM
In case you were wondering, the next ship in this series is in preparation now before delivery to us.
And yes, this one does have sails.
And yes, the sails are enormous.
And yes, I am very very excited 🤓
February 24, 2025 at 6:27 PM
Not quite sure how to sum it up, but at work there are SO MANY things happening in the next couple of weeks that are AMAZING and I don’t even know where to begin.

It’s hard work, but it’s so cooooool!
February 20, 2025 at 5:59 PM
Reposted by Jesse B
“Shoot, aim, ready.”

Reckless Trump administration officials fired over 300 National Nuclear Security Administration employees, including those overseeing our nuclear arsenal. Now they’re trying to get them to come back.

We have 1435 days left of this shitshow!
February 15, 2025 at 3:48 AM
There’s a Demand Flexibility Service event now (an @octopus.energy Saving Session for most!)…
But priced so low that though I can help more, it would end up costing me.

I’d normally dump my battery to help the grid, but the incentive doesn’t justify having to buy electricity later this evening.
February 12, 2025 at 5:56 PM
Doing my 2024 home energy stuff because I finally have time for it!

To start, here’s how my import and export has been distributed across the day.

Import almost exclusively off-peak, and export prioritised during the evening peak.
February 2, 2025 at 8:52 PM
In a ‘can’t make this up’ moment, a second group of ‘revenue protection’ boarded, realised the other group had already been and promptly sat down for a break.

Revenue. So important they’ll protect it twice.
To the gent on my train kicking off at ‘revenue protection’:

Totally agree that Thameslink trains are overpriced, unreliable and overfilled.

Totally appreciate you having a perfectly legit ticket but kept them occupied until the next station before showing them anyway 🤓
January 31, 2025 at 7:54 AM
To the gent on my train kicking off at ‘revenue protection’:

Totally agree that Thameslink trains are overpriced, unreliable and overfilled.

Totally appreciate you having a perfectly legit ticket but kept them occupied until the next station before showing them anyway 🤓
January 31, 2025 at 7:46 AM
Reposted by Jesse B
So it doesn’t matter if you're a company in the US, China, or elsewhere. DeepSeek should be a cue to pivot HARD toward investing in far more efficient methods of AI development. Even if you care nothing about community & climate impacts, it’s just better business. 19/
January 27, 2025 at 2:12 PM
Reposted by Jesse B
I’ve been watching news of Trump admin disabling CDC with suspicion, but @apoorvanyt.bsky.social is a great journalist so I have to believe.

Some countries rely 100% on PEPFAR for HIV drugs. They don’t have the infrastructure. People will get ill and die without meds. This is extremely concerning.
BREAKING: The Trump administration has instructed organizations in other countries to stop disbursing HIV medications purchased with U.S. aid, even if the drugs have already been obtained and are sitting in local clinics.

www.nytimes.com/2025/01/27/h...
Trump Administration Halts H.I.V. Drug Distribution in Poor Countries (Gift Article)
PEPFAR’s computer systems also are being taken offline, a sign that the program may not return, as Republican critics had hoped.
www.nytimes.com
January 27, 2025 at 11:46 PM
Think the train tracking thingy is broken in Flitwick.

Two days in a row my train has been ‘delayed’ but then springs to life once it leaves Harlington.

Screenshots taken just seconds apart.
January 28, 2025 at 7:19 AM