Study co-led by ICN2 reveals that #ice is a #flexoelectric material meaning it can produce #electricity when unevenly deformed. Published in Nature Physics, this discovery could have major technological implications while also shedding light on natural phenomena such as #lightning. Frozen water is one of the most abundant substances on #Earth. It is found in #glaciers, on #mountain peaks and in #polar ice caps. https://phys.org/news/2025-09-scientists-ice-generates-electricity-bent.html

Study co-led by ICN2 reveals that #ice is a #flexoelectric material meaning it can produce #electricity when unevenly deformed. Published in Nature Physics, this discovery could have major technological implications while also shedding light on natural phenomena such as #lightning. Frozen water is one of the most abundant substances on #Earth. It is found in #glaciers, on #mountain peaks and in #polar ice caps. https://phys.org/news/2025-09-scientists-ice-generates-electricity-bent.html

Kāinga Ora should be operating a not-for-profit electricity retailer for their tenants. Buying electricity on the spot market, and selling it to their tenants at-cost.

In fact, such a not-for-profit retailer could buy and provide electricity to all public entities. This would give them huge leverage to negotiate a low wholesale price. Reducing the operating costs of public services, as well as the household costs of Kāinga Ora tenants.

#PolicyNZ #electricity #PublicHousing #PublicServices

During the workshop "And what if we cooked with batteries?", @marieverdeil & @dasha invite you to join them in the research on energy, its storage, use and materiality they started during their current residency at iMAL.

We will discuss alternatives to current energy models, while trying to make energy more tangible through playful exercises and DIY prototypes that will remind us what a Watt is. We will collectively explore the history of batteries, discuss their challenges and shortcomings, make our own batteries, and who knows, we might even cook with them!

19.09—21.09.2025 @ iMAL, Brussels
⚡ https://www.imal.org/events/c25dashamarie

#workshop#TheCookery#Brussels #batteries #energy #electricity #lowtech

Sky-high electricity costs, coupled with the piecemeal support successive governments have given to big industrial power user, are said to have made power prices an obstacle to the U.K.'s shift towards cleaner energy. https://www.japantimes.co.jp/environment/2025/08/28/energy/electricity-costs-britain-net-zero/?utm_medium=Social&utm_source=mastodon #environment #energy #uk #energy #electricity #coal #netzero #emissions #fossilfuels #renewables #wind #solar

Paul Krugman looks at Trump's decimation of renewable energy enterprises, electricity generated by wind and solar power"

“'The Crazy' is my personal term for the escalating barrage of destructive actions and statements coming from the madman-in-chief and his minions."

#Trump #authoritarianism #fascism #dictator #ClimateChange #electricity#WindPower#SolarPower#RenewableEnergy
/15

https://paulkrugman.substack.com/p/the-crazy-comes-for-clean-energy

Paul Krugman looks at Trump's decimation of renewable energy enterprises, electricity generated by wind and solar power"

“'The Crazy' is my personal term for the escalating barrage of destructive actions and statements coming from the madman-in-chief and his minions."

#Trump #authoritarianism #fascism #dictator #ClimateChange #electricity#WindPower#SolarPower#RenewableEnergy
/15

https://paulkrugman.substack.com/p/the-crazy-comes-for-clean-energy

Amid rising #electric #bills, states are under pressure to insulate regular household & business ratepayers from the costs of feeding #BigTech’s #energy hungry #DataCenters.

It’s not clear that any state has a solution & the actual effect of data centers on #electricity bills is difficult to pin down. Some critics question whether states have the spine to take a hard line against #tech behemoths like #Microsoft, #Google, #Amazon & #Meta.

https://apnews.com/article/electricity-prices-data-centers-artificial-intelligence-fbf213a915fb574a4f3e5baaa7041c3a?utm_source=onesignal&utm_medium=push&utm_campaign=2025-08-09-Tech%27s+price+tag

Rising #power #bills are “something legislators have been hearing a lot about. It’s something we’ve been hearing a lot about. More people are speaking out at the public utility commission in the past year than I’ve ever seen before,” said Charlotte Shuff of the Oregon Citizens’ Utility Board, a consumer advocacy group. “There’s a massive outcry.”

#BigTech#DataCenters#PowerPlants #grid #electricity

More than a dozen states have begun taking steps as #DataCenters drive a rapid build-out of #PowerPlants & transmission lines.

That has meant pressuring the nation’s biggest #power #grid operator to clamp down on price increases, studying the effect of data centers on #electricity #bills or pushing #DataCenter owners to pay a larger share of local transmission costs.

Amid rising #electric #bills, states are under pressure to insulate regular household & business ratepayers from the costs of feeding #BigTech’s #energy hungry #DataCenters.

It’s not clear that any state has a solution & the actual effect of data centers on #electricity bills is difficult to pin down. Some critics question whether states have the spine to take a hard line against #tech behemoths like #Microsoft, #Google, #Amazon & #Meta.

https://apnews.com/article/electricity-prices-data-centers-artificial-intelligence-fbf213a915fb574a4f3e5baaa7041c3a?utm_source=onesignal&utm_medium=push&utm_campaign=2025-08-09-Tech%27s+price+tag

Household consumption spending in Japan in June rose 1.3% from a year earlier in inflation-adjusted real terms, the internal affairs ministry said Friday. https://www.japantimes.co.jp/business/2025/08/08/economy/household-spending-june/?utm_medium=Social&utm_source=mastodon #business #economy #food#airconditioners #electricity #japaneseeconomy #internalaffairsministry

Rental vacation house.

Spouse needed power outlet for laptop.

Found this delightful object plugged into the outlet, prongles poking out, waiting to electrocute someone.

#safety #electricity

Asking the Fedi.

Is the expected hyperscaling of AI data centers a generativeAI/LLM thing? I cannot see "old school" ML type things (factory and port optimisation, medical image analysis) generating that leap in data center use.

Or am I missing something?

and if it is does that mean, if the bubble bursts, it will take out the big western base load electrical demand growth story as well?

#generativeAI #ml #ai #electricity

"The government can also make electricity more affordable by supporting not-for-profit power companies. Another good move would be to help more households to install rooftop solar by providing access to long-term low-interest finance."

#KimberleyOSullivan, Senior Research Fellow, University of Otago

https://theconversation.com/almost-a-third-of-nz-households-face-energy-hardship-reform-has-to-go-beyond-cheaper-off-peak-power-259140

#energy #electricity #renewables #RooftopSolar #PlatformCooperatives

"""
From 2005 to 2017, the amount of electricity going to data centers remained quite flat thanks to increases in efficiency, despite the construction of armies of new data centers to serve the rise of cloud-based online services, from Facebook to Netflix. In 2017, AI began to change everything. Data centers started getting built with energy-intensive hardware designed for AI, which led them to double their electricity consumption by 2023.
"""

https://www.technologyreview.com/2025/05/20/1116327/ai-energy-usage-climate-footprint-big-tech/

#electricity#AI

"""
From 2005 to 2017, the amount of electricity going to data centers remained quite flat thanks to increases in efficiency, despite the construction of armies of new data centers to serve the rise of cloud-based online services, from Facebook to Netflix. In 2017, AI began to change everything. Data centers started getting built with energy-intensive hardware designed for AI, which led them to double their electricity consumption by 2023.
"""

https://www.technologyreview.com/2025/05/20/1116327/ai-energy-usage-climate-footprint-big-tech/

#electricity#AI

"...and our electricity here comes from a renewable source ... nuclear ..."

Let me just stop you there. You don't need an Oxford degree to know Nuclear might be low carbon (construction depending) but it aint and can't physically be renewable.

Unless those clever boffins have figured out how to break entropy and rejoin U235 atoms.

https://youtu.be/SS6S1i_GLfw time code 7:28

#energy #electricity

"...and our electricity here comes from a renewable source ... nuclear ..."

Let me just stop you there. You don't need an Oxford degree to know Nuclear might be low carbon (construction depending) but it aint and can't physically be renewable.

Unless those clever boffins have figured out how to break entropy and rejoin U235 atoms.

https://youtu.be/SS6S1i_GLfw time code 7:28

#energy #electricity

Japan's infrastructure ministry is aiming to replace utility poles on emergency transport routes in urban areas with underground power cables by fiscal 2030. https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2025/07/07/japan/eliminating-utility-poles/?utm_medium=Social&utm_source=mastodon #japan #utilities #electricity #mlit #disasterpreparedness