What mattered this week

Oil & gas need $540bn/year to… stand still

What’s up? Current fields are declining faster and faster. Despite massive new investment we’re only replacing exhausted wells.
So how might we increase energy - for like, living standards etc ? Dunno. Maybe new tech? Hang on, I have an idea…💡
Read more: IEA’s The Implications of Oil and Gas Field Decline Rates (more fun than it sounds)

India’s carbon falls 1% in H1 2025

Really? Yes - thanks to 69% growth in clean energy. Kind of disrupts some narratives.
Matters? India was 37% of energy sector carbon growth in past 5 years.
Read more: Carbon Brief; The Times of India

Big Oz miner orders 300 massive EV trucks, to save $400m/year diesel

That’s the story? That’s the story. Fortescue is who, if you’re asking. $4b order.
Give me stats. Liebherr’s romantically named T264 is a 176t truck hauling 240t of ore - the 3.2MWh battery is recharged in 30 minutes from 6MWe chargers.
Read more: Electrek 

One thing to worry about

Britain’s new nukes are the most expensive. Identical plants cost 50% in France & Finland. Korea builds 6 plants for 1 of ours 😫.

Why? Britain ReMade wrote an excellent report:

• Hinkley C needed seven consultations, including 80,000 pages of environmental analysis

• Legal challenges added 1,750 days of delay to Hinkley C and Sizewell C. None of them were successful

• Gold-plating: designs limit public radiation to the same as… eating ten bananas a year 🍌 . (UK background radiation is equivalent to eating 27,000 bananas a year. And yes, Banana Equivalent Dose is a thing. Seriously.)

One thing to be optimistic about

Self-driving cars are so safe that human drivers will be banned.

Data from 92 million miles in Google’s Waymo means UK would save 1,500 lives per year, and 23,000 serious injuries. If one of those was your kid…

If you’ve got more time…

Ember’s “The Electrotech Revolution” is must-read if you’re interested in energy, world affairs… or just want cheering up 😄.

Key point: we are replacing “old sunshine” from fossil energy (ancient captured sunlight) with “new sunshine” (solar/wind).

Stunning statistic: All of the world's discovered reserves of fossil fuels = the same energy as 5 days of sunlight hitting the Earth 🤯. (Really. Ask ChatGPT)

This new approach unlocks 100x more energy.

• Useable. 75% of energy demand can use electricity - and increasing (i.e. electric cars replacing petrol, heat pumps replacing gas)

• Cheaper: cost drop as we learn. Fossils get more expensive (we burn the cheapest dirt first)

• Secure. Each country gets energy security, as no need to ship in energy. 92% of countries have 10x their current energy use in renewable potential

Electrotech means new ways of generating, moving, storing and using energy. This isn’t some wind sticks replacing gas burners: it’s a whole-civilisation shift.