Volts Community Thread #01

Open to all free & paid subscribers

We’re trying a new thing — this is your monthly opportunity to share! Use the comments section in this community thread to:

• Ask questions for the next Mailbag, in January (anyone can ask a question but mailbag episodes are a paid-sub-only perk)

• Share climate jobs/opportunities

• Share your climate-related work, ask for help, or find collaborators

• Share climate-related events and meetups

• Discuss David’s Notes or anything else on your mind

🚨 To keep organized, please only “REPLY” directly under one of Sam’s headline comments. Anything not posted as a “REPLY” under a category may be deleted, as will anything inappropriate, spammy, etc. Be nice!

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David’s Notes:

1. Take the Volts 2023 Subscriber Survey! We’re making upgrades around here and we would love to know what you’d like to see. It just takes a minute!

2. Re: the recent Farm Bill episode, Geoff S notes:

I listened to this twice to make sure I didn't miss it, and went back to listen to April's Biofuels podcast as well. Either I'm holding onto an archaic Farm Bill belief or I've got a nominee for the "underhyped issues" list. Please someone update my priors: My understanding was that a big part (in overall climate impact if not dollars) of the farm bill is the subsidy for ethanol, this is talked about as a thing that exists in the biofuels conversation from April but not mentioned was where it lives in our appropriations and policy world.

The episode briefly mentions the bill’s role in subsidizing ethanol (via commodity support and crop insurance), but it’s the Renewable Fuel Standard, separate from the Farm Bill, that’s truly pivotal because it mandates large-scale demand for biofuels.

3. Re: the Checking in on Solar episode, Fred P reminds us about the gains due to bifacial solar panels, which can produce energy from both sides:

Depending on mounting and climate, I understand this increases the output per area over the year by another 10-25% beyond the gains from efficiency discussed.

4. After some truly delightful and educational trips to Australia and Iceland this year, I’ve been thinking about where I should go next. I’m somewhat dependent on who pays my way — we’re not yet the newsletter juggernaut we’d need to be to fund research travel — but putting that aside: where should I go? What country or city or area has unique and interesting energy stuff going on?