The hottest Sustainability Substack posts right now

And their main takeaways
Category
Top Climate & Environment Topics

Battery Component Price Report: October 2024

Intercalation Station • 59 implied HN points • 02 Nov 24
đź•ą Technology Sustainability
  1. LFP battery prices are still under $50 per kWh. This means it’s a good time for consumers looking for affordable energy solutions.
  2. The report tracks battery component prices every month. Following the trends can help understand the market better.
  3. Subscribing gives access to exclusive updates and resources. It's a way to stay informed about changes in the battery industry.

Battery production is genuinely difficult

Intercalation Station • 99 implied HN points • 01 Nov 24
đź•ą Technology Sustainability
  1. Making batteries is really hard. Even small mistakes can lead to big problems and waste.
  2. Northvolt faced issues with unrealistic goals and timelines from its management, leading to disorganization and challenges in their production process.
  3. Quality control and procurement problems contributed to the company's struggles, highlighting a need for clear communication and better management practices.

China is killing the fish

Noahpinion • 27588 implied HN points • 17 Feb 26
🌞 Climate & Environment Sustainability
  1. China has cleaned up many of its own environmental problems but is simultaneously running a huge distant-water fishing fleet that is depleting global fish stocks and harming ocean biodiversity.
  2. Many of those boats operate illegally or unreported — shutting off transponders, falsifying records, and using front companies — and they concentrate in poorer countries that can’t police their waters.
  3. This global overfishing steals livelihoods and future fish supplies and isn’t getting enough attention from environmental groups or international policy, creating a large, neglected conservation crisis.

🚼 America's worst public intellectual, RIP

Faster, Please! • 2376 implied HN points • 16 Mar 26
🌞 Climate & Environment Sustainability
  1. A high-profile scientist's bestselling book and repeated TV appearances pushed an urgent overpopulation message into the mainstream and made apocalyptic thinking widely familiar.
  2. When mainstream TV gives big audiences regular access to doomsday-minded experts, it can normalize fear and shift public attitudes about technological risks like AI.
  3. That kind of media-driven alarmism helped shape decades of pessimism about technology, economic growth, and humanity's future.

Hysteresis: The Reason Wood Movement Ain’t Such a Big Deal

The American Peasant • 2335 implied HN points • 20 Oct 24
🪑 Design Sustainability
  1. Wood can swell and shrink, but it often moves less than expected due to something called hysteresis. This means you might worry too much about how much your wood will move.
  2. Using flexible glues and ductile nails can help furniture withstand wood movement over time. These materials allow parts to adjust without falling apart.
  3. Many traditional furniture designs were made with wood movement in mind. This means older pieces often handle changes in humidity better than you might think.
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From Tokens to Burgers – A Water Footprint Face-Off

SemiAnalysis • 17577 implied HN points • 15 Jan 26
đź•ą Technology Sustainability
  1. Water use by datacenters is often overstated when reported without context; cooling architecture, power source, location, and whether you count direct vs. embedded water all hugely change the footprint.
  2. A concrete comparison shows a 400 MW datacenter can use ~346 million gallons/year while an average In-N-Out store uses ~147 million gallons/year, so that datacenter is roughly equivalent to 2.5 burger joints and can produce billions of tokens per burger of water footprint.
  3. Mitigations and accounting matter: hybrid dry/adiabatic cooling, power choices, chip-manufacturing impacts, and onsite water recycling can greatly reduce net blue-water use, and standardized water accounting is needed for fair comparisons.

Why Secondhand Is Now Better Than New

The Honest Broker • 28990 implied HN points • 01 Jan 26
🎭️ Culture Sustainability
  1. People are increasingly choosing secondhand gifts and goods because they feel more meaningful, ethical, and often classier than mass-produced new items.
  2. New products are seen as lower quality and more prone to scams or premature failure—even expensive brands—so vintage items are often more reliable and better made.
  3. Buying used gives access to unique, analog, or higher-quality objects, helps avoid AI-generated low-quality content, and sends a market signal that consumers reject declining quality and rising prices.

Reading List 01/03/2026

Construction Physics • 7516 implied HN points • 03 Jan 26
đź•ą Technology Sustainability
  1. Large language models are opening a new path for automated building code checks by reading construction documents, and startups claim big accuracy and time savings, but the construction industry’s risk aversion and imperfect AI accuracy remain barriers.
  2. Meranti (lauan) plywood is widely used for RV interiors and other lightweight construction, and heavy U.S. demand may be driving deforestation in Southeast Asia with serious ecological and social consequences.
  3. Big policy and planning interventions—like the old national raisin reserve to control supply and the creation of Nusantara as a new capital—show how governments sometimes reshape markets or build cities to address economic and environmental problems.

Notes on winter

The Crucial Years • 2720 implied HN points • 08 Feb 26
🌞 Climate & Environment Sustainability
  1. Winter offers special pleasures — the slick freedom of skating and skiing, the hush of fresh snow, and a playful elegance you don’t get in other seasons.
  2. Climate change is eroding winter: Arctic sea ice loss, fewer freezing days, and declining snowpacks are shortening the season and threatening winter landscapes and sports.
  3. People and institutions are pushing back — athletes, activists, businesses and technologists are advocating for climate action and building alternatives like EVs, new batteries, and more solar to help protect winters and public health.

Does that use a lot of energy? [Update]

Sustainability by numbers • 575 implied HN points • 03 Mar 26
🌞 Climate & Environment Sustainability
  1. An interactive tool lets you compare the energy use of different products and activities so you can better judge their relative scale and importance.
  2. The tool was updated after lots of user feedback, with many improvements documented in a changelog, while deliberately leaving out some suggestions to avoid making it too complex.
  3. A major visible change is the addition of rough country-level energy cost comparisons to make results more meaningful, and the tool is available to use and share while remaining open to further (less frequent) feedback.

How To Break Up With Your Toxic Acid

Intercalation Station • 59 implied HN points • 23 Oct 24
đź•ą Technology Sustainability
  1. Fluorine plays a big role in making lithium-ion batteries better. It's important for key parts like the electrolyte salt that helps the battery work efficiently.
  2. Hydrogen fluoride is super toxic and can cause serious harm on contact. Finding safer ways to handle fluorine is crucial for both workers and the environment.
  3. FluoRok, a new company, is working to make fluorination safer and more sustainable. They aim to provide a better way to create essential materials without the risks associated with traditional processes.

Does that use a lot of energy?

Sustainability by numbers • 583 implied HN points • 16 Feb 26
🌞 Climate & Environment Sustainability
  1. Energy use and emissions are hard to judge without context, so comparing common household activities helps show what’s actually big or small.
  2. The numbers are rough, based on typical usage, and the tool is deliberately simple to show order-of-magnitude differences rather than exact watt-hours.
  3. Users are invited to give feedback on wrong assumptions, broken components, missing items, or useful features, and the tool may later be expanded to include carbon-emissions comparisons.

Global Shield Briefing (23 October 2024)

Global Shield's Newsletter • 59 implied HN points • 23 Oct 24
🌞 Climate & Environment Sustainability
  1. Many countries are focusing on improving civil defense. This means everyone from the government to local communities needs to work together to be prepared for emergencies.
  2. Climate change is making existing global threats worse. Problems like pandemics and geopolitical tensions are now linked to changes in the climate.
  3. People need to listen actively to warnings about risks. If the audience isn't ready or willing to hear these messages, the warnings may not help at all.

The World of Graphite

Intercalation Station • 139 implied HN points • 16 Oct 24
đź•ą Technology Sustainability
  1. Graphite is a key material for batteries, especially in electric vehicles, and there's been a shift from natural to synthetic graphite due to supply risks.
  2. China dominates the graphite supply, which creates concerns about over-reliance and geopolitical tensions, leading to increased global interest in local production.
  3. Synthetic graphite can be made from waste materials and has the potential to reduce environmental impacts if produced using renewable energy sources.

How Batteries Are Making the Electrical Grid More Reliable

Construction Physics • 18999 implied HN points • 19 Jun 25
đź•ą Technology Sustainability
  1. Batteries help keep the electrical grid stable by balancing the supply and demand of electricity. They can quickly charge and discharge, making it easier to match electricity use with what power plants produce.
  2. The use of batteries in places like California and Texas has grown a lot, making them a key part of the power grid. They help prevent outages and reduce electricity costs by storing cheap energy for when it's needed later.
  3. Batteries can also improve grid reliability by providing fast response to sudden changes in power demand. This is done using advanced technology that allows them to stabilize electricity flow without relying on traditional power plants.

NEW PAPER: All Excess Emissions must be Removed

Marginal Carbon • 138 implied HN points • 14 Oct 24
🌞 Climate & Environment Sustainability
  1. Countries with a history of high carbon emissions have run out of their fair share of carbon budget. They keep adding to their carbon debt with every new emission.
  2. To keep temperatures safe, all emissions beyond what's allowed must be removed. This means we need to deal with past, present, and future excess emissions.
  3. While cutting emissions is the main goal, some emissions are better dealt with using carbon removal strategies, called 'CDR-optimal' emissions.

How I Learned to Stop Worrying and "Love" The Collapse

OK Doomer • 196 implied HN points • 20 Feb 26
🌞 Climate & Environment Sustainability
  1. People are moving past mourning the old future and choosing practical action. They’re learning skills like growing food, installing power systems, and staying healthy to survive and thrive.
  2. Community resilience is rising as friends and neighbors start homesteading where they live and building local networks and shared resources. At the same time, people are staying cautious about what they share and who they trust.
  3. The larger system is collapsing, so the focus has shifted from trying to save it to making a soft landing and building alternative systems. The priority now is preserving what can survive and creating practical, local solutions.

Do subsidies make meat much cheaper?

Sustainability by numbers • 273 implied HN points • 09 Feb 26
🍲 Food & Drink Sustainability
  1. Direct subsidies make meat and dairy only a little cheaper at the shelf — typically cents to a few tens of cents per kilogram, which translates to small percentage changes that don’t close the price gap with meat substitutes.
  2. Much of the support is decoupled or absorbed into land rents and farmer incomes, so cutting subsidies would lead to some farm exits and small production drops but only modest retail price rises.
  3. The effective route to shift diets is cheaper alternatives: lowering the cost of meat substitutes (or reallocating support to them) matters far more than simply removing meat subsidies.

The Bad Science and Bad Policy at the Heart of the Climate Movement

The Honest Broker Newsletter • 5172 implied HN points • 28 Jul 25
🌞 Climate & Environment Sustainability
  1. Climate change has different definitions in science and policy, leading to confusion and inconsistencies in understanding. Scientists define it broadly while policy focuses mainly on human-caused changes.
  2. Current climate policies often rely on temperature targets, assuming they directly relate to greenhouse gas emissions. However, recent research shows other factors also significantly affect global temperatures.
  3. Reducing air pollution, while beneficial, can lead to increased temperatures due to less cooling from aerosols. This creates a complex situation where good actions for health might clash with climate goals.

The Unexpected Benefits of Starting a Small-Scale Dahlia Operation

Culture Study • 4744 implied HN points • 07 Aug 25
🎭️ Culture Sustainability
  1. Starting a dahlia operation can bring unexpected joys, like learning and growing alongside friends. It's a fun hobby that challenges you and helps you bond with others.
  2. Doing something like dahlia farming allows for creativity and collaboration without the stress of profit-making. It's about enjoying the process together rather than worrying about making money.
  3. Growing dahlias helps you notice small details in life and creates a sense of calm. It's a rewarding experience that connects you to nature and your community.

Chewing the cud could sink the planet

The Global Jigsaw • 119 implied HN points • 04 Oct 24
🌞 Climate & Environment Sustainability
  1. Raising cows and sheep produces a lot of methane, which is a major contributor to climate change. This is because methane is released when these animals digest their food and is much worse for the planet than carbon dioxide.
  2. Livestock generates 18% of global greenhouse gas emissions, which is even more than the transport sector. This includes not just the methane from their digestion, but also emissions from raising feed and pasture.
  3. A Japanese seaweed startup has found a way to cut methane emissions from cows by adding a specific type of red algae to their feed. This could reduce their methane output by more than 90%.

Chain Reaction

Doomberg • 6659 implied HN points • 10 Jun 25
🌞 Climate & Environment Sustainability
  1. Nuclear energy has produced a massive amount of clean electricity over the years, showcasing its potential as a stable and affordable energy source.
  2. Germany's decision to abandon its nuclear power plants is now seen as a mistake, and there's hope they will shift their stance to support nuclear energy in the future.
  3. Many countries in Europe are starting to rethink their approach to nuclear energy, which might lead to a resurgence in its use to help combat climate change.

The Entropy Debt Theory of Civilization

Anima Mundi • 432 implied HN points • 16 Jan 26
🌞 Climate & Environment Sustainability
  1. Many major problems—climate breakdown, institutional decay, and worsening mental health—are connected as interest payments on an "entropy debt" because civilizations maintain order by exporting disorder across space and time.
  2. Modern civilization has exhausted the places and times to which it can export entropy—fossil fuels, colonial extraction, and psychological repression were ways to borrow order, and now the system is approaching saturation.
  3. The real solution is a civilizational shift from borrowing order to living on "entropy income" by relying on solar-driven flows and redesigning institutions and values. Efficiency or a simple energy switch won’t by itself erase the underlying debt.

Stability in Chaos: A Solar Food Dehydrator

OK Doomer • 101 implied HN points • 23 Feb 26
🌞 Climate & Environment Sustainability
  1. The world keeps cycling through political, economic, and climate crises, so having clear plans and basic preparedness gives you real stability. Knowing what to do and how to do it cuts anxiety and lets you work at your own pace.
  2. Multiple ways to preserve food are essential, and solar food dehydrators are especially useful because they work without reliable electricity. They’re practical to build yourself using simple DIY guides.
  3. A practical survival manual is being expanded with cleaner layouts and more informational pages, plus plans for electrical wiring and solar panels to power systems like aquaponics. A print edition is close to ready.

Why solo-founders quit

Tiny Empires • 147 implied HN points • 06 Feb 26
đź’Ľ Business Sustainability
  1. Don't try to do everything. Pick one product or service, focus until it runs without constant babysitting, and say no to distracting ideas.
  2. Stop comparing yourself to other founders' highlight reels. Track your own numbers and measure progress against your past performance, not someone else's posts.
  3. Charge properly and build for sustainability. Serve fewer, better-paying customers, keep simple routines for bad weeks, and have outside support so you don't burn out or quit.

Renewable Energy Won

Erik Explores • 737 implied HN points • 21 Dec 25
🌞 Climate & Environment Sustainability
  1. Wind and solar paired with batteries are now cheaper than coal and can deliver reliable 24/7 power. The economics mean the energy debate over renewables versus fossil fuels is effectively over.
  2. Practical challenges remain, like upgrading grids, training installers, and storing energy across seasons, but these are solvable with investment and various solutions. Options include overbuilding renewables, heat pumps, hydrogen or ammonia, pumped hydro, and novel carriers like rechargeable metal powders.
  3. Political and expert skeptics who said renewables couldn’t scale or would need permanent subsidies were proven wrong as costs fell and deployment surged globally. Nuclear remains expensive and slower to replace aging plants, so renewables are expanding even in traditionally nuclear countries.

Sustainable Software, can you do something?

Cloud native with Saiyam • 39 implied HN points • 15 Oct 24
đź•ą Technology Sustainability
  1. Cloud Native Sustainability Week is a global event focusing on making technology practices more sustainable. It encourages everyone to join discussions and learn about sustainable software integration.
  2. You can contribute to sustainable software efforts by participating in working groups and exploring specific technologies like Kubernetes. There are many projects people can join to help the cause.
  3. Upcoming events like KubeCon NA provide opportunities to learn about the latest tools in cloud-native landscapes. Attending talks and meetups can deepen your understanding and involvement in sustainability efforts.

Open Thread 391

Astral Codex Ten • 4267 implied HN points • 21 Jul 25
🍲 Food & Drink Sustainability
  1. There's a new AI blogging fellowship starting soon. If you know about AI and want to write, this could be a great opportunity for you!
  2. The AI safety community is facing some cyber threats, like phishing and spam. Always double-check links and don't share your passwords lightly.
  3. Many people don't know that male chicks are often killed after hatching. There's a new method to identify eggs by sex, which can help reduce this practice.

Some changes to Sustainability by Numbers in the new year

Sustainability by numbers • 615 implied HN points • 22 Dec 25
🌞 Climate & Environment Sustainability
  1. The newsletter will broaden its focus beyond environmental topics to include demographics, technology, global health, and development while keeping a data-led approach to analyze problems and solutions.
  2. The newsletter is being renamed to "By the Numbers" to reflect the wider scope, and the change will happen automatically; some subscribers may leave, but the aim is to reach a broader set of global issues.
  3. The publication will remain free and unpaid, produced in spare time to keep it enjoyable, with plans to continue publishing data-driven posts into 2026.

The Battery Mineral Loop

Renewable Revolution • 439 implied HN points • 24 Jul 24
🌞 Climate & Environment Sustainability
  1. Battery minerals are becoming more efficient and less dependent on mining. Advances in recycling and chemistry can help meet demand without exhausting resources.
  2. In the coming decades, we might reach a point where we won't need to extract new battery minerals at all. We could rely on recycling old batteries instead.
  3. Countries have a big chance to shift from fossil fuel use to sustainable energy. This change can happen faster and cheaper than many think, especially if everyone works together.

Ice: The Penultimate Frontier

Transhuman Axiology • 813 implied HN points • 13 Jul 24
🌞 Climate & Environment Sustainability
  1. Floating ice islands could be a practical solution for creating new land, much cheaper than colonizing other planets. We already have icebergs that can be transformed into usable land without the high costs of space travel.
  2. The process to insulate these icebergs from melting is affordable and could really help maintain their size for a long time. Using air and lightweight materials, we can keep the ice from melting when in warm waters.
  3. Setting up a community or business on these ice islands might be more viable than starting a space colony. It’s a way to explore new opportunities without the severe risks and costs associated with space exploration.

Differential knowledge interconnection

Engineering Ideas • 39 implied HN points • 12 Oct 24
đź•ą Technology Sustainability
  1. Not all AI technologies are harmful. Some can help produce good knowledge that supports a sustainable future, while others might exploit flaws in society.
  2. Good knowledge helps connect and understand well-being, which is crucial for a sustainable civilization. It's important to have interconnected knowledge about all moral patients.
  3. AI capabilities that promote this interconnected knowledge are likely beneficial. However, there's a risk of technology dehumanizing society if not handled carefully.

Quit your job, start a farm, write a book

As If We Were Staying • 15 implied HN points • 13 Mar 26
🌞 Climate & Environment Sustainability
  1. A personal journey from biotech and capitalist life to regenerative farming shows that confronting climate reality often means remaking your life and work to fit a future that can last.
  2. Seeing capitalism like a tumor highlights how systems shape people’s habits and protections, so real change means healing both the structures and the people adapted to them.
  3. The answer lies in relational thinking and local care — reconnecting with land and community through restorative practices creates hopeful, durable ways of living.

Shameless Self-Promotion

The Crucial Years • 2869 implied HN points • 19 Jul 25
🌞 Climate & Environment Sustainability
  1. The last few years have shown a big rise in clean energy, like solar and wind, which is starting to replace fossil fuels. This change is important because it can help fight climate change.
  2. Even though clean energy is getting cheaper and more available, there are still challenges to overcome, like the fossil fuel industry trying to hold back progress. Sticking together and pushing for change is essential.
  3. The book promotes the idea that clean energy should no longer be seen as an 'alternative' but as the main way to power our world. It emphasizes that moving away from fossil fuels can lead to a more equal and sustainable future.

The Cleantech Revolution

Renewable Revolution • 799 implied HN points • 11 Jun 24
🌞 Climate & Environment Sustainability
  1. The energy system is changing fast because of renewables, electrification, and efficiency. These changes are happening more quickly than many people think.
  2. Clean technology is getting cheaper and more popular, outpacing fossil fuels. Over the last decade, costs have dropped significantly and energy generation from sources like solar has grown a lot.
  3. Fossil fuels are on the decline. Renewables are set to take over energy generation, making it clear that we need to accelerate our shift to clean energy technologies.

The Agrifoodtech Effect 🍽️

The VC Corner • 519 implied HN points • 05 Jul 24
🍲 Food & Drink Sustainability
  1. The food system is facing big challenges, like harming the environment and contributing to climate change. We need to rethink how we produce and consume food to protect our planet.
  2. Agri-Foodtech is about using new technology to improve the entire food industry. This includes everything from apps to healthier food options that can change how we eat.
  3. Investments in foodtech are growing rapidly, showing its importance. However, there's a need for more focus on advanced technologies, not just quick delivery services, to drive future innovations.

Calendar of events: Spring of 2026

Respectful Leadership • 163 implied HN points • 18 Jan 26
đź’Ľ Business Sustainability
  1. Events focus on three industries driving change: health care, green sustainability, and AI.
  2. The schedule features panels and founders sharing real-world work across health‑tech, green‑tech, and AI — including AI and law — and health‑care sessions repeat by popular demand.
  3. The series also includes practical startup workshops on pitching, selling, team management, and delegation to help founders grow.

Seventh Plan’s the Charm

Doomberg • 6232 implied HN points • 11 Jan 25
🌞 Climate & Environment Sustainability
  1. Japan relies heavily on imports for its energy needs, which makes having a strong energy plan very important for the country. They need reliable and cheap energy to stay competitive in the global economy.
  2. After the Fukushima disaster in 2011, Japan's use of nuclear energy dropped significantly, but there are now efforts to reopen some reactors. This shift back to nuclear energy is seen as crucial for Japan's energy strategy.
  3. The upcoming Seventh Strategic Energy Plan will outline Japan’s energy goals for the next few years. This plan will impact investments and the country's approach to energy efficiency and renewable sources.

The Climate Conversation is Changing

The Honest Broker Newsletter • 1727 implied HN points • 11 Aug 25
🌞 Climate & Environment Sustainability
  1. The climate conversation is shifting, with more emphasis on understanding the actual risks of climate change rather than just the scary headlines. It's important to know the real science behind what's happening.
  2. Recent reports highlight how climate data can be misunderstood or misrepresented. For example, some believe hurricanes are increasing, but recent studies show no clear trend in hurricane frequency.
  3. Adaptation to climate change is more effective than many realize. Studies show that people and infrastructures are improving their resilience to changes like heat waves and wildfires.