cross-posted from: https://feddit.org/post/27570552

The U.K. government on Tuesday introduced new rules requiring developers to install heat pumps and solar panels in all new homes across England, in policymakers’ latest response to the economic fallout of the Iran conflict.

U.K. ministers say the Iran war and the largest supply disruption in the history of the oil market reinforces the need to leverage clean power as an energy security tool.

The Future Homes Standard — a set of new-build regulations for England from 2028 — will establish requirements to ensure homes are built with on-site renewable electricity generation, the majority of which is expected to be provided by solar power.

The rules will also see homes built with low-carbon heating, such as heat pumps and heat networks.

The government added that plug-in solar panels, which homeowners can install on balconies, would be available within shops over the coming months.

Summary: Investors bet Iran war will boost Chinese renewables demand

Since the US-Israeli war against Iran began on February 28, investors have been pouring money into Chinese renewable energy stocks, anticipating that the resulting oil shock will accelerate global demand for green energy — a sector China dominates. The CSI Green Electricity Index has risen 6% in March, with major players like GCL Energy Technology surging 48%, while the broader Shanghai Composite has fallen 8%.

The thesis is straightforward: energy security fears, combined with growing distrust of US reliability, are pushing countries — particularly in Europe and Southeast Asia — to accelerate renewables buildout, nuclear power, and grid resilience. ASEAN's foreign minister explicitly called for faster renewable energy deployment in response. Chinese EV makers and battery producers are also seen as beneficiaries, as the oil shock prompts consumers to reconsider petrol vehicles.

Goldman Sachs and several investment managers note that China's dominance in solar, wind, batteries, and EVs positions it well for what one analyst calls a "multi-year renaissance in renewables." Sectors previously suffering from oversupply are now expected to become profitable as export demand rises — making the current market correction, in the view of some fund managers, a buying opportunity.

Sorry about the source; only coverage I've seen.

https://coyotegulch.blog/2026/01/05/snowpack-news-january-5-2026-an-absolutely-enormous-swath-of-the-western-united-states-just-obliterated-its-record-for-the-warmest-december-period-temperature-records-across-this-entire-half-of/

The court held that the U.S. Constitution and federal law preempts state claims arising from out-of-state and international greenhouse gas emissions.

A pub in California is pulling carbon dioxide from the air to carbonate pints. If the business model works, it could give the broader carbon-capture industry a boost.

The New York Times now requires about 1/10 of people clicking a gift link like this one to register in order to access the article. You can either:

• Register — you don't need to pay — but you do need to give up an email address
• Open the gift link in a private browsing window or use Reader Mode
• Use an archive site such as archive.today to skip the paywall entirely. Be aware that archive.today sometimes modifies archived pages, and all archive sites generally fail to correctly save and render interactive features and multimedia content.

The Arctic sea ice, which helps store nutrients that sustain the crustaceans whales eat, is melting earlier in the year — disrupting the food chain whales depend on.

“These feeding areas that they migrate such long distances to are warming four times as quickly as the rest of the planet on average, and that’s having a major impact on their prey availability,” Stewart said.

It's not like there's been a snow drought or anything.

Gift links to Foreign Policy Magazine articles like this one ask for registration. You can bypass that using 'reader mode' in most browsers, or you you can check archive.today for a copy. Be aware that archive.is sometimes modifies archived pages, and generally fails to archive complex multimedia content.

Under the governor’s proposal, the most concrete deadline for climate action would be pushed out to the end of her potential second term.

If you want to keep NY on a path towards getting rid of the fossil fuels that cause the rising temperatures we are experiencing, call your state assemblymember and call your state senator