
Bsky: @loganemitchell.bsky.social Climate scientist & energy analyst @UtahCleanEnergy. #ElectrifyEverything. Tweets my own.
Salt Lake City, UT
Joined June 2010
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🚨 New paper published: History of #AirQuality In Utah
👉 mdpi.com/2071-1050/14/15/965…
Utah has a long fascinating air quality history that that you wouldn't believe. Understanding our history can inform where we are today & our future.
Follow along 🧵...
Logan Mitchell PhD 🇺🇸 retweeted
IMO most BTM gas data centers will eventually connect to the grid.
But their gas generation won’t be stranded.
In fact, it will make their grid connection possible. By having their own capacity already, utilities can offer energy-only interconnections.
Logan Mitchell PhD 🇺🇸 retweeted
A real statesmen and most deserving of a 2nd term.
Side note, real men take defeat with honor; they don't trash their country and its institutions to try and keep power.
Logan Mitchell PhD 🇺🇸 retweeted
Richard has a good point here that average grid emissions factors are not always the most accurate point of comparison, and that its worth looking at marginal emissions.
But data centers are going off grid in part due to a lack of available load to serve them.
So lets take a look! (a thread)
This is a very sophisticated analysis, but it gets the comparison wrong for the question it is trying to answer.
On-site generation needs to be compared with the mix of power infrastructure *that actually changes* when new load comes online. The average grid mix doesn't tell us that. A new combined-cycle plant is a useful benchmark, but it doesn't capture the full grid response either.
Of course, the best comparison is a capacity expansion/dispatch model, but we'll save that for another day.
For now, EPA eGRID non-baseload emissions give us another useful, and I'd argue better, benchmark.
I redid the comparison on a generation-emissions basis, and the picture is much less one-sided. Under the assumptions shown, the same gas engine case is about 57% above the U.S. grid average but 12% below its nonbaseload benchmark. Different regions produce an even wider range of results.
This chart excludes upstream fuel emissions, so it doesn't settle the lifecycle comparison. It shows how much the choice of grid benchmark changes the result.
There are also questions about the project mix. Large combined-cycle capacity is under construction alongside planned data centers. See Homer City. That campus is grid-connected, so how it is classified matters.
And the 2.3% national methane estimate isn't a measured leakage rate for each project's fuel supply. The analysis tests regional leakage rates. Those distinctions matter here, too.
Logan Mitchell PhD 🇺🇸 retweeted
The whole “we don’t trust Trump so we can’t do permitting” thing strikes me as backward. The admin is already doing what you’re worried about without this bill. What it changes is that it gets harder to kill clean energy projects. Not trusting them is the case for passing it!
Logan Mitchell PhD 🇺🇸 retweeted
Deservedly scathing op-ed by the NYT:
“If Democrats retake both houses of Congress, and more state governments than they now control, it will tell the world that Mr. Trump does not represent most Americans. It will demonstrate that a country that starts to slide toward autocracy can move back to normalcy, as happened in Hungary this spring. Most important, it will create a desperately needed check on Mr. Trump during his final two years in office.
…
In a 21-month span, he has done more harm to democracy and the rule of law than any other president in the modern era and perhaps longer than that. He has broken his oath to defend the Constitution by trying to rewrite it on his own. He has refused to honor Congress’s power of the purse and misused national security laws for political ends. He has defied federal court orders on Medicaid funding, deportation orders and more. He has dismantled the Justice Department’s legacy as an impartial enforcer of federal law, turning it into an instrument of retribution against his adversaries while canceling investigations into his allies. He has appointed inept sycophants to oversee crucial government functions, including law enforcement, national defense and public health. He has sought to disenfranchise large numbers of voters, claiming fraud that cannot be found, and championed an extreme new approach to partisan gerrymandering. He has physically besmirched the White House by demolishing the East Wing and financing a garish renovation with donations from wealthy allies.”
nytimes.com/2026/10/27/opini…
Logan Mitchell PhD 🇺🇸 retweeted
The last GOP nominee to not gleefully bend the knee to Putin and other authoritarian thugs around the world...
More than 5 million people have lost their Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, benefits since President Donald Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill passed last year.
That has meant many more people are turning to food banks for support. to.pbs.org/47Sb4rd
Logan Mitchell PhD 🇺🇸 retweeted
🗳️What if you’ve never heard about a candidate on your ballot?
• Go to vote.utah.gov for candidate biographies
• Visit judges.utah.gov for information on state and municipal judges
Logan Mitchell PhD 🇺🇸 retweeted
Really useful analysis by @hausfath finding that off-grid data centers have 60-80% higher emissions than if they're able to connect to the grid. "There is a real risk that off-grid gas generators become locked in" – one reason we need to pass #BAAJA.
theclimatebrink.com/p/off-gr…
Logan Mitchell PhD 🇺🇸 retweeted
You MUST read this brilliant essay by Judge Michael Luttig: “The Final Battle for America’s Democracy”newrepublic.com/article/2151… via @newrepublic
Logan Mitchell PhD 🇺🇸 retweeted
Do data centers raise your electric bill? New ESIG modeling finds the answer ranges from a 0.88 ¢/kWh cut to a 1.32 ¢/kWh increase for the same load. Differences come from assumptions about headroom, forecast accuracy, and contract terms.
Logan Mitchell PhD 🇺🇸 retweeted
The number one best solution to this is not blocking pipelines, or blocking data centers. It’s building out the grid faster.
Connecting to the grid is cheaper, cleaner, and more reliable. The only reason they’re not doing it is that we can’t build fast enough.
Pass BAAJA
Logan Mitchell PhD 🇺🇸 retweeted
"We estimate that Mr Trump’s policies will cost the poorest tenth of American households, with average income after taxes and transfers of around $37,000, almost 3% of their income. The richest tenth, with average after-tax incomes of nearly $500,000, will gain nearly 3% (see chart 1). Households in the middle, with average income of roughly $100,000, lose more than $400"
Logan Mitchell PhD 🇺🇸 retweeted
That American citizens are significantly less likely to receive disaster relief if they live in states that didn't vote for the regime in power should be treated as a major scandal.
Logan Mitchell PhD 🇺🇸 retweeted
Pass BAAJA and get data centers connected to the grid; regulate off-grid data centers. @hausfath
theclimatebrink.com/p/off-gr…
Logan Mitchell PhD 🇺🇸 retweeted
Trump has exempted 202 facilities in 39 states and Puerto Rico from clean-air regulations that were going into effect, including some of the worst industrial polluters. About 3.3 million people live near such a facility. @EricLiptonNYT @maxinejoselow nytimes.com/2026/10/24/clima…
Logan Mitchell PhD 🇺🇸 retweeted
In the last five years, Texas' solar generation has grown 421% and its battery storage capacity is has grown 2,500%
That's saved Texans $3.55 BILLION on electricity bills this summer.
Read more: seia.org/research-resources/…
Logan Mitchell PhD 🇺🇸 retweeted
Behind the meter gas power has become a common path for data centers to get power faster. But it turns out operating a city-scale utility is no joke (turbine shafts breaking, low uptimes). It's hell for social licenes (if you think communities hate data centers, try data centers with 40 jet engines running non-stop!). And it leaves these facilities quite exposed to future gas price risk, as Aniruddh illustrates below.
Interesting sections on energy in Anthropic's S1 filing!
There's been speculation on how data centers are managing fuel price risk from gas offtake, whether off-grid data centers will happen at scale
- 'an increasing share of data centers being developed with dedicated onsite generation independent of the grid'
- ANT exposed to fuel price volatility as they bear cost on a pass-through basis, no cap on fuel costs
- Lack of firm gas supply can delay facilities
- For grid connected assets, ANT discusses 'investing in curtailment systems' to reduce strain during peak periods
- Cooling needs may increase over time for data centers due to changing climate
- Notes risk that utilities may reallocate capacity required by ANT data centers
Logan Mitchell PhD 🇺🇸 retweeted
Seven months ago, there was a big conversation about whether Trump was denying blue states FEMA aid for partisan reasons.
Since May, there have been 57 more disaster relief decisions. Requests from blue states are still 2.8x more likely to be rejected than from red states.
Logan Mitchell PhD 🇺🇸 retweeted
Energy dominance eh?
Turns out, you can't drill your way to energy security, as I wrote in 2022 when we were in the midst of the LAST global oil & gas supply disruption... nytimes.com/2022/05/14/opini…





































