A Global EV Boom, America’s Distributed Energy Moment, and Wall Street’s Data Center Jitters

Here are some trends that I'm following

This is the third edition of a new format I’m trying out on the Distilled newsletter. As I explained in the first edition, my plan is to share stories, charts, and interesting stuff I find while doing research for my longer stories. I hope you’ve enjoyed reading the first few editions as much as I’ve enjoyed writing them.

Here’s what’s in today’s newsletter:

• EV sales plummeted last month in the US after federal tax credits expired. But global EV adoption is going better than expected due a flood of cheap Chinese EVs hitting markets around the world.

• Distributed energy is having a moment in the US. This month, Sunrun and Constellation Energy both announced gigawatt-scale growth in demand response products.

• Blue states in the Northeast are rolling back some of their highest profile climate policies. Massachusetts, New York, and Pennsylvania all made big announcements last week.

• Investors are growing skittish about the AI data center boom that I reported on last month. Big banks and hedge funds are buying derivatives similar to those that tanked the world economy in 2008. The cost of some of these insurance products rose by 50% over the last month, while the stock price of small data center developers fell by about 30%.

Before getting into all that, one quick note that I’m co-hosting a climate and clean energy happy hour in Boulder, Colorado this Wednesday (11/19) at 5:30pm. If you or any of your friends are around, swing by.