Getting started with energy is overwhelming.

Here is a collection of resources, which have helped me.

ps: I have a similar collection for climate 🌳

First Things First

• Interview: Ramez Naam, futurist, author, and investor (Noah Smith) → Understand the implications of energy in today's world.
• Ramez Naam: A faster way to get to a clean energy future → Naam's TED talk on declining costs of rewnewables.
• Burden of proof: renewables and nuclear power (Prof. Tom Brown) → A 2018 article giving pros and cons of various energy sources.
• The Energy Security Diet (Art Lapinsch) → Basics of energy consumption on a nation's scale.
• Energy and War (Art Lapinsch) → Energy as an offensive weapon of war.
• Emergence of the Electricity Bazaar (Art Lapinsch) → Why the electricity market presents the opportunity of the century.
• A Curious Kid's Guide to Energy Regulation (Art Lapinsch) → Energy regulation 101. A bit of econ. A bit of policy. A whole lot of insight ✨

Energy Sources and Other Topics

Electric Grid & Electricity Markets

• Understanding Electricity Markets (Art Lapinsch) - Introduction into the eleven distinct electricity markets you should know about.
• The Birth of the Grid (Construction Physics) - A four-part series on the electric grid in the US. Origins, development, de-regulation, and future all explained in long-form writing 👌

Batteries

• Lithium Ion Battery's End of Life Cycle - What to do with lithium ion batteries (LIB) at the end of their life (EOL)?

Infrastructure x Cyber Security

• The Untold Story of NotPetya, the Most Devastating Cyberattack in History (Andy Greenberg for Wired) - A scary case study in infrastructure cyber attacks.

Industry

• Construction Physics - Best industry-related newsletter.

Data

• IEA: International Energy Agency - Primary source for international energy data.
• Electricity Maps - Great website to visualize the carbon intensity of the various energy systems.

Oil and (Natural) Gas

• How the Gas Turbine Conquered the Electric Power Industry (Construction Physics) - Technical primer on the natural gas turbine.
• Global Effects of Russia's War in Ukraine: Oil and Energy Expert Fark Finley (Intelligence Matters Podcast) - Good primer on global and regional energy markets for oil and natural gas.

Nuclear Fission and Fusion ☢️

• Why Are Nuclear Power Construction Costs so High? Part I (Construction Physics) - A data-informed series about the costs of building nuclear power plants.
• Fusion (Ben James) - Technical intro to fusion.
• The Fusion Race (Packy McCormick & Rahul Rana) - Fun primer on the history and future of fusion energy.
• Dennis Whyte: Nuclear Fusion and the Future of Energy (Lex Fridman Podcast) - Interesting (but very technical) podcast conversation.

Online Courses & Learning Material

• Electric Industry Operations and Markets (Coursera/Duke) - Short and sweet introduction into electricity grids and markets.
• Renewable Energy Projects (Coursera/University of Colorado - Boulder)
• Politics and Economics of International Energy (Coursera/Sciences Po) - Comprehensive course on major trends and the different types of energy sources.

Courses I have earmarked for the future:

• Wind Energy (Coursera/Technical University of Denmark)
• Introduction to Solar Cells (Coursera/Technical University of Denmark)

Great Writing

• Tim Urban → The internet's favorite writer has a very good intro piece to wrap your head around energy.
• Tsung Xu → Tsung is currently focusing on advanced material science but his "Guide to the energy transition" is still an all-time-favorite.
• BloombergNEF → Data-driven news about energy.

If you are interested in learning more, sign up to my newsletter where I write about climate, energy, and everything in between 👇

I'm here to make friends. Please hit me up if you want to chat.

Also, let me know which other resources I should add to this list.