Happy Monday. 👋
Welcome back to this week’s positive news. Sadly no 98 sleep score to report on, but I can safely say I have slept so much better without my phone in my bedroom. I highly recommend. There are other bits of good news in my life, I’ve had a wonderful weekend, an incredibly intense Barry’s class and the perfect amount of mooching. I’m also writing this at 1pm on Sunday, hopefully in advance of Leeds United beating Man United this afternoon. 🤞🏻
Anyway, the positive news about the world and not just my life, shall we?
👀 News to make you feel good this week
🚽 86% drop in sewage discharges into the Thames as the Tideway Tunnel hands over to Thames Water. London’s super sewer cut storm overflows into the tidal Thames from more than 21 million cubic metres a year to under 3 million in its first full year. Days with a sewage health risk fell from 76% to 10%, and 84 tonnes of wet wipes never made it to the river. The 86% is modelled and 2025 was a dry year, though the report says the drop is far bigger than the weather alone would explain. Not bad for a river declared biologically dead in the 1950s.
💭 My thoughts? We spend a lot of time arguing about targets and pledges. This is what it looks like when someone actually builds the thing: years of digging, one very big tunnel, and now a measurably cleaner river. If we want a better world, at some point somebody has to pour the concrete. And yes, it’s a Thames Water press release, so I read the footnotes.
⛽ EVs have saved oil-importing countries $20bn since the Hormuz crisis began. Ember reckons electric cars have displaced around 200 million barrels of crude since March, saving China $14bn, the EU $3.1bn and the UK about $790m. 49 of the 56 countries it tracks hit a record EV share this year. The US went backwards and got overtaken by India and Brazil. Energy security used to be the argument for drilling. Now it’s the argument for EVs.
☀️ Rooftop solar reaches new highs across Australia’s grid. Rooftop panels on Australia’s main grid hit a record 17,488MW at noon on 11 October, and South Australia briefly ran on 96% renewables. That’s a peak rather than a daily total, but renewables have supplied 44% of the grid all year. Four million rooftops will do that.
📊 How does your carbon data compare against UK businesses?. Full disclosure: this one’s from my work. Zevero had Censuswide ask 502 UK business leaders about carbon data, and it turns out it now decides deals. It was needed on 40% of opportunities, yet producing a credible number takes 9.1 days on average. Five questions and you’ll know where you stand.
⚡ UK electricity demand is rising again for the first time in two decades. After twenty years of decline, UK electricity use rose 1.7% in 2025. EVs and heat pumps are the good bit. AI data centres less so, and gas still filled some of the gap. But flat demand was always the excuse not to build. That excuse has gone, so build the wind, solar and grid.
🔥 Heat pump grants face cuts as ministers search for billions to fund defence. The £7,500 Boiler Upgrade Scheme could be trimmed at the 28 October Budget to help pay for defence. The news landed, beautifully, during the UK’s first National Heat Pump Week. Anyone still saying heat pumps cost more to run should read Carbon Brief’s factcheck of the report from Dale Vince’s foundation behind those headlines. One expert called it “flimsy data”. A well-installed heat pump saves nearly £200 a year on a standard tariff, plus £130 from ditching the gas standing charge.
💭 My thoughts? Same week as the Tideway numbers, same lesson. Things get better when we pay to build them, and cutting the grant that helps people build is a good way to make sure they don’t.
🦌 North America’s largest wildlife overpass is working: animal collisions on I-25 down 91%. Ten months in, Colorado’s giant wildlife bridge over Interstate 25 has cut animal collisions by 91%, beating its own 90% target. Bears, elk, frogs and rabbits all use it, and a pronghorn crossed that road for the first time in 30 years. Even the commute got 9% quicker.
🍒 Solar panels are bringing idle cranberry bogs back to life. Two idle Massachusetts cranberry bogs are farming again, with solar panels three metres overhead paying the bills. The build took twice as long as normal, because peat is soft and cranberry vines are fussy. No yield figures yet, so I’ll reserve judgement until Christmas dinner.
That’s all from me this week folks. I’ll be in Japan for the next two weeks with work, so I may have slightly shorter blog. With that in mind, my music recommendation is Fontaines DC’s new album but mainly this song, purely for it fitting with my life.
George, the Grumpy Optimist 💚