Evan Halper

Woot, woot. Started today at @washingtonpost, where I'll be untangling the energy transition. Energy and climate wonks, pols, innovators, etc: find me at evan.halper@washpost.com.

i estimate the chance of the national average reaching $4/gal in the next month is now 80%

This would be significantly higher than oil ever reached during the Biden era, when prices at the pump soared to $5.

MAGA is learning to love solar -- as the right's anti-solar crusade is making utility bills higher, giving China an advantage in the AI race, and fueling U.S. dependence on imported energy. Key MAGA voices urged a pivot. It is happening. washingtonpost.com/business/2026/…

One immediate impact of #Iran strikes: higher oil prices, falling stock markets, @evanhalper and @rachsieg The question is whether these developments, which will intensify the affordability crunch, will last washingtonpost.com/business/2026/…

Silicon Valley’s energy appetite is so insatiable that it is now trying to build a colossal shadow power grid for itself nationwide. But will it work? Said @JigarShahDC : “This whole thing feels like a fairy tale concocted on the back of a napkin.” washingtonpost.com/business/2026/…

After thousands of stories, this is the last piece I'll ever write in the @washingtonpost. It's about Iceland, looking at the planet's future, seeing an existential threat. wapo.st/4rFJRQs

It takes all of us to make The Washington Post. Every section works together to create this authoritative, entertaining, worldwide news report. So, @JeffBezos: #SaveThePost.

The Metro staff has always been the @washingtonpost's first line of defense when news breaks in our backyard. Jan. 6, 2021? We risked our safety as rioters chased and chanted "traitors get the rope." That reporting helped win the Pulitzer Prize for Public Service. #SaveThePost

For nearly a century, @washingtonpost foreign correspondents have been on the frontlines of wars, pandemics, economic crises, civil uprisings and so much more. Washington needs us. The world needs us. If you read us and need us, please watch and share. @JeffBezos #SaveThePost

The @washingtonpost unflinchingly follows the story wherever it leads. In this case, 3 continents. Few institutions can bring the public the kind of accountability reporting The Post does every day. Please don’t gut our newsroom @jeffbezos #SaveThePost washingtonpost.com/business/2026/…

NEW: The two companies the Trump administration has awarded secretive contracts to in order to sell Venezuelan oil have a history of bribery and corruption, reports @evanhalper and @Anthony_Faiola washingtonpost.com/business/2026/…

“I don’t care how much chocolate icing you put on a dog turd, it don’t make it chocolate cake. They are trying to fluff this data center thing up and say, ‘Man, eat this birthday cake.’” washingtonpost.com/business/2026/…

So many ironies. NYT, WaPo (and NPR and others) gave up Pentagon passes rather than sign a restrictive media policy that cast them as a security threat. It didn’t stop them from learning critical information, which they handled responsibly as they so often have.

Trump has grand visions of how oil production in Venezuela could soar now that he's ousted Maduro. @evanhalper and @PeterWhoriskey break down what could really happen #madurocaptured washingtonpost.com/business/2026/…

Last month, after I wrote my story about giga-scale data centers, two journalists at The Washington Post reached out to use Cleanview's data for one of their stories. Their piece just came out and it's a great read. Using our data, and a few other sources, @evanhalper and @niko_tinius found that the average planned data center is expected to be 10x larger than current operating ones. Yesterday's data centers used as much power as a small town. Today's are expected to use as much as a city with 500,000 people. But the largest ones could use as much power as Philadelphia (population: 5.7m). These data centers come with important consequences. As Evan and Niko write: "Such facilities will create a major climate challenge. By the mid 2030s, forecasts show the world’s data centers could drive as much carbon pollution as the New York, Chicago and Houston metro areas combined." @evanhalper and @niko_tinius consistently publish awesome work. To read more of their work, subscribe to The Washington Post's Climate Lab and give them a follow here on X.

Soaring electricity bills could be the sleeper campaign issue of 2025. As costs continue to grow, voters are turning their ire toward politicians, shaking up this year’s governors races, by @evanhalper washingtonpost.com/business/2025/…

Trump’s crusade against wind power is throwing an industry into turmoil. The president’s actions to stop work at offshore energy projects in New England and Maryland threaten higher bills and power shortages, by @evanhalper washingtonpost.com/climate-enviro…

Republicans are on the verge of gutting federal incentives to build wind and solar energy projects, report @evanhalper and @shannonosaka washingtonpost.com/climate-enviro…

SCOOP: Rick Perry's group files w/ NRC to build world’s largest data center campus, including 4 new AP1000 nuclear reactors in TX. With perhaps a dose of flattery. The proposed name in the filing? Donald. J. Trump Advanced Energy and Intelligence Campus. wapo.st/4458IEB

The dead pigs in this truck we witnessed at one of the Missouri factory farms subsidized by California didn’t survive in cramped captivity long enough to make it to the slaughterhouse. @washingtonpost.com

“This should be embarrassing for the state of California,” said Scott Dye, whose farm sits near hog barns in Missouri operated by Smithfield. “It is rewarding companies that have a decades-long record of creating havoc on the environment here.”

Smithfield Foods was drowning in pig manure. How a Calif program turned the problem into a cash cow — generating millions for climate gains many scientists say are dubious. A deep dive into the opaque, secretive world of factory farm carbon credits. wapo.st/42k8OXX