Top all-time · #3830
Michael Thomas
Personal blog · distilled.eartheconomicssciencepolitics
Michael Thomas writes Distilled, a personal blog at distilled.earth about economics, science and politics. Since 2022, 19 different Hacker News readers have linked it 26 times, most often “The Loophole That Made Cars in America So Big”. It is still writing: the last post was on 2026-10-29, and you can follow it by feed.
Too few sampled comments (9) to say how often HN recommends it.?
Why HN links it
HN readers link this blog for pieces on car-oriented city design, parking policy, and vehicle size, such as the "SUV loophole" and Paris removing on-street parking. Commenters cite its posts as sources.
Summarised by Claude from a sample of 9 HN comments that link here. Each comment is marked recommending, critical or neutral (citing without judging); how this works.
Visual stories to help you understand the world.
Most-linked posts?
- The Loophole That Made Cars in America So Big3 people · 4 mentions · first linked 2023-04-22
- Building a city optimized for bikes is a choice3 people · 3 mentions · first linked 2023-03-10
- Data Centers Are Getting Big2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2025-10-20
- How Paris Is Taking Back Its Streets from Cars2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2023-04-28
- A Man Trying to Kill America's Offshore Wind Industry (2023)2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2023-04-29
What Hacker News says?
> Were they designed intentionally as such or this that an outcome of history? Oh, it's definitely intentional. Sure, pre-industrial cities had narrow streets that were poorly suited for car traffic, so you could say that walkable cities were technically the default. But a lot of those European cities were intentionally changed towards car transportation in the middle of the 20th century, when cars became widespread…
Comment linking /p/how-the-netherlands-built-a-biking
on “If we want a shift to walking, we need to prioritize dignity”Submitted “I measured the pollution from my gas stove. It was bad.” as a story · 69 points
HN discussionIn the post-WW2 era up to the 70's. The 70's are when there was a big movement that initiated the social change back to being more walk/bike-friendly (though it took decades to get Dutch cities to where they are now): https://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Transportation_Planning_Casebo... You can find pics of what it was like in their cities. Not exactly the same as US ones necessarily, but close. There's a couple pics here…
Comment linking /p/how-the-netherlands-built-a-biking
on “In Praise of 5-Over-1 Buildings (2019)”Submitted Heat pumps outsold gas furnaces in 2023 as a story · 38 points
HN discussion> Meanwhile, everyone knows that these giant trucks and SUVs are killing people, but we do basically nothing. Too much money is tied up to giant trucks and SUVs being the norm. These vehicles only came into widespread existence due to the infamous "SUV loophole" [1], accelerated by them being much more profitable for manufacturers as there was (and is) far less competition in the truck/SUV space from non-American ma…
Comment linking /p/the-loophole-that-made-cars-in-america
on “75% More Pedestrians Have Been Killed Since 2009. Giant Trucks and SUVs Are Why”Submitted Data Centers Are Getting Big as a story · 26 points
HN discussionDepends where and when you are. The current mayor of Paris has found substantial political support for her urbanist post-car policies including a commitment to remove 72% of on-street parking spaces: https://www.distilled.earth/p/how-paris-is-taking-back-its-s... There's a 'critical mass' aspect to this where if enough incentives to a car-free (or car-light) lifestyle are provided within a certain area, public suppo…
Comment linking /p/how-paris-is-taking-back-its-streets
on “Why “free” street parking could be costing you hundreds more in rent”Submitted A Fossil Fuel Economy Requires 535x More Mining Than a Clean Energy Economy as a story · 24 points
HN discussion1786171869 | Amazon behind private gas plant for new data centers | https://finance.yahoo.com/energy/articles/amazon-behind-mass... | https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49219445 1786121329 | Scoop: Amazon Is Behind One of the Largest Planned Gas Power Plants in the US | https://www.distilled.earth/p/scoop-amazon-is-behind-one-of-... 1786014051 | AWS eyes potential data center development at 4.5GW natural gas plant…
Comment linking /p/scoop-amazon-is-behind-one-of-the
on “New Amazon Data Center Is Set to Have the Most Polluting Power Plant in the U.S.”Submitted The Loophole That Made Cars in America So Big as a story · 17 points
HN discussionBig Oil funded 100s of astroturf groups to oppose every single offshore wind project. Here's the receipts: https://www.distilled.earth/p/the-man-trying-to-kill-america... Just one example of 1,000s. Every single facet of every single effort faces this kind of manufactured opposition. Throw a rock in any direction and you'll hit one.
Comment linking /p/the-man-trying-to-kill-americas-offshore
on “An Ominous Heating Event Is Unfolding in the Oceans”Submitted How Paris Is Taking Back Its Streets from Cars as a story · 15 points
HN discussion> I still would place money on most of the change has been about car size (sedan -> SUV) vs car type (ICE -> EV). And you'd win - the reasoning is known as "SUV loophole" [1]. [1] https://www.distilled.earth/p/the-loophole-that-made-cars-in...
Comment linking /p/the-loophole-that-made-cars-in-america
on “As EV sales surge and cars get heavier, parking garages will have to change”Submitted How Meat and Fossil Fuel Producers Watered Down the Latest IPCC Report as a story · 9 points
HN discussionOr, maybe people think they love this stuff, because the manufacturers told them to? The large SUV example being on your list was pretty telling... https://www.distilled.earth/p/the-loophole-that-made-cars-in...
Comment linking /p/the-loophole-that-made-cars-in-america
on “When was '2 weeks ago' and did it come before or after '2 weeks ago'?”Submitted A Man Trying to Kill America's Offshore Wind Industry (2023) as a story · 6 points
HN discussionAuthoritarian? Our society is already far from perfect. IPCC: We must change food production to save the world, says leaked report. Cutting carbon from transport and energy ‘not enough’ IPCC finds. Among the measures put forward by the report is the proposal of a major shift towards vegetarian and vegan diets. https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/aug/03/ipcc-lan... IPCC: Slashing Emissions From Meat Crucial…
Comment linking /p/how-meat-and-fossil-fuel-producers
on a deleted threadSubmitted Why Wind Energy Is in a State of Crisis as a story · 5 points
HN discussionSubmitted Building a city optimized for bikes is a choice as a story · 5 points
HN discussionSubmitted America Isn't Pivoting to Natural Gas as a story · 4 points
HN discussionSubmitted America Is Finally Building a Nationwide EV Charging Network as a story · 2 points
HN discussionSubmitted Why Rooftop Solar Is So Much Cheaper in Australia Than America as a story · 2 points
HN discussionSubmitted 90% of Homes in Israel Have a Solar Water Heater. In the US It’s 1% as a story · 2 points
HN discussionSubmitted Data Centers Are Getting Big as a story · 1 points
HN discussionSubmitted Biden Keeps Passing Smart Climate Policies as a story · 1 points
HN discussionSubmitted The Most Hopeful Climate Stories of the Year as a story · 1 points
HN discussion
