Hi David, great interview! In it you said, "Today, the best thing we can do in the US is just align utility incentives in the right direction. So, two big things I would propose for utilities, and this is not a complete answer, and each of these requires a lot more explanation, but one is....cut rates of return substantially." As you implied, this is a very complex topic and it would be great to dedicate an entire podcast to it. given its importance. Perhaps consider interviewing the authors of the Energy Institute at Haas (Berkeley) recent report "Rate of Return Regulation Revisited" (https://haas.berkeley.edu/wp-content/uploads/WP329.pdf). Another resource is Mark Ellis, author of "Rate of Return Equals Cost of Capital: A Simple, Fair Formula for To Stop Investor Owned Utilities from Overcharging the Public" https://www.economicliberties.us/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/20250102-aelp-ror-v5.pdf
Good regulators are looking for evidence-based reasons to lower rates of return and a podcast on this topic could be very helpful. Thanks for considering!
Lovely Dave! I keep trying my Barstool Solar thing; I am nothing but enthusiastic and entertaining. At least the first. But OMG, everybody, at least those under 30 in CO, hates "industrial solar" as much as they hate wind. Either it's too woke or not crunchy enough.
And "abundance?" At a little enviro conclave, I said I thought we could find 300 sq mi for solar in CO's 100,000, then some gal almost spat in my face and stomped away sputtering "Not this abundance crap..."
At this little meeting, featuring some folks from a national climate-focused group, their conclusion/advice was that "climate" was not a winning issue anymore and they were going to focus on "pollution," which I think means back to objecting to "point source" kinda stuff. There is a new cry about "pollution crisis," but being an old dude, I can testify that regs and bans and mandates starting in the '60s worked and there is way less point source or mobile source crap in the air and water.
Oh yeah, you said you like cool new electrification concepts but since you hang with the Canary folks you've probably seen that big bucks are flowing to this Boulder CO company from the likes of Rio Tinto!: https://www.canarymedia.com/articles/green-steel/electra-clean-iron-investment-electrowinning (To me, their potentially winning innovation is that their electric iron-steel process is relatively low CapEx and so can turn off when VRE is low, back on when VRE is abundant. ? is, what is the MWh/ton or whatever the metric against other "green steel" would be?)
And though the content is behind a paywall, gotta love the headline from the UK/EU reaction to some Trump DOE goon repeating their jive anti-offshore wind jive, etc.
I wish there were more on actual ways people, other than huge corporations, could help to realize the grid, not as in generation, but in connection. Brett Stephens in THE PRICE IS WRONG discusses how prices are set for electricity, and how that keeps banks and others from financing the infrastructure to get generated energy to where it is needed. But try to buy a green bond that would help finance the grid work that banks won't support, unless these grids are supported by a long-term contract from one of those mega corporate entities.
Great episode. I learned a lot.
Hi David, great interview! In it you said, "Today, the best thing we can do in the US is just align utility incentives in the right direction. So, two big things I would propose for utilities, and this is not a complete answer, and each of these requires a lot more explanation, but one is....cut rates of return substantially." As you implied, this is a very complex topic and it would be great to dedicate an entire podcast to it. given its importance. Perhaps consider interviewing the authors of the Energy Institute at Haas (Berkeley) recent report "Rate of Return Regulation Revisited" (https://haas.berkeley.edu/wp-content/uploads/WP329.pdf). Another resource is Mark Ellis, author of "Rate of Return Equals Cost of Capital: A Simple, Fair Formula for To Stop Investor Owned Utilities from Overcharging the Public" https://www.economicliberties.us/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/20250102-aelp-ror-v5.pdf
Good regulators are looking for evidence-based reasons to lower rates of return and a podcast on this topic could be very helpful. Thanks for considering!
Lovely Dave! I keep trying my Barstool Solar thing; I am nothing but enthusiastic and entertaining. At least the first. But OMG, everybody, at least those under 30 in CO, hates "industrial solar" as much as they hate wind. Either it's too woke or not crunchy enough.
And "abundance?" At a little enviro conclave, I said I thought we could find 300 sq mi for solar in CO's 100,000, then some gal almost spat in my face and stomped away sputtering "Not this abundance crap..."
At this little meeting, featuring some folks from a national climate-focused group, their conclusion/advice was that "climate" was not a winning issue anymore and they were going to focus on "pollution," which I think means back to objecting to "point source" kinda stuff. There is a new cry about "pollution crisis," but being an old dude, I can testify that regs and bans and mandates starting in the '60s worked and there is way less point source or mobile source crap in the air and water.
Gotta promote Volts.wtf!
https://yaleclimateconnections.org/2025/04/eight-of-the-top-10-online-shows-are-spreading-climate-misinformation/
Oh yeah, you said you like cool new electrification concepts but since you hang with the Canary folks you've probably seen that big bucks are flowing to this Boulder CO company from the likes of Rio Tinto!: https://www.canarymedia.com/articles/green-steel/electra-clean-iron-investment-electrowinning (To me, their potentially winning innovation is that their electric iron-steel process is relatively low CapEx and so can turn off when VRE is low, back on when VRE is abundant. ? is, what is the MWh/ton or whatever the metric against other "green steel" would be?)
And though the content is behind a paywall, gotta love the headline from the UK/EU reaction to some Trump DOE goon repeating their jive anti-offshore wind jive, etc.
https://www.rechargenews.com/policy/trump-officials-renewables-attack-greeted-like-fart-in-a-phone-box-at-energy-security-summit/2-1-1810736
I wish there were more on actual ways people, other than huge corporations, could help to realize the grid, not as in generation, but in connection. Brett Stephens in THE PRICE IS WRONG discusses how prices are set for electricity, and how that keeps banks and others from financing the infrastructure to get generated energy to where it is needed. But try to buy a green bond that would help finance the grid work that banks won't support, unless these grids are supported by a long-term contract from one of those mega corporate entities.