Mike Bloomberg
6.2K posts
@BloombergME
I work on better utility regulation at The Future of Heat Initiative.
Detroit impressions: • The downtown is full of beautiful buildings. All of them seem to have been built specifically in the 1920s. I guess that is after the city had accumulated enough auto wealth but before the twin hits of Modernism and the Depression. (I hadn't known that the GM Renaissance Center, built as a revitalization project, was at the time the largest private development in US history, and also at the time the world's tallest hotel. It may be large, but it is not pretty.) The downtown is surprisingly depopulated -- both the streets and the sidewalks feel empty. That said, it didn't feel at all unsafe. There are lots of great homes in the suburbs. • The Henry Ford Museum of American Innovation is amazing, and it's worth visiting Detroit for it alone. Among many (many) other things, it contains the oldest known surviving steam engine in the world, the actual Montgomery bus on which Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat, a deconstructed Model T, a deconstructed Eames Chair, and many great cars, agricultural equipment, locomotives, industrial specimens, and more. (They have the Lincoln Continental that JFK was riding in when assassinated -- which, apparently, was returned to service and used by several subsequent presidents.) • The museum made me wonder why American car design peaked in the mid-60s. (This fact is very evident at the museum.) The LLMs blame the 1966 National Traffic and Motor Vehicle Safety Act. (Not quite wtfhappenedin1971.com, but close.) • Good food exists but it is hard to find. • The Heidelberg Project also exists and is unique. • We stayed at the Dearborn Inn, which is wonderful, and contains cottages modeled after the homes of significant American figures. Dearborn (and Hamtramck) are now predominantly Muslim, apparently for reasons that go back a century to Henry Ford's $5 wage. Dearborn felt noticeably prosperous (we stopped for coffee at a fancy Japanese cheesecake cafe); Hamtramck did not. • Michigan.gov says that the Hispanic population of Michigan is just 6%. Coming from California, the absence is very striking. • The Detroit Institute of Arts is remarkable, particularly the room with the American landscapes and the section with the Dutch masters (especially The Visitation). An obvious question is why there is nothing quite like it in the Bay Area given how much richer the latter is than Detroit ever was -- we techies are just so uncultured by comparison. The Diego Rivera murals are amazing (and quite strange; you can see why they were controversial). • Detroit is full of historic plaques -- they are truly everywhere. This is presumably due in part to the fact that Detroit has a lot of history, but it still has many more than places with comparable historical depth. Some research suggests that it might be related to generous tax credits for historic preservation. Whether or not that is true, Detroit persuades me that other places should engage in more plaquemaxxing. • I recommend a visit! You overall leave with some sense for how exciting America must have felt in the early 20th century.
Loudoun County has a steadily rising budget and falling property tax rates thanks to data center revenue. …372029.fs1.hubspotusercontent-na1.net/hubfs/23372029…
I'm no fan of DOE's FPA 202(c) orders, which are driving up customer costs for plants operators have determined are no longer needed for reliability. But when it comes to the Centralia plant in WA, I think I can forgive DOE for being confused about all the balancing authorities.
Hyperscalers hysteria has caused… Wires up 152%, transformers up 89%, switchgear up 77%, wood poles up 50% — all since 2019, against 29% CPI. Every new megawatt added to a utility now costs more than the embedded average. The math that made data centers beneficial to ratepayers has flipped.
NEW: Today, our campaign is releasing its first ad of the NY-12 primary. There’s a reason we’re feared by the powerful. I’ve spent my life fighting for progressive values, I’ve taken on Trump and won, and now I’m running for Congress to deliver for New York.
Electricity demand for appliances and electric transport is growing faster than data center electricity demand. Kinda convenient how proponents of gas stove bans and EV mandates are blaming data centers for higher energy prices, isn't it?
Electricity demand for appliances and electric transport is growing faster than data center electricity demand. Kinda convenient how proponents of gas stove bans and EV mandates are blaming data centers for higher energy prices, isn't it?
