Eugene

2026

The dumbest person you know is being told 'you are absolutely right' by some LLM right now.

$33B / 9.2 GW = $3620 / kW Dang. energy.gov/articles/fact-…

@ericmd83 👀👀👀

🤯 emojitimeline.com

the new ferrari interior design by jony ive and lovefrom is absolutely stunning *this* is what an apple car could've looked like

I don't know what is customary, but I'm that guy that will say "happy 2026" until at least February.

@RetentionAdam Well said. Reminds me of visualizevalue.com/blogs/visuals/…

I found a letter I wrote to myself in May 2016. 9 years later, it breaks my heart to read it. I wrote down exactly what I wanted: $25M ARR, lean team, freedom, and the lie I couldn’t afford while stuck at $2.5M. August 2025 is when I hit it. Everything came true. But it took 4 years of hopelessness after writing that letter for something to finally work. Not in 2017 after the first failed swing. Not in 2018 after the second. Not even in early 2019. November 2019 is when I started GetEmails(.)com, now known as Retention(.)com. That was the thing that finally worked. The version of me who lived through those years had no idea he’d make it. If you're stuck right now, you might be on day 450 with no idea if you have 1 year left or 6. That uncertainty makes it 10x harder. But the guy who wrote that letter in 2016 had no idea November 2019 was coming. He just kept going.

Cyber week has turned into Unsubscribe week. I don't need 3 emails a day to get 20% off.

@duncancampbell @apoorv_bh89 Jealous

hung out with @apoorv_bh89 for like 7 hours last night. pretty sure we solved the grid. wire us a couple billion and we’ll take care of the rest.

@duncancampbell Not at all legal. Tons of private wires precedent all over the country. The 200IQ move may be that a lawsuit would take too long.

Is this right? Can you legally run an off-grid private power line across state lines from your power plant to your load?

@tylerhnorris If this is true, the case for VPPs just gets stronger.

One of the biggest puzzles I’ve run into in the data center world: why is there widespread perception that data centers operate 24/7/365 at near-maximum demand, when their actual utilization appears significantly lower? I spoke about this yesterday with state energy officials and regulators on a NASEO-@NARUC webinar, noting how this perception of constant, peak operation can drive consequential utility planning and regulatory decisions. But the limited available data we have suggests many data centers appear to operate closer to 50% capacity utilization rate - a far cry from the 90-100% figures we often hear. This gap stems in part from conflating key metrics, especially "load factor" vs. "capacity utilization." It also reflects real-world constraints: inconsistent workloads, overbuilt redundancy, hardware maintenance, and the fact that chips rarely run anywhere near their nameplate power. Why does this matter? Because planning for near-constant peak demand can lead to overbuilding the power system, potentially locking in unnecessary costs and misallocating scarce utility resources. I break this down in my latest piece, along with why greater transparency and better data are important for aligning data center growth with responsible power system planning.

@kyle__cb This may not be a surprise, but I’ve lived this too: > Policy is not the answer to climate change, we must innovate our way out

Did some reflecting on July 4th >be me, upper-middle-class childhood in suburban Utah >parents in medicine, grandfather/relatives in military >lived near Hill Air Force Base, saw service planes and airshows all the time >grew up on Lord of the Rings and Star Wars, believed in clear lines between good and evil >became obsessed with WWII, saw USA as undeniable global force for good, defeated fascism, stopped the Holocaust >We have duty to spread democracy to the rest of the world >Got to college, took foreign policy history classes and political philosophy >Studied abroad in the Global South, began travelling the world >Trump elected >Why did we meddle in Iraq? >What is the petrodollar system? >We bombed civilians in WWII? >The CIA overthrows governments we don't like and installs repressive dictators? >Is the US just another pernicious empire that says it isn't an empire? >Turn on USA, become isolationist, lose faith in gov >USA filled with fat uncultured slobs >Read Rand > Low-key hope to see USA downsize dramatically in spending and presence on world stage >Withdraw from following politics, become cynical >Policy is not the answer to climate change, we must innovate our way out >Began working in energy tech >Met tons of hardworking immigrant employees + founders coming to the US to start businesses >Educate on history of tech in USA and public-private partnerships >After building, gain newfound appreciation for difficulty of things like Apollo Program and Manhattan Project >Continued travelling the world, although saw through different lens >Vietnam hates China more than us? >The world still sees USA as land of opportunity? >Everyone is using iphones and USA tech? >Soften views on home country, appreciate the idealism and individualism >This unique American culture is what makes us global leader in tech, film, music >Newfound appreciation for jeans, BBQ, Americana, diversity, hardworking >Cousin joins Air Force >Societies operate in gray areas between good and evil but doesn't mean we don't have agency to determine good outcomes >Every country has its trade-offs but there is no country I'd rather live with the flaws than the US of A

@duncancampbell Damn you're out of early birds within 10 days?!

DERVOS event page is live! We’re going put on a helluva show this year. Limited early bird tickets available before full day details are announced.

The renewable-energy / cleantech / climatetech / whatever-name-comes-next industry is taking punches right now. It hurts. Policy rollbacks, tariffs, outright hostility from the administration. For the many people that joined the industry in the last five years - please know this is not new. It's happened before, and it always feels existential when it is happening. But, I have *never* been more bullish on renewable energy in the 25 yrs I've been involved, because the fundamental economics are so freaking SOLID for solar, wind & batteries. They are the cheapest and - perhaps most importantly - the fastest source of new power generation you can build, with or without tax credits. And they have been the dominant new power source for the *entire world* for the past several years, and will be for the next several. Everywhere in the world - not just the US. The US may take a step back and cede energy dominance to China (although I'm not yet convinced - I believe there is a grand bargain involving nuclear & gas to be had), but the world is most definitely not stepping back. I'm not going anywhere. I'm doubling down.

If they made this into an infinitely generative podcast people would be ensnared forever 😂

Microsoft Word... why do you track format changes by default? Who in the world is reviewing documents for changes in indentation?

The world is not “going to shit.” We live in the best time in human history by most measures.

@mission_data @duncancampbell 100% agree here. There's no benefit to creative data strategies.

@duncancampbell So true, especially with data standards. More on that coming soon!

Power is tough. No doubt about it. But I think our industry underweights the negative stimulus on innovation caused by hyper complexity. Every time a utility, state, ISO does something unique, it fragments the market and makes it tougher to digest for new entrants.

@duncancampbell A hundred thousand percent true. But is it avoidable? Can a mix of - regulators (ie, local politicians), - utility owners (a mix of small/local and large publicly-traded), and - customers with various political and economic interests themselves all think more alike?