Japanese expensive?

the digital leicas are also my dream but will probably remain forever a step too far for me, i fear

Yes, this is where I wound up too on JPEG vs RAW. Even with film (where I do most of my shooting… speaking of expensive!) I drag my feet on processing for so long that I never do it

In fact I was kinda eyeing the Zf. you like it?

xactly. broadly i agree new marginal CCGT project probably costlier than new marginal PV+BESS project, but we’re building so little new PV+BESS in the NE—and BESS bans are getting worse fast—*and* NYC’s grid zone is so transmission constrained—that idk how it washes out costwise in e.g. lower NYS

to look for ~consensus here i’d observe only that Q of “what is cheapest new marginal capacity nationally” is different than the Q “do RGGI or RPSes affect power prices” is different than the Q “what is cheapest new marginal capacity *in the NE,* given severe transmission + permitting constraints”

(to be clear, though, the new solar construction is good news)

It’s true, but the coal plants often run when uneconomic and Chinese solar has a lower capacity factor than US solar. This is part of what the ongoing power market reforms are about, but efforts to improve dispatch can run aground on local officials’ corrupt decision-making

What’s tricky about China’s fast-paced electrification is it can be seen partly as a switch from liquid fuels, which remain a strategic weak point for China. The growing Chinese grid is a counterintuitive mix of subsidized coal + subsidized solar+batteries, all of which China has in secure supply

We really don’t know what coal’s future looks like — China is building huge amounts of new coal capacity and has shored up coal’s position in their grid over the past few years, but there are grid market reforms coming that could reduce coal’s importance. Useful piece: heatmap.news/ideas/china-...

We may have discussed this at the time but roughly 2 years ago I learned that I had been assiduously treating Virginia Woolf and Gertrude Stein as the same person for my entire life

All that stuff about centralization of process and getting rid of dissent — is there as much overlap as it looks like there is?

Putting the bit in obit