What to do with that billion or so empty square feet of office space? Farming! From Smithsonian.

Empty Office Buildings Are Being Turned Into Vertical Farms

i was curious about the cost of mining and refining nuclear fuel. It seems like a very energy intensive process. Turns out fuel is a tiny part of the cost of nukes. The overwhelming cost is the multi-billion dollar price tag of the physical plant itself, which will only last about 30 years. All the same total cost of adding nuclear power is now about 5x the cost of renewables. This says nothing of risks and costs of storing spent fuel. I will let you do your own research. When you do Google you will get all sorts of “sponsored content” explaining the “facts” and “truth” about nuclear power. One caught me eye. I hope this is a prank. I can’t get Alexa to play the song I want to hear. I’m sure as heck ain’t gonna let AI drive my car. Let’s hope nobody lets this stuff anywhere near nuclear power.

NuclearN

From Visual Capitalist. I wonder why this happens in an otherwise free and efficient market. Maybe this is why.

Visualising One Billion Square Feet of Vacant Office Space

Needed some blocks of limestone edging for a lawn project. A 4 x 4 x 14 inch block goes for about $3.50 at Lowes. They weigh about 17 pounds. Driving home I saw a landscaping company with a big yard full of hardscaping materials. I called and they said they sold to the public and limestone goes for $350 a ton. I started to calculate cubic feet and before I got too far I realized it was easier than that. Lowes was $3.50 / 17 lbs = $0.20 per pound. The landscaping yard was $350 / 2000 lbs = $0.175 per pound. Probably just going to Lowes.

Two eclipses in Texas in the next few months. Both visible from Austin but north San Antonio is probably the best place to see both, if you had to pick a single location. We should get an 88% annular in October and a tota eclipsel in April. Funny how few people around here have heard about this. I suppose we will be hearing more about it as the time approaches. I’m have heard it may be the largest mass movement of people in history.

New NASA Map Details 2023 and 2024 Solar Eclipses in the US

Yesterday my son topped of his girlfriends car to 100% (from 10%) for $6 at a Tesla supercharger. This is in the Phoenix area. The trick is that it was done late in the evening when tiered electrical rates were low. I figure a similar gas vehicle would cost nearly 10x this price.

This brings up a point that seems to be seldom discussed. The rapid build out of renewable electricity sources such as solar and wind present some unusual opportunities. Solar in particular is being built out to supply power for air conditioning in places like Texas and Arizona. What happens to all of that electric power generating capacity in, say, winter, spring and fall? This isn’t like coal or gas fired generators that can be turned off to save costs. There is no additional cost to solar and wind once it’s installed. They just keep making electricity. What would you do with vast amounts of free electricity? Sounds far fetched? It is already starting. Europe had negative electricity prices at times last week. I don’t worry about the technology side of things, but I do worry that our existing economic structures may have trouble handlimg this sort of surplus, especially in the short term.

Power prices dip to negative in Europe amid clean energy boost

Haven’t seen this mentioned anywhere else. Would have expected outraged headlines in Texas newspapers at least. Some of these people were already making over $500k per year. But I suppose it was all done on the 4th on July for a reason. From something called RTO Insider. It doesn’t look like fake news.

Texas PUC Approves ERCOT Board’s 83.9% Pay Increase

Tip O’Neil famously remarked that all politics is local. Jonathan Levy posits that maybe all economics is local, too. A fun read on the unlikely rise of Adam Smith and Libertarianism at the University of Chicago in the middle of the last century.

The Localist

I will let you do your own research on the “flaring” or burning of natural gas by Texas Frackers. One estimate has it at more than all the natural gas used in Texas by industry and consumers. Why is this allowed to continue?

Texas Pipeline Operators Released or Flared Tons of Gas to Avert Explosions During Heatwave

Some critter has been messing around in my yard at night. Nothing too destructive, but I had to put a heavier cover on my small fish pond. Lately somebody has been popping the covers off of the pool skimmers. Decided to see who it was. Used this little wildlife camera.