December 23, 2024
AI Tutors: Hype or Hope for Education?
his thought-provoking book, Brave New Words, Sal Khan discusses his early experimentation with generative AI, or GenAI, models and how, over time, they might change education. If AI is a new frontier, Brave New Words reads much like the field notes of an explorer documenting his experiences and trying to make sense of what they mean for teaching…
December 23, 2024
Big Tech’s Data Centers Won’t Get Far Unless the Power Grid Is Regulated Less
The United States holds a commanding lead in data-center capacity, hosting 37% of the world’s facilities, and being home to the largest data center providers — Amazon.com, Microsoft, and Alphabet. These data centers are more than just infrastructure; they are the backbone of artificial intelligence (AI), driving innovations from personalized healthcare to automated supply chains. They are…
December 20, 2024
What’s Next After Court Upholds TikTok Ban
Last week, the US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit upheld the TikTok divest-or-ban bill against a constitutional challenge. The result was unsurprising given how poorly TikTok fared at September’s oral argument. The decision itself contains many intriguing legal insights at the nexus of national security and free speech. This post examines the court’s…
December 20, 2024
Did the Courts Just Nuke Environmental Review?
Description AEI fellows James W. Coleman and Adam J. White join Santi Ruiz of the Institute for Progress and Nicholas Bagley of the University of Michigan Law School to discuss two court cases that could have huge ramifications for how we build things in America.
December 19, 2024
Economics of Grid Defection III
The discussion of grid defection has reemerged with the changes in the technical capabilities of distributed resources, the growth of data center demand, and questions about whether utilities are up to the task of being nimble enough to adapt to these fast-changing circumstances. In parts I and II of this series I discussed the 2014…
December 17, 2024
Economics of Grid Defection II
Last week I wrote about the grid defection discussion circa 2014, motivated by Elisa Wood’s webinar with Seyyed Ali Sadat and Joshua Pearce of Western Ontario University on their new paper in Solar Energy. Let’s pick up the story from 2014 and discuss the research leading up to their paper. Evolution of the Research In the ensuing…
December 12, 2024
Economics of Grid Defection I
Yesterday Elisa Wood hosted a webinar with Seyyed Ali Sadat and Joshua Pearce of Western Ontario University, who have a new paper: The threat of economic grid defection in the US with solar photovoltaic, battery and generator hybrid systems(Solar Energy, November 2024). Grid defection occurs when electricity customers generate and store enough power locally to become fully self-sufficient…
December 6, 2024
Recombinant Modularity and Technological Change
In the past couple of weeks I’ve read two things I want to recommend that are actually deeply related. The first is Brian Potter’s excellent history of technology analysis of the evolution of the lithium ion battery. Brian’s Construction Physics newsletter is a consistently excellent treasure trove of analysis, from his series on the history of the electricity…
December 3, 2024
Message from Voters: Remove Politicized Constraints on Fossil Energy Production
On Election Day, voters delivered at least one clear message: Remove the policy roadblocks standing in the way of greater fossil energy production, American oil and natural gas in particular. The reason is obvious: The efficient production of more fossil energy yields huge economic benefits for millions of working Americans and for the productivity of…
December 2, 2024
The MAGA Science Agenda Reveals America’s Future
The leader of the Republican Party and our country’s next president has tapped a pro-choice scion of the country’s most famous Democratic dynasty to lead the Department of Health and Human Services. In keeping with the bewildering dynamics of today’s negative partisanship, conservative groups such as the Heritage Foundation have cheered the selection of Robert F. Kennedy Jr., while liberals have…