Tweets for the Week of 2017-04-16 to 2017-04-22

To me this headline reads: We believe it is more important that our cities work for cars than for children. https://t.co/YsddwzVboC 10:07:59, 2017-04-22
Where are all our female futures? https://t.co/borAcCiHum 09:53:11, 2017-04-22
RT @EricHolthaus: On Friday, for the first time since the dawn of the Industrial Revolution, Britain's power was entirely coal-free.
https:… 22:10:36, 2017-04-21
@LivableBoulder @bolderbekah @ericmbudd Do you know roughly when they were built? in reply to LivableBoulder 08:13:37, 2017-04-21
@Sammy_Roth Maybe even for real just a little bit. A way to buy out uneconomic coal plants in CO and elsewhere: https://t.co/xpDrXgAfse in reply to ZaneSelvans 23:35:40, 2017-04-20
@Sammy_Roth WE ARE WINNING in reply to Sammy_Roth 23:33:56, 2017-04-20
Running a practice co-op board election tonight with @opavote, using the Scottish Single Transferrable Vote method: https://t.co/AOhxjZZlNw 23:10:47, 2017-04-20
RT @xkcdComic: Survivorship Bias https://t.co/wS1giIdYj8 https://t.co/H4Xu1vixxj https://t.co/A1lMkt8jHg 22:49:13, 2017-04-20
@clacky007 These are gorgeous, what software are you using to make them? in reply to clacky007 22:45:53, 2017-04-20
And if you wait until after @alex_burness’ filing deadline, you can watch the hearing at 1.5x speed here:… https://t.co/vDk5GVAKy5 21:37:26, 2017-04-20
RT @Noahpinion: The Elon Musk Future is the good future.
The Peter Thiel Future is the bad future.
But honestly you'll probably get the Jef… 20:33:05, 2017-04-20
@LivableBoulder @bolderbekah @ericmbudd How much is that condo worth now? in reply to LivableBoulder 19:09:36, 2017-04-20
RT @CatalystCoop: .@greentechmedia writeup of @MoodysInvSvc report on new wind undercutting coal’s operating costs across the midwest: http… 19:08:22, 2017-04-20
@jrwiener_1980 @ntnsndr @rmeocenter Link to the audio? in reply to jrwiener_1980 15:13:36, 2017-04-20
@andyschult @cmgosnell I don’t think I can talk about this in public 🙂 in reply to andyschult 15:08:22, 2017-04-20
@andyschult @cmgosnell Not guaranteed by govt., but enabling legislation makes ratepayer backing very durable. Mode… https://t.co/XBDfVdRe8N in reply to andyschult 14:20:40, 2017-04-20
.@cmgosnell The full bill language, in 43 pages of wonktastic legislative sausage glory: https://t.co/Fc0VLs1NPF in reply to ZaneSelvans 14:04:20, 2017-04-20
@ericmbudd @bolderbekah That diagram does make it look like car housing. in reply to ericmbudd 13:58:53, 2017-04-20
So here’s what @cmgosnell & I have been working on in the background for months. Finally going public. We’ll see wh… https://t.co/WuQNJSeSJG 13:56:45, 2017-04-20
@ericmbudd Behind the @coburndev offices? Will there be a direct connection to the path? @BoulderHousing near there… https://t.co/o2E4szY1nw in reply to ericmbudd 12:25:53, 2017-04-20
A captious economist planned
To live w/o access to land.
They nearly succeeded
But found that they needed
Food, water, & somewhere to stand… 09:33:52, 2017-04-20
@alexbaca What does that even mean? in reply to alexbaca 08:39:53, 2017-04-20
@bolderbekah But they're going hiking. H. I. K. I. N. G. in reply to bolderbekah 22:49:03, 2017-04-19
It's remarkable that this same publication just hired a climate denier for their opinion pages. How does that happ… https://t.co/yBOO0a9LOK 22:28:50, 2017-04-19
RT @Noahpinion: 1/This @tylercowen post on falling confidence in liberalism deserves a lot of attention and thought: https://t.co/10utSNIoLx 22:17:22, 2017-04-18
RT @nils_gilman: @profdave @rodrikdani @FareedZakaria History's arrow has no direction. All things come to an end—including the global age… 22:05:51, 2017-04-18
RT @DanKeshet: Until I was 12, I lived in a stacked duplex. Or as we called it, a "house." 22:03:47, 2017-04-18
Pleasantly surprised. https://t.co/AdbklaPgp7 22:27:51, 2017-04-17
Confused why some folks are concerned about risk of muni costing more than $214M. If it does, we'd need to go back to the voters. 22:25:35, 2017-04-17
@Elaine @alex_burness Me tooooo! This is the right amount of council tweets. in reply to Elaine 20:45:07, 2017-04-17
I'm starting to think that #BoulderCouncil might actually end up deliberating tonight. 20:41:15, 2017-04-17
@ericmbudd @markgelband Right after @SteveFenberg in reply to ericmbudd 20:35:44, 2017-04-17
@Flattop8 I imagine so, but we'd still be stuck paying Xcel’s retail rates. How can we capture the lower and more stable energy costs? in reply to Flattop8 19:58:34, 2017-04-17
@Flattop8 In theory yes, but Colorado's regulatory environment would make it very expensive. in reply to Flattop8 18:32:43, 2017-04-17
It's going to be a a long night. And a long century. https://t.co/heLndfzZHN 17:48:33, 2017-04-17
@Robotbeat It would be so nice if the billionaire rancher dude in SLV would allow transmission to be built. But, views. in reply to Robotbeat 12:18:51, 2017-04-17
@Robotbeat Colorado is about as easy as it gets for renewables. Sunny, windy, sparsely populated. But we have no wa… https://t.co/QokcTPnlwy in reply to Robotbeat 12:01:55, 2017-04-17
@Robotbeat Well yeah it does. Which is why Boulder is in this whole fight to break free from the monopoly. 🙂 in reply to Robotbeat 11:51:40, 2017-04-17
@Robotbeat Not clear we can avoid fuel costs either. Windsource initially reduced customer fuel exposure but it was… https://t.co/zeF926Njhh in reply to Robotbeat 11:47:19, 2017-04-17
@Robotbeat But nonetheless awesome to see the costs have gotten that low! in reply to Robotbeat 11:37:18, 2017-04-17
@Robotbeat My guess is that the regulatory uncertainty about what kind of avoided costs we’d get is bigger than the financial variables. in reply to Robotbeat 11:33:48, 2017-04-17
@Robotbeat Wouldn’t this depend on whether it was enterprise or general obligation bonds? I.e. whether utility rate… https://t.co/qcPd2A8oJC in reply to Robotbeat 11:33:00, 2017-04-17
@mackaymiller Not sure — the 1TWh estimate was from their relatively abbreviated presentation at the Muni study ses… https://t.co/nPguKuEgQE in reply to mackaymiller 11:29:53, 2017-04-17
@goffmania If we’re barred from cost-effectively creating our own utility, options w/ Xcel are expensive. We would… https://t.co/hd5az46SR5 in reply to goffmania 11:29:21, 2017-04-17
And all the while, we'd still be on the hook for the substantial, volatile per kWh fuel costs which are embedded within Xcel’s rates. 12/ in reply to ZaneSelvans 10:55:07, 2017-04-17
Even if we're willing to pay the diff. between avoided cost & retail rates, given project scale, Xcel/PUC might change avoided costs. 11/ in reply to ZaneSelvans 10:54:03, 2017-04-17
Also, what counts as a “qualifying facility” they’d have to accept power from is up to the state. We’d need several smaller projects. 10/ in reply to ZaneSelvans 10:48:05, 2017-04-17
Instead, we’d continue paying retail rates, and Xcel would pay us their “avoided costs” which are low and not set transparently in CO. 9/ in reply to ZaneSelvans 10:44:44, 2017-04-17
But even if we build or contract for this renewable energy & Xcel were required to buy it under federal law, we won’t see those prices. 8/ in reply to ZaneSelvans 10:43:44, 2017-04-17
Wind is far cheaper currently. PPAs for <$25/MWh are common on the high plains. 1TWh/yr is 1,000,000 MWh/yr. At $25/MWh that’s $25M/yr. 7/ in reply to ZaneSelvans 10:37:07, 2017-04-17
If we could build 500MW of solar PV at $2/Watt installed, it would cost $1B. Bonding $1B at 4.5% would mean paying ~$75M/yr. 6/ in reply to ZaneSelvans 10:32:43, 2017-04-17
A solar installation generating 1TWh of electricity annually would fill about 4.5 square miles. Around 1/5th the city’s total land area. in reply to ZaneSelvans 10:28:53, 2017-04-17
That’s equivalent to the power of a typical household rooftop solar installation, but for every individual resident of Boulder. 4/ in reply to ZaneSelvans 10:19:25, 2017-04-17
Given capacity factors of between 25% and 40% for solar & wind, and 8760hrs/yr, we’d need 300-500MW of new installed renewable capacity. 3/ in reply to ZaneSelvans 10:18:30, 2017-04-17
The city estimates about a 1 TWh annual carbon-free electricity shortfall if we renew our franchise. That’s a billion kWh/year. 2/ in reply to ZaneSelvans 10:13:25, 2017-04-17
Here’s a thread calculating roughly what it would take to satisfy Boulder’s 2030 goal of carbon-free electricity supply if we stay w/ Xcel. 10:11:15, 2017-04-17
@erinoverturf I found the concise re-framing of the economic arguments (discounting, risk, monetization, qualitativ… https://t.co/KvuvVWQBPn in reply to ZaneSelvans 09:39:31, 2017-04-17
@erinoverturf It’s good, but I think it could have been a 14 page polemic essay rather than a 140 page book. You co… https://t.co/3AuIyM9n6R in reply to erinoverturf 09:37:39, 2017-04-17
@flwyd But when an analysis says “The cost of doing something is larger than the value of having a habitable planet.” something is amiss. in reply to flwyd 00:47:45, 2017-04-17
RT @moonmaster9000: RT if you are doing this. https://t.co/5AyjsjSAQB 00:10:05, 2017-04-17
If we take these choices that seem familiar in other contexts and apply them all to climate action, we don't get the status quo. 7/7. in reply to ZaneSelvans 00:06:59, 2017-04-17
There's more detail in the book on climate justice, technofixes, critiques of Stern & Lomborg, but those four lines sum up the polemic. 6/ in reply to ZaneSelvans 00:04:02, 2017-04-17
Fourth, on the difference between investment in avoiding, vs. recovering from catastrophes: "Some costs are better than others." 5/ in reply to ZaneSelvans 23:55:34, 2017-04-16
Third, on application of cost benefit analyses to questions of planetary habitability: "Climate damages are too valuable to have prices." 4/ in reply to ZaneSelvans 23:51:09, 2017-04-16
Second, on how we should respond to poorly constrained, asymmetric climate risks: "We need to buy insurance for the planet." in reply to ZaneSelvans 23:48:24, 2017-04-16
Ackerman offers 4 good tweet sized encapsulations of his case. First, of discount rates: "Your grandchildren's lives are important." 2/ in reply to ZaneSelvans 23:45:27, 2017-04-16
Just finished Frank Ackerman's little book on climate economics entitled "Can we afford the future?" Good framing of the basic questions. 1/ 23:38:42, 2017-04-16
C'mon @nytopinion. What happened to that whole truth thing y'all were so into recently? And are these millions real… https://t.co/d94YFBv4zH 23:31:01, 2017-04-16
This thread makes me sad for science. I guess I'm not surprised. Definitely disappointed. https://t.co/T3ZfFnbwbm 18:17:30, 2017-04-16
@ericmbudd Until the entire country is completely sorted geographically according to wealth? in reply to ericmbudd 11:06:13, 2017-04-16
@MarkyV Are you thinking sacred cow or golden calf? I could see either tbh in reply to MarkyV 11:04:29, 2017-04-16
Boulder, but for Southern California. https://t.co/fTwlaTdyxJ 00:38:59, 2017-04-16

By Zane Selvans

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