Ben Eidelson
@ben8128
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Stepchange Show co-host. Stepchange Ventures Founder & GP. Climate Papa. Ex-Stripe, Ex-Google product shipper.
Seattle
Joined January 2009
We all know that AI’s collision with the grid is the story of the moment. Despite that, I’m still shocked that more than 10,000 people are listening to our 4-hour dive into data centers. The chart is a... step-function! We spent six months digging into the history—from IBM punch
stepchange.show
Uncover the physical reality of our digital world--from mainframes to the AI boom.
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Speaking of Reagan's anti-tariff ad... how about this one pushing for more "electric servants" around the house. Amazing to watch the delight of 1950s electrification. https://t.co/0xH2D6PI6h h/t @IanMagruder
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Wow. Thank you @nxthompson for this.
I've just written about my very intense relationship with my father and how running helped me both connect with him and avoid becoming him. It's also my first article ever for @TheAtlantic . My dad wrote for the magazine in 1967, and i t seems fitting that the first piece
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Some great analysis from @curious_founder about the real causes of rising prices. One counterintuitive thing for many is that in the long term, more load (like data centers, manufacturing, etc) should actually drive down prices as utilities benefit from economies of scale.
Electricity prices are rising faster than they have in decades. There have been a lot of viral posts explaining why prices are rising. But many of them are wrong or misleading. 🧵
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TIL that Jaime Lee Curtis is a great children’s book author. Love when folks have amazing range.
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Forget prime day—the concept of a weekend brought to you by Amazon.
one of the most interesting things in @andrewrsorkin’s 1929 that I didn’t know was that the argument for moving to a five day workweek was that the only way to grow the economy was through consumption, and to do that we need to give people the time to consume. the difference
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The world is moving to EVs and solar. It’s inevitable as a better product.
A big shift in technology. The purple bars show the sales of cars powered by combustion engines in China. In green, you see the rise of electric cars in recent years.
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Interior @SecretaryBurgum has been blocking a ton of renewable energy projects on federal land. He should ask the person who was governor of North Dakota during this time period how they managed to lower electricity prices while adding renewables to the grid.
The only state in the US that has seen their electricity prices fall since 2019 is North Dakota. Over the same period: - Wind generation is up 34% - Solar generation is up 425% - Coal generation is down 8%
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IBM was THE computing company of the world for most of the 1900s. https://t.co/eB70f0NzNw
stepchange.show
Uncover the physical reality of our digital world--from mainframes to the AI boom.
imagine if modern datacenters looked this beautiful glass walls, street level, IBM in the 1960s was unmatched
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It should be much more common to think about incorporating childcare into conferences. Think about the baby swag opportunities.
I love that high-quality childcare at conferences is becoming routine (at least in our little corner of the culture). @devonzuegel + her team also went above and beyond to make @EdgeEsmeralda as fun for kids as it was for adults.
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Everyone loves… solar farms!
kind of funny that nuclear is now the least polarizing energy source
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One solar panel the size of a sheet of plywood can generate enough electricity to lift a person out of energy poverty. A single sheet of plywood. That’s how much space we’re talking about. 10 sheets of plywood per person for American levels of electricity. That’s not just
I don't think people realize how much power you can generate with a single solar panel. You can get panels that are over 700 watts now, and that's before bifacial gain. Cell efficiencies have increased substantially and panels are getting larger. More power per panel means
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Beautiful process to watch unfold. Visualizing progress is uniquely hard and love where they landed.
Cover evolution for The Origins of Efficiency: “We explored a wide range of options inspired by examples that @_brianpotter highlights in the book: light bulbs, nails, printing presses, and more,” says @pablodelcan. “Each built on the theme of transformation, showing how
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I’ve been an Acquired listener for 5+ years now and the only thing I dislike about the show is the 3-4 week wait times between subsequent episodes Acquired episodes set a VERY high bar on depth (4+ hours post editing), research quality (often orignal source discussions) and
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Now I’m just sitting here sad that I didn’t get a @_TamaraWinter book box of Origins. The algorithm has figured out that I like to be tortured.
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Batteries are the new solar. This is just the beginning. They're going to see explosive growth over the next decade. Maybe a quintupling of scale over the next 10 years.
Battery energy storage system era is here. Countries across the globe are scaling up storage the next few years (and for years to come). Over 250 gigascale projects could come online within two years. Battery capacity as % of peak loads rising across key markets.
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Whole reflection is an amazing read but this stuck out:
After Titan, I decided to stick with the theme of oil entrepreneurs, and at the same time rectify an important omission in my US civics education. I happened to read Moby Dick alongside Shakespeare, specifically Richard II, and it's clear that Melville was quite directly
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There is something fascinating about this. From someone at the center of so much of our digital world. Thoughtfully limiting his connectivity to it all.
@abhishekray07 I don't carry a phone unless I'm going somewhere to meet someone.
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