iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Chirag Lala @cthelala.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

On September 6, Dr. Ralph Scott passed away. He was my economics professor at Hendrix College and my first mentor in the field. I wrote this piece hoping those who knew him will recognize a few stories, and that those who didn’t get a sense of who he was. substack.com/home/post/p-...

substack.com

Dr. Ralph D. Scott: In Memoriam

On September 6, 2026, Ralph Downing Scott Jr.

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Dr. Samantha Hancox-Li @sjshancoxli.liberalcurrents.com · 16/09/2026

"we must sell out ukraine today in order to sell out taiwan tomorrow" is not an alternative, but frankly "we should sell out both right now" is even less of one

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advait @advaitarun.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

NEW CPE REPORT on the urgency of building an interregional transmission macrogrid! @cthelala.bsky.social and I argue that only the federal government can get it built; no other actor on the grid is capable of doing so! Really, this is a paper about the theory of transmission as an asset class:

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Brendan Pierpont @brendan.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

Want to understand why long distance transmission isn’t getting built in the US and what we can do about it? Read this new report from the team at @publicenterprise.bsky.social

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Chirag Lala @cthelala.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

NEW CPE report on building an interregional macrogrid! @advaitarun.bsky.social & I argue that the U.S. lacks the mechanisms to turn national and regional planning into a pipeline of interregional transmission projects. Federal leadership is critical to close this gap.

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advait @advaitarun.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

BIG NEW TRANSMISSION PLANNING / FEDERAL GRID GOVERNANCE PAPER TOMORROW from @cthelala.bsky.social and me @publicenterprise.bsky.social

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Chirag Lala @cthelala.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

This speaks to me because the moratorium’s core logic is supposedly disciplining capital. But communities have no mechanisms by which to decide and pursue “for what?” beyond funds or CBA’s that leave core decisions, elsewhere and investment barriers unmet. State and federal public developers OTOH…

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advait @advaitarun.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

Funny enough I think this is the same problem we had with the IRA and the almost overwhelming belief that many of its advocates had that local communities could equip themselves to use the law's tools to solve their climate/energy problems. They weren't! publicenterprise.org/state-capaci...

publicenterprise.org

State capacity: The Inflation Reduction Act, American federalism, and infrastructure finance

On December 3, 2024, CPE Senior Associate for Energy Finance Advait Arun presented at the University of Sydney's Climate Economy political economy and geography workshop about how the Inflation Reduct...

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advait @advaitarun.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

I'm unfortunately v pessimistic about this nimby-ish trend... It highlights to me that we've devolved these arguments about planning--and about what we want to build, and how--to govt entities that can't handle the process or the political consequences. bsky.app/profile/budd...

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advait @advaitarun.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

Talking to community advocates, it seems like everyone hates DCs but would hate them it a bit less if tech companies paid a bunch to solve their local problems. The issue is that their arguments would be the *exact same* if they were dealing with a car factory...

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advait @advaitarun.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

So, yes, we need to derisk municipalities' exposure to DC construction for sure, and make sure DCs don't get property tax breaks given they depress everyone else's property values. Tax and regulate them--this is a good thing! BUT ALSO... bsky.app/profile/cthe...

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Chirag Lala @cthelala.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

Big takeaway is we need statewide centralization of development capacities to keep DC infrastructure risks off municipalities. New taxes, power sector planning, special economic zones (paper coming soon). States have EDC vehicles already but we have to give them resources and space to take risks.

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Chirag Lala @cthelala.bsky.social · 31/08/2026

Wasn’t a core issue of the calculation debate that even with the right [pricing] data, you can’t reverse engineer the information market transactions reveal? You’d need an unknowable set of behavioral functions. Not sure how AI mitigates this problem.

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Chirag Lala @cthelala.bsky.social · 09/08/2026

Three major errors in today’s electricity politics: 1) batteries + VPPs reduce rather than augment the value of new infra 2) rate hikes are driven by equity returns on capex or gold-plating rather than supply shortages 3) fear of overbuilding rather than embracing growth headroom

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Benjamin Schneider @benschneider.bsky.social · 07/08/2026

Why should these loan programs focus on railroad electrification and transit automation? "There is a clear bankability logic: they improve service (and thus ridership and fare revenue) while reducing operational costs."

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Chirag Lala @cthelala.bsky.social · 08/08/2026

We might not be weighing the downsides of DC moratoria! Lost time is extra cost, uncertainty, lost taxes and community benefits, and destabilized demand for electrons. And that’s just cases in which policymakers have the credibility to promise a schedule. www.latitudemedia.com/news/open-ci...

latitudemedia.com

Data centers have a Texas-sized energy problem

As more states pause data centers, how will they use the opportunity to pass energy policy?

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Chirag Lala @cthelala.bsky.social · 05/08/2026

New report from @jmooreotto.bsky.social on using RRIF and TIFIA to provide a stable source of capital funding for rail electrification and automation projects! Shifting off discretionary grants is one step towards helping agencies build long-term capacity. publicenterprise.org/report/the-t...

publicenterprise.org

The Transit Infrastructure Lottery

Read the full report here. Executive summary Federal transportation investment in the United States suffers from both a quantity problem and a quality problem. The quantity problem is much-d...

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Chirag Lala @cthelala.bsky.social · 30/07/2026

Fantastic piece from Jane Flegal on why the risk of overbuilding long distance HVDC is one we should embrace, not run from. A more robust federal planning and finance role can also help take the impact off ratepayers. clcouncil.org/publications...

clcouncil.org

The Grid as Platform Infrastructure: Why Underinvestment is the Real Affordability Crisis

As electricity prices have risen in recent months, the political response has been to demand near-term rate relief, pushing regulators and utilities to minimize costs today. But that approach inaccura...

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Urban Land Rent 🇸🇴🚰 @urbanlandrent.bsky.social · 21/07/2026

SB 1097 would have given CEQA exemptions for transmission buildouts and it didn’t even make it out of first house. This state talks a big game about climate transition but can’t even stomach modest reforms to accommodate green energy growth.

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Chirag Lala @cthelala.bsky.social · 21/07/2026

This load growth is perfectly compatible with rapid increases in the share of clean power consumption on the grid. But you have to make it easier to build and interconnect. Trying to restrain the load growth on climate grounds is a public admission of failure. www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

bloomberg.com

Data Centers on Track to Suck Up a Fifth of US Power Use by 2035

Data centers in the US will account for about 20% of the nation’s electricity consumption in 2035, up from 5.9% today, according to BloombergNEF.

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Chirag Lala @cthelala.bsky.social · 19/07/2026

Among a lot of climate activists, there seems to be a basic frustration that an AI boom is happening at all. Which is unfortunate because the policies needed for rapid decarbonization haven’t changed and would allow us to facilitate more economic activity in other sectors.

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Chirag Lala @cthelala.bsky.social · 16/07/2026

Someone has to articulate how “phasing out fossil fuels” without first building sufficient clean energy, storage, and transmission capacity is at all feasible. If you don’t sequence things properly, they’re no climate solution at all.

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Chirag Lala @cthelala.bsky.social · 13/07/2026

It would be the height of folly for Democrats to view changes to NEPA and NHPA as concessions in a permitting negotiation. We should embrace changes. A future Dem administration’s transmission buildout will thank us for it.

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Chirag Lala @cthelala.bsky.social · 12/07/2026

Fun decarb thoughts this week: Saying clean electricity will be free sets up the decarb coalition for failure. More stable pricing? Cheaper? Quite possibly if we build a proper grid and deploy the federal government. But cost allocation and volumetric pricing remain significant.

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Chirag Lala @cthelala.bsky.social · 17/06/2026

My colleague @jmooreotto.bsky.social is in @ifp.bsky.social’s Transit Cost Playbook. He argues for replacing discretionary grant financing for transit projects with federal loans! The current regime shreds state planning capacity due to intermittent and capricious funding. ifp.org/loans-can-st...

ifp.org

Loans Can Stabilize Transit Funding | IFP

Consistent and predictable funding builds state capacity

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Chirag Lala @cthelala.bsky.social · 11/06/2026

Random thought. If the U.S. gets healthcare right (ie universal + standardized benefits, admin savings, public investment in care provisioning, etc) It’s not clear we get dramatic reductions in the share of health expenditure as a % of GDP. And that’s probably fine.

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Jack Rakove @jrakove.bsky.social · 08/06/2026

I just received the terribly distressing news that Gordon Wood was hit by a car and killed yesterday. We were together with other Founding era scholars at the 2nd Judicial Circuit conference last week at Lake George, and he was as usual in fine fettle and as always enjoyable to talk to.

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JW Mason @jwmason.bsky.social · 08/06/2026

This post says it more clearly. bsky.app/profile/cthe...

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JW Mason @jwmason.bsky.social · 08/06/2026

Right. Seeing a reduction in GDP as equivalent to a reduction in physical throughputs or climate impact, is the same kind of mistake as seeing an increase in GDP as equivalent to an increase in happiness or welfare.

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Chirag Lala @cthelala.bsky.social · 08/06/2026

A drop in emissions-, resource-, land-use, particulate-, or other kinds of intensity of output. All of which require investment, which mechanically boosts GDP. Ditto redistribution due to multipliers.

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Chirag Lala @cthelala.bsky.social · 06/06/2026

Piketty’s a degrowther. Can’t think of a better way to trash progressive aspirations for equality than linking them with a cause so illiberal and economically impoverished.

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Chirag Lala @cthelala.bsky.social · 02/06/2026

I’m late to the party on Dan Awrey’s “Beyond Banks.” Just now completing it. Ton of analogies between his proposals and visions for contested (hybrid?) electricity markets + regulation. True of open access competition between payment providers and integrated BHCs, cost allocated network upgrades.

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Paul Blustein @paulblustein.bsky.social · 28/04/2026

Hey, crypto bros! Bitcoin bros in particular! That argument you make about the fiat dollar being based on an odious 50 year-old deal that kept the world hooked on fossil fuels? Consider it debunked. Or put up your dukes! www.ft.com/content/a65e...

ft.com

Much ado about the 1974 ‘petrodollar’ deal

KSA 🤜 🤛 USA?

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Paul Blustein @paulblustein.bsky.social · 28/04/2026

The dollar’s global dominance is imperiled! The Iran war is threatening to upend a noxious 50-year deal that established the petrodollar system as a linchpin of US power! Do I have your attention now? Good. Because every word of that…

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Dr. Samantha Hancox-Li @sjshancoxli.liberalcurrents.com · 28/04/2026

remember who you are, liberal

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Chirag Lala @cthelala.bsky.social · 28/04/2026

Now at Operation Market Garden. Alas, what can one even say?

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Chirag Lala @cthelala.bsky.social · 28/04/2026

Yup! Had this debate on here a while back re volumetric pricing for electricity. Even in a heavily renewable system, you’d want per kWh charges precisely for the incentives they impart. That electricity is a critical service doesn’t change that.

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Chirag Lala @cthelala.bsky.social · 19/04/2026

Been listening to @alanallport.bsky.social’s “Britain at Bay” and now “Advance Britannia.” Currently at the Dieppe Raid. And the repeated, seemingly limitless incompetence and lack of coordination within the British armed services and with civilian leadership is just stupefying.

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Chirag Lala @cthelala.bsky.social · 04/04/2026

Renewables represent the fastest way to economize fuel costs in the short-run. But VRE generation is most assuredly not free. Will be apparent as we try to overbuild, cost allocate fairly, network localized buildouts, or hedge for reliability. Better we plan knowing this!

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Chirag Lala @cthelala.bsky.social · 01/04/2026

Yes! I also don’t recognize the kind of hegemony Tooze has in mind. Absent a green investment push in which it secures captive customers, what public goods is this China offering the global system? And what coercive capabilities does it receive in turn? Most importantly…for what strategic purpose?

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Yakov Feygin @buddyyakov.bsky.social · 01/04/2026

@adamtooze.bsky.social has a list of five things China should do to gain hegemony. I agree with all of them and ideally would add a pledge to not use force against Taiwan. The problem is I’m not sure China wants to be a hegemon.

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Lenore Palladino @lenorepalladino.bsky.social · 27/03/2026

very proud of newly minted PhD @cthelala.bsky.social who successfully defended his thesis this afternoon! Chirag is a brilliant strategic thinker who is a joy to work with; finishing a thesis is not easy esp. w/ work & life & he made it happen v. sweet of @publicenterprise.bsky.social to show up!

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Chirag Lala @cthelala.bsky.social · 25/03/2026

IMO we should stop saying “developers only build for profit” when we mean firms or their investors have an insufficiently high risk tolerance for more capex. Latter accounts better for the challenge, derisking solutions, and political hurdles to public sector risk appetite.

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James Medlock @jdcmedlock.bsky.social · 24/03/2026

I love this analogy. Regulatory reform is vitally important to expand capacity. But we need to pair it with federal investment policy to actually fill that capacity. We’ve done it before, and we can do it again.

Here's one way to think about it: your zoning, permitting, and planning regime is the size of the container you hold out to collect rainwater. In an unpermissive zoning and permitting regime, you hold a tablespoon. Even when it pours, you can still only collect a tablespoon of investment. The right kinds of zoning and permitting reforms are an upgrade to a gallon jug that can collect plenty of water. But if there's only a drizzle, it's going to take a long time to fill your jug. This is where creating an investment environment comes in: with so many cities and states upgrading to gallon jugs, it's time to make it rain the way Presidents Johnson, Nixon and Reagan did.

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Chirag Lala @cthelala.bsky.social · 24/03/2026

Closing the housing supply gap will require sustaining higher investment levels for years to come. To take full advantage of YIMBY reforms, we must once again derisk multifamily construction! CPE released a new report that draws on past American successes. publicenterprise.org/report/raisi...

publicenterprise.org

Raising the Housing Investment Level

Raising the Housing Investment Level, Part II: The History and Future of Multifamily Investment Policy

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