Brood X

I grew up in Connecticut and I do miss cicadas, which could be loud enough to interrupt conversation and were so weird and big and cool when you actually happened to find one. That was not so easy, because despite their size they were well-hidden in the trees, and tended to shut up upon approach. I envy the east coasters who will enjoy the emergence of the massive Brood X, coming soon. I guess if I ever heard a periodical cicada in CT it would have to have been Brood II of the 17-year cicada, so presumably in 1979. More likely my cicadas were of the annual type. 

Can you eat them? Of course! Dr. Chris Simon, of UConn, "said she had one fried in Sichuan sauce but she doesn’t encourage people to snack on them. 'I feel sorry for them, growing up for 17 years, then someone eats them,' she said." 

Mills College, RIP

This is very sad to see, and of course disconcerting for anyone whose livelihood depends on a private college salary, such as yours truly. Their music program has enriched the culture of the Bay Area immensely, with a faculty that has included Fred Frith and Roscoe Mitchell.

The regressive rooftop solar subsidy

My friends at Environment California sent me an email today urging me to contact the California PUC in defense of net metering:

A fundamental solar energy policy is under threat in California.

Net metering, a rule that fairly compensates solar owners for the excess energy that they contribute back to the grid, is a popular solar policy used in 49 states. But the CA Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) is expected to consider making changes to this important solar policy, even at a time when we should be doing everything we can to add more solar panels to our rooftops and more batteries to our homes.

But hang on a second. There's this from my other friends over at the Energy Institute at Haas:

We are effectively funding the state’s energy infrastructure through a tax on electricity, but like most taxes, many wealthy people find a way to avoid it. The well trod path for avoiding California’s electricity consumption tax is behind-the-meter (BTM) solar. It’s the offshore account for your utility bill.

Basically, non-solar customers are cross-subsidizing the rooftop solar customers, who are not paying their fair share of various system costs, with the result that the marginal cost of electricity is higher than it should be, even taking account of the social cost of carbon. This is discouraging electrification, which is a key part of the plan for addressing climate change. And on top of that, it is a subsidy for the relatively well to do, who are more likely to install and benefit from rooftop solar.

What to do? Get the prices right. I know, I sound like an economist.

Neanderthals vs. Texans

The Neanderthals were pretty sophisticated, and it's questionable whether they would choose to be Republicans had they made it to 2021. So I'm just not down with the President insulting our closest cousins this way. On the other hand, not all Texans are that stupid either.

Clay Jenkins, the county judge of Dallas County, said the governor “absolutely” decided to reopen the state to distract residents from the sky-high electricity bills and credit card balances they faced after the storm.

“This gives people something to talk about other than the state’s failure to protect the power grid,” he said.