by Jeff Ihnen | Jan 27, 2026 | Energy Rant
Last week, I mentioned I planned to write about toothpaste, only to be overtaken by more urgent headlines around data center moratoriums, power shortages, grid unreliability, and soaring electricity prices. This week I’m circling back to toothpaste, not because...
by Jeff Ihnen | Jan 20, 2026 | Energy Rant
I was planning to write about toothpaste this week. Instead, data centers hijacked my inbox—and the headlines. Opposition to data centers is accelerating fast enough that one of my six-pack predictions came true almost immediately: they’re becoming as politically...
by Jeff Ihnen | Mar 31, 2025 | Energy Rant
Some readers may recall headlines last fall stating that the PJM Interconnection would stop accepting energy efficiency resources for its forward capacity auctions. Capacity auctions work in the following simplified process: Local distribution companies, aka...
by Jeff Ihnen | Feb 14, 2023 | Energy Rant
About two weeks ago, New England got a punch in the mouth from old man winter. I tuned into the Mt. Washington Observatory (New Hampshire) to check the conditions. On Friday evening, February 3, it was cool and breezy at minus 46°F[1] with 99 mph wind and freezing...
by Jeff Ihnen | Feb 6, 2023 | Energy Rant
PSA I thought of making some wisecracks about the trial balloon that the Chinese Communist Party drifted over the United States. Whatever the intent, it’s no good. The thing that gave me a chill is that these balloons are a top ‘delivery platform’ for a nuclear EMP...