Alexander C. Kaufman

@kaufman

333 Following

3332 Followers

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Alexander C. Kaufman

LCOE is an important metric, though not the only one for measuring the value of a generating asset. It also has a complicated history in recent energy debates. Supporters of nuclear power have long argued that the measurement didn’t capture the actual levelized cost of a nuclear plant because it was underestimating the lifespan and the economic utility generation and didn’t capture the need for grid upgrades or backup generation for intermittent renewables. As a result, wind and solar came out as the easy winners in what was essentially an apples to oranges comparison. But last year’s estimates from Lazard tried to at least partially correct for it — which is why you see that $32/megawatt hour figure that is just $3 above the low end for utility scale solar.

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Alexander C. Kaufman

feliz farcaster day to all who celebrate condolences to the stalwarps

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Alexander C. Kaufman

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Alexander C. Kaufman

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Alexander C. Kaufman

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Alexander C. Kaufman

The word for the elation felt when finding a song you have been trying to remember for months buried on a playlist from 2021. https://open.spotify.com/track/5Nhw180obum91f6beXfweg?si=_FwrfThzSG-Kh46V0MGLIQ

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Alexander C. Kaufman

CAN BACTERIA HELP US AVOID MORE MINING? I have a new piece out in the newsletter examining a breakthrough from a startup backed by two of the world's biggest mining giants. Experts I consulted called the milestone "significant." But there are political troubles brewing. Humans have using microbes to extract metal for centuries. But the startup Endolith just released exciting new test results for its optimized process that its founders, whose efforts are backed by BHP and Rio Tinto, believe could revolutionize our ability to generate new metal from wasted tailings. Despite that promise, it's been really hard to get research funding to explore the potential of microbially-assisted mining. That was starting to change under Biden, whose NSF funded projects other countries wouldn't. Now researchers looking into mining rare earths with microbes fear major cuts under Trump. Read the story here: https://paragraph.com/@kaufman/can-bacteria-serve-as-microscopic-miners-of-the-metals-we-need

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Alexander C. Kaufman

This morning, I made my debut in Fortune magazine. The story examines at how GE Vernova went from General Electric's "fossil fuel disaster" just a few years ago to a skyrocketing stock powering the data center gas boom, and how the company's wind division's fortunes flipped. https://fortune.com/article/ge-vernova-stock-surging/

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Alexander C. Kaufman

A striking and heartbreaking detail about Sarah Miligrim, one of the Israeli embassy staffers assassinated last night at a Jewish museum event in D.C. — she grew up in the small community of Jews in Kansas City during the infamous antisemitic attack there a decade ago.

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Alexander C. Kaufman

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Alexander C. Kaufman

Big get for Zohran. https://x.com/zohrankmamdani/status/1925269003519295964?s=46

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Alexander C. Kaufman

I’m noice like that

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Alexander C. Kaufman

The funniest part of Ramaphosa’s airplane jab at Trump is that aircraft parts are actually closing the trade deficit between the U.S. and South Africa. U.S. exports of aircraft components to South Africa grew 191% between February 2024 and February 2025.

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Alexander C. Kaufman

Chat I’m going on the BBC World Service in 45 minutes to do my regular spot on the show Business Matters, and the producers want us to talk about bitcoin’s record high. What are some smart things I should say about meaningfulness of this milestone?

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Alexander C. Kaufman

gm — here’s our hers and his /gmatcha

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Alexander C. Kaufman

Hilarious to see from a county where the president issues a memecoin that companies who want to influence federal policy buy by sums worth millions of dollars.

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Alexander C. Kaufman

I have two new stories out this morning that may be of interest. The first, published on Canary Media, highlights the startling toll coal-fired steel plants take on the air in the cities where America's last blast furances are located. https://www.canarymedia.com/articles/fossil-fuels/coal-steel-air-pollution-cities The second, published on Latitude Media, examines the mounting political scrutiny tech companies are facing over their data centers' thirst of natural gas. https://www.latitudemedia.com/news/metas-senate-scrutiny-signals-growing-backlash-to-data-centers-thirst-for-gas/

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Alexander C. Kaufman

You may have seen the TikTok I cranked out last night. I made it while I was waiting to go on CNN for the first time to talk about a dire new study showing catastrophic sea-level rise even if the world manages to keep global temperatures from rising beyond 1.5 degrees Celsius, or 2.7 degrees Fahrenheit. You can watch the TV segment here!

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Alexander C. Kaufman

This graphic does a good job of illustrating most of the proposed ideas for geoengineering all in one place.

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Alexander C. Kaufman

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