And of course your interest in trolleys and interurban lines, because they were the precursor to power companies. You can often find the flatness of a trolley bed underneath a power line, e.g. south of Brewerton NY on the west side of I-81, switching over to the east side at West Gillette Road, becoming even more obvious south of Darby Road where the trolley joined South Bay Road. You can see it in person, but it's even more clear on LIDAR: https://www.arcgis.com/apps/mapviewer/index.html?url=http://elevation.its.ny.gov/arcgis/rest/services/NYS_Statewide_Hillshade/MapServer
NYSEG switched us to smart meters here in Elmira NY. I think the main justification was to reduce the cost of meter reading, previously a wholly manual job. But yes, there is more value to be gotten by time-of-day metering. Not a word coming from NYSEG about that ... not yet.
Would add institutional / market design framework for formation electric grid energy exchange order books - design , ownership, agency, antitrust refusal to deal or if owned by legacy utilities— refusal to deal with newer “dePo “ decentralized power generators
Really enjoyed readying these intellectual and personal journeys - thanks so much for sharing.
Enjoyed reading this Lynne. Indicates why you're unusually deeply insightful. Hope we meet in person one day. Cheers, Byron
Thanks Byron, that's very kind of you!
And of course your interest in trolleys and interurban lines, because they were the precursor to power companies. You can often find the flatness of a trolley bed underneath a power line, e.g. south of Brewerton NY on the west side of I-81, switching over to the east side at West Gillette Road, becoming even more obvious south of Darby Road where the trolley joined South Bay Road. You can see it in person, but it's even more clear on LIDAR: https://www.arcgis.com/apps/mapviewer/index.html?url=http://elevation.its.ny.gov/arcgis/rest/services/NYS_Statewide_Hillshade/MapServer
NYSEG switched us to smart meters here in Elmira NY. I think the main justification was to reduce the cost of meter reading, previously a wholly manual job. But yes, there is more value to be gotten by time-of-day metering. Not a word coming from NYSEG about that ... not yet.
A very interesting and informative blog. I'm pleased I discovered your work!
You are on to an important and growing issue. I look forward to future blogs as this industry continues to dynamically unfold.
Thanks Kathleen!
Would add institutional / market design framework for formation electric grid energy exchange order books - design , ownership, agency, antitrust refusal to deal or if owned by legacy utilities— refusal to deal with newer “dePo “ decentralized power generators
My Story, By Steve Heins
STEPHEN HEINS
JUL 05, 2025
My Story by Steve Heins
1. Life
I am Steve Heins, eighty-one years, a spark in the vast fire of being,
No college degrees to hang on my wall, no parchment to claim my worth,
Yet Columbia whispered, two French courses shy, and I learned from the world’s own book.
I have been a small-town boy, dirt under my nails from golf,
chasing greased pigs through county fairs,
Six times I won, the crowd roaring, the mud my crown, my youth a wild, unbridled song.
I have swung clubs as a scratch golfer, danced on basketball courts, my body a rhythm of motion,
I have drifted, interstate highways my veins, truck stop restaurants my temples, high plains and low my congregation.
Big-city student man, I claimed the neon pulse, skyscrapers my stars,
Yet I wandered, self-indulgent, a distant father, my heart sometimes lost in the haze.
Auto-didact, I stormed Ivy halls, no gatekeeper to bar my way,
Scholar, student, historian, I devoured books, art, music—pages my kin, symphonies my breath.
I have been a poet, words my chisel, carving truth from the stone of days,
A poetry aficionado, lover of verses that sing the soul’s quiet and its storms.
Lost soul, I’ve roamed, yet found my place in the vastness,
Eighty-one years, I stand, a blizzard of one, my life a canvas of collisions, still painting.
2. Career
I am a business writer, economist, my pen a torch in the dark of markets,
Researcher, communicator, I weave stories for the weary, the hopeful, the seeking.
Wall Street knew me, mutual fund director, shaping wealth’s pulse,
I spoke to traders, to dreamers, my words a bridge between chaos and clarity.
I am the Blizzard of One, storming broadband’s gates, defying Goliath’s shadow,
Internet Open Access my banner, freedom my cry, a digital dawn for every voice.
Practical environmentalist, I named myself, no dogma to chain my sight,
Energy efficiency my craft, lighting the world with a realist’s spark.
Chicago Climate Exchange, I was there, building markets for carbon’s weight,
Paris, I stood in its ancient halls, speaking to the EU’s schemers, my vision for emissions a map.
Lobbyist, I walked fifty states, D.C.’s marble my battleground,
For natural gas, for nuclear’s hum, I fought, my voice a gadfly’s sting.
Technology theorist, I dreamed in clouds, saw the future in circuits and code,
Bakken Basin, I spoke, The Weekly Word my stage, Professor Heins my name.
With experts—geologists, physicists, skeptics—they joined me, their truths a chorus,
We broke the noise, our podcast a fire, burning for sane energy, for human thriving.
ESG I weigh, fair and balanced, my skeptic’s eye unfooled by greenwashed hymns,
Political organizer, pain in the ass, I stir the pot, I wake the sleeping.
Tens of thousand articles, my ink and my friends a river, The Word Merchant’s flood across nations,
Curator, I gather truths, feeding allies—scientists, journalists—with light against the dark.
Self-financed, unbowed, at eighty-one, I am the storm that never quiets,
Sane energy my job, my cause, my heart’s unyielding vow.
This is my confession, my map, my open book,
Steve Heins, poet, fighter, a life of words and wars, still singing.
Lynne, thanks for sharing.
Nat, thanks for the role you have played throughout this history!