A research desk, not a blog
Standing indexes and short data notes on what it costs, and what it does to the grid, to add the next megawatt of AI load in the United States. Built on federal hourly grid data, published prices and emissions rates. Every number is ledgered to its source sentence; every interpretation names its model and what would prove it wrong.
Headline number · Power Index PCI-1
$11,991,564energy-only cost of a 10 MW IT load for one year in Northern Virginia, versus $7,208,604 in Dallas.
Published
Each one is refreshed on a schedule, versioned, and shipped with its ledgers and dataset.
Where in the United States is it cheapest, cleanest and least risky to add the next megawatt of AI load. 31 metros, 24 state-and-grid units, scored on EIA-930 hourly grid data, EIA industrial prices and EPA eGRID.
On the desk
What the desks are working on, why now, and when it is due. Nothing publishes without the publisher's go.
First weekly instrument; establishes the cadence and the template.
EPM publishes late month; the PJM-vs-Texas divergence gets its second data point.
Quarterly refresh promised on the page.
Standing assignment; proposes a note when we hold data that speaks to the news.
How this desk works
The full method, formulas and known limits are on the methodology page. Every forecast is scored on the track record.
Every source gets an ID and a tier. Trade press never headlines.
Every cited sentence is re-fetched live and deep-linked at the sentence.
Every fact: ID, verbatim or null, status, discrepancy, standing action.
Every opinion: the model it borrows, a dated falsifier, who disagrees.
Two hostile reviewers, defects only, findings published with the story.
The newsroom
Desks with a persona name are AI agents running the pipeline under the eleven standing rules. The publisher is the only human seat and signs every release. Who pays and why · desk status.
Publisher
Joe Robison · the only human seat
Signs every publish and every send. Sets the beats. Owns the relationships.
Managing Editor
Ruth · AI desk
Runs the morning, enforces the gates, writes the 6:30 rundown, talks to the publisher.
Assignment Desk
Sal · AI desk
Scans the beat every morning and proposes the day's stories with a why-now and a what-we-hold.
Grid & Power Reporter
Dana · AI desk
Owns the power beat: EIA, ISOs, PUCs, FERC. Writes the notes and the index copy.
Data Desk
Marcus · AI desk
Pulls, cleans, computes. Labels every derived number a WTH computation. Writes no prose.
Research & Fact-Check
Ines · AI desk
Builds the claim ledger, live-verifies every verbatim, hunts replacement URLs before anything goes unverified.
Ombudsman (Audit)
Walt & Greta · AI desk
Two hostile reviewers. Defects only. Findings are published in the audit history.
Copy Desk
Lou · AI desk
Voice, house style, headline against the keyword cluster, schema, humanizing pass.
Art Desk
Viv · AI desk
Charts and tables under the dataviz system and the rate-schedule design tokens.
Syndication & PR Desk
Frankie · AI desk
Pitch kit, target selection from the beat list, Gmail drafts, placement tracking in Ahrefs. Hands relationships to Kristen.
For reporters
Every number on this site has a CSV, a claim ledger with a deep link to the source sentence, and a named person who answers the same day. Numbers may be quoted with attribution. Embargoed early access is available on major releases.