Paul Dockery

In personal news, I am on my way to England to start Oxford’s MSc in Energy Systems on Monday. The first session is on thermodynamics and I assume I’ll be learning about the magic of heat pumps from the ghost of J.R.R. Tolkien. Otherwise, I’m totally unprepared.

I settled on referring to the current era as the Global Era for a whole host of reasons we end up talking about on the podcast. Commissioner Rendahl pushes back and we discuss "reshoring". Regardless, 🎶I knew you were trouble when you walked in and 🎶everything has changed

The 2008 Shale Gas Revolution -> “Look what you made me do”. “End Game”, “Don’t Blame Me”, “This is Why We Can’t Have Nice Things”, the Energy Independence Era and Reputation album are the same vibe.

The Power Crisis Era enters with Anti-Hero, otherwise known as the 2000-2001 Western Energy Crisis. “You’re on your own kid” -> the 2003 Northeast Blackout. Karma closing the era and NERC getting formed in 2006.

I know that the industry didn’t Deregulate, it restructured, but the market fundamentalism vibe of the era is Deregulation. “I forgot that you existed”, followed by the optimism of new beginnings with “Daylight”, before the line “Devils roll the dice, Angels roll their eyes”.

“The Last Great American Dynasty” and “cardigan” from Folklore transition from Fearless to Folklore just like the collapse of big infrastructure projects like WPPSS (Washington Public Power Supply System) transitioned us from the Electrification Era to the Efficiency Era.

“You Belong with Me” is the anthem of the rural electrification act, which starts the Electrification Era.

Insull Era (h/t Samuel Insull) spans from the War of the Currents in the late 1800s to The passage of the Public Utility Holding Act of 1935. And a hot take is that "Tim McGraw" is to "Taylor Swift (2006) as Thomas Edison was to Sam Insull.

Taylor Swift album graphing may be more controversial than eras of the electric sector. We graphed along a Career <-> Romantic vertical axis and Confident <-> Pensive horizontal axis.