Joris van Mens

Dutchman in 🇺🇸 building products, enjoy writing on technology & economics

[Joris van Mens @jorisvanmens]

For San Franciscans: I wrote a piece on the current SF homeless situation, its causes and solutions ⬇️

https://t.co/AzPGrYUkpg

[Joris van Mens @jorisvanmens]

@CaltransDist10 What are the chances it will open again today? @CaltransDist10

[Joris van Mens @jorisvanmens]

@levie You can, this is how capital taxes in the Netherlands work for example.

[Joris van Mens @jorisvanmens]

@maxdubler Very helpful, thank you! Seems like great news for SF.

[Joris van Mens @jorisvanmens]

@jrskis Did you contact the Marin IJ to share this feedback?

[Joris van Mens @jorisvanmens]

@Surfrider_CA @SenDaveMin I've read your letter and the 3 bills. We should protect the coast, but the nuance in the bills is apt: don't delay home building in places (like urban SF) that are not natural resources. Similarly, real people live in ADUs, they're not just "yoga studios".

[Joris van Mens @jorisvanmens]

@sbuss Thank you for the work you do!

[Joris van Mens @jorisvanmens]

@BillyM2k @paulg When I looked into it a few years ago, the majority of budget went to *preventing* people from becoming homeless. So if the programs would work perfectly, you’d end up with infinite “$ per homeless” spend — not the right metric to judge.

https://t.co/AzPGrYDhng

[Joris van Mens @jorisvanmens]

@paulg @BillyM2k @financequant To be fair the majority of the budget goes to *preventing* people from becoming homeless, so if the programs would work perfectly, you’d end up with infinite “$ per homeless” spend.

https://t.co/AzPGrYDhng

[Joris van Mens @jorisvanmens]

@xurbanxcowboyx I did some math on the cost (depreciation, insurance, gas, maintenance, registration) of owning my 6 year old mid size SUV and it’s about $6000 per year.

[Joris van Mens @jorisvanmens]

@Mcclainseanm @AukeHoekstra @northvolt I think the driver of efficiency will be their use in EVs, by far the biggest battery use case. That’s starting to happen in China for cheap EVs, to be seen if it takes off.

I wrote about it here: https://t.co/5IZW82Np04

[Joris van Mens @jorisvanmens]

@Sammy_Roth @latimes For the sake of the climate, we need to start incentivizing battery storage more than subsidize solar. New NEM rules create the incentives that will drive more battery installations. That’s a good thing, both from a climate and equity standpoint.

[Joris van Mens @jorisvanmens]

@adam_dorr @adam_dorr I’m listening to the Brighter audiobook (great!) but it’s missing the accompanying PDF. Where could I find it?

[Joris van Mens @jorisvanmens]

@SFyimby Looks like they did change it

https://t.co/DW0tL6SleC

[Joris van Mens @jorisvanmens]

@lcwhitlock14 @SteierMisha For me it’s a safety thing, in particular as an avid cyclist with a young child. Humans driving cars cause a lot of unnecessary harm and AVs can significant improve that.

Yes, they will unfortunately cause job loss but new jobs will arise, as has happened throughout history.

[Joris van Mens @jorisvanmens]

@sfbike I’m an avid biker and used to donate to SFBC assuming you folks fight for cyclists. Obviously human drivers (often distracted, impatient or just inept) are the biggest danger to cyclists and AVs are a big improvement for cyclist safety.

[Climate Capital @climatecap]

@jorisvanmens shares why he is passionate about #EnergyStorage and the research he has done into the space around wind, solar, gaps in current storage systems, and the solutions he thinks are the most promising in the most recent #CCInsights. https://t.co/QGHRQliy7h

[Joris van Mens @jorisvanmens]

@sbjinsfo As for the climate argument, the chips will get more efficient quickly as AVs scale. They’re already a big step forward from the vast majority of cars on the road which are fossil fuel powered.

[Joris van Mens @jorisvanmens]

@sbjinsfo As a Marin resident with a baby, I hope AVs will come to Marin soon. Traffic is dangerous here with impatient, clumsy and distracted drivers. AVs will make the streets safer for us and I’d love our daughter to grow up in a safer urban environment.

[Joris van Mens @jorisvanmens]

@allnewtomorrow @AukeHoekstra @wang_seaver @TheBTI I think people who have tied their careers to a "100% RE" narrative pushing demonstrably overoptimistic RE models are perhaps the worse offender here in terms of bias.

To Auke's point, better to debate on the merits of the arguments, as is happening here.