AI Tool Usage & Costs
NZIPL Clean Value Chain Explorer — March–May 2026
Purpose
This document summarises AI and software tool subscriptions used during the development of the NZIPL Clean Value Chain Explorer (CVCE) and related research, covering March 6 – May 20, 2026. It is intended to support cost-sharing discussions between personal and institutional accounts, and to document the transition to a stable workflow configuration.
Current Workflow Setup (May 2026)
The subscription stack has stabilised into two distinct tiers:
| Tier | Tool | Purpose |
|---|---|---|
| NZIPL | Claude Code (Team Pro) | Primary AI coding environment for all CVCE/NZIPL work — reads/writes R, JS, Python; manages git; builds data pipelines; debugs and edits interactive dashboards |
| Personal | DeepSeek API | Cost-efficient API for personal research and scripting tasks outside NZIPL scope |
| Personal | Qwen (local model) | Offline personal assistant; zero marginal cost |
| Personal (occasional) | Claude Pro | Occasional personal queries via web interface |
ChatGPT Plus — cancelled April 2026. No longer in the subscription stack. Usage was consolidated into Claude, which handles all the tasks ChatGPT was previously used for (academic writing, reasoning cross-checks, equation formatting).
Cost Summary: Lab Period (August 15, 2025 – May 20, 2026)
| Service | Period | Months | Per month | Total (EUR/USD) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Claude / Claude Code (Anthropic) | Mar 6 – May 20, 2026 | ~3 | EUR 18–46/mo | EUR 427.60 |
| ChatGPT Plus (OpenAI) | Aug 17 – Apr 17, 2026 | 9¹ | $21.63 | $194.67 |
| Windsurf Pro (Exafunction) | Sep 4 – Mar 4, 2026 | 7 | $16.22 | $113.54 |
| Posit Connect Cloud | Sep 27 – Feb 27, 2026 | 6 | $20.54 | $123.24 |
| DeepSeek API | May 2026 – | ongoing | pay-as-you-go | Personal only |
| Qwen (local) | May 2026 – | ongoing | $0 | Personal only |
| TOTAL (institutional scope) | ≈ $885² |
1 Lab period only (Aug 2025 – Apr 2026). Pre-lab months (Jan–Jul 2025, 7 × $21.63) excluded as personal. 2 EUR 427.60 @ 1.08 USD/EUR = $461.81 + $431.45 USD tools = ~$893. ChatGPT cancelled Apr 2026.
Anthropic invoice detail (all receipts)
| Invoice | Date | Amount | Type | Project |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| NJJAFZLE-0001 | Mar 6 | EUR 21.78 | Claude Pro – month 1 | CVCE setup |
| NJJAFZLE-0002 | Mar 23 | EUR 6.05 | Extra usage | LEEDS_MODEL |
| NJJAFZLE-0003 | Mar 31 | EUR 6.05 | Extra usage | LEEDS_MODEL |
| NJJAFZLE-0004 | Apr 1 | EUR 24.20 | Extra usage | LEEDS_MODEL |
| NJJAFZLE-0005 | Apr 2 | EUR 24.20 | Extra usage | LEEDS_MODEL (submission) |
| NJJAFZLE-0006 | Apr 2 | EUR 24.20 | Extra usage | LEEDS_MODEL (submission) |
| NJJAFZLE-0007 | Apr 6 | EUR 21.78 | Claude Pro – month 2 | CVCE |
| NJJAFZLE-0008 | Apr 8 | EUR 46.28 | Team Pro prepaid | CVCE |
| NJJAFZLE-0009 | Apr 15 | EUR 46.28 | Team Pro prepaid | CVCE |
| NJJAFZLE-0010 | Apr 28 | EUR 46.28 | Team Pro prepaid | CVCE + CONSERVATION |
| NJJAFZLE-0011 | Apr 29 | EUR 46.28 | Team Pro prepaid | CVCE + CONSERVATION |
| NJJAFZLE-0012 | May 6 | EUR 21.78 | Claude Pro – month 3 (personal) | Personal |
| NJJAFZLE-0013 | May 7 | EUR 46.28 | Team Pro prepaid | CVCE Phase II |
| NJJAFZLE-0014 | May 11 | EUR 46.28 | Team Pro prepaid | CVCE Phase II |
| Total | EUR 427.60 |
May 2026 additions: EUR 114.34 (invoices 0012–0014) — reflecting continued intensive Phase II development (Generic Country Atlas builder, Global Atlas, panel system, color mode toggle, SHAP-RCA scatter).
Project Attribution
Based on git commit history and session logs through May 20, 2026:
| Project | Claude share | Claude (EUR) | Evidence |
|---|---|---|---|
| CVCE / NZIPL | ~72% | ~308 | Phase I (Apr): Global Atlas, Chile/Brazil Atlases, Intelligence Report. Phase II (May): Generic Atlas builder, 7-country atlases, 13 Global Atlas sheets, category drums, color mode toggle, SHAP-RCA scatter, data summaries |
| LEEDS_MODEL | ~15% | ~64 | 8 commits Apr 2 (submission sprint); zero after Apr 3 |
| CONSERVATION papers | ~8% | ~34 | Files modified Apr 22–30 (sraffa_acs, econ_thermo, conservation_PhysicaA) |
| Personal (misc.) | ~5% | ~22 | May 2026 personal queries via Claude Pro (NJJAFZLE-0012) |
| Total | 100% | 427.60 |
Activity timeline
| Period | Activity | Project |
|---|---|---|
| Mar 6–22 | Claude Pro starts; workplan, render scripts, deploy setup | CVCE |
| Mar 23 – Apr 3 | MRIO equations, paper editing, submission sprint | LEEDS_MODEL |
| Apr 3 | Paper submitted to Ecological Economics SI | — |
| Apr 8–20 | type→role rename; Global Atlas v1; Chile/Brazil Atlases | CVCE |
| Apr 20–27 | Intelligence Report; ecoclassical.github.io restructure | CVCE |
| Apr 22–30 | Conservation papers parallel with CVCE | CVCE + CONSERVATION |
| Apr 28–30 | ChatGPT cancelled; Windsurf ended; stack simplified | — |
| May 1–11 | Generic Country Atlas (all countries × 10 techs); Global Atlas fixed; Phase II panels | CVCE |
| May 11–20 | SHAP-RCA scatter (bug fixes); category drum + color toggle; legend redesign | CVCE |
Subscription Status (May 20, 2026)
| Service | Status |
|---|---|
| Claude Code Team Pro (Anthropic) | Active — primary NZIPL tool; prepaid usage billing |
| Claude Pro (Anthropic, personal) | Active — occasional personal use only |
| DeepSeek API | Active — personal research; pay-as-you-go, negligible cost |
| Qwen (local model) | Active — personal; zero cost |
| ChatGPT Plus (OpenAI) | Cancelled April 2026 — replaced by Claude |
| Windsurf Pro | Cancelled March 2026 |
| Posit Connect Cloud | Cancelled February 2026 |
Productivity Impact
Claude Code (adopted March 6, 2026) replaced a four-tool stack (ChatGPT + Windsurf + Posit + manual workflows). Git commit frequency increased 5.8× within the first eight weeks and has remained elevated through May 2026.
| Repository | Before Claude Code | After Claude Code | Increase |
|---|---|---|---|
| CVCE / NZIPL | 6.4 / week | 21.5 / week | +3.4× |
| LEEDS_MODEL | 0.6 / week | 3.6 / week | +6.0× |
| All repos combined | 7.5 / week | 44.0 / week | +5.8× |
Before: Aug 15, 2025 – Mar 5, 2026 (28 weeks). After: Mar 6 – May 20, 2026 (~11 weeks).
Notable Phase II deliverables (May 2026, NZIPL scope):
- Generic Country Atlas — single
build_country_atlas.Rcovering all countries × 10 techs - 7 country atlases deployed (Brazil, India, Japan, South Korea, Vietnam, Mexico, Spain)
- 13 Global Atlas sheets with SHAP-RCA scatter panel
- Category-aware drum wheels — Stage → Role → Category → Product cascade filter
- Color mode toggle — global SR / Category coloring across all panels
- 2-column SR legend + HS Category legend — compact 2+1 header layout
PDF receipts (invoices NJJAFZLE-0001 through NJJAFZLE-0011) archived in docs/receipts/pdf/. Invoices 0012–0014 (May 2026) are in Gmail — download manually from invoice+statements@mail.anthropic.com and save as Anthropic_2026-05-06.pdf, Anthropic_2026-05-07.pdf, Anthropic_2026-05-11.pdf.
Full ledger: docs/receipts/subscription_costs.csv