Power Hour With Alex Epstein

Alex Epstein interviews Maxwell Goldberg, an entrepreneur and industrial analyst, about our little-known dependence on China for dozens of materials that modern life requires. They cover topics including: - How Maxwell got interested in this issue at such a young age. - Just how dependent the US is on China. - China’s proven track record of exploiting its control of the “rare earths” supply chain - China’s goal - The sincerity of China’s “net-zero” by 2060 pledge - What policy changes are necessary Maxwell (Max) Goldberg is an industrialist and investor developing materials, manufacturing, and industrial companies, products, and services. In 2021 Max is focused on investing in and acquiring United States based manufacturing companies and helping United States industrial businesses dissect “where stuff comes from”, particularly the critical minerals and value-added-commodity-products that are ubiquitous throughout their value chains. Max is an engineer by training, with a B.S. in Materials Engineering and an

Alex interviews Michael Lynch, the renowned debunker of “peak oil,” to discuss Lynch’s new essay on “peak oil demand”—the idea that the post-pandemic world will mean “the end of oil.” https://eprinc.org/2021/02/the-pandemic-and-the-end-of-oil-the-pandemic-peak-oil-demand-and-the-oil-industry-by-michael-lynch-and-ivan-sandrea/ In this interview they cover: false past predictions of a green future, the real economics of EV batteries, what post-pandemic culture will look like, how much oil exists in the world, and much more.

Alex brings on Steve Milloy, a fellow green energy whistleblower and creator of JunkScience.com, to discuss the massive power outages in Texas and how they were brought about by “green energy” policies. They also discuss the failure of green energy around the world this winter. Near the end of the show Alex asks Steve about his remarkable success countering “ESG” efforts and his views on the recently-publicized “fossil fuels cause 1 in 5 deaths” claim.

On this week’s Power Hour Alex Epstein shares a recent interview of him by Heidi McKillop, a Candian filmmaker who went from an opponent of the Candian oil and gas industry to a champion of it. This is his first wide-ranging interview in many months. He shares new thoughts on the world of energy including how to think about our environment, how to stand up to the anti-fossil fuel movement, and the miracle of “machine labor.”

Alex Epstein interviews Yaron Brook about the origins, rise, and unprecedented power of today’s anti-fossil fuel ESG movement in investing. They cover: - Larry Fink’s latest influential letter - The shareholder value theory of the purpose of a corporation - What’s wrong with the “stakeholder value” theory of the purpose of a corporation - How government coercion increases the power of the ESG movement - How the culture gives the ESG movement most of its power - What companies can do to fight back against the anti-fossil fuel ESG movement? Yaron Brook is a former finance professor, an investor, Executive Chairman of the Ayn Rand Institute, and host of The Yaron Brook Show.

On this week’s Power Hour Alex Epstein interviews Meredith Angwin, author of Shorting the Grid, on the precariousness of today’s electric grid. They discuss: - Why the so-called competition of today’s electric grid is a myth. - The strengths and weaknesses of the old regulated monopoly system. - Why “deregulation” increased costs and regulation. - How today’s pseudo-competitive RTO (Regional Transmission Organization) works. - How today’s RTO system devalues reliability. - How New England’s inability during a cold snap to provide electricity without using massive amounts of oil (and some Russian gas) is a sign of things to come. - What policies can improve the system. - What the average person (ratepayer) can do to make a difference.

On this week’s Power Hour Alex Epstein interviews Professor Pierre Desrochers of the University of Toronto, about the history of environmental catastrophism, including but not limited to climate catastrophism. Today we are told that our use of fossil fuels is causing a global environmental catastrophe, and that the solution is for government to dictate what kind of energy we should use, namely solar and wind. Both this prediction and this policy, we are told, are the conclusions of the best experts, especially environmental experts like climate scientists, and thus should not be questioned. Pierre Desrochers explodes this idea by chronicling in depth the track record of our designated environmental experts. For more on the history of environmental catastrophism, read Population Bombed, which Professor Desrochers wrote with collaborator Joanna Szurmak.

On this episode of Power Hour Alex Epstein interviews energy/environment researcher Rupert Darwall, author of The Age of Global Warming and Green Tyranny, on why the corporate “net-zero” movement is unscientific and suicidal. Here’s some of what they cover: - Where the net-zero-by-2050 and its accompanying 1.5 degrees C target came from. Hint: It’s not a scientific origin. - How even small steps toward “net-zero” are harming citizens and industry in the UK. - The UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s (IPCC’s) religious focus on minimizing human impact on the planet instead of maximizing human flourishing on the planet. - How the IPCC evades the amazing improvement in human life over the past two centuries and fossil fuels’ fundamental role in it. - How the IPCC doesn’t seriously address the costs of net-zero policies. - Why certain elements of Wall Street find “net-zero“ so compelling.

On this week’s Power Hour, Alex Epstein interviews one of his mentors, philosopher Onkar Ghate, on how the fossil fuel industry can fight for its freedom (far) more effectively by standing up for itself as a matter of justice. Some of the questions discussed include: - Why is it so powerful to fight on grounds of justice? - What should people in the fossil fuel industry consider unjust about the way they’re treated? - What kind of justice should the fossil fuel industry demand? - How should the fossil fuel industry act in the political world? - How should the fossil fuel industry interact with the media? - How should the fossil fuel industry act in the corporate/ESG world? - What can we learn from Ayn Rand’s success in winning people over to the cause of economic freedom?

On this week’s Power Hour Alex Epstein interviews international energy economist Anas Alhajji about the future of energy and energy security.   They cover: - What factors affect energy security - How overreliance on electricity is a threat to energy security - The future of competition with the global oil industry using solar, wind, and batteries - The future of competition within the global oil industry, including US shale, OPEC, and Russia - The contradictions of the modern environmental movement

Alex Epstein interviews Adam Anderson, author of a widely-circulated open letter to The North Face when the company refused to sell Anderson’s oilfield services company, Innovex, 400 jackets. They discuss: - How Adam got into the oil and gas industry - Why Adam wrote the letter - How Adam was influenced by The Moral Case for Fossil Fuels - The unexpected volume of feedback Adam has gotten - Why The North Face and other anti-hydrocarbon groups didn’t publicly respond - Why speaking up has less downside than people think - Adam’s plans for the future

On this episode of Power Hour Alex Epstein continues his discussion with physicist Adrian Bejan, of “constructal law” fame, to discuss the central ideas of Bejan’s book Freedom and Evolution. They cover: - Professor Bejan’s broad-ranging conception of freedom, including change and movement. - How freedom of change and movement naturally leads to economies of scale for humans, for other life forms, and for the inanimate. - How freedom of change and movement and naturally leads to hierarchies, for other life forms, and for the inanimate. - How Bejan explains the continued dominance of the Northeast United States in the university world. - Why Bejan expects energy use to keep increasing. - Why Bejan agrees with the moral case for fossil fuels. - The role of bad ideas in restricting freedom and progress

On this week’s Power Hour Alex Epstein interviews Adrian Bejan, a Duke Professor and Benjamin Franklin Medal recipient renowned for identifying “constructal law.” The topic is how physics, specifically thermodynamics, can help us better understand life, including our use of energy, our environmental impact, and the need for freedom. Topics covered include: - How Bejan escaped communism, immigrated to the US, and studied MIT. - How Bejan identified “constructal law.” - The universality of thermodynamics. - Why humans impacting our environment is natural. - Bejan’s predictions of our energy and climate future.

On this week’s Power Hour, Alex Epstein is joined by former Congressman Keith Rothfus, to talk about threats to energy freedom under the new administration--and how to fight back. Alex asks Congressman Rothfus: - What prompted you to run for Congress? - What did you do to promote energy freedom while in Congress? - What are the major attacks on energy freedom you expect from the Biden administration and its Congressional allies? - What advice do you have for pro-energy, pro-freedom elected officials? - Are there opportunities to make a difference by proposing legislation even if it won’t pass (like Democrats with the green new deal)? - What do you think of EnergyTalkingPoints.com--and what can we do to make it better?

In the “Best-Of” episode, originally titled “Greenpeace cofounder Patrick Moore eviscerates climate catastrophism,” Moore does just that by looking at rising CO2 levels from a scientific and pro-human perspective--not the pseudoscientific and anti-human perspective that dominates today. Topics include: - Why Moore left Greenpeace. - The beginnings of the climate catastrophe movement. - Why Moore believes human beings would not only survive but survive better at far higher average temperatures (which would be concentrated toward the poles). - Why Moore believes that contrary to being in a Sixth Extinction, we are actually at an unprecedented time of biodiversity with no end in sight. - Why Moore believes “ocean acidification” claims are totally meritless. - The commonality among opposition to plastics, GMOs, nuclear energy, and fossil fuels. - Moore’s unrefuted theory that human beings actually saved life on Earth from terminal decline in CO2 levels.

On this week’s Power Hour Alex interviews futurist J. Storrs Hall, author of the mind-blowing book Where’s My Flying Car? which gives a brilliant analysis of what has held back many forms of progress, including flying cars, over the last half-century. Topics they cover include: - What is the Great Stagnation? - How did you become interested in analyzing the Great Stagnation? - What is your basic explanation for The Great Stagnation? - How does government funding of research promote stagnation? - How does the “green” philosophy promote stagnation? - What was the trajectory of nuclear energy before government started criminalizing it? - What legal/regulatory reforms are necessary to decriminalize nuclear? - What can we do to liberate human progress from its political and philosophical strangulation?

On this week’s Power Hour, I interview Vijay Jayaraj, an up and coming energy/environment researcher based in India. Vijay has experienced the reality of poverty, including energy poverty, firsthand--as well as India’s rapid rise from poverty using fossil fuels. Some topics we discussed included: - Why Vijay decided to study energy and environmental issues professionally. - Vijay’s experience at the University of East Anglia during the “Climategate” scandal. - What life in the unempowered world is like for women. - What sanitation is like in the unempowered world. - Hunger challenges in the unempowered world. - How international investment revolutionized India. - How coal revolutionized India. - How the less-developed world can tell its energy story. Toward the end of the episode we began what I hope is an ongoing discussion about how the unempowered/less-developed world can tell its energy story and advocate for its right to use more fossil fuels. Vijay mentioned at the end of the episode that he’s avail

On this week’s Power Hour, Alex shares some thoughts on the election and then features a “best of” interview with Michael Shellenberger, author of Apocalypse Never. Some highlights: - How Shellenberger went from being a renewables activists to championing nuclear. - Why Shellenberger decided to stand up against climate catastrophism after years of silence. - How modern environmentalism is a religion. - The real motives of most of modern environmentalism. - How environmental journalists misrepresent environmental science.

Recently, Shawn Steffee, an executive board member of Boilermakers 154 in Pennsylvania, was featured on a popular FoxNews segment in which he loudly and proudly advocated for fossil fuels. On this week’s Power Hour Alex Epstein interviews Steffee about the fossil fuel industry in Pennsylvania and what its challenges and opportunities are going forward. They cover: - Why every other form of energy is made using fossil fuels - How Steffee learned about the case for fossil fuels - Why utilities should offer a real renewable energy option, where your power gets cut off when sunshine and wind are inadequate - What happens “behind the scenes” when you turn your lights on - Common-sense problems with using solar in regions with bad winters - Why “smart” people can have so many dumb ideas about energy - The oil and gas industry in Pennsylvania - The coal industry in Pennsylvania - The myth of the perfect climate

Alex Epstein interviews Joakim Book, an up-and-coming economic and environmental commentator.These days Book is writing articles challenging climate catastrophism and explaining the value of abundant energy use.But he used to be a climate activist who thought he was saving the planet from the evil of fossil fuels. Epstein and Book cover: - Book’s time as a climate activist. - Why Book and others never questioned the rightness of opposing fossil fuels. - How economic thinking changed Book’s perspective. - How Book was influenced by The Moral Case for Fossil Fuels. - What lessons we can learn about persuasion from Book’s experience.