Why Chasing Net Zero Raises Costs And Keeps People Poor

Power you can count on changes everything—health, safety, jobs, and whether a storm becomes a headline or a hardship. We sit down with energy expert and former Texas legislator Jason Isaac to unpack why so many grids feel fragile despite record spending, and how policy signals have steered capital into intermittent capacity that often fails when demand spikes. From Texas’ post‑Uri reality to Europe’s price shocks, we connect real‑world outcomes to the engineering underneath the buzzwords.

Jason walks us through how subsidies per megawatt‑hour shape the buildout of wind, solar, and batteries, and why installed capacity is not the same as dependable generation. We cover land use tradeoffs, the true cost of storage, and the rising urgency for firm power sources such as advanced thermal and nuclear. Along the way, we examine Germany’s industrial retrenchment, the high price of electricity for households, and what happens when companies move production to countries with looser environmental and labor standards. Energy policy is not a spreadsheet exercise; it’s an industrial strategy that touches every family budget.

The conversation turns to human stakes often left out of climate debates. Cold kills more than heat when bills soar and homes can’t stay warm. In the developing world, energy poverty keeps children like Aisha walking for water instead of learning after school—proof that access to affordable, reliable electricity is a human rights issue. We challenge popular narratives, ask hard questions about “net zero” pledges, and argue for a path that values reliability, cost, and environmental stewardship together. If you care about keeping the lights on and lifting people out of poverty, this one’s for you.

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