Cheeky Pint Casey Handmer of Terraform Industries on solar maximalism, hard tech, and reclaiming the Salton Sea
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Oct 28, 2025 
In this engaging discussion, Casey Handmer, founder of Terraform Industries and a pioneer in synthetic hydrocarbons, shares his insights on solar maximalism and the future of energy. He predicts a dramatic drop in solar costs and explains why Hyperloop is doomed. Casey also reveals his ambitious plans to refill the Salton Sea and discusses the potential of synthetic fuels to democratize aviation. With a focus on efficiency and hard tech, he emphasizes the necessity for demanding leadership and the importance of desalination in California's future.
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Solar Is An Exponential Wave
- Solar deployment is on an exponential curve that many people underappreciate.
- Projecting forward correctly makes synthetic fuels and massive electrification economically plausible.
Why Hyperloop Was Doomed
- Hyperloop failed not for levitation or vacuum but because high-speed routing forces huge tunneling costs.
- At high speeds vehicles need to be far from ground, making a national hyperloop network economically impractical.
Kaiser: From Roads To Mega Projects
- Henry Kaiser rose from road contractor to build Hoover and Grand Coulee dams and massive wartime shipyards.
- His mechanization and relentless work ethic enabled industrial scale projects that reshaped the American West.
