Power Hour with Alex Epstein

This week’s Power Hour features the wide-ranging Q&A from a recent speech Alex Epstein gave at Lafayette College--a speech that was supposed to be a debate with Michael Mann. Some of the many topics covered include: - Does the moral case for fossil fuels uncritically assume that progress is good? - Do people really choose fossil fuel energy? - Can the dominance of fossil fuels be explained by a lack of research into other sources of energy production? - Climate-related damages beyond climate-related deaths. - Energy poverty in the US - The value of fossil fuel-based materials - The “abuse-use fallacy” - Why the anti-fossil fuel movement is anti-nuclear. - The “delicate nurturer” vs. “wild potential” view of Earth - What we can learn from hunter-gatherers - The psychological motivation for being anti-human - Electric cars - Does Alex have a favorite fossil fuel?

This week's Power Hour features a recent speech Alex Epstein gave at Lafayette College that was supposed to be a debate with Michael Mann. Learn why Mann pulled out of the debate and hear the latest version of the moral case for fossil fuels.

It’s common for us to hear that solar, wind are cheaper than coal or gas. Specifically we’ll hear that solar and wind are “bidding” at lower prices than goal or gas. All of this sounds very competitive, like they’re winning on the merits on a free market. And yet at the same time, something is clearly very wrong. Electricity costs tend to go up the more “cheaper” solar and wind you add. Intuitively we know that it’s wrong to not factor in reliability when you’re comparing prices. On this week’s Power Hour Alex Epstein interviews Tom Stacy, an electricity consultant who explains how electricity markets are “rigged against reliables”--and what we need to do to make them fair and beneficial.

A couple months ago, a young researcher named Emily Harari reached out to me about my views about the scientific consensus on climate change. She raised some interesting questions I hadn’t commented publicly on, so I agreed to do the interview if we could share it with my listeners. This week’s Power Hour features that interview. Some of the topics we cover are: - The legitimate and illegitimate view of consensus - How to learn the actual state of consensus - The National Climate Assessment - How consensus statements often misrepresent the state of consensus - The role of the media in distorting science - How transparent should consensus discussions be - The obligation of scientists to stand up to false consensus statements

On this week’s Power Hour Alex Epstein interviews Chuck DeVore, a Vice President at the Texas Public Policy Foundation and former California state assemblyman on the California wildfires. DeVore has extensively studied the history of fires in California, and gives a fascinating historical perspective that points the right path forward. Questions covered include: - What is California’s climate like historically in terms of being prone to fire? - How were forests and fires dealt with by natives prior to the Gold Rush? - How were forests and fires dealt with subsequent to the Gold Rush? - What policies have been most responsible for making us Californians vulnerable to dangerous fires? - How have logging policies affected vulnerability to dangerous fires? - How have air quality policies affected vulnerability to dangerous fires? - What are the most important policies to fix the situation? - How can we as citizens get involved?

On a special bonus episode of Power Hour Alex Epstein interviews Patrick Moore, ecologist and cofounder of Greenpeace, on the realm causes of California’s wildfire disaster. Moore pins the blame squarely on “green” forest mismanagement. Topics covered include: - What are the top policy changes necessary to prevent dangerous, out of control wildfires (not the same as fires)? - How does private vs. government ownership of land affect the likelihood of dangerous fires? - What are the major drivers of dangerous, out of control wildfires? - What places in the world have the best wildfire management? - How have government policies changed for the worse in the US? - How do you respond to claims that these fires are inevitable because of climate changes? - Dr. Moore’s forthcoming book on invisible catastrophes.

On this week’s Power Hour, Alex Epstein interviews David McIntosh, President of the Club for Growth, one of the world’s most influential free-market organizations. The Club for Growth recently shared Alex’s EnergyTalkingPoints.com website with its members and the candidates it works with. In the interview Alex asked McIntosh a wide range of questions relating to promoting freedom and energy in 2020, including: - What does the Club for Growth do? -  How does the Club for Growth select and help free-market candidates? - What are the most important issues at stake this election? - Why did the Club for Growth share Alex Epstein’s EnergyTalkingPoints.com? - What has McIntosh learned about effectiveness in Washington that supporters of energy freedom can utilize to become more effective?

On this week’s Power Hour, Alex Epstein brings on Congressman Chip Roy to discuss the 2020 energy debate and how pro-freedom candidates and citizens can be successful in it. Some topics they cover include: - Why energy policy has not been a big topic of discussion so far, particularly among Republicans. - Why we can expect energy policy, including climate policy, to be a big topic in the final two months of campaigning. - What Congressman Roy thinks of EnergyTalkingPoints.com. - The challenges candidates face in dealing with a wide variety of issues. - Some of the most common energy and climate questions candidates need help responding to. - How to promote EnergyTalkingPoints.com.

On this week’s Power Hour, Alex Epstein brings back Michael Shellenberger, our most popular guest of 2020, for an in-depth look at the California blackouts and the California wildfires.

On this week’s Power Hour Alex Epstein interviews economist Dr. Saifedean Ammous about economics and energy. Dr. Ammous, in part due to his influence by The Moral Case for Fossil Fuels, is working on a new economics textbook that makes energy a central focus in analyzing the causes of prosperity. Dr. Ammous is best known for his popular book The Bitcoin Standard, a fascinating look at the economics of Bitcoin. Alex and Dr. Ammous discuss a wide range of topics, including: - How Ammous got interested in energy economics. - What Ammous learned studying the economics of biofuels. - Why it’s crucial to think of time as the most important resource. - How energy relates to time. - How economists tend to undervalue energy–and what Ammous is doing to address this. Additionally they discuss several foundational issues in economics, such as the nature of money, economic calculation, the nature of value, and opportunity cost. I hope you enjoy the wide-ranging discussion. As a bonus, on this episode Alex gives his first ever public explanation of “the private jet problem,” a central idea in The Moral Case for Fossil Fuels 2.0.