Power Hour with Alex Epstein

On this episode of Power, Alex Epstein answers listener questions about “100% renewable,” why he publicly violated Gavin Newsom’s stay at home order, and the George Floyd saga.

Alex Epstein interviews Matt Ridley on the topic of “how energy innovation works.” Drawing from Ridley’s new book, “How Innovation Works,” they discuss: -Why Ridley considers “the conversion of heat to work” to be perhaps the most important innovation. -The true story of innovation in fracking and why the conventional narrative about it being a government-led innovation is false. -Why there’s so little innovation in nuclear–and what to do about it. -Why freedom is crucial to innovation.

On this episode of Power Hour, Alex Epstein and Steffen Henne discuss: - Why no company is or can be 100% renewable for the foreseeable future. - The three dishonest techniques companies use to claim that they are “100% renewable” or “carbon neutral.” - How Google, Microsoft, and Amazon use these techniques to deceive the public. - Why companies’ refusal to consider nuclear energy is cowardly. - How 100% renewable propaganda pollutes the energy debate.

From Alex Epstein, host of Power Hour On this week’s Power Hour I interview economist Ray Niles on how a freer market can help us protect ourselves from COVID-19. We covered topics including: - How price controls, in the form of anti-“price-gouging” laws, caused – shortages of vital medical supplies and other supplies. - How we are in a critical moment for freedom in America. - How “temporary” incursions on freedom rarely go away. - How a freer market in hospitals would increase capacity. - The long-term consequences of money-printing and “stimulus.”

On this week’s Power Hour I interview Wayne Christian, Chairman of the Texas Railroad Commission (the primary governing body over oil and gas in Texas), on why he decided against passing a government-controlled cap on oil production in Texas.

From Alex Epstein, host of Power Hour. In a bonus episode of Power Hour I interview one of my favorite COVID commentators, economist Daniil Gorbatenko, about the overwhelming evidence that the lockdown mantra “safer inside” is wrong. Being inside increases our risk of a dangerous infection from COVID-19 by a) exposing millions to higher doses of the virus and b) decreasing immunity. Being outside by contrast, exposes us to lower doses of the virus and increases our immunity. So not only are the lockdowns catastrophically destructive to every aspect of life besides COVID-19, they also make many and likely most Americans more vulnerable to harm from COVID-19 itself.

From Alex Epstein, host of Power Hour. On this week's Power Hour I discuss "The Five Things Planet of the Humans Gets Totally Wrong." 1. It evades how bad the “natural” planet was for human life. 2. It evades how good today’s humanized planet is for human life. 3. It evades our ability to create new value and grow indefinitely. 4. It evades our ability to produce more value with fewer side effects (e.g., nuclear). 5. It evaluates the state of the planet by an anti-human standard (unchanged nature), not a pro-human standard (human flourishing).

From Alex Epstein, host of Power Hour. On this week's Power Hour I discuss "The Five Things Planet of the Humans Gets (Mostly) Right." 1. Green energy is a high-impact industrial process 2. Green energy has many undesirable environmental impacts 3. Green energy is hugely dependent on fossil fuels 4. "100% renewable" is energy accounting fraud 5. Leading green energy advocates are a terrifying combination of ignorant and dishonest Next week I'll cover "The Five Things Planet of the Human Gets Totally Wrong."

From Alex Epstein, host of Power Hour. This week’s Power Hour features a 2-hour interview with philosopher Onkar Ghate, focusing on why lockdowns were never a necessary or proper response to COVID-19. Dr. Ghate, a Senior Fellow at the Ayn Rand Institute and a longtime colleague (and mentor) of mine, has been doing some great work on what a truly American, pro-freedom, approach to infectious diseases looks like. Some topics we covered include: - We need objective, clearly defined laws specifying and limiting the power of government in regard to infectious diseases. - Why Sweden has more American infectious disease laws than America does. - How clearly defined laws lead to better preparedness by government, industry, and individuals. - Why more profit-making in the health care system is key to scaling capacity. - How governments have failed to do their proper job of identifying and isolating infectious individuals. - How far greater transparency from government would empower a free people to make rational decisions. - The right way to handle potential hospital capacity shortages. - How the idea of “free” health care promotes irresponsible behavior. - Why state-wide lockdowns were not the right policy with the evidence we had. - Why lockdowns were a panic-based, not reason-based policy that should be removed as quickly as possible. - How governments should make policy and communicate to citizens going forward. - Why now is the time to write to government officials—and what you should write.

On this week's Power Hour I cover 4 topics: 1: A pro-freedom approach to COVID-19 2: My favorite COVID-19 commentators 3: The fallacy of COVID-19 and climate "denial" 4: New climate talking points