Power Hour with Alex Epstein

By Alex EpsteinNews News Commentary

Power Hour with Alex Epstein episodes

May 26, 2022 CA candidate for governor Michael Shellenberger on the governor's race, energy, and Fossil Future
On this special episode of Power Hour to celebrate Fossil Future's launch week, I'm joined by California candidate for governor Michael Shellenberger--whom I am enthusiastically supporting, intellectually and financially.
We ended up spending most of the time talking about the energy landscape, including where Fossil Future fits in. But I made sure that we talked about Mike's campaign and why it is worth supporting. I've contributed $5000, an unprecedented amount for me.
38 min
May 26, 2022 Vivek Ramaswamy's positive alternative to "ESG" investing
On the latest episode of Power Hour, Alex Epstein is joined by Vivek Ramaswamy, author of Woke, Inc. and Co-Founder and Executive Chairman at Strive Asset Management to talk about the impact of the ESG movement on investments, its root causes, and how to fight it. Ramaswamy also shares his views on Alex's new book Fossil Future.
1 hr 9 min
March 19, 2022 How to liberate nuclear energy, with Robert Zubrin
Alex Epstein is joined by futurist, nuclear engineering PhD, and energy expert Robert Zubrin to talk about how to liberate nuclear energy’s limitless potential. Drawing from Zubrin’s new manuscript “The Case for Nukes,” they cover:
1. Nuclear’s track record of providing low-cost, reliable, clean, safe electricity.
2. How irrational government policies have made nuclear vastly more expensive than it needs to be.
3. The key policies needed to liberate nuclear.
1 hr 21 min
March 14, 2022 Joe Craft, America’s leading coal CEO, on America’s strangled coal potential
Alex Epstein interviews Joe Craft, CEO of Alliance Resource Partners, America’s most successful coal company, on the causes of and solutions to America’s and the world’s energy crisis.

They cover:
- Why and how most of today’s global energy crisis could have been prevented.
- How government financial regulators have pressured financial institutions to stop lending to fossil fuels.
- Why coal prices, long the most stable of all energy prices, have skyrocketed.
- The connection between energy and freedom.
52 min
January 01, 2022 A discussion with Doomberg about the European Energy Crisis and solar’s scalability problems
On the latest Power Hour, Alex Epstein is joined by Doomberg, a rising pseudonymous star in the energy humanist movement. They discuss: Doomberg’s background and mission, the price and scalability challenges of solar, and the unfolding European energy crisis.

You can subscribe to Doomberg’s Substack at Doomberg.substack.com and Alex’s Substack at alexepstein.substack.com
1 hr 8 min
November 29, 2021 The threat of declining American oil with Michael Lynch
On this week’s Power Hour, Alex Epstein has a wide-ranging conversation with oil expert Michael Lynch about Lynch’s latest paper on how political and social forces threaten to drive oil production away from the US and toward the Middle East.
1 hr 4 min
November 13, 2021 Bjorn Lomborg on the bad climate thinking of COP 26
As COP 26 wrapped up, Bjorn Lomborg joined Alex Epstein to discuss the many examples of bad thinking that have shaped the conference, including:
- The false portrayal of today’s world as bad and getting worse.
- The failure to consider the costs of reducing CO2 emissions.
- The failure to discuss the benefits human beings get from fossil fuels.
- The failure to consider any positive of CO2 emissions.
- The failure to appreciate the power of adapting to climate changes.

Additionally, Bjorn shares his thoughts on how to win more people over to thinking rationally about energy and climate.

Link to Bjorn's 2020 article: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0040162520304157

Link to Bjorn's book, False Alarm, where you can download the first 25 pages for free: https://www.basicbooks.com/titles/bjorn-lomborg/false-alarm/9781541647473/
1 hr
November 06, 2021 The rise of Michael Shellenberger and the energy humanist movement
On this week's Power Hour, Alex Epstein is joined by Michael Shellenberger, author of the bestselling Apocalypse Never and San Fransicko, to discuss Shellenberger's rising influence and, more broadly, the growing influence of "energy humanists."

Some of the topics covered in this free-flowing discussion are:

- What caused Shellenberger to be more open in challenging climate catastrophism?
- The strong pushback Shellenberger got from donors for challenging the liberal orthodoxy around renewables and climate catastrophe.
- How to use Twitter effectively.
- How to avoid Twitter addiction.
- The commonalities among the "woke" movement and the modern environmental movement.
- The ESG movement's "success" in driving up oil and gasoline prices.
- The importance of having a positive, alternative vision and policy when defending against attacks on civilization.
- The role of government in a pro-nuclear movement.
1 hr 17 min
October 29, 2021 A wide-ranging discussion with leading climate economist Richard Tol
When leading climate economist Richard Tol publicly criticized a Twitter thread of Alex Epstein’s blaming anti-fossil fuel policies for the current energy crisis, Epstein invited Tal on Power Hour to discuss the issue as well as Tol’s work in climate economics.

The result is an illuminating and wide-ranging discussion of many topics, including:
- What climate economics is
- Criticisms of climate economics by Noah Smith and others for not portraying man-made climate change as sufficiently catastrophic
- The philosophical assumptions underlying climate catastrophism
- How both Tol’s and Epstein’s work is based on a pro-human standard of evaluation
- Why Richard Tol withdrew from a major role in the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
- How politics shapes every facet of the IPCC
- The role of government restrictions on fossil fuel production and transportation in the energy crisis
- The role of standard boom/bust cycles in the energy crisis
- The role of unexpected demand in the energy crisis
58 min
October 22, 2021 Best-of Power Hour: The Future of Oil With Michael Lynch
From Alex Epstein, host of Power Hour:

This week's Power Hour is a best-of episode, featuring a now prophetic interview with energy economist Michael Lynch.

In February of this year, there were many prominent claims that post-pandemic demand for oil would quickly decline and fade.

I thought these claims were based on farcical reasoning, and to counter them I invited one of my favorite energy economists, Michael Lynch, to challenge the idea of "peak oil demand."

Early in the podcast he said:
"In the past couple of years, people have started talking about peak oil demand. And the pandemic has increased the idea that it’s imminent or even passed. You’ve had a few companies like BP and Shell that have scenarios that show a near-term peak in oil demand. And it’s kind of the flavor of the day.

“And the problem is, most of the talk is very superficial."

I think you'll find it valuable to hear Lynch's and my arguments against popular predictions about energy, as we have since been vindicated.
55 min