Framing energy conversations, Venezuela goes dark, nuclear’s amazing safety record

In this issue: 
  • Power Hour: Framing energy conversations, Venezuela goes dark, nuclear’s amazing safety record
  • Interview: The climate school strike
  • The easiest way to share this newsletter
  • The Human Flourishing Project: An innovative psychotherapist
  • Upcoming speeches

Power Hour: Framing energy conversations, Venezuela goes dark, nuclear’s amazing safety record

In this week’s episode of Power Hour, Don, Steffen, and I cover eight topics:

(1) A new way to frame energy conversations. In this segment, I discuss a new way to frame energy conversations that naturally encourages people to look at the whole impact of a product or policy on human life.

  • Key takeaway: Ask, “Will X be a better place to live if we do Y?” For example, “Will America be a better place to live if we pass the Green New Deal?”

(2) Venezuela goes dark. In this segment, Don discusses the nation-wide blackout in Venezuela and the lessons it holds for our own decisions about energy.

  • Key takeaway: For any decision that can impact electricity we should ask: will this strengthen or weaken our grid?

(3) After stinging defeat in 2018, Colorado’s anti-fracking activists are back. In this segment, Steffen talks about a new piece of legislation in Colorado that disguises anti-development regulations as a “local government” issue in order to push through fracking bans the state rejected in 2018.

  • Key takeaway: The job of the government is to protect rights, including the right to develop crucial energy resources.

(4) Green New Deal: A Preview. In this segment, Don examines the Illinois Environmental Council announced its Clean Energy Jobs Act legislation, which would outlaw fossil fuels by 2030 and outlaw fossil fuels, nuclear, and most hydro by 2050.

  • Key takeaway: “100% renewable” advocates are evading the fact that solar and wind cannot provide affordable, reliable energy.

(5) How the Fukushima nuclear incident is still being distorted 8 years later. In this segment, Steffen provides examples of biased coverage of the health impact that damaged nuclear reactors had after being hit by a giant tsunami in Japan.

  • Key takeaway: Fear mongering about nuclear is misplaced and could easily do more health damage than nuclear technology itself.

(6) Youngstown’s fight for fracking freedom. In this segment, Don discusses the relentless push by fossil fuel opponents for fracking bans in Youngstown, OH–and how energy champions should respond.

  • Key takeaway: Energy champions need to reframe the discussion to look at the pros and cons of anti-fracking policies to assess whether fracking bans will make Ohio a better or worse place to live–and they need to define a positive policy of their own.

(7) The false hype around Texas building “the world’s largest battery.” In this segment, Steffen puts some perspective on the planned “world’s biggest battery,” which will be operational in Texas in 2021. The 485 MW will be less than one per cent of the current installed capacity (123,000 MW) and current peak demand for Texas (>70,000 MW).

  • Key takeaway: The battery hype is clearly dishonest and obfuscates the magnitude of the storage problem.

(8) The attack on industrial collaboration. In this segment, I discuss how industrialization is really how we collaborate to meet our needs, including our environmental needs–and how the attacks on industrial collaboration falsely assume that this collaboration has made our environment worse.

  • Key takeaway: Industrial collaboration has improved every aspect of life, including our air and water–opposing industrial collaboration will make everyone’s life and environment worse.

Listen to the episode:

Let us know what you think

We’d love your feedback. Let us know what you like and what you don’t like so that we can make sure the podcast is as valuable as possible.

Interview: The climate school strike

I was recently interviewed by Inside Europe on the international climate change school strike launched by Swedish student and activist Greta Thunberg. You can listen to the entire interview here.

The easiest way to share this newsletter

Do you have friends or colleagues who would like this newsletter? Just send them a link to AlexEpsteinList.com.

The Human Flourishing Project: An innovative psychotherapist

On the latest episode of The Human Flourishing Project I interview Brent Charleton, an innovative psychotherapist and executive coach, about how he developed a system that has yielded dramatically positive results with his clients.

Upcoming speeches

Here are some of my upcoming speeches.

  • 3/14 – Private event in Youngstown, OH
  • 3/26 – Private event in Napa, CA

If you’re interested in having me speak at a high level event, you can download a list of my new speeches here.