Power Hour With Alex Epstein

On this Best-of Power Hour, Alex Epstein takes us back to the first ever episode of Power Hour, featuring energy expert Robert Bryce. Alex will be appearing on Robert’s Power Hungry podcast the week of August 2nd. Listen to this episode, then Robert’s podcast, to see how the two have evolved over the last decade.

On this week's Power Hour Alex Epstein interviews economist Dr. Saifedean Ammous, about how systematic government control--"fiat"--wreaks havoc in the realms, not just of currency, but of science, education, and energy. They cover: - How government control in the realm of ideas is treated as benign but is in fact incredibly dangerous. - The myth that leading universities such as Harvard, Yale, and Stanford are "private." - What freedom of scientific inquiry looks like, and how it gave birth to the modern world. - Why much of today's "modeling" would not exist in a free market. - How the moral case for fossil fuels is taking hold in the Bitcoin community.

Recorded in advance of Alex Epstein’s headline-making Congressional testimony about Puerto Rico, Alex Epstein interviews Yaron Brook, Chairman of the Ayn Rand Institute and a Puerto Rico resident, about how to bring about a renaissance in Puerto Rico. Brook explains: - Why he moved to Puerto Rico - The parallels between Puerto Rico and Hong Kong - How Puerto Rican policy punishes native Puerto Ricans - Puerto Rico’s horrific electricity grid - Cultural challenges in Puerto Rico Toward the end of the episode, Brook discusses his new projects and Alex shares his formula for reframing the conversation in new fields.

From Alex Epstein, host of Power Hour: On this week’s Power Hour I have a wide-ranging discussion with Chris Wright, the proud and outspoken CEO of Liberty Oilfield Services. I first met Chris when we tag-teamed in a debate against climate catastrophists back in late 2015. He, like me, came to love fossil fuels despite not coming from that industry background at all (his background was working on fusion at MIT). In the past month Chris has done two very cool things. One is that he has responded to the ESG movement with a report entitled “Bettering Human Lives” that highlights the amazing benefits of the oil and gas industry, and encourages rational thinking about climate. Chris has also been making a lot of noise with a new “Thank You, North Face” billboard and video campaign. In our discussion Chris and I cover: - Why he chose to be an entrepreneur - The response to his revolutionary ESG report - The response to his “Thank You, North Face” campaign - His role working with Mitchell Energy to bring about

From Alex Epstein: An understandable reaction to my view that the world should be using more fossil fuels in the coming decades, not less, is "This is the exact opposite of what 'the experts' say. Almost every institution I trust says the expert consensus is that we need to rapidly eliminate fossil fuel use. How can you be right and they be wrong?" On this week's Power Hour (coming out this Friday) drawing on some brand-new material from my forthcoming book Fossil Future, I tackle this question head-on, explaining three ways in which experts are often wrong. When we hear claims that "the experts" are wrong, we usually associate it with the claim that most experts in a field are factually mistaken. While this certainly does happen, there are two far more common ways in which "the experts" can be wrong--both of which are at work on the issue of energy. The factual conclusions of experts can be misrepresented by those who claim to speak for all experts. And the factual conclusions of experts can be misevalu

Power Hour will now be every two weeks. We've got some great guests coming up!

Alex Epstein interviews Dr. Patrick Michaels, climate scientist and policy expert, on how today’s climate “scientocracy”—the heavily government-funded and government-influenced field of climate science—works. While those outside the field of climate science tend to think of it as consisting of independent researchers, free to pursue the truth wherever it leads them, Michaels argues that our climate scientocracy makes this impossible. During the interview, Michaels answers questions including: - How has government transformed climate research during Michaels’s career? - How does government impact what research gets done? - How does academic research get communicated with the general public? - How do “consensus” statements come to be? For more on how government distorts science, see Dr. Michaels’s book Scientocracy.

On this week's Power Hour, Alex Epstein interviews Terry Etam, an energy industry veteran who is one of the savviest energy analysts today. They debunk the claim that the world is going through a rapid "energy transition" away from fossil fuels by discussing many energy realities, including: - China's fossil fueled dominance of "green energy" - China's, Russia's, and India's plan to use more fossil fuel going forward - How California is "transitioning" to more and more blackouts - How Ontario's "transition" led to skyrocketing electricity prices - How Canada's "transition" is a senseless sacrifice of Canadian prosperity and security - How the same anti-human-impact forces that oppose fossil fuels also oppose the mining necessary for solar, wind, and batteries

On May 19, 2021, Alex Epstein testified in front of the House Natural Resources committee and answered numerous questions. This video features his testimony and Q&A, plus the backstory of the hearing and Alex’s answers to follow-up questions by Representative Lauren Boebert.

From Alex Epstein: “10 years ago, I recorded what is still my favorite Earth Day Power Hour with philosopher Onkar Ghate, a long-time mentor of mine. Before we recorded the episode, Onkar suggested to me that we take a positive approach, explaining how much better human beings have made the Earth. That suggestion, and much of what we discussed in that episode, has affected my thinking ever since. "This best-of-episode features a new intro by Alex, including an update on Fossil Future.

On this week's Power Hour, Alex Epstein interviews economist Ross McKitrick, famous for debunking Michael Mann's once-ubiquitous "hockey stick," about how climate science gets distorted--so that what the public hears about climate science is a wild exaggeration of what most climate scientists actually believe.   McKitrick explains: - How the "hockey stick" became ubiquitous despite widespread concerns about its (in)validity. - The real track record of climate models. - Why climate economists are coming under attack for rejecting climate catastrophism. - Why climate catastrophists face a reckoning over the next 10 years. - What we can expect from the UN IPCC's upcoming AR 6. - Why we almost never discuss the benefits of fossil fuels, including their role in driving progress.

On this week's Power Hour, Alex Epstein interviews Brent Bennett, a materials scientist by training and Policy Director of Life:Powered. In the first half of the interview, Brent shares how his background in physics and materials science has informed his views on the future of energy. In the second half, he summarizes the politics of Texas electricity--before, during, and after the recent mass-blackouts. Some of the specific topics covered include: - Alex's analogy between drug addicts and "renewable" power sources. - How Moore's Law is not a physical law, and how treating it that way distorts thinking about batteries. - The limitations of batteries given existing physics knowledge. - The proper relationship between physics and economics, and how today's politicians invert it. - How Texas did not have enough electricity generation to avoid rolling blackouts even if zero natural gas and coal plants had gone down. - Why today's Texas electricity "market" is totally unfair to reliable producers of electricity.

On this week's Power Hour, Alex Epstein interviews Steve Koonin, a highly accomplished physicist and author of the new bestselling book "Unsettled: What Climate Science Tells Us, What It Doesn't and Why It Matters" In 2014, Koonin, who had worked in the Obama administration, began to question climate catastrophism when he led a panel of physicists assessing the current state of climate science. In his new book he summarizes what he regards as the actual state of climate science--which does not support claims of climate catastrophe at all. In this interview, Koonin discusses: - His conclusion that "Humans exert a growing, but physically small, warming influence on the climate." - Why "The net economic impact of human-induced climate change will be minimal through at least the end of this century." - Why "Government and UN press releases and summaries do not accurately reflect" scientific research reports. - How the US National Climate Assessment manipulated data to create an extreme heat pattern in the US t

On this week’s Power Hour, Alex Epstein interviews John Robson of Climate Discussion Nexus, about how the green energy movement is weakening free countries like the United States and increasing Communist China’s odds of achieving its goal of being the world superpower by 2049. They discuss: - John’s excellent video The Red-Green Menace - China’s openly stated goal of world superpower status - China’s continuing embrace of fossil fuels - How US “green energy” is inferior energy produced largely by Communist China using fossil fuels - How the corporate world plays into China’s hands - How US companies should stand up to climate catastrophism - The virtues of speaking the unpopular truth - How John debunked the 97% consensus myth

On this week's Power Hour, Alex Epstein interviews economist Steven Landsburg, professor of economics at The University of Rochester, about how economics can help us understand many realms--including today's "religion of environmentalism." They discuss: - How Landsburg's popular book The Armchair Economist came about. - Why Landsburg regards "people respond to incentives" as the foundation of economics. - How understanding incentives makes sense of seemingly counterintuitive outcomes, such as recycling programs leading to fewer trees. - How understanding economics could have vastly improved vaccine distribution in the US. - The science of ecology vs. the religion of ecology. - How human beings ability to adapt to climate changes is largely ignored in today's discussions--and why economists don't speak up about it. - How "environmentalists" treat their personal preferences as morally superior to others' preferences. - Landsburg's economics-based approach to species extinction.

On this week's Power Hour, Alex Epstein discusses the policy platform known as the Green New Deal with Marc Morano, author of the new book "Green Fraud: Why The Green New Deal is Worse Than You Think." They focus on the roots of the Green New Deal--Marc, its historical and political roots, Alex, it's philosophical roots--which both believe are key to successfully opposing it and advocating a positive alternative. Some of the topics they cover are: - How Marc became skeptical of the modern environmental movement. - What UN climate conferences are really like--lavish parties, exotic locations, impressive carbon footprints. - How Marc was once kicked out of a climate conference and literally thrown in the middle of the desert. - Why Marc features EnergyTalkingPoints.com so prominently in his new book. - What we can learn from the great economics teacher Walter Williams. - Alex's views on the three levels of reframing the energy and climate conversation. - Where the Green New Deal came from. - How the Green New

On this week’s Power Hour Alex Epstein joins philosopher Gregory Salmieri and statistician Carlos Carvalho to discuss what caused Texas electricity to be so unreliable when it was desperately needed during a recent winter storm. In this wide-ranging discussion Alex emphasizes the point that by giving undeserved money and preferences to unreliable wind and solar electricity, Texas defunded the reliable and resilient electricity it needed. Some specific topics include: - How the grid needs to match supply and demand. - What we know about what actually happened before the mass blackouts. - How Texas policy gives preference to wind and solar. - Why a “Red State” like Texas is so pro-wind. - How Texas’s “Energy Only” market works. - How Texas’s fundamental problems exist nationwide.

On this week's Power Hour Alex Epstein interviews ecologist Patrick Moore, cofounder of Greenpeace and author of "Fake Invisible Catastrophes and Threats of Doom." In his book Moore thoroughly debunks 11 alleged current or imminent catastrophes, from mass species extinction to ocean "acidification" to the near death of the Great Barrier Reef. In this interview Alex asks Moore about the false assumptions that drive our propensity to believe in "fake invisible catastrophes," including the assumption that human impact is inevitably destructive because it disrupts an alleged perfect, delicate balance of nature. More debunks this "delicate balance" idea thoroughly with numerous examples, above all with CO2 levels--which, he argues, were on a natural and deadly downward trajectory toward mass plant death until human beings restored some of it to the atmosphere.

On this week's Power Hour, Alex Epstein interviews Robert Hargraves on the topic of how to decriminalize nuclear energy so it can provide low-cost, reliable, ultra-clean energy for billions of people. Hargraves is cofounder of ThorCon and author of "Thorium: Energy Cheaper Than Coal." They cover topics including: - Why since the creation of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) over 45 years ago not one nuclear power plant has been designed and built to completion. - Why the Linear no Threshold (LNT) approach guiding the NRC should be abolished. - What ALARA is, and how it increases nuclear costs. - Why South Korea builds nuclear plants at 1/3 US costs. - Should the NRC exist at all?

The Biden Administration has just announced $51/ton "Social Cost of Carbon." On this week's Power Hour, Alex Epstein interviews David Kreutzer, Senior Economist at the Institute for Energy Research, about the many methodological and moral problems with this metric, including: - How the SCC overestimates negative climate impacts - How the SCC underestimates positive climate impacts - How the SCC underestimates adaptation - How the SCC ignores the unique cost-effectiveness of fossil fuels - How the SCC is radically changed by arbitrary decisions about its "discount rate"