193. The Seven Deadly Sins of the Energy Transition
Redefining Energy1 Sep 2025

193. The Seven Deadly Sins of the Energy Transition

Three wise men met and discussed the Seven Sins of The Energy Transition. Laurent, Gerard and Michael dissect seven sectors that have captured attention, investments and public money and are at best dead ends, at worst disasters waiting to happen.
  1. Greed — “Subsidy Mining in a Lab Coat” (Carbon Capture & Direct Air Capture)
    A capital-intensive detour that soaks up public money while delivering trivial abatement at extreme cost, great PR for incumbents, weak climate math.
  2. Gluttony — “Three Kilowatt-Hours to Move One” (Hydrogen-for-Energy)
    An energy-wasting appetite: make H₂ with clean power, then throw most of that power away moving, compressing, liquefying, and reconverting it—useful only in narrow industrial niches.
  3. Sloth — “Always ‘On Time’ by 2040” (Small Modular Reactors)
    Perma-prototype promises that stay years late and dollars short while wind, solar, and storage deploy at scale now.
  4. Pride — “We Will Bottle the Sun” (Fusion Salvationism)
    Technological hubris as strategy: a captivating physics quest, but not a climate plan for the 2030s. Invest in science, don’t budget on miracles.
  5. Lust — “Drop-In Fantasies for Every Engine” (Biofuels-Everywhere)
    The seductive promise of pouring yesterday’s fuels into tomorrow’s problems; keep them for hard-to-electrify edges, not as a universal fix.
  6. Wrath — “Culture War at Sea” (America’s Offshore-Wind Own-Goals)
    Ideological backlash, litigation, and policy whiplash torch viable projects and local supply chains while the rest of the world builds.
  7. Envy — “Green Halo by Checkbox” (ESG Box-Ticking)
    Chasing ratings and labels instead of real-world decarbonization and cash-flow-relevant risk; better to separate E, S, and G and measure outcomes

Episoder(174)

143. Bill Gates and Energy (1/2) – the Thesis

143. Bill Gates and Energy (1/2) – the Thesis

Bill Gates is sucking a lot of oxygen in the Energy Transition. Is he a force for good, or a nuisance? What is his thesis and where does it come from? And is the thesis still valid in 2024 or obsolete...

29 Jul 202419min

142. Batteries vs Hydrogen (Gerard is Live at EcoSummit 2024)

142. Batteries vs Hydrogen (Gerard is Live at EcoSummit 2024)

This week, it is a solo by Gerard Reid.This is the audio of its remarkable presentation at EcoSummit Berlin in June 2024. The topic is “Batteries vs Hydrogen”Link to the YouTube   https://www.youtube....

22 Jul 202415min

141. Texas, California: From Renewable Energy developer to IPP - Jul24

141. Texas, California: From Renewable Energy developer to IPP - Jul24

Texas and California have witnessed a crazy growth in Solar and Batteries in recent years. In 2024 California has 24GW of Solar and 9GW of batteries on its grid; Texas has grown even faster with 31GW ...

15 Jul 202429min

140. SolarPower Europe introduces the "Flexibility Revolution"

140. SolarPower Europe introduces the "Flexibility Revolution"

After a crazy Intersolar in Munich which welcomed more than 120,000 visitors, the pace of Solar deployment in Europe is going exponentially.Gerard and Laurent bring in Walburga Hemetsberger, CEO of So...

8 Jul 202411min

139. The ESG label is outdated. What now? - Jul24

139. The ESG label is outdated. What now? - Jul24

Glencore’s CEO Gary Nagle has once described ESG as “some person in the basement in office number 27 engaged in a box-ticking exercise.” And a lot of fossil fuel companies – while being less explicit ...

1 Jul 202431min

138. The Energy Institute’s Statistical Review of World Energy

138. The Energy Institute’s Statistical Review of World Energy

We bring in Nick Wayth, CEO of Energy Institute (EI), for the release of the 73rd Edition of the Statistical Review of World Energy. The Energy Institute Statistical Review of World Energy™ analyses d...

24 Jun 202415min

137. Subsea interconnectors: new horizons - Jun24

137. Subsea interconnectors: new horizons - Jun24

UK is at the nexus of the subsea interconnector’s new economy. Great Britain is connected to Continental Europe by 8 interconnectors representing up to 15% of its power consumption.Subsea cables are n...

17 Jun 202427min

136. Special Eurelectric with PPC’s CEO Georgios Stassis

136. Special Eurelectric with PPC’s CEO Georgios Stassis

Laurent interviews Georgios Stassis, PPC’S CEO, during Eurelectric Power Summit 24.PPC, the Greek Utility, is a remarkable turnaround story: from a soviet-style dinosaur a few years ago, PPC has becom...

10 Jun 202417min

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