China’s Power Play

On this episode of Power Hour Alex Epstein interviews energy/environment researcher Rupert Darwall, author of The Age of Global Warming and Green Tyranny, on why the corporate “net-zero” movement is unscientific and suicidal. Here’s some of what they cover: - Where the net-zero-by-2050 and its accompanying 1.5 degrees C target came from. Hint: It’s not a scientific origin. - How even small steps toward “net-zero” are harming citizens and industry in the UK. - The UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s (IPCC’s) religious focus on minimizing human impact on the planet instead of maximizing human flourishing on the planet. - How the IPCC evades the amazing improvement in human life over the past two centuries and fossil fuels’ fundamental role in it. - How the IPCC doesn’t seriously address the costs of net-zero policies. - Why certain elements of Wall Street find “net-zero“ so compelling.

14 Jan 202155min

On this week’s Power Hour, Alex Epstein interviews one of his mentors, philosopher Onkar Ghate, on how the fossil fuel industry can fight for its freedom (far) more effectively by standing up for itself as a matter of justice. Some of the questions discussed include: - Why is it so powerful to fight on grounds of justice? - What should people in the fossil fuel industry consider unjust about the way they’re treated? - What kind of justice should the fossil fuel industry demand? - How should the fossil fuel industry act in the political world? - How should the fossil fuel industry interact with the media? - How should the fossil fuel industry act in the corporate/ESG world? - What can we learn from Ayn Rand’s success in winning people over to the cause of economic freedom?

7 Jan 20211h 6min

On this week’s Power Hour Alex Epstein interviews international energy economist Anas Alhajji about the future of energy and energy security. They cover: - What factors affect energy security - How overreliance on electricity is a threat to energy security - The future of competition with the global oil industry using solar, wind, and batteries - The future of competition within the global oil industry, including US shale, OPEC, and Russia - The contradictions of the modern environmental movement

30 Dec 20201h

Alex Epstein interviews Adam Anderson, author of a widely-circulated open letter to The North Face when the company refused to sell Anderson’s oilfield services company, Innovex, 400 jackets. They discuss: - How Adam got into the oil and gas industry - Why Adam wrote the letter - How Adam was influenced by The Moral Case for Fossil Fuels - The unexpected volume of feedback Adam has gotten - Why The North Face and other anti-hydrocarbon groups didn’t publicly respond - Why speaking up has less downside than people think - Adam’s plans for the future

23 Dec 202045min

On this episode of Power Hour Alex Epstein continues his discussion with physicist Adrian Bejan, of “constructal law” fame, to discuss the central ideas of Bejan’s book Freedom and Evolution. They cover: - Professor Bejan’s broad-ranging conception of freedom, including change and movement. - How freedom of change and movement naturally leads to economies of scale for humans, for other life forms, and for the inanimate. - How freedom of change and movement and naturally leads to hierarchies, for other life forms, and for the inanimate. - How Bejan explains the continued dominance of the Northeast United States in the university world. - Why Bejan expects energy use to keep increasing. - Why Bejan agrees with the moral case for fossil fuels. - The role of bad ideas in restricting freedom and progress

17 Dec 20201h 29min

On this week’s Power Hour Alex Epstein interviews Adrian Bejan, a Duke Professor and Benjamin Franklin Medal recipient renowned for identifying “constructal law.” The topic is how physics, specifically thermodynamics, can help us better understand life, including our use of energy, our environmental impact, and the need for freedom. Topics covered include: - How Bejan escaped communism, immigrated to the US, and studied MIT. - How Bejan identified “constructal law.” - The universality of thermodynamics. - Why humans impacting our environment is natural. - Bejan’s predictions of our energy and climate future.

9 Dec 20201h 24min

On this week’s Power Hour, Alex Epstein is joined by former Congressman Keith Rothfus, to talk about threats to energy freedom under the new administration--and how to fight back. Alex asks Congressman Rothfus: - What prompted you to run for Congress? - What did you do to promote energy freedom while in Congress? - What are the major attacks on energy freedom you expect from the Biden administration and its Congressional allies? - What advice do you have for pro-energy, pro-freedom elected officials? - Are there opportunities to make a difference by proposing legislation even if it won’t pass (like Democrats with the green new deal)? - What do you think of EnergyTalkingPoints.com--and what can we do to make it better?

2 Dec 202052min

In the “Best-Of” episode, originally titled “Greenpeace cofounder Patrick Moore eviscerates climate catastrophism,” Moore does just that by looking at rising CO2 levels from a scientific and pro-human perspective--not the pseudoscientific and anti-human perspective that dominates today. Topics include: - Why Moore left Greenpeace. - The beginnings of the climate catastrophe movement. - Why Moore believes human beings would not only survive but survive better at far higher average temperatures (which would be concentrated toward the poles). - Why Moore believes that contrary to being in a Sixth Extinction, we are actually at an unprecedented time of biodiversity with no end in sight. - Why Moore believes “ocean acidification” claims are totally meritless. - The commonality among opposition to plastics, GMOs, nuclear energy, and fossil fuels. - Moore’s unrefuted theory that human beings actually saved life on Earth from terminal decline in CO2 levels.

26 Nov 20201h 6min