The Power Hungry Podcast

Thank you for listening to the Power Hungry Podcast. But after nearly four years and 223 episodes, I am putting the podcast on hiatus. I have enjoyed doing the podcast, but I've been stretched too thin lately and needed to reduce my workload. Therefore, I will focus more time and energy on my public speaking and writing, particularly on Substack. Please follow me there: robertbryce.substack.com. 

Ken Girardin is an engineer who has been researching and writing about energy policy issues in New York for over a decade. In this episode, Ken talks about his new report for the Empire Center, Green Guardrails, which found that the state's Climate Act could cost taxpayers $4.9 trillion by 2050, the soaring cost of the offshore wind projects, land-use conflicts, and the “absolutism” that is driving much of the state's climate policy. (Recorded March 5, 2024.)

Doug Sandridge has spent his entire career in the oil and gas sector, but about three  years ago, he became a staunch advocate for nuclear energy. In this episode, Sandridge explains why more than 100 hydrocarbon executives have signed onto a declaration in support of nuclear energy, the challenges facing nuclear deployment around the world, spent nuclear fuel, and why the domestic nuclear sector will need strong government backing to succeed. (Recorded February 22, 2024.)

Michelle Bloodworth is the CEO of America's Power, a trade association representing the companies that supply fuel to and operate coal-fired power plants. In this episode, Bloodworth discusses the war on coal, the federal regulations that could shutter most of the remaining coal plants in the country, and why regulators at the state and federal levels need to be more focused on electricity reliability. (Recorded February 8, 2024.)

In his second appearance on the podcast (the first was December 6, 2022), Peter Zeihan, a geopolitical strategist and the author of four books, including most recently, The End of the World is Just the Beginning, talks about deglobalization, demographics, and why he still believes “the American system will thrive.” In addition, he discusses the catastrophic decline of Germany's industrial sector, the “exorbitant privilege” the U.S. dollar has as the world's reserve currency, and why, in his view, China is facing “national oblivion.” (Recorded February 22, 2024.)

In his second appearance on the podcast (the first was in February 2022,) Brent Bennett, policy director for Life:Powered, an initiative of the Texas Public Policy Foundation, talks about his recent report on electric vehicles and the challenges facing the Texas electric grid, three years after Winter Storm Uri. Bennett explains why climate activists have an almost religious attachment to EVs, why wind and solar are “holy fuels,” the problems with batteries, and why policymakers should think of electricity not as a commodity, but a service. (Recorded January 30, 2024.)

Edgardo Sepulveda is a Toronto-based economist who studies telecommunications and electricity markets. In this episode, Edgardo explains why the U.S. nuclear sector is shrinking in states with deregulated electricity markets, the need to align “patient capital” with societal goods, why nuclear energy needs strong government support,  and why Ontario is leading the world in the nuclear renaissance. (Recorded February 2, 2024.) 

In his third appearance on the podcast (his most recent was May 31, 2022), Emmet Penney, the editor of Grid Brief, and host of the Nuclear Barbarians podcast, talks about “environmental apocalypticism,” the staggering complexity of America's electric grid, and why writing about electricity and energy has been intellectually humbling. (Recorded January 17, 2024.) 

In her sixth appearance on the podcast (her last appearance was January 13, 2023), I welcome back Meredith Angwin, the author of the 2020 book Shorting the Grid: The Hidden Fragility of Our Electric Grid. In this episode, Meredith discusses the physical and the policy grids, why no one is responsible for electricity reliability, and why facts are finally “intruding on the narrative” about decarbonization and the electric grid. (This episode was recorded on January 16, 2024.) 

Isaac Orr researches and writes about environmental issues, mining, and energy for the Center of the American Experiment, a Minnesota-based think tank. In his fourth appearance on the podcast (his last was on March 7, 2023), Orr talks about the staggering cost of decarbonization mandates, why the EPA's proposed greenhouse gas rule could result in blackouts across middle America, the impact of higher interest rates are having on renewable-energy projects, and the widening divide between urban and rural voters. (Recorded on December 4, 2023.) 

Rep. Dan Crenshaw is a Republican who represents Texas' 2nd Congressional District. In this episode, Crenshaw, a former Navy SEAL, talks about the divisions in Congress, the soaring federal deficit, military spending, and why what gives him hope is that “it's really hard to screw up America. People have been trying, lots of idiots have been trying, for 250 years, but we have a remarkably stable constitution.” (Recorded December 12, 2023.)

Ruy Teixeira is the author or co-author of ten books and a prolific writer on politics in America. In this episode, Teixeira, who identifies as a Democrat, talks about Joe Manchin's retirement from the U.S. Senate, the 2024 presidential election, why he thinks Joe Biden will be the Democratic nominee, how his party got captured by climate change activists and “cultural radicalism,” and what the party needs to do to restore its appeal to working-class voters. (Recorded November 10, 2023.) 

Everett Waller is a member of the Osage Nation and chairman of the Osage Minerals Council, which on December 20, 2023, won a federal lawsuit that requires Enel to remove 84 wind turbines it built in Osage County at an expected cost of $300 million. In this episode, Waller explains why the tribe continued the legal fight against Enel for 12 years, its plan to collect compensatory damages from the company, why he is “ecstatic” about the ruling, and why he believes it will “be a landmark case, spoken about long after I'm dead.” (Recorded December 29, 2023.)   

A retired commander in the nuclear navy, Rod Adams has spent most of his life working on and around nuclear energy. In his second appearance on the podcast (the first was in December 2020), Rod explains how high interest rates are hurting nuclear startups like NuScale Power, why Georgia Power had such huge cost overruns on the new reactors at Plant Vogtle, why he's skeptical about fusion, and why, “if you have energy, you can do anything.” (Recorded November 21, 2023.) 

H.W. (Bill) Brands is a historian who has written more than 30 books including one of his most recent ones, The Last Campaign: Sherman, Geronimo, and the War For America. In this episode. Brands talks about his ongoing desire to find out “what makes humans tick,” how he got “inside Geronimo's head,” partisan politics, and the future of the American dollar. (Recorded June 8, 2023.)

In 1990, Richard Lindzen, who is now 83, published an article in which he said claims about catastrophic climate change “leave me unconvinced, and leave me concerned whether unanimity on such an issue is healthy for meteorology.” In this episode, Lindzen, an emeritus professor at MIT and one of the world's most-noted skeptics about climate change, says when the public believes the “science is settled, they no longer believe in science because science is never settled,” that policymakers should focus on “making society as prosperous as possible,” so it can handle extreme weather events, and that the West is being “encouraged by energy policy to commit suicide.” (Recorded December 11, 2023.)

Grace Stanke, is a nuclear engineer and the 95th winner of the Miss America competition. In this episode, she talks about why nuclear is a “brilliant, brilliant gift that we turned our back on,” why we need “bold leadership” to reignite the domestic nuclear sector, and why she is working hard to change the public's perception about fission. (Recorded November 20, 2023.)

George Yates is a third-generation oilman and the CEO of Heyco Energy Group, a Dallas-based oil and gas company. In this episode, Yates talks about his company's investments in conventional and unconventional plays in Europe, how Russia's misinformation campaigns about hydraulic fracturing increased Europe's dependence on imported energy, and why he is optimistic that his company and others will soon be able to produce more hydrocarbons in the U.K. and Europe. (Recorded November 1, 2023.)

Kathryn Porter is the founder of Watt-Logic, an energy consulting firm based in the U.K. In this podcast, Porter talks about a new report she wrote for the Global Warming Policy Foundation titled “Prospects For Nuclear Energy In the U.K.,” why Britain's approach to nuclear has been “too slow and too timid,” how the electricity market has been “overloaded with interventions,” and why energy security has become a top issue in Britain. (Recorded November 17, 2023.)

Tony Abbott served as prime minister of Australia from 2013 to 2015 as a member of the Liberal Party. In this episode, recorded during the Alliance for Responsible Citizenship Conference in London, Abbott talks about the geopolitics of energy, the qualities of a good politician, and why he believes the world is more dangerous than ever. (Recorded October 31, 2023.)

Travis Fisher has worked at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and the Department of Energy and is now the director of energy and environmental policy studies at the Cato Institute in Washington, D.C. In this episode, Fisher explains why the energy-related provisions of the Inflation Reduction Act could ultimately cost taxpayers close to $3 trillion, the “Californication” of our electric grid, the mess in Congress, and why federal subsidies for wind and solar, combined with the EPA's proposed rules are undermining the reliability of our electricity system. (Recorded October 25, 2023.)

Jimmy Lai, the 75-year-old pro-democracy leader and publisher of Apple Daily, has been in Hong Kong's Stanley Prison since 2020 on trumped-up charges lodged against him by the Chinese government. In this episode, Jimmy's son, Sebastien, who lives in Taiwan and is leading the campaign to have his father freed from prison, talks about the Umbrella Revolution that swept through Hong Kong in 2019 and 2020, his father's remarkable life and career, why he was motivated to promote democracy after the 1989 Tiananmen massacre, and why China continues to see Jimmy Lai as a threat. (Recorded October 23, 2023.) 

When Jeff Sandefer and his wife, Laura, started Acton Academy in 2010 with a single school in Austin, Texas, they had no idea that their network of schools would grow to 325 campuses in 26 countries just 13 years later. In this episode, Sandefer, a former oil and gas executive who has taught entrepreneurship at the college level, explains why every child is a “genius” who must embark on their own “hero's journey” and why he believes Acton's model has gained so much traction among “parent entrepreneurs.” (Recorded October 23, 2023.) 

Jimmy Glotfelty has spent more than 30 years in and around the power sector, including stints at the state of Texas, Department of Energy, the private sector, and now, as a regulator at the Texas Public Utility Commission. In this episode, Glotfelty explains how the Texas Advanced Nuclear Reactor Working Group hopes to incentivize the construction of new reactors in the state, why federal tax incentives for wind and solar have created an “uneven market,” why it's hard to build high-voltage transmission projects, and the role of batteries on the electric grid. (Recorded October 9, 2023.) 

Patrick Brown's interest in climate and weather goes back to his childhood, when, as an eight-year-old, he set up a home weather station. In this episode, Brown, the co-director of the climate and energy program at the Breakthrough Institute, talks about why he left academia, how the “climate doom narrative” dominates climate science, how “cliques and clubs” within the science community affect what gets published in prestigious journals, and how much of the reporting on climate change “leaves out the full truth.” (Recorded September 18, 2023)  

William D. (Bill) Magwood has spent his career in the nuclear sector and now serves as the Director-General of the OECD Nuclear Energy Agency in Paris. In this episode, Magwood explains why regulatory experience is a top challenge in the global nuclear renaissance, why France will likely lead the nuclear comeback in Europe, how Russia's invasion of Ukraine “supercharged” interest in fission, and why the U.S. remains an “indispensable nation” in global affairs. (Recorded September 12, 2023.) 

Jane Menton is a lifelong New Yorker and current resident of Queens, where she sits on the board of her co-op. In this episode, Jane, the mother of two young children, explains why New York City's Local Law 97, which mandates huge emissions reductions from buildings, is an “electrification monster” that will be “ruinously expensive” and could result in electricity shortages and a “humanitarian nightmare.” (Recorded August 29, 2023.)     

Yonatan Dubi is a physicist and one of the founders of the Israeli Forum for Rational Environmentalism. In this episode, Dubi talks about the history of Israeli energy including the massive offshore natural gas discoveries, the recent Druze protests against wind energy in the Golan Heights, why solar, even in sunny Israel “fails completely,” and why he is pushing hard for nuclear energy in his home country. (Recorded August 17, 2023)  

Judith A. Curry is a climatologist, the founder of Climate Forecast Applications Network, and the author of a new book: Climate Uncertainty and Risk: Rethinking Our Response. In her third appearance on the podcast (the last was December 27, 2022) Curry talks about her new book, the “oversimplified analysis” of climate that's being used by legacy media and policymakers, censorship, the importance of Twitter, and why we need to see the global climate as a “complex, chaotic, non-linear system.” (Recorded August 18, 2023.)

Jessica Weinkle studies climate science and how interpretations of it affect the financial sectors and public policy. In this episode, Weinkle, an associate professor at the University of North Carolina Wilmington, explains why insurance is “ubiquitous in society,” how climate models affect insurance rates, the “protective wall” around the NGO-climate-industrial complex, and why the catastrophic dialogue around climate change is “clickbait.” (Recorded July 7, 2023.) 

Seaver Wang's academic training in oceanography makes him a knowledgeable source for discussing Japan's release of tritiated water from Fukushima Daiichi into the Pacific Ocean, a process that began last week. In addition, Wang, the co-director of the climate and energy program at the Breakthrough Institute,  discusses future demand for metals and minerals, “radiophobia,” the challenges facing nuclear power, solar supply chains, and China's “cultural erasure” of the Uyghur population in Xinjiang province. (Recorded August 28, 2023) 

Dan Poneman heads Centrus Energy, the only company in the United States that is licensed to produce High-Assay Low-Enriched Uranium (HALEU) which will be needed to fuel some of the advanced reactors now being developed for commercial deployment. Poneman talks about Russia's dominance of the global nuclear supply chain, why a strong nuclear sector is imperative for national security, the chicken-and-egg problem with producing enriched uranium, and the many hurdles facing new reactors. (Recorded August 16, 2023.) 

Phil Goldberg is a Washington, DC-based lawyer who is helping defend the oil and gas industry in the more than two dozen climate-related lawsuits that have been filed against it by local governments across the U.S. Goldberg talks about the history of climate litigation, why the public nuisance claims being made against the industry are “unimaginably broad,” the NGOs that are funding the litigation, and why those NGOs “want to have judges set energy policy.” (Recorded July 26, 2023.)

Hügo Krüger is a South African-born civil engineer, podcaster, and writer, who is now working in Paris. In this episode, Krüger talks about green colonialism, the collapse of Eskom, South Africa's state-owned utility, how South Africa modeled its electricity system on the New Deal, and why his home country needs to burn more coal. (Recorded July 21, 2023.)

Doomberg is the nom de plume of the team that writes the top-earning finance publication on Substack. In the famed green chicken's third appearance on the podcast, Doomberg talks about why they are quitting the platform formerly known as Twitter and focusing solely on Substack, why it's “better to be ideological than partisan,” America's fiscal cliff, “peak China,” and why despite the many challenges in the world, “citizen advocacy can still work.” (Recorded August 1, 2023.) 

Jacob Williams is an electrical engineer who heads the Florida Municipal Power Agency, a joint action agency that provides wholesale electricity to 32 municipal utilities in the state. Williams explains why the EPA's proposed greenhouse gas rules will cause huge cost increases for FMPA's customers, why it will reduce reliability, and why the federal agency is “naïve to think” it can force the electric sector to overhaul its generation fleet in just eight years. (Recorded July 28, 2023.) 

Danny Rice is the CEO of NET Power, a newly public company that uses natural gas in a patented oxy-combustion process that allows it to capture almost 100% of the CO2 emissions from its power plant. In this episode, Rice explains how his company's technology (the Allam Cycle) works, why the market potential for it is “beyond incredible,” why their first plant will be located in the Permian Basin, carbon sequestration, and why “clean doesn't  just mean renewable.” (Recorded July 14, 2023.)  

Bill McKibben, the author of 20 books, as well as the founder of 350.org, is one of the most famous climate activists in America. In this episode, he discusses his latest book, The Flag, The Cross, and The Station Wagon, patriotism, why he wants “energy from heaven instead of energy from hell,” why he doesn't support the construction of new nuclear plants (“nuclear is slow and expensive”), and why climate change is the “first truly time-limited problem we've come up against.” (Recorded June 29, 2023.) 

Jusper Machogu lives in Kisii, Kenya, where he and his family grow corn and other crops on a one-acre plot of land. In this episode, Jusper, who writes about his daily life on Substack, explains how little electricity his family uses, (less than 200 kilowatt-hours per year), why Africa “cannot develop without fossil fuels,” what climate activists get wrong, the soaring cost of fertilizer, and why if farmers like him don't have “access to fertilizer, we are doomed.” (Recorded July 11, 2023.) 

In his fifth appearance on the podcast, Chris Keefer. a Toronto-based medical doctor and president of Canadians for Nuclear Energy, talks about the historic announcements made last week by Ontario Power Generation that will expand the province's nuclear capacity by some 6,000 megawatts. He talks about the reasons behind the move, the advantages of the CANDU reactor, and why Ontario has a “track record of kicking butt.” (Recorded July 7, 2023.) 

Arjun Murti has been tracking global energy markets for three decades, including a stint as co-director of Americas equity research at Goldman Sachs. In this episode, Murti, who writes the Super-Spiked column on Substack, talks about rising global energy demand, the reasons for declining investment in the oil sector, “peak China,” gasoline as an “absolute miracle,” the exploitation of Africa's mineral wealth, and why “oil demand will be the last thing to go away.” (Recorded July 3, 2023.)    

Peter St. Onge, an economist at the Heritage Foundation, has become something of a phenom on TikTok, where he has 96,000 followers. In this episode, St. Onge explains why he expects a severe global recession in the coming months, why he's bullish on gold and Bitcoin, why the “alt-energy agenda” will be “crippling” for Western economies, why the Constitution is America's “superpower” and why despite the many challenges ahead, he remains bullish on the United States. (Recorded June 26, 2023.) 

Lisa Linowes is a New Hampshire-based energy policy analyst and the author of a report for the Fiscal Alliance Foundation which found that renewable-energy mandates in New England have resulted in dramatic increases in electricity costs. In her second appearance on the podcast, (the first was on April 25, 2022),  Linowes explains why renewable mandates are costing Massachusetts ratepayers at least $1 billion per year, the causes of the natural gas shortages in New England, the death of environmentalism, and why the biggest climate NGOs in the country are silent about the impact offshore wind development is having on whales and other marine mammals. (Recorded June 19, 2023.) 

In his second appearance on the Power Hungry Podcast, Steve Brick, (who last appeared in February 2021), talks about what he has learned over his 40-year career in the power sector. He explains the challenges facing countries in Africa as they try to build more generation capacity, why microgrids are often more expensive to operate than large grids, and the “regulatory patchwork” that governs the U.S. electric grid. (Recorded June 6, 2023.)

Paris Ortiz-Wines didn't plan to be a nuclear advocate when she graduated from the University of California-Santa Cruz a few years ago. In this episode, the 28-year-old native of California explains how she became the head of a non-profit that advocates for nuclear energy all over the world, why millennials are more open to nuclear, why California's politicians decided to keep Diablo Canyon open, and which countries are likely to build new nuclear reactors over the next few years. (Recorded May 8, 2023.) 

Over the past two years, Irina Slav emerged as one of the bluntest critics of Europe's climate policies and the “energy transition.” In this episode, Slav, who lives in Stara Zagora, Bulgaria, says that there's a new Iron Curtain, but this time “the totalitarianism is on the western side,” she also talks about the growing cracks in the EU over energy, “transition crusaders,” propaganda, legacy media, Substack, and what she sees happening in Europe over the next few years. (Recorded June 2, 2023.)  

Matt Wald has been writing about the energy and power sectors for decades, including 38 years as a reporter at the New York Times. In this episode, Wald talks about his recent articles for the American Nuclear Society on the nuclear fuel “Gordian knot,” why the U.S. quit enriching uranium and in doing so, empowered Russia, SMRs, HALEU, and why he believes the federal government will have to step in to assure long-term supplies of nuclear fuel for the domestic fleet of reactors. (Recorded May 25, 2023.)   

On April 26, 2023, Ashley Nunes testified before Congress about electric vehicles, saying that just because EVs “can lower emissions doesn't mean that they necessarily will.” In this episode, Nunes, who in addition to his position with the Breakthrough Institute is also a researcher at Harvard Law School, explains why EV prices are rising, why EV makers haven't demonstrated a “viable path to profitability,” and why the federal government's lavish support and mandates for EVs are an “unworkable policy.” (Recorded May 2, 2023.)

Ruy Teixeira is the author or co-author of eight books, as well as a prolific writer on politics in America, including his recent essay,  “The Working Class Isn't Down With the Green Transition.” In this episode, Teixeira talks about how the climate change issue came to dominate Democratic Party politics, how the party lost its connections to rural Americans, the “insularity of the elites” who dominate both parties, the attacks on free speech that are coming from the Left, and why more Hispanic voters are attracted to the Republican Party. (Recorded April 20, 2023.) 

Over the past few years, Helsinki-based Wärtsilä has made inroads into the U.S. power generation market with its huge gas-fired reciprocating engines, including a 190-megawatt deal it struck with the Lower Colorado River Authority in February. In this episode, Karl Meeusen, who directs Wärtsilä's legislative and regulatory team in the U.S., explains why his company's fast start-and-stop engines are a good match for grids that need to offset the variability of wind and solar, the ongoing challenges of building high-voltage transmission capacity, and why Texas “is a big focus” for his company.  (Recorded April 17, 2023.)

The Texas Legislature is now in the final days of considering a spate of bills that could change how the state's electricity market functions. In this episode, Doug Lewin, who has been tracking energy-related legislation at the Texas Capitol for more than 20 years, explains the surge in distributed generation, the huge amounts of solar and storage coming onto the ERCOT grid, the prospects for a Texas capacity market, and why his first priority would be to “weatherize, weatherize, weatherize” the state's gas plants, homes, and businesses. (Recorded May 5, 2023.)