Podcasts about power prices

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FIRST WITH YESTERDAY'S NEWS (highlights from Monday on Newstalk ZB) Can't We Just Do It Case By Case?/We're Not Paying for Their Jackets/Too Old to Change?/Weather and Power/Where In the World Is Adrian OrrSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Australian Energy Regulator (AER) has announced an increase to energy prices, affecting nearly half a million households across the country. In this podcast, we explore the reasons behind the price rise, which parts of the country are the most affected, and ways to save on your bill.

In unwelcome news for some Aussies - default power prices are set to rise from July 1. The sale of machetes will be banned in Victoria from Wednesday, after a Melbourne shopping centre was forced into lockdown. AND Lorde has surprised Sydney fans by crashing an event dedicated to her!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In unwelcome news for some Aussies - default power prices are set to rise from July 1. The sale of machetes will be banned in Victoria from Wednesday, after a Melbourne shopping centre was forced into lockdown. AND Lorde has surprised Sydney fans by crashing an event dedicated to her!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Download our award-winning app and enjoy access to all exclusive features. Click here to access on Apple or Android.The cost of power is inextricably linked to Europe's competitiveness. Bram Claeys from the Regulatory Assistance Project joins Watt Matters to discuss the impact recent price fluctuations have had on European industry and what a decarbonised economy would mean for energy billsPower prices play a crucial role in the industrial sector. When energy prices rise, it often leads to increased production costs, which can either drive up product prices or squeeze profit margins. Many industrial companies are now exploring options for low-carbon energy sources. While these alternatives can provide more affordable power in the long run, they typically require a higher initial investment, which may, in turn, impact overall pricing structures.This week on Watt Matters, as we near the end of our investigation into competitiveness, we look at how the energy transition is affecting power prices.In this episode, the Watt Matters team is joined by Bram Claeys, a senior advisor at the Regulatory Assistance Project, to discuss the dilemma of sourcing cheaper and cleaner power while remaining competitive.Download our award-winning app and enjoy access to all exclusive features. Click here to access on Apple or Android. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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FIRST WITH YESTERDAY'S NEWS (highlights from Monday on Newstalk ZB) Fixing Maths/Is Power Too Expensive Or Not?/It's Official; These Bins Are Stupid/Meat That's Not Meat/Performative ToothbrushingSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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What lots of households pay for their power bills has increased this month, as lines charges and other price rises filtered through. Money correspondent Susan Edmunds spoke to Ingrid Hipkiss.

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The Energy Minister and his Opposition counterpart lock horns over power prices, The Trump administration denies its suspension of sweeping tariffs is related to global market fallout, Australians Alex de Minaur and Alexei Popyrin through to the next round at the Monte Carlo Masters.

Wednesday As Power Prices Skyrocket, Industry Cozies Up to Regulators

Power prices will be one of the biggest issues at the upcoming Federal Election. Labor is promising a $150 rebate and the Coalition has their nuclear plan, but will either of these options actually get your energy bill down. Senator Bridgette McKenzie told Peter Fegan on 4BC Breakfast, "It's all about supply and demand, if you get more of more energy, more electricity into the grid, prices will come down, that is a function of the laws of economics." "We are absolutely clear that we will be getting more gas into the system, increasing the supply of energy, which means, obviously, the prices come down," Senator McKenzie said.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Household electricity prices are set to rise again for millions of Australians, with the Energy Regulator looking likely to raise the "benchmark" price

Household electricity prices are set to rise again for millions of Australians, with the Energy Regulator looking likely to raise the "benchmark" price

Today's headlines include: Trade Minister Don Farrell will speak with a White House representative about U.S. President Donald Trump's import tariffs on Australian steel and aluminium. Energy prices are set to rise by up to 9% in NSW, South Australia, and South East Queensland, under recommendations from the energy market regulator. A mission to rescue two NASA astronauts who’ve been stranded on the International Space Station (ISS) for nine months has been delayed. And today’s good news: Donating blood regularly could lower the risk of developing cancer, new research has found. Hosts: Emma Gillespie and Lucy TassellProducer: Orla Maher Want to support The Daily Aus? That's so kind! The best way to do that is to click ‘follow’ on Spotify or Apple and to leave us a five-star review. We would be so grateful. The Daily Aus is a media company focused on delivering accessible and digestible news to young people. We are completely independent. Want more from TDA?Subscribe to The Daily Aus newsletterSubscribe to The Daily Aus’ YouTube Channel Have feedback for us?We’re always looking for new ways to improve what we do. If you’ve got feedback, we’re all ears. Tell us here.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Household electricity prices are set to rise again for millions of Australians, with the Energy Regulator looking likely to raise the "benchmark" price

Welcome to the 9News podcast. A snapshot of the latest stories from the9News team including: ** Power prices to rise again ** Formula One fans pack Melbourne's inner suburbs ** Astronauts' return delayed The biggest news stories in less than 10 minutes delivered three times a day,with reports from the 9News team across Australia and overseas. Subscribenow to make it part of your daily news diet.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Friday 14 March 2025 Five years on from COVID, house prices and the sharemarket are up 40pc and interest rates remain near 12 year highs. But are we better off? And more, including: Household power prices set to rise by up to 9pc. And yet another delay for the astronauts on the ISS trying to get home, nine months after they blasted off for a week-long flight. Plus the Aussie dollar hits a five year low against the Euro and pound sterling, and Canberra wants to incentivise consumers to buy local products. Join our free weekly newsletter here! And don’t miss the latest episode of How Do They Afford That? - good news for anyone with their head in the sand over their finances. Get the episode from APPLE, SPOTIFY, or anywhere you listen to podcasts.Find out more: https://fearandgreed.com.auSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Power company Mercury says it expects residential power prices to rise by an average of almost ten percent from April. Consumer NZ's head of Powerswitch Paul Fuge spoke to Ingrid Hipkiss.

Stephen Grootes speaks to Chris Yelland, energy analyst and managing director at EE Business Intelligence, to discuss Minister Gwede Mantashe's new role leading a task team to address the crippling impact of high electricity prices on South Africa's industry.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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After a dry year sent electricity prices for industry soaring in 2024, household power bills are increasing as multiple factors collide.

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The future will be built on the big ideas we dare to conjure up today. We know that the most groundbreaking ideas often seemed ludicrous or simply impossible when first dreamed up, from the telephone, to human flight, to artificial intelligence. The key was a willingness to be creative and test the limits.While many of us might not consider ourselves creative people, Duncan Wardle assures us that we can take our ideas and brainstorms to the next level, no matter who we are or what we do. Today on Faster, Please! — The Podcast, Wardle and I explore some concrete tools for breaking down our own barriers to innovation and accessing the genius within all of us.Wardle is the former Head of Innovation and Creativity at Disney and founder of ID8. He has delivered multipl eTED Talks and teaches innovation Master Classes at Yale,Harvard, and the University of Edinburgh. His interactive book, The Imagination Emporium: Creative Recipes for Innovation has just been released.In This Episode* Creativity is learnable (1:37)* Building a career of creativity (8:09)* Tools for unlocking innovation (13:50)* Expansionist vs. reductionist tools (18:39)* Gamifying learning (25:20)Below is a lightly edited transcript of our conversation. Creativity is learnable (1:37)I believe we're all born creative with an imagination. We're all born curious. We're all born with intuition. We're all born with empathy. They may not have been the most employable skill of our entire careers. They are now.Pethokoukis: One of my favorite economists, Paul Romer, loves to use recipes as a metaphor to explain how innovation works in an economy. Like cooking recipes, innovation and ideas can be used repeatedly without being used up, you can combine different ideas as ingredients and create something new. I love that idea, and I love the way you present the book as kind of a recipe book you can sort of dip in and out of to help you be more creative and innovative.How should someone use this book, and who is it broadly for?Wardle: Me. Seriously. When I say me, I mean the busy, normal, hardworking person who says 10 times a day, “I don't have time to think.” And often considered the number one barrier to innovation and creativity: “I don't have time to think.” And I thought, “Okay, when you walk into a business office and you will look around, where's the book?” It's on the bookshelf, it's on the coffee table — nobody reads them. I thought, “Well, that's a waste of their money.” So I thought, “What book have I ever read — nonfiction — that I could read one page, know exactly what I need to do, and don't have to read the rest of the book today?” I thought, “My mom's cookbook! You want shepherd's pie? You go to page 67.” So I've designed the contents page the same way. It says, “Have you ever been to a brainstorm where nothing ever happened? Go to page 14. Fed up with your boss, shooting your ideas down? Go to page 12.”So it is designed to be hop in and hop out, but I also designed the principles around: take the intimidation out of innovation, make creativity tangible for people who are uncomfortable with ambiguity and gray, far more importantly, make it fun, give people tools they choose to use when you and I are not around. I also designed it around this principle and I'll see if this works: Close your eyes for me for a second. How many days are there in September?31?Well, we'll pretend it's 30.Or 30! That's the one thing I always confuse, which is the 30 and the 31.Close your eyes for a second. Just think about how you might have known there were 30 days in September. How might you have remembered? What might you have learned or what can you see with your eyes closed?Well, if I was a more melodic, musical person, loved a good rhyme, I might've used that very famous rhyme, which apparently I don't know veryWell, that's okay, neither do I, but I'll attempt it. About 30 percent of people go, “30 days has September, blah, blah, blah, and November.” They've just told me they're an auditory learner. That's their preferred learning style. They probably read a lot. How do I know that? Because when they learned it, they were six. When I asked the question, they learned it because they'd heard it.I'm sure you've seen somebody at some point in your life count their knuckles: January, February, March, April, May, June, July, et cetera. You may not remember this because you might not be a kinesthetic learner. Those are the people who learn by doing. Again, how do we know this? They learned it when they were six. How did they remember it? By doing it.And then 40 percent of an audience would just go, “No, no, I could just see a calendar with a number 30.” They're your visual learners. So I've designed the book to appeal to all three learning styles. It has a QR code in each chapter with a Spotify playlist for the auditory learners, animated videos where Duncan is now an animated character (who knew?) who pops out with a bunch of characters to tell you how to use the tools. And then hopefully, as of next Tuesday, the QR code on the back for kinesthetic learners will allow you to engage with the book and learn kinesthetically through artificial intelligence and ChatGPT and actually ask the book questions.The fundamental conceit of the book, though, is that being innovative, being creative, that can be learned. You can get better at it. Some people say, “I'm not a math person,” which I also don't believe. They'll say, “I'm not a super creative person. I'm not super innovative.” One, I'm assuming you think that's wrong; and two, you mentioned AI, if people are worried about robots doing more repetitive kinds of tasks, then having the tools to bring out or enhance that imagination seem more important now than ever.There's one thing I firmly believe in: We were all born a human, shockingly enough, and when you were given a gift for a holiday, perhaps, it came in an enormous box and it took you ages of time to take the toy out of the box because the box was the same height as you were. What do you spend the rest of the week playing with?I love a good box.Right? It was your castle, it was your rocket.Love a good box. Oh man, that box can be a time machine, anything.It was anything you wanted it to be until you went to the number one killer of creativity in imagination: western education, and the first thing you were told to do was, “Don't forget the color in between the lines.” Children are very curious. They ask, “Why, why, why, why?” Again, because they're after the insight for innovation. The insight for innovation comes on the sixth or seventh, why not the first one?If I were to survey you and ask you, “Why do you go to Disney on holiday?” People would say they go for the new attractions. But that's not strictly true, is it?So if you say, “Well, why do you go for the new attractions?”“Well, no, I like the classics.”“Well, why do you like the classics?” Why?“I like It's a Small World.”“Well, why do you like It's a Small World?”“I remember the music.”“Why the music?”“Well, that's my mom's favorite ride. We used to go every summer.”“Why is that important to you 25 years later?”“Oh, I take my daughter now.”There's your insight for innovation. It has nothing to do with the capital investment strategy whatsoever and everything to do with that person's personal memory and nostalgia. But then we go to the number one killer of curiosity: western education. And the next thing our teacher tells us to do is stop asking “why,” because there's only one right answer.We know when somebody is staring at the back of our head. When you've stared at the back of the head of somebody that you think is really hot, a stranger, they turn around and look at you. You have to look away really quickly. It's okay, we've all done it. We have 120 billion neurons in our first brain and 120 million neurons in our second brain, the brain with which we say we make lots of our decisions, when we say “with our gut.” We are all empathetic.I believe we're all born creative with an imagination. We're all born curious. We're all born with intuition. We're all born with empathy. They may not have been the most employable skill of our entire careers. They are now. Why? Because I've been working with Google on DeepMind with their chief programmer — this is the AI program — and I asked her, “How the hell am I going to compete with this? How will any of us compete with this?” She said, “Well, by developing the things which will be the hardest for her to program into AI.” And I asked her what they were. She said, “The ones with which you were born: creativity, imagination, curiosity, empathy, and intuition.”Will they be programmed one day? Interestingly enough, she said intuition will go first. I was like, oh, that hurt. So I said, “Why intuition?” She said, “It's built on experience and we could build an algorithm that will give them experience.” I'm like, oh, so will they be programed one day? Perhaps. Anytime in the short term? No.Building a career of creativity (8:09)Your subconscious brain is 87 percent of the capacity. Every innovation you've ever seen, every creative problem you've ever solved, is back here to work as unrelated stimulus, but when the door is shut, you can't access it. So what do I do? I'm playful. I'm deliberately playful. In a moment, I want to briefly roll through the book, but first I want to ask about your job as the former head of innovation and creativity at Disney, which sounds like a fake job. It sounds like the kind of job someone would dream up and they wish there was such a job. It sounds like a dream job, but that was a real job. And what did you do there? Because it sounds fairly awesome.I finished as Head of Innovation — I didn't start that way. I started as a coffee boy in the London office. In 1986, I used to go and get my boss six cappuccinos a day from Bar Italia, and about three weeks into the role, I was told I would be the character coordinator, the person that looks after the walk-around characters at the Royal Premier of Who Framed Roger Rabbit in the presence of the Princess of Wales, Diana. I was like, “What do I do?” They said, “Well you just stand at the bottom of the stairs, Roger Rabbit will come down the stairs, the princess will come in on the receiving line, she'll greet him or blow him off and move into the auditorium.” How could you possibly screw that up? Well, I could. That was the day when I found out what a contingency plan was, because I didn't have one.A contingency plan would tell you, if you're going to bring a very tall rabbit with very long feet down a very large staircase towards the Princess of Wales, one might want to measure the width of the steps first before Roger trips on the top stair, is now hurdling like a bullet, head over feet at torpedo speed directly down the stairs towards Diana's head, whereupon he was taken out by two royal protection officers. There's a very famous picture of Roger being taken out on the stairs and a 21-year-old PR guy in the background from Disney. “Oh s**t, I'm fired.” I got a call from somebody called a CMO — didn't know who that was, I thought I was going to tell me I'm fired. He goes, “That was great publicity.” I was like, “Wow, I can make a career out of this.”So for the first 20 years I had some of the more mad, audacious, outrageous ideas for Disney, and then Disney purchased Pixar, then they purchased Marvel, then they purchased Lucasfilm, and we found that we all had different definition of creativity and different innovation models. I tried four models of innovation.Number one, I hired an outside consultant and said, “Make me look good.” They were very good at what they did, but they weren't around for execution and they weren't going to show us how they did what they did. They were worried we wouldn't hire them again.Model number two, innovation team. Duncan will be in charge. What could possibly go wrong? Well, when you have a legal team, nobody outside of legal does legal. When you have a sales team . . . So when you have an innovation team, the subliminal message you've sent to the rest of the organization is: You are off the hook, we've got an innovation team.Third model was an accelerator program where we were bringing some young tech startups and take a 50-50 stake in their business. They could help us bring it to market much quicker than we could. We could help them scale it. But we had failed in the overall goal that Bob Iger had set for us: How might we embed a culture of innovation and creativity into everybody's DNA? So I set out to create a toolkit. A toolkit that takes the intimidation out of innovation, makes creativity tangible, and the process fun. And essentially, that's what the book is. It's not a book, it's a toolkit. Why? Because I want you to use it. It's broken up into creative behaviors, which I think if you don't get the creative behaviors right, the tools won't matter. They'll just be oblivious. I think the creative behaviors are the engine, and I'll explain what I mean by that.Let me ask you a question. Close your eyes if you would?I've done very poorly on the questions. Very poorly, but I will continue to answer them.Where are you usually, and what are you doing when you get your best ideas?I would say either on walks or, I think a lot of people say, in the shower, one of the two.There we go. Alright. But here's the thing. I've done it with 20,000 people in the audience. Do you know how many people say at work? Nobody ever says at work. Why do we never have our best ideas at work?Well, think about that last argument you were in. You turn to walk away from that argument, now you're still a bit angry, but you're beginning to relax, you're 10 seconds away, 20 seconds, and what pops into your brain? The killer one liner, that one perfect line you wish you'd used during but you didn't, did you? No. Why? Because when you are in an argument, your brain is moving at a thousand miles an hour defending yourself.When you're in the office, you're doing emails, reports, quarterly results, and meetings. And I hear myself say, “I don't have time to think.” When you don't have time to think, the door between your conscious and subconscious brain is firmly closed. You're in the brain state called beta, and you're only working with your conscious brain. 90 percent of your working day — you can look this up — your conscious brain is 13 percent of the capacity of your brain. Your subconscious brain is 87 percent of the capacity. Every innovation you've ever seen, every creative problem you've ever solved, is back here to work as unrelated stimulus, but when the door is shut, you can't access it. So what do I do? I'm playful. I'm deliberately playful. There's a chapter of energizers in the book. They're 60-second exercises. What are they for? To make you laugh, laughter with purpose.What's an example of one of those?Okay, I'll tell you what then, you are the world's leading designer of parachutes for elephants. I will now interview you about your job. So question, “How did you get into this industry in the first place?”I was actually interviewing for a different job, I walked in the wrong door, and I ended up interviewing for that job.Okay, and do you have to use different material for the parachutes? What are the parachutes made of? How big are they? Do you have to make bigger ones for elephants with smaller ears and smaller ones for elephants with big ears, the African and Indian elephants?Thankfully the kind of material is changing all the time. A lot of advances: graphene, nanotechnology materials. So the kind of material is changing, which actually gives us a lot more flexibility for the kind of material and the sizes, depending, of course, on the size of the elephants and perhaps even their ears, and tails, and tusks.So we'll stop there. You do that in a room full of people and you'll hear laughter. And the moment I hear laughter, I've opened the door between your conscious subconscious brain and placed you metaphorically back in the shower where you are when you have your best idea. I don't expect people to be playful every minute of every day. I do expect, particularly leaders, to be playful when they're trying to get other people to open up their brains and have big ideas.Tools for unlocking innovation (13:50)If you like breaking rules, this tool is for you. It's about breaking rules metaphorically. So step one, you list the rules of your challenge. Step two, you take one and ask the most audacious question. Step three, you land a big idea.In the book, you sort of create these three animated characters representing . . . there's Spark who represents creative behaviors; Nova, innovation tools; and then Zing for these energizing exercises. But you sort of need all three of those?You do, but you don't have to know them all at the same time, and that's the beauty of the book. But here's the thing: I created a character called Archie. Archie was a direct descendant of Archimedes, because when I ask people where they are when they get the best ideas, they say the shower. Archimedes was in the bath. And my daughter, who's about 25, walks in the room and she goes, “Dad, he's an old white guy. You are an old white guy. You can't do that s**t anymore.” So I created three new characters. Spark is male, introduces creative behaviors; Zing, gender-neutral, introduces the energizers; and Nova, the brains of the organization, introduces innovation tools. The tools are split between what I call expansionist tools and reductionist tools. The more expertise and the more experience we have, the more reasons we know why the new idea won't work.But here's the challenge: Up until 2020, we pretty much got away with doing what we did, and then came a global pandemic, enormous climate change, generation Z entering the workplace who don't want to work for us, and here comes AI. We don't get to think the way we thought four years ago. So the tools are designed specifically to stop you thinking the way you always do and give you permission to think differently.I'll give you an example of one, it's called “What If.” A lot of people will say, “Oh, but we work in a very heavily regulated industry.” If you like breaking rules, this tool is for you. It's about breaking rules metaphorically. So step one, you list the rules of your challenge. Step two, you take one and ask the most audacious question. Step three, you land a big idea. So for example, it was created by Walt, but that's in the book, I won't go through the whole Walt Disney story because I want people to understand that this tool can work for them too.There was a very tiny company in Great Britain in the late '60s, before the days of mass automation, that used to make glasses that we drink out of, and they found too much breakage and not enough production when the glasses were being packaged and shipped. So they went down to the shop floor, observed the process for eight hours, and just wrote down the rules. Don't think about them, because then you'll think of all the reasons you can't break them, just write them down. So they wrote them down. 26 employees convey about cardboard box, six glasses on the top, six on the bottom, separated by corrugated cardboard, glasses wrapped in newspaper, employees' reading newspaper. So somebody asked these somewhat provocative “what if” question, “What if we poke their eyes out?” Well, that's against the law and it's not very nice, but because they had the courage to ask the most audacious “what if” question of all, the lady sitting next to them immediately got out of her river of thinking — her expertise and experience — and said, “Well, hang on a minute, why don't we just hire blind people?” So they did. Production up 26 percent, breakage down 42 percent, and the British government gave them a 50 percent salary subsidy for hiring people with disabilities. Simple, powerful, fun.You just mentioned briefly this notion of the river of thinking, which is sort of your thoughts and the assumptions that really come from your lifetime of experience. People obviously really, when evaluating ideas, they really value their own personal experience. You could have a hundred studies saying this will work, but if something about their personal experience says it won't, they won't listen to it. Now, I believe experience is important, it helps you make judgments, but sometimes I think you're right, that it's an absolute trap that leads us to say no when we should say yes, and yes when we should say no.So that was one of the expansionist tools. One of the reductive tools is ideas. Ideas are the most subjective thing on the planet. You like pink, I like green, our boss likes yellow, there's a very good chance we're going to be doing the yellow idea. Well, wait a minute, was that the right one targeted for our consumer? Was it aligned with our brand? So there's a tool called stargazer. I borrowed it with pride from Richard Branson of Virgin. Virgin is the most elastic brand on the planet, right? They've done condoms, they've done space travel, and everything in between. Disney is a non-elastic brand. They do family magical experiences. So how does Virgin decide, of all these ideas they get pitched, how do they decide which ones to bring to market?They have a tool, I call it stargazer, it looks like a starfish, it's got five prongs on it, you'll see it in the book, and each one has three criteria, and you can make up your own criteria at the beginning of the project. Let's say, is this a strategic brand fit? Is this aligned with who we stand for as a brand? Is this embedded in consumer truth? Is it relevant to our consumer? Can I get this into the market the next 18 to 24 months? Is it going to hit my financial goals? And is it socially engaging? Is it going to get people excited? And all you do with all of your ideas at the end is go around those five criteria and ask, does this do a poor job, a good job, or an outstanding job of being aligned with our brand, a poor job, a good job, or an outstanding job of being targeted at our consumer, relevant to our consumer? And then guess what? With different colors for each idea, you join the dots just as you did when you were a kid. And one idea will rise to the top as to meeting your criteria, objectives, the most, not the one you like the best.Expansionist vs. reductionist tools (18:39)I define creativity as the ability to have an idea. We all have hundreds a day. I define innovation is the ability to get it done. That's the hard part, and that's what the tools are designed and helping you with.Do you think that the book and your approach is most helpful in helping people be more creative and come up with ideas or helping other people judge ideas as being good ideas and being open to ideas and closed to the wrong ideas?I think people use confusing terms just to make themselves more intelligent. The amount of times I've been in a meeting and somebody used an acronym, nobody knows what it is, but nobody's going to put their hand up. I call it expansionist and reductionist, the official name is divergent and convergent, who cares? Expansionist tools are the ones that help you get out of your river of thinking and help you think differently, and the reductionist tools are okay, now we've got all of these ideas, which one goes to market, how do we take it to market, how do we actually get it done?A lot of people say, as you said at the beginning, “I'm not creative.” Well, if you define yourself as a musician or an artist, then guess what? I'm not creative either. I define creativity as the ability to have an idea. We all have hundreds a day. I define innovation is the ability to get it done. That's the hard part, and that's what the tools are designed and helping you with.If you're running a business and you're like, “I want to implement this,” how do you . . . I'm sure you would love this, buy everybody the book, buy everybody three copies of the book. How do you implement it? I mean, I'm just curious how you do that job.How do I do the job? Or how does the business?How would someone do that job if they're like, I'm trying to make my workforce more creative, I'm trying to make sure that we are open to good ideas. How do you institute that at an existing business?Here's a tool that can change a culture overnight: Now you and I have been tasked with coming up with an idea for a birthday party. We've been given a $100,000, which is a reasonable budget for a birthday party. The theme could be Star Wars or Harry Potter. What would you like it to be?I'd probably go with Star Wars.Okay, so I'm going to come at you some amazing ideas for a Star Wars birthday. I'd like you to start each and every response with the words “No, because.” They'll be the first two words you use in each response, and then you'll tell me why not.So I was thinking of coming to your house, painting your kitchen dark, turn it into the Death Star canteen, and we'll have a food and wine festival from Hoth and Naboo and Tatooine.No, no, no. We can't do that because I like the way it looks now, I'm worried about repainting it and matching those colors. That's too significant of a change.What if, then, we just turn the lights out, we do a glow-in-the dark lightsaber fight full of our favorite alcoholic liquid?Well, that sounds like a better idea. Am I still supposed to say “no, because?”“No, because.” Stay on the “no, because.”No, can't do it. Listen, I worry about those lightsabers breaking, I'll be honest with you, and that alcohol flying over the place. Also, there are going to be kids there, and I just worry about the alcohol aspect. Because I'm an American, and we're very tight.So perhaps if there's kids there, we could do a cosplay party, and all the tall people could come as Vader and all the little people could come as ewoks.No, because I think some of the tall people would like to be the good guy, and I think some of the people who are not quite as tall might feel we were infantilizing them by turning them into ewoks.I'll tell you what, then, we'll do a movie marathon and we'll show all seven films back-to-back with some popcorn and coke. What do you say?No, because that would be a really long event. I think people would be super sick of even watching their favorite movies after about two movies, so can't do it.Alright, so we'll stop there. When somebody's constantly saying “no, because” to you, how does that make you feel?Like I really don't feel like coming up with any more ideas and like they will just not get to “yes.”And we started there with a food and wine festival and we ended up with showing the movies. Would you say the idea was getting bigger as we were going, or was it getting smaller? Which direction was it?It was getting progressively smaller and less imaginative.So let's try that again. Can we do Harry Potter?Well, I don't know as much, but I'll do my best.Okay, so have you seen a couple of the films?Kind of?You pick the theme, then. What do you want?Marvel. A beautifully licensed property. Yes, Marvel.I'm going to come at you with some ideas for a Marvel party. I'd like you to start each and every response this time with the words, “yes, and,” and we'll just build it together, okay?I tell you what, we could do a Spider-Man party where everybody gets those little web things that they could shoot out of their hands, but are actually made out of cotton candy, so we could eat it, we could eat the webs.Oh yes, and perhaps we could have villain-themed targets the shoot at?Oh, yes, and we could have a room full of superheroes and a room full of villains, and we have cosplay party and there'll even be a make-your-own Iron Man suit!Yes, we can have an Iron Man suit, obviously, and we can have the other costumes, and perhaps some of their other tools, like Thor's hammer, those could somehow also be candy-related.Oh yes, and we could actually invite the stars of the film, we could have Chris Hemsworth, Robert Downey, Jr., and Chris Pratt, and Rocket, and Groot.Yes. Love the idea. And perhaps if that's not quite possible —— That was a “no, because!”Oh that sounded like a “no.”Come on, come on.We've reached the limits of my creativity.We'll stop there. A couple of observations: a lot more laughter, a lot more energy.Bigger or smaller?We're taking our steps into an ever-wider world!We work in big organizations, we work in small organizations, we have colleagues, we have constituencies, we have bosses, we have local regulators, et cetera, to bring on board with our ideas. By the time we just finished building that idea together, whose idea was it by the time we'd finished?That is lost to the fog of history. It is now a collaborative idea that we both can take credit for when it's a huge success.Ours. Two very simple words from the world of improv that have the power to turn a small idea into a big one really quickly. You can always value-engineer a big idea back down again, but you can't turn a small idea into a big idea. Far more importantly, it transfers the power of “my idea,” which we know never goes anywhere outside an organization, to “our idea” and accelerate its opportunity to get done.For people listening today, I'll give you one word of advice to take away: Don't let the words “no, because” be the first two words you use when somebody comes bouncing into your office with an idea you are not thinking of. They may have genius two seconds from now, two weeks from now — they ain't coming back.Just remind yourselves: I know you have responsibilities, I know you've got deadlines, I know you've got quarterly results. We are not green-lighting this idea for execution today, we are mainly green-housing it together using “yes, and.”Gamifying learning (25:20)Gaming is the future of education, there's no question. So now I have one more question I think that's super valuable advice, actually. As you were talking about western education squashing the creativity. . . Do you have you any thoughts about how to change that, keeping the best of what we do?Gamify. Gamify everything. Gaming is the future of education, there's no question. Universities will fall, but why will universities fall? That's a fairly outrageous statement. Well, let me think. Blue-collar workers, the white collar workers laughed at them because they didn't go to university. Let me think — people who use their hands, artificial intelligence, probably not taking them out anytime soon. White collar workers, not so much. Goodbye. Not quite, that's a slight exaggeration, but universities are teaching the same thing that we learned.So I walk into a classroom, a professor says, “In the year 3 AD, Brutus stabbed Julius Caesar in the back on the steps of the Senate of Rome.” Okay, well I'm asleep already. However, if I could walk into the Senate in Rome, in virtual reality, or in Apple Vision Pro — hello, thank you very much — walk right up to Julius Caesar and Brutus debating with the senators and say, “Hey Julius, look behind you!”I tell you for why: My son sat down at the breakfast table many years ago, he was probably about 13 or 14 at the time, and he said, “Do you know the Doge's Palace in Venice was built in 14 . . .” And he went on this whole diatribe. I was like, where the hell did you learn that? He goes, “Oh, Assassin's Creed.” Gaming will annihilate.See, when you say online training, the first words out of somebody's mouth are, “Boring!” So, what I aim to develop within a year from today is to gamify the Imagination Emporium and actually help people, train them how to be more imaginative using gaming.On sale everywhere The Conservative Futurist: How To Create the Sci-Fi World We Were PromisedMicro Reads▶ Economics* AI and the Future of Work: Opportunity or Threat? - St. Louis Fed* Industrial policies and innovation in the electrification of the global automobile industry - CEPR▶ Business* What Is Venture Capital Now Anyway? - NYT* When IBM Built a War Room for Executives - IEEE▶ Policy/Politics* How U.S. Firms Battled a Government Crackdown to Keep Tech Sales to China - NYT* Was mocking Musk a mistake? 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THE BEST BITS IN A SILLIER PACKAGE (from Thursday's Mike Hosking Breakfast) Next Problem Please/How Did the Lines Get More Expensive?/Smoking Is Just So Cool/Which Paul Is Which?/When's the Chase On?See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On this Salcedo Storm Podcast:Pablo Vegas joined ERCOT in October 2022 as President and CEO. He has a long history of service in both the electric and gas industries. Before his career in the regulated utility industry, Mr. Vegas served in senior leadership positions with IBM, PricewaterhouseCoopers, and Andersen Consulting.

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Wholesale power prices might have fallen from the atmospheric heights of last month, but independent electricity retailers say that's not the end of the story. Electric Kiwi has supplied data to RNZ that shows householders have been affected, with people wanting to switch to a new power provider facing higher bills than before the wholesale surge. Money correspondent Susan Edmunds spoke to Corin Dann.

Two mill closures in the central North Island this week leave at least 230 people out of work, devastating the local economy. Much of the blame has been placed on power prices and the gentailers raking in big profits. Political Reporter Russell Palmer looks into how the government responded and what the Electricity Authority plans to do next time there's a dry year.

From a once nearly worthless by-product to a critical energy resource, natural gas forms a vital pillar in global energy production. With advancements in storing and transporting gas as liquified natural gas (LNG), its potential continues to expand. However, this fossil fuel's role in the energy landscape remains necessary. The relationship between power and gas prices is tightly interlinked, with gas often setting the marginal price in wholesale markets. But what factors contribute to the volatility of gas prices? How do geopolitical events shape the market? How does speculation influence gas prices— and have we passed the point of useful speculation?In this episode, Seb Kennedy, Founding Editor of Energy Flux, joins Quentin to unpack the complexities of natural gas, the global gas markets, and gas's evolving role as we work towards decarbonizing our energy supply. Throughout their discussion, they explore:An overview of natural gas, from extraction and transportation to pricing.Gas demand trends in Europe and the rise of LNG.Impact of decarbonization on gas demand in EuropeThe drivers of price volatility and the role of speculation in the market.The extent speculation influences gas prices - how much is too much? About our guestEnergy Flux is a 100% editorially independent newsletter that analyses global natural gas markets, energy economics and geopolitics through the lens of Europe's net-zero journey. Founded by Seb Kennedy, a freelance energy journalist and market analyst who is using data to carve out engaging narratives about the economics of decarbonisation. For more information on Energy Flux - head over to the website or check Seb out on LinkedIn or X.About Modo EnergyModo Energy provides forecasts, benchmarking, data, and insights for new energy assets - all in one place.Built for analysts, Modo helps the owners, operators, builders, and financiers of battery energy storage solutions understand the market - and make the most out of their assets. Modo's paid plans serve more than 80% of battery storage owners and operators in Great Britain and ERCOT.All of our podcasts are available to watch or listen to on the Modo Energy site. To keep up with all of our latest updates, research, analysis, videos, podcasts, data visualizations, live events, and more, follow us on Linkedin or Twitter. Check out The Energy Academy, our video series of bite-sized chunks explaining how different battery energy storage systems work. For more information on how gas prices affect power price, check out our written research.

From a once nearly worthless by-product to a critical energy resource, natural gas forms a vital pillar in global energy production. With advancements in storing and transporting gas as liquified natural gas (LNG), its potential continues to expand. However, this fossil fuel's role in the energy landscape remains necessary. The relationship between power and gas prices is tightly interlinked, with gas often setting the marginal price in wholesale markets. But what factors contribute to the volatility of gas prices? How do geopolitical events shape the market? How does speculation influence gas prices— and have we passed the point of useful speculation?In this episode, Seb Kennedy, Founding Editor of Energy Flux, joins Quentin to unpack the complexities of natural gas, the global gas markets, and gas's evolving role as we work towards decarbonizing our energy supply. Throughout their discussion, they explore:An overview of natural gas, from extraction and transportation to pricing.Gas demand trends in Europe and the rise of LNG.Impact of decarbonization on gas demand in EuropeThe drivers of price volatility and the role of speculation in the market.The extent speculation influences gas prices - how much is too much? About our guestEnergy Flux is a 100% editorially independent newsletter that analyses global natural gas markets, energy economics and geopolitics through the lens of Europe's net-zero journey. Founded by Seb Kennedy, a freelance energy journalist and market analyst who is using data to carve out engaging narratives about the economics of decarbonisation. For more information on Energy Flux - head over to the website or check Seb out on LinkedIn or X.About Modo EnergyModo Energy provides forecasts, benchmarking, data, and insights for new energy assets - all in one place.Built for analysts, Modo helps the owners, operators, builders, and financiers of battery energy storage solutions understand the market - and make the most out of their assets. Modo's paid plans serve more than 80% of battery storage owners and operators in Great Britain and ERCOT.All of our podcasts are available to watch or listen to on the Modo Energy site. To keep up with all of our latest updates, research, analysis, videos, podcasts, data visualizations, live events, and more, follow us on Linkedin or Twitter. Check out The Energy Academy, our video series of bite-sized chunks explaining how different battery energy storage systems work. For more information on how gas prices affect power price, check out our written research.

Forestry manufacturing companies that are continuing to struggle under surging power prices are hoping the Government might step in to help. Pan Pac managing director Tony Clifford spoke to Corin Dann.

The owner of New Zealand's largest saw mill said electricity prices are the straw that could break the backs of even more companies as they struggle in already tough economic times. It follows the anouncement that Winstone Pulp international plans to shut down its Tangiwai sawmill and Karioi pulp mill indefinitely, due to skyrocketing power prices; meaning about 200 jobs will go. The Ruapehu Mayor is calling for the Government to provide financial support to the company. However, associate energy minister said right now there's no plan to help manufactuers financially, Red Stag owner Marty Verry speaks to Lisa Owen.

There are fears more manufacturing plants will close due to soaring energy costs, which could results in hundreds more job losses. A large forest products company, Winstone Pulp International, told its workers yesterday that it's planning to shut its entire operation as a result of high wholesale energy prices - resulting in 230 people losing their jobs. As Alexa Cook reports, it's a struggle many in the industry are facing.

Associate minister of energy Shane Jones told Morning Report on Thursday that New Zealand's generator-retailers, or gen-tailers, are using those low lake levels to raise their profits enabled by a regulator he says is 'as useful as a chocolate teapot'. That regulator is the Electricity Authority. Its chief executive, Sarah Gillies, spoke to Ingrid Hipkiss.

Senior ministers say the country's big four electricity generator-retailers are profiteering, and government intervention is needed. Mercury Energy's chief executive Vince Hawksworth spoke to Corin Dann.

An economist says the big energy generating retailers rely on low hydro lake levels to push up power prices, and their profits. Victoria University economist Geoff Bertram spoke to Corin Dann.

Wholesale power prices on the spot market were more than $900 on Wednesday. Associate energy minister Shane Jones spoke to Corin Dann.

Prince Charles told the world in 2019 that we only had 18 months to save the planet. Five years later, he and the Family more than doubled their earnings in the Crown Estate in a single year, breaking the billion-pound mark for the first time with offshore wind fees - mostly passed down to the U.K. taxpayer.  - - - - Can the President and Vice-Presidential Candidate Come From the Same State? Jacki gives a quick Constitutional Law lesson on the Twelfth Amendment. - - - - - - - - - - Senate Democrats and Republicans Join Together to Increase Coal Mining in America. Yet another of Jacki's predictions comes true: both parties hitting “reverse” on the green transition. It now takes 29 years to open a mine in the U.S., making America the most anti-development country on earth for mining, excepting Zambia. New developments in D.C. suggest this could change, but only if the lawyers are brought to heel. - - - - - Yes, We Paid $ for That: New Study on Climate Change and Sex “Partner Choice.” We cannot make it up. Seems there is no facet of life it cannot impact and certainly no problem that politicians and scientists cannot blame on climate change. Their solution is always that they must transfer money from taxpayers to themselves to research and solve them all. Jacki gives a quick overview, and this topic will be further explored next show! - - - - - Take Your K-12 Child to Houston's “Energy Day”; $20K in Prizes Awarded for Best STEM Projects. Join the Consumer Energy Alliance and Consumer Energy Education Foundation on October 19 in Houston for this STEM festival for kids. Many STEM professionals who came to Energy Day as teens cite this festival as the place where their interest in math, science, and engineering began. - - - - - Electricity Prices Spike 800% in One Year! PJM Interconnection, covering states from Illinois to New Jersey, announced the staggering prices and revealed that the energy mix is 48% natural gas, 21% nuclear, 18% coal, 1% solar, and 1% wind, with the remainder coming from other sources. What's our return-on-investment for the billions spent on the “green transition.” Follow Jacki: X: @JackiDailyHost TruthSocial: JackiDaily Rumble: TheJackiDailyShow YouTube: TheJackiDailyShow Instagram: JackiDaily Facebook: The Jacki Daily Show

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