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.)