Episodes
From Alex Epstein: "Recently I was having dinner with Peter Thiel (the billionaire investor/entrepreneur who founded PayPal and Palantir) and he raised some interesting challenges to my book Fossil Future (which he has enthusiastically endorsed). I suggested, 'Let’s record a discussion where you give me all your challenges to Fossil Future and I try to answer them.' Peter loved the idea, so we made it happen—recording a 90-minute discussion at his office in West Hollywood."
Published 06/29/23
Published 06/29/23
On the latest episode of Power Hour, Alex Epstein explains in detail how to create Energy Freedom Talking Points, and announces new opportunities to work for or contribute to the Energy Talking Points project. Also: How Alex and Energy Talking Points are changing AI Chat.
Published 03/27/23
On the latest episode of Power Hour, Alex Epstein interviews Senator Tom Cotton about his important new book, Only the Strong. https://www.amazon.com/Only-Strong-Reversing-Sabotage-American/dp/1538726793 They discuss: Why America should have a foreign policy of self-interest What a principled and thoughtful policy of self-interest looks like How American foreign policy has devolved into various forms of international servitude The importance of energy security Senator Cotton's...
Published 11/02/22
On this special episode of Power Hour Alex Epstein interviews Jusper Machogu, a Kenyan farmer who, thanks to the influence of Alex and others, has started to become a champion of fossil fuels in Africa. Jusper discusses his aspirations in agriculture and in energy, and why he is asking for help to invest in his education. You can support Jusper at his GoFundMe (Alex contributed $1000): https://www.gofundme.com/f/jusper-machogu-further-education-support
Published 07/27/22
On this special episode of Power Hour to celebrate Fossil Future's launch week, I'm joined by wrestling legend and former MMA superstar Ben Askren. When Ben expressed interest in Fossil future on Twitter, I sent him an advance copy—which he read in full, and loved. I asked Ben to come on the show to describe how the book impacted his thinking. I also asked Ben, known as one of the great innovators in modern wrestling, about the keys to his innovativeness—keys that apply to virtually any...
Published 05/26/22
On this special episode of Power Hour to celebrate Fossil Future's launch week, I'm joined by California candidate for governor Michael Shellenberger--whom I am enthusiastically supporting, intellectually and financially. We ended up spending most of the time talking about the energy landscape, including where Fossil Future fits in. But I made sure that we talked about Mike's campaign and why it is worth supporting. I've contributed $5000, an unprecedented amount for me.
Published 05/26/22
On the latest episode of Power Hour, Alex Epstein is joined by Vivek Ramaswamy, author of Woke, Inc. and Co-Founder and Executive Chairman at Strive Asset Management to talk about the impact of the ESG movement on investments, its root causes, and how to fight it.  Ramaswamy also shares his views on Alex's new book Fossil Future.
Published 05/26/22
Alex Epstein is joined by futurist, nuclear engineering PhD, and energy expert Robert Zubrin to talk about how to liberate nuclear energy’s limitless potential. Drawing from Zubrin’s new manuscript “The Case for Nukes,” they cover: 1. Nuclear’s track record of providing low-cost, reliable, clean, safe electricity. 2. How irrational government policies have made nuclear vastly more expensive than it needs to be. 3. The key policies needed to liberate nuclear.
Published 03/19/22
Alex Epstein interviews Joe Craft, CEO of Alliance Resource Partners, America’s most successful coal company, on the causes of and solutions to America’s and the world’s energy crisis. They cover: - Why and how most of today’s global energy crisis could have been prevented. - How government financial regulators have pressured financial institutions to stop lending to fossil fuels. - Why coal prices, long the most stable of all energy prices, have skyrocketed. - The connection between energy...
Published 03/14/22
On the latest Power Hour, Alex Epstein is joined by Doomberg, a rising pseudonymous star in the energy humanist movement. They discuss: Doomberg’s background and mission, the price and scalability challenges of solar, and the unfolding European energy crisis.   You can subscribe to Doomberg’s Substack at Doomberg.substack.com and Alex’s Substack at alexepstein.substack.com
Published 01/01/22
On this week’s Power Hour, Alex Epstein has a wide-ranging conversation with oil expert Michael Lynch about Lynch’s latest paper on how political and social forces threaten to drive oil production away from the US and toward the Middle East.
Published 11/29/21
As COP 26 wrapped up, Bjorn Lomborg joined Alex Epstein to discuss the many examples of bad thinking that have shaped the conference, including: - The false portrayal of today’s world as bad and getting worse. - The failure to consider the costs of reducing CO2 emissions. - The failure to discuss the benefits human beings get from fossil fuels. - The failure to consider any positive of CO2 emissions. - The failure to appreciate the power of adapting to climate changes. Additionally, Bjorn...
Published 11/13/21
On this week's Power Hour, Alex Epstein is joined by Michael Shellenberger, author of the bestselling Apocalypse Never and San Fransicko, to discuss Shellenberger's rising influence and, more broadly, the growing influence of "energy humanists." Some of the topics covered in this free-flowing discussion are: - What caused Shellenberger to be more open in challenging climate catastrophism? - The strong pushback Shellenberger got from donors for challenging the liberal orthodoxy around...
Published 11/06/21
When leading climate economist Richard Tol publicly criticized a Twitter thread of Alex Epstein’s blaming anti-fossil fuel policies for the current energy crisis, Epstein invited Tal on Power Hour to discuss the issue as well as Tol’s work in climate economics. The result is an illuminating and wide-ranging discussion of many topics, including: - What climate economics is - Criticisms of climate economics by Noah Smith and others for not portraying man-made climate change as sufficiently...
Published 10/29/21
From Alex Epstein, host of Power Hour: This week's Power Hour is a best-of episode, featuring a now prophetic interview with energy economist Michael Lynch. In February of this year, there were many prominent claims that post-pandemic demand for oil would quickly decline and fade. I thought these claims were based on farcical reasoning, and to counter them I invited one of my favorite energy economists, Michael Lynch, to challenge the idea of "peak oil demand." Early in the podcast he...
Published 10/22/21
On this week's Power Hour Alex Epstein interviews Toby Rice, the CEO of EQT, America's largest natural gas producer, about the causes of and solutions to the world's natural gas crisis. The takeaway: The US could alleviate most of this crisis--if not for anti-gas-infrastructure policies. "We really want to be a solution here," says Rice. "Unfortunately, we're just out of infrastructure. And so we have the biggest gas resource in the world here in Appalachia, and EQT could do so much more,...
Published 10/09/21
On April 27th, physicist Steve Koonin, who worked in the Obama Administration’s Department of Energy, published a challenge to climate catastrophism called “Unsettled: What Climate Science Tells Us, what It Doesn’t, and Why It Matters.” While the climate catastrophe movement usually ignores criticisms, Koonin’s scientific standing, plus the fact that the book became a major bestseller, made this harder to do. Unfortunately, climate catastrophists have still tried their best to ignore...
Published 09/24/21
This week’s “Best-of Power Hour” features Alex Epstein’s interview with physicist Steve Koonin, author of the blockbuster book Unsettled, with a new introduction in anticipation of their forthcoming interview on the next episode of Power Hour.
Published 09/09/21
On this episode of Power Hour, Alex Epstein shares what he's learned over the 18 months working with elected officials on how to create concise, retainable messaging, including: - How to link concise, retainable messages together. - What are the most important topics to cover? - The 8 types of messaging he uses most. - How to join Epstein's Energy Champions group.
Published 08/28/21
On this week's Power Hour, Alex Epstein interviews Mike Dunleavy, the outspoken governor of Alaska, about his state's fight to develop fossil fuels and other valuable resources. They cover a wide range of topics, including: - Alaska's virtually limitless potential for resource development - How Alaska gets (mis)treated as a place where no development should occur - How natives of Alaska benefit tremendously from resource development and are harmed by opposition to development - How the...
Published 08/13/21
On this Best-of Power Hour, Alex Epstein takes us back to the first ever episode of Power Hour, featuring energy expert Robert Bryce. Alex will be appearing on Robert’s Power Hungry podcast the week of August 2nd. Listen to this episode, then Robert’s podcast, to see how the two have evolved over the last decade.
Published 07/30/21
On this week's Power Hour Alex Epstein interviews economist Dr. Saifedean Ammous, about how systematic government control--"fiat"--wreaks havoc in the realms, not just of currency, but of science, education, and energy. They cover: - How government control in the realm of ideas is treated as benign but is in fact incredibly dangerous. - The myth that leading universities such as Harvard, Yale, and Stanford are "private." - What freedom of scientific inquiry looks like, and how it gave birth...
Published 07/15/21
Recorded in advance of Alex Epstein’s headline-making Congressional testimony about Puerto Rico, Alex Epstein interviews Yaron Brook, Chairman of the Ayn Rand Institute and a Puerto Rico resident, about how to bring about a renaissance in Puerto Rico. Brook explains: - Why he moved to Puerto Rico - The parallels between Puerto Rico and Hong Kong - How Puerto Rican policy punishes native Puerto Ricans - Puerto Rico’s horrific electricity grid - Cultural challenges in Puerto Rico Toward the...
Published 07/07/21
From Alex Epstein, host of Power Hour: On this week’s Power Hour I have a wide-ranging discussion with Chris Wright, the proud and outspoken CEO of Liberty Oilfield Services. I first met Chris when we tag-teamed in a debate against climate catastrophists back in late 2015. He, like me, came to love fossil fuels despite not coming from that industry background at all (his background was working on fusion at MIT). In the past month Chris has done two very cool things. One is that he has...
Published 07/02/21