There are technologies that decouple human well-being from its ecological impacts. There are politics that enable these technologies. Join me as I interview wor...
This week, we go to China. I spoke with David Fishman, senior manager at The Lantau Group, on the motivations and strategy behind China’s world-leading electrification efforts. What seems like a climate-action utopia to Western analysts appears to be a pragmatic response to pollution and energy security concerns. China's vulnerability to maritime oil blockades has spurred aggressive electrification across transport, industry, and urban infrastructure; and its state capitalist model has enabled a pace and scale of investment in nuclear power, electrified transport, and renewable energy that makes Western efforts to achieve an energy transformation look piecemeal.
Watch on YouTube.
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1:11:28
Oil: A Masterclass
Mark Nelson, managing director of Radiant Energy Group, joins us for a Masterclass on the slippery subject of oil. We zoom from ancient plankton to modern empires to see how a mysterious black liquid birthed from prehistoric seas now powers our civilization, touching on the complex chemistry, geology and history of oil.
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1:35:08
A Civil Nuclear Debate
Two thought leaders in the nuclear energy conversation, James Krellenstein and Ted Nordhaus, join Decouple for a “debate” over the question of reactor size: should advanced, small nuclear technologies lead the way for nuclear energy, or should conventional large reactors? What could have been a heated debate over nuclear energy's future ended up a nuanced discussion about the industry’s challenges—and how to overcome them.
James Krellenstein is the co-founder and CEO of Alva Energy. Ted Nordhaus is the co-founder and executive director of The Breakthrough Institute.
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1:19:35
Reactors on Wheels
Jeff Waksman, program manager for Project Pele, joins Dr. Chris Keefer to discuss the impetus for the military microreactor project, the logistics and energy challenges at the heart of modern warfare, and the technical considerations of microreactor development. Few voices are more qualified to speak on the state-of-the-art in tiny nuclear reactors. Tune in.
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1:11:14
A Heterodox Economics Lesson
Steve Keen, economist and author, joins me to explain how modern economics has catastrophically misunderstood the role of energy in our world and underestimated the risks of climate change through oversimple models. In this in-person conversation, we discuss the evolution of economic thinking since feudalism, the shortcomings of prevailing economic models, modern monetary theory, the role of state capitalism in funding large infrastructure projects, and much else. Tune in!
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Support Decouple: https://www.decouple.media/
There are technologies that decouple human well-being from its ecological impacts. There are politics that enable these technologies. Join me as I interview world experts to uncover hope in this time of planetary crisis.
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