WSJ's stellar AQOP review, Austonia, my NY Post piece
Hi all,
I am interrupting the all-corona-virus-all-the-time deluge to relate some excellent news about my new book.
On Monday, the Wall Street Journal published an outstanding review of A Question of Power: Electricity and the Wealth of Nations. Gregg Easterbrook called it "a smart, important book." He goes on, saying that the modern age is not a struggle "for industrialization or political primacy but rather for electricity." He then quotes directly from the book, saying that the vast disparity between the rich and the poor in the modern world is defined “by the disparity between those who have electricity and those who scrape by on small quantities of juice or none at all."
Easterbrook continues, saying that "Universal, affordable kilowatts should be a cause for the 21st century in the same way that rural electrification was a cause of the young Lyndon Johnson. In China, international trade is widely and properly credited as an important factor in the fantastic reduction of poverty during the present generation..."
In the final section of his review, Easterbrook writes that when it comes to climate change, "the need for nuclear power is clear, but this is not what the American left, or German mainstream, want to hear. Politicians in many nations are spinning fabulist tales of rapid transition to zero-emission power without the use of the atom."
In his conclusion he writes, "Not far into the future, Mr. Bryce concludes, electricity may be viewed as a human right—essential for a clean, comfortable, materially secure life."
Yes. Exactly right.
That's the fundamental message of A Question of Power and it's heartening to have such a positive review of the book and to have it published in the WSJ. If you are not a subscriber, you may not be able to read the entire review. Nevertheless, here's a link.
The same day the WSJ review appeared, I got an email from Rich Oppel, former editor of the Austin American-Statesman. He's now part of a new publication, Austonia. He sent me three questions and Austonia published the short interview here.
And one more good thing: On Tuesday, I published an article in the New York Post. It focuses on electricity and why this is the exact wrong time for New York City to be closing the Indian Point nuclear plant. My favorite paragraph:
Today, our hospitals are being flooded with sick people who need ventilators and other electricity-dependent equipment to stay alive. If you were one of those virus-stricken patients, what would you choose to power your ventilator? Solar panels and wind turbines or a 2,000-megawatt nuclear plant?
I've attached the whole piece below.
Remember, you can get A Question of Power in hardcover, for your Kindle, or as an audio book, which I recorded. And...you don't have to read A Question of Power, you just have to BUY IT.
Finally, if you are so inclined -- and this would be very helpful -- if you like the book, write a review of it on Amazon or BN.com.
Thanks for your support. Stay healthy out there.
All the best,
RB
The devastation being wrought by the coronavirus has underscored two undeniable facts. First: We were woefully unprepared for a black-swan event like this pandemic. Second: Modern society — our medical system, in particular — is completely dependent on the electric grid.
What if New York’s electric grid were to be hit by another black swan during the pandemic, triggering blackouts across significant parts of the city?
That terrifying thought is relevant now because the city’s single most important source of electricity — the Indian Point Energy Center, which sits about 40 miles due north of Times Square in Westchester County— is being permanently shuttered.
By the end of this month, one of the two reactors at the 2,069-megawatt facility will stop producing power. The remaining reactor will be shut down next April.
This is the exact wrong time to be closing Indian Point, which by itself reliably provides about 25 percent of the electricity consumed in New York City. Closing the plant will reduce the resilience of New York’s electric grid and increase the state’s reliance on natural gas for electricity production.
What if gas supplies were suddenly stopped or reduced due to an accident, terrorism or a cyberattack? (Recall, too, that Gov. Andrew Cuomo has been blocking new gas pipelines for years.)
Renewable-energy advocates have repeatedly claimed wind and solar energy can supplant Indian Point’s juice output. Yet due to ferocious opposition from rural towns and counties, very little onshore wind-energy capacity is being built in the state.
Offshore wind has potential, but building enough capacity to replace Indian Point could take decades. And what would happen if those wind turbines were destroyed by a hurricane?
The decision to prematurely shutter the nuclear plant was a victory for environmental groups — including Riverkeeper and the Natural Resources Defense Council — which repeatedly claimed Indian Point was unsafe and that the 16 terawatt-hours of carbon-free electricity it produces every year could be replaced by renewables and increases in efficiency.
The groups convinced Cuomo of that, and three years ago, he announced the plan to close Indian Point. At the time, he declared that when the plant closes, “New Yorkers can sleep a little better.” Last year, Cuomo signed into law a bill that requires 70 percent of the state’s electricity be derived from renewables by 2030.
Today, our hospitals are being flooded with sick people who need ventilators and other electricity-dependent equipment to stay alive. If you were one of those virus-stricken patients, what would you choose to power your ventilator? Solar panels and wind turbines or a 2,000-megawatt nuclear plant?
The essential point here is that electric grids — particularly those in densely populated cities like New York — should not be too reliant on any one thing, be it a transformer, transmission line, fuel source or generation facility. And yet, that is exactly what is happening: New York is concentrating its risks on a single fuel: natural gas.
In 2018, I was lucky to get a tour of Indian Point. I walked through the hangar-like turbine hall of the Unit 2 reactor. After seeing it up close, I became convinced that Indian Point is one of New York’s most valuable assets.
It’s a marvel of engineering and ingenuity that should be appreciated alongside other iconic landmarks, like the Hoover Dam. Alas, the workers at Indian Point have already begun reducing the power output of Unit 2 in anticipation of the April 30 shutdown.
New Yorkers take cheap, abundant, reliable electricity as a given. Yet the coronavirus proves that black swans can have calamitous impacts on modern societies.
Amid the current devastation, Cuomo should immediately order that Indian Point remain online to help assure the reliability of electric supplies. And New Yorkers must hope that another black swan doesn’t alight on the electric grid and, in doing so, turn the current crisis into an even greater catastrophe.
Here's how else you can help:
1. Buy A Question of Power
2. Follow me on Twitter: @pwrhungry
3. Check out the new trailer for my new documentary, Juice: How Electricity Explains the World, on our Facebook page: Facebook.com/juicethemovie
4. Look at your calendars for later this year or for 2021 and invite me to speak at your company or association event.
5. Forward this email to your friends and colleagues.
Thanks!