Nuclear plants are "industrial cathedrals," EVs, & Egyptian Geese
Emmet Penney on nuclear plants as "industrial cathedrals," more on EVs, and Egyptian Geese at Barton Springs Pool
I have meetings today and am a bit pressed for time, so I'll cut right to the chase. Four items today:
Emmet Penney on the Power Hungry Podcast
I was on a WCLO podcast
Egyptian Geese take up residence at Barton Springs Pool
Photo note: I shot the pic above of four juvenile Egyptian Geese at Barton Springs Pool on Wednesday evening at about 8:30pm.
Emmet Penney on nuclear plants as industrial cathedrals, nationalism, societal wealth, and the grid
When I read Emmet Penney's May 17 essay in the American Conservative about nuclear energy, I knew I wanted to have him on the podcast. It was an essay that was so good I wished I had written it. He wrote:
If you don’t care about climate change, you should care about societal wealth. And the resilience of the U.S. electrical grid. There is no such thing as a wealthy society with a weak electrical grid. As nuclear plants are forced to close, our grid grows more fragile. Our infrastructure and our wealth are what we hand down to posterity. And these are what nuclear energy protects. Nuclear energy plants are our industrial cathedrals. Their presence, or their absence, will shape the lives of those who follow us in powerful ways. If Democrats and the left continue to win their war against nuclear, then we will no longer have national inheritance worth preserving nor will we be able to build it. By forsaking nuclear energy, the left has abandoned its duty to deliver a world of greater shared prosperity to succeeding generations. Will conservatives?
Emmet is a talented writer and essayist who brings a fresh perspective to issues. He's also the co-host of the Ex.haust podcast. On the Power Hungry Podcast, we discussed his essay, wokeness, lectureporn, deindustrialization, and a lot more. Have a listen. And if you like it, please share it.
It took a few days, but I condensed my June 30 testimony in front of the House Select Committee on the Climate Crisis down to about 1,000 words. On Monday, that condensed version was published in Real Clear Energy. Given that I wrote about my testimony in my last "news" letter, I won't repeat all of the points here. I will, however, note that the issue of China and critical minerals is getting more attention, as it should. In my written remarks for the House committee, I noted China's stranglehold on the market for rare earth elements and other minerals needed for alternative energy. I wrote: "deploying millions of new EVs will require close cooperation with China, which, according to the IEA, controls nearly 40% of global copper processing, 60% of global lithium processing, about 35% of global nickel processing, 65% of global cobalt processing, and nearly 90% of rare earth element processing."
China's dominance of those minerals isn't new. In my fourth book, Power Hungry, published in 2010, I devoted a chapter to the issue. I wrote, "In its headlong rush to go 'green' the US may simply be trading one type of import reliance for another. Instead of relying on oil supplied by dozens of producers located in the Persian Gulf and elsewhere, it will rely on rare earth commodities produced by the Chinese as well as lithium mined by a handful of foreign countries."
For dozens of climate activists, China's control of the so-called "green" elements isn't a problem. On July 7, about 40 "progressive" groups, including Friends of The Earth and Union of Concerned Scientists, sent a letter to President Joe Biden and to members of Congress saying "we are deeply troubled by the growing Cold War mentality driving the United States' approach to China — an antagonistic posture that risks undermining much-needed climate cooperation." It went on, saying that Biden and Congress should "eschew the dominant antagonistic approach to U.S.-China relations and instead prioritize multilateralism, diplomacy, and cooperation with China to address the existential threat that is the climate crisis."
I will be writing about this over the next few days. But my immediate response is: Wow.
These groups are, in effect, arguing that because of climate change, the U.S. should ignore among other things, China's terrible record on human rights and its genocidal campaign against the Uighur Muslims in Xinjiang. Nearly half of the world's polysilicon, a key ingredient in solar panels comes from Xinjiang. Despite that fact, the groups wrote that "China is the world leader in industrial capacity across a number of clean energy industries."
As I said, I will be writing more about this.
WCLO had me on to talk electricity, Juice, and A Question of Power
On Wednesday I did a 30-minute interview Tim Bremel at WCLO in Janesville, WI, talking about the book, the film, the electric grid, and other topics. Here's a link.
The Egyptian Geese at Barton Springs
I've been watching birds for three decades and I've never seen a family of birds who were so content to live in such close proximity to humans as the Egyptian Geese (Alopochen aegyptiaca) who've homesteaded at Barton Springs Pool. The family, two parents and four youngsters, took up residence about two months ago. They have become so accustomed to being among humans that they wander across the grassy hills above the pool and hang out near the diving board in such comfort that you'd think all of them are on salary.
As you may have noted, Lorin and I are avid swimmers at Barton Springs. And while lots of birds, including Green Herons, Yellow-Crowned Night Herons, and Double-crested Cormorants are commonly seen in and around the pool, the Egyptian Geese act like they own the place. Their nonchalance amid the crowds of swimmers and sunbathers is unlike anything I've seen before. They spend hours grazing on the grass, hanging out near the side, and taking swims. Small children are particularly taken with them and will get as close to the birds as they can before the Geese, vaguely alarmed, will cackle and scamper away, staying just out of reach. The Barton Springs Egyptian Geese prove, once again, that lots of bird species like to be around humans.
Regarding Egyptian Geese, according to Wikipedia, they are a "member of the duck, goose, and swan family Anatidae" and are "native to Africa south of the Sahara and the Nile Valley."
Want to help?
1. Share this email to your friends and colleagues. Or have them email me so I can add them to my distribution list.
2. Subscribe to the Power Hungry Podcast.
3. Rent or buy Juice on iTunes or Amazon Prime.
4. Buy A Question of Power: Electricity and the Wealth of Nations and give it a positive review.
5. Follow me and Juice on Twitter.
6. Need a speaker for your conference, class, or webinar? Ping me!
Thanks!
Share this report
I have been pleased with the response to my recent report about land-use conflicts and renewables. "Not In Our Backyard," was published on April 21 by the Center of the American Experiment. The center is also the home of the Renewable Energy Rejection Database, which includes details on the more than 300 local or regional governments that have rejected or restricted wind-energy projects since 2015. The only way to bring sanity to the decisions being made by policymakers is to relentlessly pound the facts. Here's a link to the full report. Please share it.
Watch Juice for free on Roku!
If you haven't seen our documentary yet, here's a reminder: you can watch Juice: How Electricity Explains the World, on Roku, for free. Just click this link. If your friends haven't seen it, send them a link. Or if you have a prime membership, you can watch it on Amazon Prime.