Meredith Angwin is an expert on the US Electric Grid and explains current fragilities as well as potential solutions to what could be an imminent collision of multiple sources of Energy Demand.
Michael and Grant - Great pod. Meredith is a true gem. Amazing person.
One add’l comment. The misinvestment, disinvestment and malinvestment - all of which resulted directly from mis-,dis-, and malinformation on energy and “climate change” - put the U.S. (and obviously EU & UK) far behind on dispatchable/baseload capacity (nuclear and nat gas). Today, we have no domestic nuclear supply chain (skilled labor, n-rated welders, heavy forging facilities, nuclear steam supply, turbines, etc.). And worse, nat gas turbines have 5 yr backlogs, as do high voltage transformers and other critical components.
Hi Meredith. This was a great discussion! I recently read shorting the grid at Michael's suggestion. Thank you for your plain English explanation of how an important part of the world (barely) works.
Great interview. “This is outside of my expertise, but in general, it’s more expensive to build something in space than to build it in Illinois” lol spot on!!
There is more to be said in favour of coal as the bridging fuel to nuclear because it is easier TO store than gas and it is more reliable under very cold conditions. It also provides plant food as well as heat. It helps to come to the energy debate after writing a book on climate science because we find that recent warming has been unequivocally beneficial and that will apply to any further warming that can be realistically be anticipated.
Fear of warming is driving the greatest misallocation of resources ever, with trillions of dollars worldwide, wasted on the so-called transition to wind and solar power. We now have power that is more expensive and less secure with environmental carnage from the overseas mines to the cancerous proliferation of wind and solar facilities carving up our forests and farmland, with an impending tsunami of toxic waste when the hardware has to be thrown away and replaced.
Moreover, wind and solar do not pay their way. Schernikau and Smith explain in The Unpopular Truth that wind and solar are parasites on the more efficient conventional sources of power. They are a drain on the net energy balance of the industrialised world. They are energy stealers, incapable of making an independent living, leaning on more efficient providers like spoiled children who never leave home.
As for the amount of wind and solar capacity that has been added, thanks to subsidies and mandates; The capacity of wind and solar ain’t capacity on windless nights, like some oils ain’t oils.
Encourage people to watch the dashboard of the local grid and see how often they will have hot breakfast and dinner if they have to depend on wind and solar power.
Putting data centers in space is going to take a lot longer and cost a lot more than nuclear, and we can’t even manage to get that done.
All roads meanwhile lead to Natural Gas as the only viable stopgap source of Baseload from both a cost and time to market standpoint.
https://www.businessinsider.com/sam-altman-elon-musk-data-centers-space-timeline-2026-2
Michael and Grant - Great pod. Meredith is a true gem. Amazing person.
One add’l comment. The misinvestment, disinvestment and malinvestment - all of which resulted directly from mis-,dis-, and malinformation on energy and “climate change” - put the U.S. (and obviously EU & UK) far behind on dispatchable/baseload capacity (nuclear and nat gas). Today, we have no domestic nuclear supply chain (skilled labor, n-rated welders, heavy forging facilities, nuclear steam supply, turbines, etc.). And worse, nat gas turbines have 5 yr backlogs, as do high voltage transformers and other critical components.
Hi Meredith. This was a great discussion! I recently read shorting the grid at Michael's suggestion. Thank you for your plain English explanation of how an important part of the world (barely) works.
Great interview. “This is outside of my expertise, but in general, it’s more expensive to build something in space than to build it in Illinois” lol spot on!!
There is more to be said in favour of coal as the bridging fuel to nuclear because it is easier TO store than gas and it is more reliable under very cold conditions. It also provides plant food as well as heat. It helps to come to the energy debate after writing a book on climate science because we find that recent warming has been unequivocally beneficial and that will apply to any further warming that can be realistically be anticipated.
https://www.amazon.com.au/s?k=Rafe+Champion&i=stripbooks&crid=GZ66NWUYZ193&sprefix=rafe+champion%2Cstripbooks%2C262&ref=nb_sb_noss
Fear of warming is driving the greatest misallocation of resources ever, with trillions of dollars worldwide, wasted on the so-called transition to wind and solar power. We now have power that is more expensive and less secure with environmental carnage from the overseas mines to the cancerous proliferation of wind and solar facilities carving up our forests and farmland, with an impending tsunami of toxic waste when the hardware has to be thrown away and replaced.
Moreover, wind and solar do not pay their way. Schernikau and Smith explain in The Unpopular Truth that wind and solar are parasites on the more efficient conventional sources of power. They are a drain on the net energy balance of the industrialised world. They are energy stealers, incapable of making an independent living, leaning on more efficient providers like spoiled children who never leave home.
https://rafechampion.substack.com/p/wind-and-solar-the-energy-thieves-a0c
As for the amount of wind and solar capacity that has been added, thanks to subsidies and mandates; The capacity of wind and solar ain’t capacity on windless nights, like some oils ain’t oils.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c7TUiMCeils 40 seconds.
Wind and solar can DISPLACE coal but they can’t REPLACE it.
https://www.flickerpower.com/index.php/search/categories/renewables/21-7-intermittent-solar-and-wind-power-can-displace-coal-but-cannot-replace-it
Encourage people to watch the dashboard of the local grid and see how often they will have hot breakfast and dinner if they have to depend on wind and solar power.
https://rafechampion.substack.com/p/will-windpower-heat-your-breakfast