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Nuclear, Coal, eco-friendly: writer Robert Bryce Talks About energy | Killexams.com Resources

Robert Bryce is the writer of a query of vigour: electricity and the Wealth of countries and the writer of an eponymous Substack.

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Motley fool Senior Analyst Nick Sciple caught up with Bryce to talk about: 

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This video was recorded on June 04, 2023.

Robert Bryce: We're seeing a shift in public sentiment it really is increasingly seasoned-nuclear. I think or not it's partly because of local weather trade. I suppose a few of it is due to the receding fears after Fukushima. but I believe it be also a attention that if we will be severe, we're going to be grownups about energy coverage, we should adopt nuclear and so very encouraged by means of that 

Mary long: i'm Mary lengthy and that is the reason Robert Bryce. he's the writer of six books, together with most recently, a question of vigour: electrical energy and the Wealth of international locations. He also writes Substack. Motley idiot Senior analyst Nick Sciple caught up with Bryce to focus on the constraints and limitations of a eco-friendly energy future, creative companies within the nuclear area, and the challenges of building any energy infrastructure.

Nick Sciple: before we get into some energy coverage themes, what's happening in power markets these days, let's establish some skills for our listeners. For whatever that individuals use daily, electricity. doubtless some thing it really is now not intimately understood through the accepted person going for walks around. So if I ask you the question, what is electrical energy? How would you answer that question?

Robert Bryce: i might answer it by way of asserting, or not it's a flow of energy. it is the world's most crucial and quickest-growing kind of energy, which is truly the thesis of my booklet question of power. it's additionally essentially the most problematic type of power to deliver reliably. smartly, it is each a commodity and a carrier. There are arguments about that. however now we're more than a hundred and forty years into the electric powered age. The electricity enterprise continues to be expanding unexpectedly. but i'll add just a couple of greater framing aspects because I wish to focus on what's going on in the coal markets, et cetera. but there's still over three billion individuals on earth these days. We are living in an international of electrical energy abundance right here within the united states, nearly extremely reliable. It may be greater official. however nonetheless three billion individuals on earth today who use, on a regular basis use much less electrical energy than a standard kitchen refrigerator within the united states. So electrical energy is many issues. but it is essentially the most crucial type of power on earth. lots of people do not need it and wish extra.

Nick Sciple: Yeah. How extensive do you see it? You articulated some of these differences. if you seem to be at the gap between the electrical energy wealthy and the electrical energy bad on a world basis, how stark is that change? where are individuals all over the world at when it comes to electricity deployment?

Robert Bryce: bound. So in the e-book and also in our new movie, Juice: How electrical energy Explains the world, we divide the world into three sections. The high watt, low watt and unplugged world. smartly, we are living in a high-watt world. it's the international locations the place the consumption is over 4,000 kilowatt hours per capita per year. here within the US, we use on general about 12,000 kilowatt hours per capita. individuals within the unplugged world use under 1,000 kilowatt hours per capita per yr. So roughly 4 out of 10 people on earth today live within the unplugged world. So the disparity is basically fairly stark and those nations are predominantly in Africa. Continent of Africa as a whole, makes use of approximately the same quantity of electrical energy. There are 1.2 billion Africans. They use it about the equal amount of electricity, roughly as 35 million Canadians. in order that offers you a indicator of just how stark the differential is between the electrical energy haves and the electrical energy have nots.

Nick Sciple: Yeah. So should you talk about there may be big segments of the area that are devoid of energy in any respect nowadays, one of the most concepts you said in the publication is what you call the iron law of electrical energy. How does that weigh in to the selections countries make about their power combine?

Robert Bryce: bound. smartly, i'll provide a shout out to my buddy Roger Pielke, Jr. He coined the iron legislations of climate. Which says that when forced to choose from economic boom and action on local weather alternate, politicians will opt for financial increase every time. So I stole that idea, just shamelessly stole it. Amateurs borrow, professionals steal. that is variously attributed to Picasso and John Lennon. So I stole it and that i coined the iron legislations of electrical energy. Which says, individuals, agencies and international locations will do anything they need to do to get the electricity they want. I've seen this myself. I noticed it in Beirut, where people pay the generator mafia. I noticed it in India where people steal electrical energy. I noticed it in Puerto Rico, where individuals will run small generators after hurricanes. I saw the same in Louisiana. So we, as humans now, we crave electricity and we're no longer going to do devoid of it. we'll do anything we need to do to get it.

Nick Sciple: Yeah. That ties into probably what's happened during the last yr or so. ultimate yr in 2022, we noticed coal demand hit a new all-time excessive. The highest demand had been due to the fact that 2013. To what extent is that driven with the aid of that iron legislation of electricity?

Robert Bryce: neatly, I consider that you can say that's an immediate reflection. it is the iron law of electricity at work. Let's study Europe, Germany in selected; the nation that has prided itself on this energy [inaudible] effort. It all started spending roughly a thousand billion-greenback to stop using hydrocarbons. I don't think they're going to achieve that. but nonetheless, they may be spending extraordinary quantities of funds. neatly, after Russia's invasion of Ukraine, herbal fuel from Russia grew to be more scarce. In some circumstances that capability there is nevertheless some fuel flows into Europe from Russia. but they've been minimized dramatically. What are the Germans doing? they are burning extra lignite. truly, in a single of probably the most brilliant issues, Nick, in Germany, they are reopening or increasing a lignite mine. A lignite is a low-rank coal. it's the most carbon-intensive way to produce electricity bar none. They improved the Garzweiler lignite mine. Then in doing so, they took down a wind venture to extend the coal mine. So here is just, a prime instance of how  here's the richest nation in Europe. Heavy trade predominates across Germany. they may be not going to do devoid of electricity and that they're going to do whatever thing they have to do. one other example of the iron legislations. i used to be in Japan earlier this yr in February and in March. In TEPCO, the company that operated the Fukushima Daiichi plant, they may be constructing a 1.three gigawatt coal-fired energy plant on Tokyo Bay. So this is an extra instance of the iron legislation of electrical energy at work.

Nick Sciple: probably the most things you've referred to relatively generally is and also you simply outlined that with recognize to Germany, as smartly is the issue of replacing current fossil gas base power production. no matter if it be coal or natural gasoline with renewables. can you clarify why?

Robert Bryce: neatly, there are many causes. one in every of direction is that, wind and solar are dependent on the climate. When it involves that, my elementary reply is neatly, if we're facing local weather exchange or we're dealing with greater intense climate, hotter, colder, more extremes, longer extremes, why in the world would we make our most critical energy community, the electric grid, elegant on the weather? So I feel this is a false promise on its face. however there are lots of different elements to this. They contain energy density. what is vigour density? or not it's a measure of power movement that can be harnessed from a given enviornment, extent, or mass. What we care about, especially when it comes to vigour density is land use. What i have been documenting and that i appropriate in the new preface to a query of power in the paperback, is i have been documenting the backlash in opposition t renewable energy, wind and solar projects throughout the nation now for more than 10 years. we have seen a huge uptake within the variety of rural communities throughout the country. they're saying we do not desire these massive photo voltaic and wind tasks in our neighborhoods. I do not blame them. These projects are very intrusive. They cut back property values. The wind energy enterprise, the wind turbines produce noise toxins that harms human health. These are precise concerns. So the land use problem with solar and wind is the binding constraint. i can discuss fabric depth and other issues as well. but it's most likely probably the most crucial component.

Nick Sciple: sure, so if you talk about land use. some of the big issues when it involves deploying a wind and photo voltaic, is you should put lots of these significant arrays in rural communities. Then build long-distance transmission lines with the intention to get it to population facilities and cities and issues corresponding to that. What are the barriers to deploying these styles of lengthy-distance transmission traces in these rural communities? Do you feel our rules are getting nearer to what we need to do to fulfill those needs?

Robert Bryce: that is a extremely first rate query, Nick. i'll reply via quoting my pal Lee Cordner who labored at California impartial system Operator for many years. He pointed out, in the event you build any power infrastructure, you have got three challenges. the place are you going to put it? how are you going to join it? and how are you going to pay for it? So what now we have considered over the ultimate few months, with the Inflation reduction Act. how you're going to pay for it has been resolved in some constituents on account of these large tax quotes. a whole bunch of billions of bucks of just tidal wave of federal money dumped on the wind and photo voltaic company. nevertheless it would not then resolve the problem of the place you're going to position it. Which we mentioned to a point. We had now about 500 communities throughout the nation from Maine to Hawaii which have rejected wind or photo voltaic or each. however then how will you connect it is the different problem. As you understand, it be complicated to build pipelines for oil or herbal gasoline. Very difficult. a lot of rejections. a lot of people adverse. Lot of climate activists announcing we do not need this. well, excessive-voltage transmission tasks are very an identical when it comes to the problems dealing with the siting. apart from you are inserting that pipeline 200 toes in the air. If i am using figuratively here. but that skill there are extra individuals who're going to be opposed.

Robert Bryce: There is this blithe assumption and The ny times ran an editorial simply a couple of days ago saying, Oh we just deserve to provide FERC, the Federal energy Regulatory commission, authority to web site high-voltage transmission. neatly, that would not solve the land acquisition difficulty since you're talking about building a massive number, tens of hundreds of miles of new excessive-voltage transmission to get to this legendary or to obtain this goal that loads of these local weather activists have of one hundred percent renewables. it's not going to ensue because you can not construct that plenty excessive-voltage transmission. not most effective can you not get the land, we wouldn't have sufficient transformers and we do not have satisfactory linemen, which is a distinct concern that i'm simply starting to research and getting extra counsel on. but there are key constraints within the equipment that are going to steer clear of this from happening.

Nick Sciple: sure. anything else you will have written about, you outlined the Federal energy Regulatory commission is how injecting some of those intermittent sources like wind and solar that are based upon the climate may cause grid reliability considerations. are you able to lay out some of those issues for our listeners?

Robert Bryce: sure, of route. what's fabulous to me, Nick is that on may additionally 4th, you had the commissioners from the FERC testify before the Senate energy natural components Committee, warning them a couple of catastrophic reliability issue. that's an exact quote from, I feel Commissioner Philips, catastrophic reliability complications in the us's electric grid, might also 4th. the entire different commissioners agreed with them, together with Commissioner Danley and Commissioner Christie. additionally warning about reliability problems. precisely every week later, the Environmental coverage agency issued a proposed rule that could force the closure of immense amounts of hydrocarbon, coal and natural fuel-fired technology within the u.s.. These policymakers, specially at the EPA and beneath the Biden administration, i am now not making a choice on on the Bidens. i'm now not a Democrat, i'm not a Republican, i am disgusted but what they are proposing is bad for the reliability of the grid, and yet there's no knowing of what the hazards are here and the risks are precise and the problems are so an awful lot of this is regressive on the bad and the center-category goes to cause massive increases in electrical energy costs across the country.

Nick Sciple: are you able to just share some figures there? i know i am putting you instantaneous right here.

Robert Bryce: No, of path. satisfied to do it. I run an additional piece on my Substack about California, which of direction is the leading edge of this push toward renewables. smartly, the facts from the power assistance Administration suggests that since 2008 when California, when Arnold Schwarzenegger signed an executive order requiring the states' utilities to get a 3rd of their electrical energy from renewables. Now they've long past to 100 percent renewable mandate. California's electric powered prices have long gone up quicker than every other state within the country, and now they've one of the most maximum electricity prices in the nation save for, I think one different state, Hawaii. This headlong rush toward renewables. be aware, California has closed the San Onofre Nuclear Plant, which changed into a huge mistake. they're retaining Diablo Canyon open. but California gives a transparent illustration of what now not to do, and yet the Biden administration, the federal executive seems hellbent on following this broken model it truly is regressive. California, incidentally, has the highest poverty expense in america. here is horrific for the bad and the center-class, awful for electricity reliability, and California is proving that in precise-time.

Nick Sciple: You mentioned nuclear power. we've got pointed out one of the crucial things you consider might be policymakers are doing wrong. possibly let's speak in regards to the belongings you suppose they should still be doing. you might have been a proponent challenge during the past about herbal fuel to nuclear as a prime approach of fueling our power mix. can you outline what that ability for our listeners, what that may look?

Robert Bryce: bound. Let me simply add one different quick aspect if i could. a friend of mine, Rob Nikolewski is a reporter for the San Diego Union-Tribune. He did some outstanding reporting past this month on the arrearages, the amount of money it's owed to the California utilities in San Diego and the San Diego enviornment for San Diego fuel and electric. The number of consumers that are behind of their utility bills has skyrocketed. Now I believe on commonplace, the commonplace customer this is in the back of in their bills is whatever like $seven-hundred. These excessive power expenses are having a true impact in California. What should still we do? smartly, I feel one of the crucial things is that policymakers need to understand is that the grid we now have is basically the grid we will have and if we're keen on decarbonization, the manner forward is certainly going to be to embracing nuclear power, and except we get there, we should use more herbal gasoline. however I feel even before that, Nick, given the reliability issues that are dealing with the us already, I suppose we may still instantly cease closing our coal flora. here is a point that the CEO of PJM, one of the vital greatest regional transmission companies in the nation made only recently changed into saying, we're closing these coal flora and we're no longer changing them with legit era, so let's quit closing those plants. here's whatever thing that FERC Commissioner pointed out as well. Let's maintain our coal plant life until we know we will exchange them with reputable gasoline or with nuclear. we've lots of gasoline within the US and that gasoline right now is comparatively low priced, about $2.30 on the entrance month price. however with regard to nuclear, i am now not casually saying this is going to be easy. it be now not going to be convenient, it be no longer going to be low cost and it might not be brief. but we need a very clear and i've testified before Congress to this. We want bipartisan lengthy-term, that's decadal aid for the nuclear business in the us, and or not it's going to require together with one of the elements. one of the crucial issues goes to be required is greater mining of uranium, extra processing of uranium, a much better govt backing of the gasoline deliver for the USA as a result of now we do not need to purchase our nuclear fuel from the Russians. it's a fancy equipment and to exchange, it goes to take time, but it's going to also take dedication if we will cut back the CO2 coming from the electric sector, and that's going to be the easiest sector to de-carbonize.

Nick Sciple: We spoke of how coal has seen a resurgence within the aftermath of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, that the crimping that's completed on components of herbal gas, you've got also considered a true resurgence and activity for nuclear vigor. How would you in a nutshell, summarize the shift we now have considered in nuclear interests during the last few years because the ebook got here out.

Robert Bryce: well, this is one of the issues that I feel is in fact encouraging and additionally frankly a bit daunting. it's extra exceptionally after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, now what is that; 15 months ago. you have got all across Europe international locations searching on the latest geopolitical, geo-strategic, geo-energy circumstance and saying, we're no longer going to be able to depend on the Russians for fuel or for crude or for coal, we should construct nuclear. we've considered a big push towards nuclear all across Europe, including in France, the place Macron has doubled down and spoke of, we'll construct extra nuclear flora. Poland has announced a take care of Westinghouse to construct, I feel four nuclear reactors in Poland. massive activity in Estonia, Romania, Britain is pushing forward with small modular reactors and they're likely to undertake what I accept as true with will likely be the Rolls-Royce design. Rolls-Royce has rolled out a design, I feel it be three or four hundred megawatts. it's tremendously small design, however there's an enormous amount of exercise in the nuclear sector. a lot of vendors, GE-Hitachi, Westinghouse, X-energy. X-energy currently introduced a deal with Dow Chemical enterprise to installation four of their fuel cooled reactors on the Texas Gulf Coast in Seadrift, Texas. there is loads of momentum, a lot of money at the back of it. however i am additionally very clear-eyed about what or not it's going to take to make this occur and it be not going to take place rapidly, but there's lots of momentum in the back of it.

Nick Sciple: Yeah. You outlined one of the crucial land use issues for renewable deployments, more likely to see some of these equal concerns for nuclear. however the resurgence in activity in countries all over's certainly massive. in the event you focus on some of those small modular-

Robert Bryce: can i bounce in for only a second on the nuclear? as a result of I feel it is unique in that the polling statistics most lately for nuclear suggests a shift. that there's more public acceptance of nuclear. I additionally consider there may be a generational shift. i am an historical man, i'm turning sixty three this year. I grew up in a baby boomer. I grew up in the period of fear of nuclear warfare and bomb shelters had been common, now not well, rather ordinary where, I grew up and or not it's like we're making ready for nuclear warfare. well, there may be a brand new cadre, new era of more youthful seasoned-nuclear activists who're in their '20s and '30s who're coming out and that they would not have that specter of nuclear warfare. they are involved about local weather exchange. lots of them, together with Mark Nelson, Emmett Penny, Matty Hilly, Paris Ortiz Winds, Chris Kiefer, individuals I've had on my podcast which are leading this new generation of pro-nuclear activists. We're seeing a shift in public sentiment it truly is more and more professional-nuclear and i believe it's partly as a result of climate exchange. I suppose a few of it is as a result of the receding fears after Fukushima. however I think it be also a awareness that if we will be serious, we will be grownups about energy coverage, we have to undertake nuclear. i'm very inspired by using that. I just desired to throw that in as a result of some of the other stuff you mentioned, land-use, TerraPower. considered one of their options is to put new nuclear flora on the website of present coal flowers, which I suppose is a really suave method.

Nick Sciple: You mentioned TerraPower, you mentioned X-energy. there's likely go on, on a dozen of this small modular reactor or designs out out there today for somebody watching on the sidelines, how do you are making feel of which design is stronger than the other? Any tips there?

Robert Bryce: well, let's study them. simply a few them. The different is NuScale energy, I have not mentioned them yet. Now, they have got had their reactor design approved with the aid of the NRC. but to go again to one of the vital hurdles that we referred to, Nick, it took NuScale six years and $500 million greenbacks to get that design authorised by the NRC. it's unacceptable. or not it's just too lengthy, it's too costly. NuScale is now a public company. Their ticker on the ny change is SMR.

Robert Bryce: X-energy has pointed out they're going to go public. I haven't followed up on that. i thought they had been going to move public this month, however i'm now not certain of that. however NuScale is, it could be among the first to install a brand new reactor and they had their design accredited. Why? because they are in reality just a shrunk-down version of the existing reactors. they may be a lightweight water design. The water is the moderator for the reaction, and the NRC knows that design relatively neatly. they're now not dealing with some new chemistry, some new design it really is different definitely from what the company has seen before. Will X-power or TerraPower, that are new chemistries, get that approval from the NRC, how long will it take? We don't know. they're salt-cooled reactors; they are distinctive designs. We don't know how the agency goes to reply. in the event that they're going to respond in a method that makes sense on any timeline that makes experience for business deployment.

Nick Sciple: yes. You said this energy divide, when we opened up the podcast, the dialog talking in regards to the divide between the haves and have nots for energy. are looking to talk about that probably anticipating the longer term should you look on the unplugged world, the undeveloped world, when it comes to the power infrastructure, what is your greatest question concerning the way forward for that segment of the area and their power grid?

Robert Bryce: well, one other really good query, one it's challenging to reply as a result of grids are always regional. How distinctive areas of the, let's seem to be on the US. neatly, hydro-energy is affordable and ample in the Pacific Northwest. it's no longer so plenty out in Hobbs, New Mexico or Odessa, Texas. because it's dry. there is no hydro there. Will solar work in these areas? Yeah. Or they're going to use fuel because they are within the core of the Permian Basin. Wyoming has loads of coal, so that they're going to make use of coal there. The equal regionalism or geographic determinism. i could use that phrase, also applies in areas like Africa the place they need extra vigour. but more than the fuel source I consider it be the important materials, as I pointed out in the question of vigour. we've the challenge for electrification in lots of of these places has to do with the subculture itself. Will the grid pay for itself? Is there too plenty corruption? If there may be lots of corruption, what's going to ensue? Then the money goes to be squandered and we've got considered this in areas like Nigeria. I noticed it myself in Lebanon. high stages of corruption as I've brought up in the ebook, theft is the enemy of mild. when you have a lot of theft electric powered grid isn't going to work. the first impediment in a lot of these countries the place they're noticeably bad or grime terrible goes to be overcoming the corruption in the systems.

it really is the primary order of business. second is which class of fuel will be appropriate for them? In some areas solar could work but in some areas it might not. Then may still they be the use of gas? there may be a big volume of natural fuel in Africa that can be utilized and in Mozambique now there's an influence plant this is being constructed there that may be using gas from one of the offshore initiatives I consider ExxonMobil is constructing. How can we obtain, how do we carry greater individuals in the constructing world out of the dark? smartly, it depends, but long run, I think we deserve to be looking to nuclear, to do smaller safer more affordable reactors that we are able to set up at scale around the world in order that these nations don't necessarily flip to coal. however bear in mind loads of them are turning to coal, including Pakistan.

Nick Sciple: As you spoke of, the iron law of electricity says that individuals will select some thing power sources, the least expensive form that receives to having the lights on. you could probably predict to peer expanding demand for vigor and whatever form it could soak up some of these.

Robert Bryce: neatly, and Pakistan is a fine example of that because after the Russian invasion of Ukraine we noticed huge swings in costs in liquefied natural gas and Pakistan became an active purchaser. a few months in the past they stated, adequate, we're out of the herbal fuel market. we will construct coal-fired vigor flora. they will construct four gigawatts. well, it really is exceptionally small in comparison to what's occurring in China where they've been enabling roughly one new coal plant per week. The chinese officials they are constructing extra coal plant life. India is additionally planning to build anything like 25-30 gigawatts of further 25,000-30,000 megawatts of recent coal-fired capability. The idea that coal is going away isn't real. international locations world wide will do anything they need to do and a lot of of them are turning to coal since it's plentiful, the gasoline's abundant, expenditures don't seem to be controlled with the aid of any OPEC-like entities and the know-how and the companies that may build coal vegetation there are lots of these. These nations are going to behave in their personal self-interest. They all the time will.

Nick Sciple: Then on the different aspect of the coin. We talked about the segment of the area the place electricity demand is carrying on with to march up and to the appropriate. against this, you appear at the u.s., some other developed countries you have got considered power demand stage off. should you seem at the way forward for the electric powered grid during this section of the world, what questions do you have? where do you consider the area's headed?

Robert Bryce: it is the $64 question. there is a lot of first rate questions and here is considered one of them. you might be appropriate. electrical energy demand in the US has been relatively flat now for roughly 20 years and now there is a push on to electrify every thing. it is being pushed by way of some very vastly moneyed interests. lots of dark money basically, at the back of the companies which are pushing this effort, together with a bunch called Rewiring the united states. it's a gloomy cash outfit this is pushing these electrify everything efforts throughout the country and give them some credit. they may be having success. The state of California, there whatever thing like 70 communities that have banned using natural gasoline in new constructions. metropolis of Seattle, l. a., manhattan metropolis. but is that this legal? it be a distinct question than what we're addressing here, but the Ninth Circuit court of Appeals, lately talking concerning the incontrovertible fact that the Ninth Circuit pointed out, no, this is illegal, beneath the power policy Act of 1975. Is it legal for them to be banning that use of herbal gasoline, which I believe is a foul idea from an energy safety standpoint? because relying on one power community is a nasty concept if you have two. Let's be sure we hedge our bets. but having said that, to get again to your question, so if we ban using herbal gas for domestic heating, we'll need much more electricity as a result of mainly within the cold winter months.

well, that's going to be difficult. we're going to must overbuild the grid and we're going to add electric powered motors on correct of that. this is going so as to add an entire one other set of demands onto the grid. presently, and i wrote on my Substack as smartly about the scarcity of transformers. We will not have sufficient electrical energy transformers. there's once in a while waiting durations of two years now for distribution transformers. once more, here's a community of networks that we must cope with and ought to suppose about once we discuss changing our power combine at scale. The electric powered grid that we've we constructed over greater than a century and the concept that we're abruptly simply going to pivot and we're going to put all this new demand on it for transportation, for heating, and the leisure of it, it may not happen quickly and it's going to require big amounts of funds and labor. knowledgeable labor is a further part of it. however I feel that we even have to be very clear in regards to the energy protection implications that are at stake right here and they are massive.

Nick Sciple: Is there some thing that I haven't asked you about these days? Our listeners should be aware of about the energy mix or a narrative it is maybe under the radar for our listeners as they may still be paying attention to.

Robert Bryce: certain. one of the most different things that i've been pondering a whole lot is a few issues. energy transition in China. Let's talk in regards to the energy transition. here's some thing we hear a whole lot about. i've been engaged on an article on this. I haven't posted it yet, but do lots of public speakme and i've been speakme about it a whole lot. The idea that we will make a unexpected power transition, we will stop the use of hydrocarbons. I consider again, here's loads of advertising and marketing and or not it's now not backed up via the numbers or the information. The fact is that around the world, including right here in the US, the increase of hydrocarbons, coal, oil, and natural gasoline, is still far better than the boom in wind and solar. remaining yr alone within the united states, final yr, simply the boost in gas consumption in u.s. was enhanced than the growth in wind and solar mixed. Globally in 2021, simply the growth in oil demand was 4 instances the boom of wind and photo voltaic. This conception that we're all at once going to pivot, I suppose is inaccurate, and accomplish that right away is inaccurate. The 2d part of that's concerning the metals, minerals, and magnets and here is the place China comes in. i am now not making an attempt to bash it. China's going to do what's within the activity of China. Let's focus on magnets for electric powered vehicles and for wind mills. There are special class of magnets referred to as neodymium iron boron. These magnets are very highly specialized, they're custom made for every expertise and they're doped with a bit bit of turbium or dysprosium. both are rare earth facets as is neodymium. Who controls the market for the magnets? based on the branch of power, it be China, they manage 90 percent of the world market for neodymium iron boron magnets.

Why within the identify of Peter, Paul, and Mary, would the united states make our auto sector and to a degree our electric sector elegant on chinese language supply chains? That doesn't make any sense to me. however it's not simply the magnets. it be also the minerals, graphite, it's also the metals, copper, cobalt, the batteries. China has a commanding position in all of those markets that they've developed and been nurturing with very shut ties between government and companies to advance their dominance in each of these verticals. despite that, and regardless of this very well understood vulnerability, together with for prime power transformers, eighty % of which we import. These are those, no longer the pole established transformers you see in the street nook however the excessive power transformers that are required for the high voltage grid, we import eighty p.c of those as neatly. This conception, we are going to pivot and we are going to go to whatever thing else while we're making ourselves vulnerable to overseas supply chains and some of which might be very certainly managed by means of China. here is again has now not gotten the consideration that it deserves. i am doing what i will be able to to name consideration to it. however these are principal challenges that aren't going to be resolved in any brief period of time and there is identical as i discussed to the nuclear gasoline give chain. once again, a further thorny difficulty that is not going to just be resolved in a single day; it is going to take years. I simply believe my bottom line Nick, is, we ought to be very sober about our considering our power and energy networks and the way we'll trade them and what's the style ahead that offers us the top-rated no-regrets strategy. As I've pointed out repeatedly now and for greater than a decade, natural gas to nuclear. If we will de-carbonize, let's focal point on these.

Mary lengthy: As always, people on the application might also have pastime in the shares they focus on and the Motley idiot may also have formal techniques for or towards, so don't purchase stocks primarily based fully on what you hear. i am Mary long. Thanks for listening. we are going to see you tomorrow.