Clean Energy and Yucky Energy: Michael Webber
The Political Orphanage
Andrew Heaton
5 • 951 Ratings
🗓️ 30 August 2023
⏱️ 42 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
How do energy experts approach energy? Are there good sources and bad sources? What should we try to abolish and what should we lob subsidies at?
Dr. Michael Webber is a professor of Energy Resources and Mechanical Engineering at the University of Texas at Austin. He is the author of more than 500 scientific articles, columns, and books, including op-eds for the New York Times and Scientific American.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hello and welcome to the political orphanage, a home for rogues and genial misfits of high wattage. |
| 0:15.0 | I'm your host Andrew Deere. |
| 0:18.0 | A couple of weeks ago, I interviewed Dr. Robert Zebran on the benefits and safety of nuclear energy and I did a bonus |
| 0:26.3 | episode with anti-nuclear Advocate Helen Caldecott and it all got me interested in energy in general. |
| 0:34.0 | Specifically, how do energy experts approach energy? |
| 0:40.0 | Are the people in the know about this kind of thing |
| 0:42.0 | partisans for particular sources, they like wind |
| 0:44.2 | power but they're mortal enemies with coal or they favor natural gas, but bioathanol is a shame. |
| 0:51.0 | Is solar power scalable to the point that we could use it for all of our needs or is it too |
| 0:55.6 | hampered by matters of efficiency or economics to ever become truly mainstay? |
| 1:01.1 | To answer these questions, I track down Dr Michael Weber, an energy expert who happens to live in Austin, Texas, |
| 1:08.0 | and I can't tell you how much I wish we'd had more time to do this interview. |
| 1:15.0 | Dr. Weber is one of the smartest, quickest guests I have ever interviewed. |
| 1:20.3 | This is a slightly shorter episode, but I think you'll agree with me that we basically squeezed two hours of high octane energy knowledge into 45 minutes, and I think you'll enjoy it very much. |
| 1:31.0 | In fact, I am so excited that I'm going to rush through the |
| 1:34.7 | regular Patreon plug to get to the interview sooner. Here goes. |
| 1:38.0 | Hey, the show's funded by you. Go to Patreon.com |
| 1:41.0 | slash Andrew Heaton and support the show. Patreon.com slash Andrew Heaton and support the show |
| 1:43.0 | Patreon.com slash Andrew Heaton Thanks. |
| 1:48.0 | My guest today is Dr Michael Weber. |
| 1:50.0 | He is the Josie Centennial Professor in Energy Resources. |
| 1:53.2 | He is an author and the Professor of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Texas |
... |
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