Michael Edesess, a mathematician, economist, and former chairman of the board of the Rocky Mountain Institute, discusses his recent article for the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists, "We need to get serious about the renewable energy revolution—by including nuclear power." We discuss changes in energy spurred in the 1970s, Michael's personal acquaintance with the mastermind of the soft energy path, Amory Lovins, and the shortcomings of the all-renewables vision of our energy future. Read the article in the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists: https://thebulletin.org/2022/05/we-need-to-get-serious-about-the-renewable-energy-revolution-by-including-nuclear-power/ Listen to Mark Nelson's episode on Amory Lovins' "soft energy path": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P5gQPbXaw0g Support Decouple on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/decouple Chapters 0:00 Intro 1:40 Michael Edesess self introduction 4:26 Reflections on Amory Lovins 10:24 Energy pathways before climate concerns. 20:28 The challenges to a 100% solar and wind pathway 31:07 Moonshot analogy 37:34 The Renewables Army

Bret Kugelmass, host of the Titans of Nuclear podcast and Managing Director of the Energy Impact Center, and Dr. Keefer share their experiences hosting popular podcasts about nuclear energy. They reflect on nuclear messaging, how the nuclear sector can rebrand, communications pitfalls, finding the proper audience for advocacy, and the intersection of nuclear, politics, and public opinion. Dr. Keefer dives into his energy advocacy journey and recent work before the highest levels of Canadian government, which represents one of the best-positioned supply chains in the world to meet the nuclear energy needs of emerging economies. This episode was cross-published on Bret's podcast, Titans of Nuclear. Check out Titans of Nuclear: https://www.titansofnuclear.com/ Learn about the Energy Impact Center: https://www.energyimpactcenter.org/ Support Decouple on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/decouple

Matt Huber, a professor of geography at Syracuse University, discusses his recent piece for Jacobin Magazine, "In Defense of the Tennessee Valley Authority," co-authored by Fred Stafford. He discusses the politics underlying our energy choices, from large public power projects to distributed energy resources like solar and batteries. Do distributed energy resources align with the idea of an "energy democracy," or is this an illusion? Is it time for the political left to once again embrace large, centralized power plants? Read Matt Huber and Fred Stafford's article: https://www.jacobinmag.com/2022/04/new-deal-tennessee-valley-authority-electricity-public-utilities-renewables-green-power Support Decouple on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/decouple Chapters 0:00 Intro 5:04 "In Defense of the Tennessee Valley Authority" 9:47 The rise of the ‘Merchant Generator’ 21:18 Renewables as Financialized Greenwashing 27:15 Green left and why they support deregulation. 31:08 How the Green left is sidelining workers 38:36 Renewable Rent Seekers 43:50 How the article was received 48:01 Climate Change Is Class war

Marco Visscher, a Dutch writer and editor, discusses some of the actors behind the now-postponed Belgian nuclear phaseout and their links to natural gas. Learn more about Decouple Media: https://www.decouplemedia.org Support our work on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/decouple Chapters 0:00 Intro 2:33 Marco Introduction 7:10 The relationship between fossil fuel corporations and the green movement 24:40 The Putin connection 30:27 Final comments

Doomberg, the anonymous author of the popular Substack publication on energy, finance, and the economy at-large, walks us through their recent piece titled "Farmers on the Brink." "Never have we been more certain in our beliefs while fervently wishing that we are wrong," is how Doomberg describes their prediction of widespread foot shortages following the "perfect storm" of record gas prices, Russia's invasion of Ukraine, and skyrocketing costs for virtually every important farming input, such as fertilizers, herbicides, propane and diesel fuel. Who will get hurt, who will be fine, and at what cost? Read Farmers on the Brink: https://doomberg.substack.com/p/farmers-on-the-brink Listen to Doomberg's previous episode on Decouple: https://www.decouplemedia.org/podcast/episode/2bfff2c0/doomberg-lays-out-the-global-pecking-order Support Decouple Media on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/decouple Chapters 0:00 Intro 1:49 The perfect storm for global famine 6:22 Herbicide supply 11:20 Energy input challenges 25:16 Nuclear energy 29:36 How to sound the alarm without being alarmist 35:21 GMOs 40:04 Outro

Tea Törmänen, Executive Director of RePlanet, discusses the anomaly that is Finland's pro-nuclear and GMO-friendly Green Party, a political affiliation that almost anywhere else signals a repulsion to these things. Support Decouple on Patreon! https://www.patreon.com/decouple Learn more about Decouple Media: https://www.decouplemedia.org Check out RePlanet: https://www.replanet.ngo Find Tea Törmänen on twitter: https://twitter.com/TeaTrmn Chapters 0:00 Intro 2:16 Tea tells us about herself 4:19 Finland in context 8:19 Finnish Greens go nuclear 10:31 Grassroots democracy within the Greens 17:31 What makes a Green a Green? 21:20 Tensions within the Green/environment movement 23:12 Climate impacts on Finland 28:40 Nuclear waste management in Finland 34:49 RePlanet

Commodities investor Leigh Goehring breaks down the supply AND demand origins of our current energy crisis and its dire consequences, especially for our food system. We also explore the Energy Return on Energy Invested (EROEI) frame for understanding how an energy transition based on wind, solar and batteries will constrain human potential, societal complexity and ultimately our ability to mitigate and adapt to climate change. This interview is based on this Goehring and Rozencwajg report. https://f.hubspotusercontent40.net/hubfs/4043042/Content%20Offers/2021.Q4%20Commentary/2021.Q4%20GR%20Market%20Commentary.pdf Chapters 0:00 Intro 3:57 The current energy crisis - how did we get here? 23:47 Is Variable Renewable Energy a worthwhile investment? 28:18 Why an energy surplus matters. 36:50 The approaching energy collapse 41:28 Why have solar and wind prices come down? 46:50 General energy discussion 58:04 Coming Agricultural crisis 1:05:26 Crisis in Sri Lanka 1:07:11 Solutions to the challenges 1:10:45 Outro

Edgardo Sepulveda, a regulatory economist and the creator of edecarb.org, responds to the exclusion of nuclear energy from the recently-released Canada Green Bond Framework, alongside “sin stocks” like firearms, tobacco, and gambling. We explore the exciting world of bonds, taxonomies, and what the lack of official definitions for "green" or "sustainable" means for this framework. If you are a Canadian citizen, sign the petition to include nuclear energy in the Canada Green Bond Framework: https://www.canfornuclearenergy.org/green-bond-framework Check out Edgardo's Profiles in Decarbonization: https://edecarb.org/ Decouple Media Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/decouple Chapters 0:00 Intro 3:57 Canada Green Bond Framework 101 7:59 Politics and decision making processes 10:55 Canadian nuclear - the stats 13:26 Who gets to define what is Green? 24:13 Canada Green Bond Framework deep dive 34:47 Are we investing in the right pathways to decarbonization? 39:05 This is the ministers decision 45:07 Green financing 59:34 Nuclear bonds 1:03:30 Final words

Kalev Kallemets, CEO of Fermi Energia, joins Dr. Keefer to reflect on energy, geopolitics, and SMRs in the context of Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Recorded on February 24, 2022. The current geopolitical situation with Russia and Ukraine is fast-moving, and this interview does not reflect the most recent developments.