Energy Expert Answers Gas, Solar and Nuclear Questions From Twitter | Tech Support | WIRED

Jeremiah Baumann, Chief of Staff at the US Department of Energy, takes to Twitter to answer the internet's burning questions about all types of energy. Why are gas prices soooo high? Do wind turbines cause cancer? Are electric vehicles better for the environment than gas vehicles? How is the strategic petroleum preserve going to be replenished?
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[@sabi_wasabi2499]

Wired can you please put these amazing experts in a room and have them ask questions to each other? It would be so amazing to hear the overlap of different subjects, and just see all these smart people in a room talk about their passions.

[@cruisinguy6024]

This is brilliant

[@BenjaminOienMB]

There are a couple podcasts that get close to that dream: 'Ologies', and 'StarTalk'. Both have subject experts talking with a host who is very science-literate. Happy learning!

[@dylon2932]

🤯

[@Zero.0ne.]

that would be great. wired is a master at curating experts. can't get enough of these videos.

[@isaiahroldan5290]

Great idea

[@Lialily11]

whoever on the talent acquisition team that is picking these experts deserves a raise! They always pick such charismatic and passionate people

[@BeastRo]

I'm seriously starting to think they just hire actors to perform these roles at this point.

[@onkelpappkov2666]

On the other hand, you WOULD expect a spokesperson for an institution to be charismatic and a good talker.

[@prickiland]

expert is a government spokesperson. of course he isn't going to talk about him and his bosses making poor decisions. talent acquisition team shouldn't promote such a propagandist move as this.

[@meepk633]

@@prickiland You've given a perfect explanation for why "establishment bad" makes your brain atrophy and die. You've stopped judging on merit and started judging on popularity. It's an anti-intellectual death spiral.

[@prickiland]

@@meepk633 "The anti-intellectual death spiral" is the propaganda piece guised as infotainment being taken as anything but that. It has nothing to do with "anti-establishment," quite the opposite. It has to do with presenting a one sided argument by asking softball questions to a person who makes policy, who has a stake in defending the policy which has real, valid criticisms.

[@folarinosibodu]

Wired, GQ and Variety have, finally, answered my complaints that we don't want to watch freaking 'celebrities' all the time, they don't make the world turn. People like Jeremiah, do. Progress.

[@JoeMenjivar]

You can have it both ways. We can all care about multiple things, you can watch a video and learn a lot of important information, but you can also just watch Tom Holland talk about, I dunno grapes or whatever for 10 minutes before going to bed to wind down.

[@rockingbeat]

Wired can have experts explain things and celebrities can burn their mouths on Hot Ones

[@linusspacehead]

Thank God 😊 🙏 I'm not watching Kim K or Ryan Reynolds explaining this.

[@soothingseas]

@@rockingbeat This

[@Neenerella333]

@@rockingbeat That is a solution I can get behind.

[@khalilahd.]

I love seeing people passionate about what they do and I’m really happy he’s explaining all these crazy prices because it’s getting ridiculous and it’s nice to know what the heck is going on 😭

[@beno22iscool]

Bro the first question isn't the full truth, it's because biden shut down our in-country oil productions, making us dependent on other countries

[@skdkkefdekkfke6107]

Oh, it's the employee of Now this news

[@smileyriley1001]

I highly recommend watching Climate Town’s videos on this topic!! He has two, they’re both incredible and very eye opening.

[@hopemikaelson5622]

Russia is happening since the war started everything I mean everything has priced up

[@beno22iscool]

@@hopemikaelson5622 no, the gas prices raising isn't Russia's fault. It's bidens for shutting down various in-country pipelines that would make us a self-sufficient country. And because he shut down out main source of oil as well that was fueling the US, gas prices started shooting up

[@tylerpeterson4726]

He's absolutely correct that salmon are particularly negatively affected by hydroelectric dams. But I want to mention that the entire downstream river system with many species are affected by dams. The water behind a dam gets warmer, with less sediments, and more algae growth. These factors are important for just about every species that lives in or near the river. So unfortunately you can't just decide that we can sacrifice one species and get all the hydro electricity we need, putting up dams everywhere would be massively disruptive.

[@kebrongurara4417]

Would it be possible to set up some kind of "corridor/canal" to keep the biomes somewhat connected?

[@harvey66616]

_"the entire downstream river system with many species are affected by dams"_ -- it's worse than that. The _upstream_ system is affected too, because the salmon are effectively nutrient conveyor belts. Without them, the ecosystems at the top of the streams are starved of the biomass that the salmon represent. A few animals eat the salmon as they try to reach their spawning ground, but lots more are eating the carcasses after they spawn and die. Existing dams need to be updated to allow for sufficient bypass water flow and for animals, including salmon, to be able to easily go around the dam in both directions. New dams should be built only if these same issues are solved. In the end, hydro can be very useful, but the other four renewables are likely to wind up making up the bulk of energy production. They are not without their impacts either, but they are much less significant, and more easily mitigated.

[@KaitouKaiju]

@@kebrongurara4417 no because that would defeat the purpose of a dam, and over time it would reroute the river which could cause even more harm

[@Fattony6666]

with oil and gas though we are disrupting infinitely more animals.

[@OrdinaryEXP]

Added to that, the reservoir formed upstream also floods a lot of land, destroying habitats and submerging any organic matter (mainly plants) that wasn't removed during reservoir filling; those organic matter dies and rot underwater, releasing greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide and methane. Depending on the geography around the dam, increased water level could also increase soil erosion, landslide and occasionally earthquakes if the reservoir locates above fault lines. There is a huge environmental cost behind hydroelectric dam, especially mega-dams like Three Gorges Dam.

[@Omar-wq9dz]

Wired is the best at always finding experts on any topic

[@maddiesanabria5047]

They really do! Not only are the experts knowledgable, but they are so great at explaining their specialties in understandable terms

[@DomDickens]

He has no clue what he’s talking about, especially the gas prices, it’s because Biden shut down the keystone pipeline, not because of COVID

[@hughmongous5089]

I'm waiting on the "Spanish clogs of the darker variety with red and green pattern across the width, size 45" expert lol

[@russelltennis15]

this guy is not an expert. just look at his linkedin. he just does politics.

[@DomDickens]

@@russelltennis15 he is just a puppet that the Biden administration appointed, that will spew their nonsense

[@ButacuPpucatuB]

I appreciate that he took the time to answer the basic as well as more complex questions. Very much appreciated 🧡🧡

[@HighStakesDanny]

All government officials should be required to do this.

[@DC3Refom]

​@@HighStakesDanny same here in the uk

[@anthonysaunders345]

The answer to the Texas question is that they don't produce 2 billion barrels per day. They produce around 5 million.

[@loganlabbe9767]

One note about nuclear power, all of the USN submarines and aircraft carriers are powered by nuclear power. I used to be an operator, safety is almost like a religion in the nuclear field, and we havent had any major mishaps, but to say it's taken extremely seriously would be an understatement.

[@keepingitclassy443]

I'd watch a weekly podcast/lecture series with Jeremiah Baumann. So informative!

[@isaiahroldan5290]

I’m not too happy about his outlook on nuclear power, says something that he was only able to mention the 2 out of 2 major nuclear reactor disasters? If we are going to use nuclear power we need to get rid of this notation that it is bad.

[@mehmoremeh1410]

I was hoping he would actually stop the propaganda against it

[@ButtThuck]

Honestly, they were terrible examples. Chernobyl could never happen in the US because how our reactors are made and the Fukushima Daiichi reactor was so poorly run, its amazing it was still running when the tsunami hit it. There were reactors much closer to the epicenter of the earthquake that went virtually unharmed.

[@iluvtacos1231]

I think he mentioned those two simply because EVERYONE has heard of chernobyl and fukashima

[@isaiahroldan5290]

@@iluvtacos1231 I agree with you but he still denotes towards the incidents as if it’s common place. INES’s rating system for nuclear reactor accidents/incidents states there’s only been two level 7 accidents being Fukushima & Chernobyl.

[@shelliehaaland6134]

If you don't solve the problem of nuclear waste, you haven't created a clean energy source. Efforts to create a national repository for nuclear waste have been going on for decades. No one wants it in their backyard because contamination risk to the environment. Concrete and metal containment breakdown before the radioactive material. So while the plants may be much safer than they have ever been, the waste is still an issue.

[@TheRavenfish9]

I wish we could be having these exciting conversations about energy in mainstream society instead of arguing if climate change is even real. 😔 It can get so depressing seeing loud science deniers platformed most of the time. This information is so encouraging to finally hear.

[@TrippSaaS]

We need these kinds of answers given in this kind of a AMA format for every branch of government. Hearings and court rooms are too slow. Move at the speed of information.

[@etoinedevries7583]

I feel like this has been the episode of the series which I understood most, and was interested in all questions/answers. Great job Wired!

[@Emanon...]

Thank you. Bring this guy back again. It's an important, if not _the_ important matter to inform about.

[@VideoDeadGaming]

You heard it here folks - fuel prices are high because of corporate greed.

[@russphillips3732]

Point of oil and gas companies is to make money at the end of the day

[@KaitouKaiju]

Yeah it's always been like that OPEC is a cartel

[@pnewm10]

@@russphillips3732 the point of *companies* is to make money at the end of the day; FTFY

[@Strongo]

@@russphillips3732 they could still make a profit without being greedy, but hey, don’t let me get between your tongue and their boots.

[@russphillips3732]

Guarantee if you ran the company you’d be no different

[@dariushajnala5562]

I would argue that, just cause we had two massive accidents with nuclear power, doesn't mean that it is as dangerous as many people think. Personally, I think that nuclear energy is probably the best source of energy we have, and in fact, it is quite save and very efficient.

[@kingsoncheng7285]

Here I’ll give you some key words. Japan, nuclear waste, ocean, bioaccumulation, food chain.

[@kevindt100]

@@kingsoncheng7285 0 Dead LOL

[@TylerPederson]

I think the definition of massive should be calibrated here. Ultimately Fukushima, and Three Mile Island have had, and continue to have nearly zero effect on the world. Chernobyl was a massive disaster in comparison. However, I would argue that the WHO has found no evidence that there is any direct health effects for the people that moved back into the exclusion zone only months after being displaced. Also, to add context. Chernobyl was an RMBK reactor which was known to be flawed (it gets hotter when the coolant runs out, not colder, for instance), but it was cheap. The reactors weren't contained in reinforced concrete domes, because it was cheaper to run them in a regular building. The control rods were tipped in graphite (which was what finally kicked off the meltdown), again for cost savings. The plant was staffed with under qualified technicians, and the leadership forced them to do many unsafe things in the time leading up to the explosion. All of those things had to come together in order for that disaster to occur. Fukushima was the result of an earthquake and tsunami that were more devastating than was ever planned for. There is only one confirmed death directly connected to the Fukushima disaster, and no expected cancer rate increase. The evacuation killed 2000+ people, and the tsunami killed over 15,000. This didn't even touch on the fact that had the Fukushima reactor been of a more modern design, there would have been no issue past the natural disasters. There was a test reactor in the Idaho test facility in 1985 that failed safe during repeated tests, undergoing the same conditions that triggered the Fukushima meltdown. That was thirty seven years ago.

[@allthingstoallmen8912]

This man is clearly much smarter than he's letting on.

[@sam8404]

Just look at some of the questions he's being asked, of course he has to dumb it down a bit.

[@lotaryguy12]

Cringe comment.

[@szuperrosszarcu]

@@lotaryguy12 cringe reply

[@Smallforward33]

I have a feeling that during high school years, this man''s science grade were waaaayyy better than mine .

[@WayneTwitch]

Its not science

[@TruthSeeker623]

Grammar, too. Clearly.

[@dbernardo7226]

This dude is soooo smooth ... great public speaker ... great teacher ... 7 thumbs up!

[@ghuito8202]

I think you need to go see a doctor... It's not normal to have that many thumbs...

[@szuperrosszarcu]

@@ghuito8202 who has 7 thumbs and does not care? OP! (presumably)

[@lesfrisbees]

What an incredible video and presenter. Excellent questions, and the host answered them all with passion in a clear manner. I loved how he talked about hot-button issues while focusing on just the science. Please more of this!

[@ratonellewah6058]

Man, this is one of the most interesting Tech Supports I've seen so far! Mr Baumann certainly knows how to explain things in a way that is easily digestible. Thanks to the Wired folks for selecting more interesting/thoughtful/technical questions for him to answer (although there were still a few "meme" questions haha)

[@person35790]

The better question would be ‘why are oil profits so high when they keep insisting they weren’t excessively profiting - including under oath’

[@hallehumbaugh4139]

Imagine the government saying “we need better publicity” and they send you to answer questions on WIRED

[@MattsInTheBelfry]

After that James Webb fiasco, they need it

[@georgedoty-williams2085]

@@MattsInTheBelfry What fiasco??

[@FinancialShinanigan]

Energy expert: so many renewable energy potential! * Wild politicians appear *

[@WalshieEU]

These videos are awesome. You always seem to find extremely passionate people who are great at explaining things in a super easy way for people completely new to a topic to understand.

[@dcharles7]

Thank you for being honest on why gas prices are so high. The literal only reason is due to corporate greed and realizing they can make more money than ever. Even though the US suppsidises them, they still take advantage. Pure corruption in government allows it to happen.

[@alitzzy]

I think this was the most informative Support video I've watched so far. Most questions were not something that I had updated information on, since I was in school, and I even enjoyed the US related explanations, as they were completely new to me, as an European. I really wish to see more such content online, thank you!

[@katarzynazofia]

Yes! Same perspective here, I learned a lot of new things about the US

[@seanmobley2610]

He absolutely lied about the first question though. Oil companies have bragged to their shareholders about how much profit their making, which means the margins are very high on gas. Oil prices are high because oil companies can simply charge that much, and political people like Joe Biden and his administration (of which this guy is a member) won't stand up to them, and will even act as shields for them like they did in this video, instead of doing what's right for consumers and passing laws to keep prices down.

[@josephpalasz5226]

This was awesome, I love the format of asking experts what they know about. Not grilling them or getting them into arguments, just them explaining what they know

[@benjismith2549]

You forgot to mention the shutdown of the pipeline and the results of oil companies speculating on the market.

[@XevenYT143]

Love seeing Experts speak so passionately about their job just draws you in even if you have little knowledge about it

[@kennethli2848]

"An electric current is literally just electrons moving through a charged electrical field inside a conductor, like a WIRE". Jesse be like. Yo Mr White.

[@marcauciello]

But, the thing is, this isn't really accurate. It's EM fields, not the electrons themselves. kzbin.info/www/bejne/pXrCiWWZgq2Bm5I

[@andrewmatt7731]

This guy gives me hope for our future. I love his attitude. Clearly intelligent and passionate.

[@nycrsny3406]

Probably my favorite expert pick here. Really informative and he explained things quite clearly.

[@dlunsford1980]

Another issue with the hydroelectric dams in the USA is that they are really old, and most of these plants won't make as much electricity as a single combined cycle gas unit.

[@LanceMcCarthy]

This guy was great. Excellent science communicator.

[@iskandertime747]

Fun fact! They got the least nerdy DOE employee to do this! Just kidding, great job!

[@HolgerNestmann]

This gives a great overview. However there are a few things I think shouldn't have been omitted. Pumped Hydro as storage comes to mind or biogas as renewable. I think we also don't talk much about hydro these days is because most of its potential is used up. You have just so much and rain and hills. Indutrialized countries used that up already.

[@ejn1011]

There's a hydroelectric dam northwest of Atlanta that uses cheap electricity at night to pump water up stream and then uses that water to generate electricity when it's expensive just before and just after working hours. It's federally owned and the profit goes to the Treasury to offset taxes.

[@mccorkleknight]

This was fantastic, thank you for some great information!

[@bthomp6694]

This was super helpful and informative. Thank you!!!

[@gaeb-hd4lf]

Man this guy clearly knows his stuff

[@fawazgerhard2742]

Well yeah he is an expert after all

[@xmorte]

His explanation of gas prices is bs.

[@gaeb-hd4lf]

@@xmorte what is the right one then?

[@wildlifewarrior2670]

@@xmorte you should tell all of us your correct answer

[@DaveL2033]

@@xmorte No it isn't, but I guess instead of paying attention during the pandemic, you were rabbiting down conspiracy holes like half of America's most stupidest people

[@katarzynazofia]

Great to watch someone so passionate and knowledgeable, but also explaining everything in a really approachable way! ❤🎉😊

[@nayfly9]

This dude’s awesome. Passionate and knowledgeable, thank you for sharing both 🙌🏼

[@snowclo135]

Wired!!! Please have a civil engineer answer questions about infrastructure!

[@tom_something]

One thing that gives EVs a leg-up in efficiency is regenerative braking. You hit the brakes, and instead of slowing down by friction, which generates unrecoverable heat, the motion of the car is used to recharge the battery a bit, so that energy can be used again to speed the car back up later. With very few exceptions, most gasoline-powered cars don't have something like this. Carbon capture is great because we can actually put that carbon dioxide to good use in other endeavors. Green dry cleaning is one example.

[@harvey66616]

_"most gasoline-powered cars don't have something like this"_ -- but hybrids do. Not that hybrids are the long-term solution. Battery-electric clearly is. But for those complaining about EV mandates, it would not be at all unreasonable to use hybrid mandates as an interim solution. Simply banning new vehicle sales of any non-hybrid gas- or diesel-engine vehicle would be a big immediate improvement, and would give some breathing room to the need to upgrade the electric production and grid.

[@josephkim7368]

An interesting thing to look into is the duck curve which is seen in California. Essentially where the electricity demand spikes at night time and the California Independent System Operator dictates the amount of electricity to produced within the state to ramp up electrical production over time as not to stress the generators.

[@Lalaundercover389]

Love how he simplifies things

[@Quimper111]

Would have loved to hear about the economic life span of wind powered installations compared to nuclear, as well as a cost/efficiency comparison. Also about the rare minerals needed for solar power now that China have been trying to monopolize the global market for that resource for a long time.

[@campbell9489]

Nuclear power (SMR) Is about 5-8x more expensive then solar or wind (per kW of capacity), it is well understood nuclear is the most expensive option for new energy projects.

[@Quimper111]

You cannot plan continous energy supply with solar or wind energy. You have to have nuclear or water energy for that. What longevity does wind have in comparison to nuclear? Especially when it comes to ger IV powerplants that reuse the waste material already available.

[@campbell9489]

@@Quimper111 I mean kind of, the point with wind is to use a mix of orientations and offshore/terrestrial setups to ensure that you're distributing the chance of power generation. This is somewhat nullified by the fact it only takes 1-2 years to setup a wind farm, when compared with 10-15 years for a nuclear reactor. Nuclear power and wind power have roughly equivalent lifespans of 20-30 years.

[@campbell9489]

@@Quimper111 keep in mind too, the whole concept of wind and solar is that they are ridiculously cheap and available to run for most of the day (in the case of solar) and most of the time in the case of wind. Firming is then only needed overnight or a few days a year when either the sun or wind is inadequate. It's very different to suggest an energy source is needed for typical power generation vs just for firmimg of the much cheaper and cleaner renewables.

[@cadeevans4623]

Cool looking forward to this

[@inf3rnalis804]

The loss of life as a result of nuclear power production is far lower than that of coal or oil, yes there have been catastrophes, most of which could’ve been prevented especially today, but there’s truly no comparison to the horrors of coal and oil energy production, let alone the planetary destruction

[@TheBourn1ad]

I was hoping he would cover questions about thorium and cold fusion.

[@pojo398]

With the first answer he only touched on the real problem with the situation at the end. They're price gouging and making record profits, and they have plenty of spots to get oil that they simply had no interest in using yet since they had no interest in making the price lower. We need more regulation on those insanely wealthy industries.

[@tbrickman]

The administration isn’t encouraging drilling though. They actually discourage it and then blame the oil companies

[@bigjake6foot5]

@PojoFire yeah you're a ways off on this. Profit margins for oil companies haven't changed. What has changed is the oil supply. When supply decreases prices rise. If things like they Keystone pipeline and new drilling sites were allowed it would largely solve the price increase we've seen in recent months. Also fun fact. Gas stations don't make most of their money off gas. They make it off other things

[@beno22iscool]

Bro the first question isn't the full truth, it's because biden shut down our in-country oil productions, making us dependent on other countries

[@theflyingdutchguy9870]

its also helpfull because if the prices are so high. less people can afford it. so less fumes get thrown into the air. so its better for all of us

[@userI3I2]

@@bigjake6foot5 oil prices are high globally. A pipeline won't solve the problem. Especially with America's policy of neglecting infrastructure maintenance.

[@andrijanaadamovic5545]

this is so interesting and important to know i love how he talk with passion and patient

[@Nylak-Otter]

Man, I'm a self-hating prepper, and Texas is all about that self-sustainability that I crave and admire. Too bad it's wasted on *Texas.* 😖

[@lovetownsend]

The theromoheat drilling is legit. My city's library uses it in winter, warmest place in city.

[@danyomega1472]

02:35 step down transformers don't reduce power though It reduces the voltage, but increases the current, so no change in power occurs except for the transmission loses

[@CraftyF0X]

wait till you get to the part where he explains current xD

[@Heat3YT2]

He is spending a few seconds in each question. Do you really expect detailed answer when the average viewer doesn’t have a college education and probably last took a physics class in high school.

[@feru1071]

He just used "power level" instead of "voltage", it's clear for everyone that way

[@MC-px3od]

@@feru1071 not the same thing. Any expert wouldnt use those two like he does. And that the grid is "one closed loop"? No! Not nearly true.

[@MC-px3od]

And step up transformers to "give back power"? Lmao no its not how it works!

[@kengillespie7797]

You forgot one renewable/green energy source, which is new nuclear technologies. The amount of potential power generated is so much greater than other renewables and the new reactors are actually safe but people are afraid because they can't distinguish between old nuclear and new nuclear

[@TheMaxqb]

Even old nuclear is better than what we have today. I don't think you can call nuclear renewable, but it (and geothermal) are the only things that anyone should be calling green.

[@davidfails2866]

Thanks for the refresher synopsis

[@evehg117]

So informative and I can’t believe we didn’t learn about these things in school. If feels like basic knowledge that we should know, considering we’re consuming resources on the planet every single day.

[@chelled.4622]

I love these ask the expert videos but can we eliminate the reading of the user name? Its such a waste of time and people with a bunch of numbers in their user names are just clogging the system when we could be getting more useful knowledge.

[@harvey66616]

For better or worse, I doubt you will see them stop that. Only some of the point here is to convey information. A big part of these kinds of pieces is to drive social media traffic and engagement, and letting people see their usernames in the piece is a significant element of that.

[@himanshudixit5711]

I think we all were waiting for a Wired lecture on Renewable / Non-Renewable energy sources. 😃 😊

[@feral664]

Production and profits is why gas is high and not poor gov policy?

[@aer0a]

9:19 The company that made it was warned that that could happen and ignored the warnings

[@hw_yozoraVODS]

This guy gives me hope.

[@Xanman2000]

Feel like this man could have gone a little more in-depth on how the big oil companies are actively price gouging. Weird to put the blame on individual gas stations, especially since most gas stations rely on the concession sales for their profit more than the gas itself

[@Xanman2000]

It’s giving Bias. Especially bringing up Chernobyl and stuff. It just seems like he is pushing a certain narrative here 🤷🏽‍♂️ leaving out that methane is 84 times more potent of a greenhouse gas than CO2.

[@Xanman2000]

Oh no not him pushing carbon capture so fossil fuels can stay a part of the mix

[@trump45and2zig-zags]

Or how Biden shut down wells n pipeline!

[@tampabayj]

We related? Lol. Not many people have the last name spelled Baumann. Thanks for the info! Great episode.

[@grey6703]

your expert choices are alway top tier

[@verakoo6187]

Im sure its more complex than this but i find it funny how we literally sell oil just so we can buy more oil

[@kathyz8550]

How does WIRED choose which questions on Twitter to answer?

[@maymayman0]

YO! This guy was on an episode of Da Ali-G show!!!! The technology segment !!!!!!!!!!

[@jonnyq8191]

Lookin forward to it

[@peanutbutterkong9362]

There are a ton of details this guy is glossing over.

[@desiv1170]

It's a fairly short KZbin video... That's kind of a given. ;-) ;-)

[@cajoz]

Gee, the answer to the first question was passed over pretty fast. Not too much attention to the fact that we're all being screwed.

[@louis4951]

Because it's a simple answer, Profits. No surprise most are ran by republicans and just plain greed. Texas is one of the biggest producers and yet being right in their backyard still paying high prices... because republicans are greedy.

[@antonioCsilveira]

This was really good, thanks Jeremiah

[@kingstogodshm3251]

So basically with gas, gas companies basically decided to keep production low to have increased fuel prices because of the money they’re making, but literally can increase the production and lower the price and that way people are buying more, which I assume would also be large pay outs to them, like come on…

[@ieatgarbage8771]

If prices are artificially inflated because all of the major producers have agreed to keep prices high, that’s not a free market; that’s a cartel.

[@xmorte]

supply and demand. Ask Biden and his democrat cronies why they shut down production.

[@ieatgarbage8771]

@@xmorte what? Production was shut down while trump was in office because no one was buying gas. This event costed oil producers huge amounts of money. I don’t think big oil is trying to make oil futures go negative.

[@BillyLeeGoodman]

It's so interesting because for so many years I didn't know there was anything else except hydroelectricity, and nuclear power because of watching the Simpsons... but even then I when I was a kid, because it was in a cartoon. I think we pretty much only use hydroelectricity up here where I live, near Vancouver bc!

[@avielp]

Resource prices could drop to a more reasonable price if market competition is let to run it's course-or at least encouraged *wisely* and carefully

[@patrickbueno3279]

No, it won't competition can only get as far as they see it profitable. Those who have a head start will always dictate what is the competition, they can always form unwritten rules how to do things. We don't live in a theoretical world where one form is the only answer.

[@KaitouKaiju]

So break up the global oil cartel

[@patrickbueno3279]

@@KaitouKaiju there's no political power on this time that would be willing to destroy it though

[@trevorhardy3544]

Oil shouldn’t be burned. It should be saved for materials.

[@nullified60]

This guy is really good at explaining topics. I love him

[@GavinBisesi]

I'm disappointed that none of the conversation talked about reducing reliance on cars in the first place. E-bikes, making cities more walkable, public transit improvements, all reduce our reliance on polluting energy production, and reduces the scope of the remaining energy production and storage problems for the trips that *can't* be replaced. Replacing fueled cars with electric cars won't solve our problems

[@TheBourn1ad]

He should analyze movies about energy.

[@Platypi007]

Ok, I want an in-house lava feature now.

[@hmscience7944]

but what about the resources used to make batteries ?

[@JimBob1937]

Still a net reduction in energy usage and CO2 output. These factors aren't neglected when analyzing new tech. EVs (which I assume this is in reference to) are simply insanely higher in efficiency compared to heat engines like the internal combustion engine.

[@xmorte]

EVs are a temporary bandaide not a permanent solution.

[@JimBob1937]

@@xmorte , why?

[@JimBob1937]

@@xmorte , curious what you suggest will be the next solution then. Oil isn't going to last the world much more than 100 years or so based on the known reserves and accelerating global consumption.

[@safs3098]

@@JimBob1937 the next solution is public transportation, there's no reason for urbanites to use a multi ton piece of metal and chemicals just to transport one person and then feel moral that they reduced emissions when they could've supported public transportation and reduced emissions to negligible numbers

[@bripez]

It’s a shame this video is quite usa based. Id love to know more about this topic in different countries

[@ThePandaWarrior]

absolutely

[@kobe51]

Texas has their own grid? So that's why the whole state froze that winter 🥶

[@Modelero]

Some questions make you really wonder if some people in america actually ever stepped into a school...

[@nomisukeindustries]

This answered a lot of questions I never knew I had. I just wish my "literally" filter wasn't so sensitive because Jeremiah literally says it 18 times.

[@Soxruleyanksdrool]

You can literally decide to not be bothered when someone overuses the word "literally".

[@MorderElg]

Using Chernobyl as an example against nuclear power, is like arguing against bridges because someone had an accident on a bridge made of cardboard.

[@gilles466]

True, the plant had almost no security measures at all

[@this_is_patrick]

Why need containment structure? Waste of money! The blessings of motherland will ensure our safety, comrade!

[@ChilledfishStick]

I was floored when he mentioned Chernobyl. This is the person who should promote a nuanced view, rather than fear mongering.

[@davidho1258]

@4:09 but can our current grid handle a new sudden uptick in electric cars and charging stations.

[@aykutt3244]

Hey, great video but just a correction, USA doesn't produce 20% renewable energy but 20% renewable electrical energy. It's more like 12% in 2021.

[@ElTacoJesus]

Kinda bummed that he was so negative about nuclear energy. A lot of the issues he mentioned have already been resolved, and there are obvious, avoidable failures on the human side that led to the events of Chernobyl and Fukushima. I’d argue that the longer we take to embrace nuclear, the deeper into the hole we’ll be with respect to climate change.

[@yoda112358]

Unfortunately we haven't solved the biggest problem with nuclear power in the US: how do we build nuclear power plants on time and under budget

[@alexgreene5419]

Totally agree. I feel like nuclear energy is the best way to go and was also kinda sad he seemed so negative about it. If you feel that way though, you should watch Kyle Hill's channel on here, he does a lot of nerdy stuff but also is a huge supporter of nuclear energy

[@patrickbueno3279]

It's not solved but rather greatly minimize

[@boukadoumramy8653]

the problem is nuclear power plants are very expensive to build and unfortunately it didn't recieve a lot of invesments in the past as other clean energy sources , so the technology is still old and underdeveloped compared to solar or wind .

[@cody8002]

@@yoda112358 put restrictions on the profits of the mega corporations who are building them.

[@hugehappygrin]

Here in Texas the price of gasoline has begun to drop by, it seems, 10 cents/gallon every 3 days. Lowest I've seen yesterday was $4.15. I've seen this happen, at about this time, in Pueblo Colorado, 3 years ago. The price fell all the way to $1.89 before rebounding to about $2.89. Just FYI, the price of gas has nothing to do with politics. No president is to be praised nor blamed for what happens to prices. Yeah, I know, presidents talk like they're in control, but they never are.

[@HotTakeAndy]

If only the rest of the US understood that. But no, let’s waste money slapping stickers of Biden on gas pumps. 🤦🏼‍♂️

[@caitlynnhamilton8016]

the lowest I've seen in Texas recently was like 3:74 :0 I hope it doesn't shoot back up again

[@du42bz]

Those conservative fucks really think it is all Bidens fault. I have even heard conservatives here in Germany blame our current government for being the cause of Russias invasion of Ukraine. 🤦

[@NowshZ]

That is not even 50% of what we pay in my country. That makes it 1,09$ for one liter. I would guess it probably was 2005 something when we paid so little

[@therittzer7334]

oh sure, nothing Joe Biden does to attack the industry has any impact on it... riggghhht.

[@johnransom1146]

I notice you didn’t add the Three Mile Island nuclear accident in the USA.

[@azimuth9819]

Is biofuel not considered renewable anymore? Or is it just frowned upon?

[@JimBob1937]

It's renewable, but not great. It's energy and resource intensive in its own right, and its energy return on investment is poor.

[@azimuth9819]

@@JimBob1937 thank you

[@thelaurens1996]

I thought fuel in the US was due to the process capacity being at its peak to refine crude oil into useable fuels. Also I think to remember one such refining location having a crisis happen to it, burning down or something.

[@nicklittle8399]

Remember that oil and gas will never go away. There are so many more uses for them other than just fuel.

[@samk522]

Well, they'll have to eventually, because sooner or later they'll just run out. Besides, there are always alternatives if people are willing to research them. We're already finding new ways of producing some plastics that don't require fossil fuel as a base.

[@ceciliacr2745]

anyone else notice the huge scrape on his right wrist @12:36

[@ranymnenneh4915]

“Independent-minded Texas” is a very polite way to put it 🙂🤣