A Climate Conversation Podcast 14 Cost and Benefit of Energy Transition with Ken Gregory
August 30, 2024
Hosts: Kim Monson & Dave O’Rourke
Guests: Ken Gregory, Professional Engineer & Director, The Friends of Science, and Walter E. Johnson, Geophysicist and Executive Producer of the documentary A Climate Conversation
A Climate Conversation Podcast
Welcome to our podcast in support of A Climate Conversation, a documentary that seeks to foster an honest dialogue on the subject of climate change—its causes, its impact, and a science-based cost/benefit analysis of its potential solutions.
Ken Gregory’s long career as a petroleum engineer began in 1978, while his tenure in the Friends of Science began when he first studied climate change in 2005. Ken subsequently became a director, webmaster, and the writer of the newsletter for the society. Ken is also an active member of the CO2 Coalition.
Ken is featured in A Climate Conversation, where his main contribution concerns the costs of achieving Net Zero by 2050. We believe Ken was among the first to do a comprehensive analysis. Since his work on the film, he has continued to analyze the costs and externalities associated with a massive energy transition to wind and solar.
In this podcast, Ken is joined by Walt Johnson, brainchild and executive producer of A Climate Conversation.Walter E. Johnson, a fifth-generation Coloradan and accomplished geophysicist, is A Climate Conversation's visionary and executive producer. Deeply rooted in the American West, Walt is passionate about injecting realism and the scientific method into the often polarized debate surrounding climate change. His focus is on critically examining human-caused climate change, its potential impacts, and the proposed solutions. Walt’s key concern is ensuring that the conversation includes a thorough analysis of the real costs and potential benefits of transitioning away from natural fuel sources, aiming for a more balanced and fact-based dialogue on this pressing issue.
This podcast continues our conversation about the cost/benefit equation of climate policy. Those costs go far beyond the hundreds of trillions of dollars that will be required to meet the demands of the alarmist’s policy prescriptions.
Other topics include:
A recap of the film’s findings
A review of other cost estimates by widely respected firms
The negligible impact that can be achieved by the USA achieving Net Zero
The scarcity of raw materials required to create solar and wind energy
Has Net Zero created an “inverse” Moore’s Law?
Nuclear plant closures (Belgium, Germany, CA)
We hear realists derided as “deniers,” but that slur is a poor substitute for a scientific argument. The science of climate is anything but settled, and models in use by the UN IPCC continue to prove deeply flawed. Before engaging in a multi-hundred trillion dollar energy transition, we should make sure the costs and benefits are much more well understood.