so we're off to see the wizard
anyway so sir is officially 17
kit you are now closer to 18 i
think we already did this one
no no we we talked about you
before you were 17 now you are
17. so so you're you're on your
trek towards official legal
adulthood how uh how do you
feel me of course the same as
he answered before he found 17.
no but we we had some good
times with your birthday we had
some meals uh he actually you
you chose a really
good barbecue place when we
were at my significant others
place of residence moving on
but yeah that was a good
barbecue place me good job this
is episode 25 and i have once
again absolutely no idea what
we're going to discuss what you
want to talk about there's a
social network it's a less
popular one called next
next door and the whole premise
of next door is is it's based
around your local area your
local community and you can
even request that they send you
postcards that then you can
send out to all of your
neighbors and local people to
get them to join
And a lot of it devolves into
people complaining and griping,
of course, because social media
.
But that said, occasionally
interesting conversations
happen.
And one of the interesting
conversations that I saw
recently, and I don't go on
there very often, I just happen
to go on there.
Because I got an email and I
was like, oh, that seems like
an interesting discussion. I'll
go check it out.
And the discussion was around
power.
Power? What type of power?
Electrical power.
Not like political power.
Not muscular power.
Not even horsepower.
But electric power.
And they were talking about how
electricity is expensive.
But how nobody wants any power
plants built in their town.
Hmm.
Because if there's a power
plant in your backyard.
It's going to bring down the
property value.
Exactly.
It affects the resale value.
Nobody wants to see, like, a
giant building with towers and
all sorts of stuff.
And I think one of the issues
we have with power is that,
obviously, we have the older
forms of fossil fuel power
generation.
So there's coal, natural gas,
etc.
And those are kind of the
standard power plants.
And nowadays, you also have
wind power, solar power.
Hydro power.
Hydroelectric power.
Yeah.
And nuclear power.
And nuclear.
We'll come back to nuclear in a
moment.
Now, for those that don't know
how power generation works,
here is how power generation
works.
It's actually quite a simple
concept.
It's really quite simple.
Yes.
What you do is, you take some
kind of mechanical energy and
you use it to spin a big bundle
of wires inside of a magnetic
field.
And that generates electricity.
Goodbye the end.
Yep.
That's it.
So in some cases, and very
commonly, you might say, well,
why is coal necessary for that?
Well, what you do is, you burn
the coal, and then you boil
water with the coal by burning
it.
And then, that in turn, spins.
The steam moves the fan.
Right.
The steam moves the turbine or
the fan, which then generates
the power.
Even with something like wind
power, it's the same concept.
Yeah.
The wind spins the turbine, and
that generates the power.
Now, you also have solar power.
And I think solar power is the
one that's a little bit
different in that solar panels
absorb energy from photons and
convert that into electricity.
The problem is, is that there's
always loss in that mix.
And there's the fact that the
sunlight can be less or more
direct.
There's clouds.
And, oh, by the way, if the
solar panels are angled wrong,
they can catch birds on fire
while they're flying.
And that's not a joke.
Yeah.
Because the solar panels
themselves can act like a magn
ifying glass and reflect the
rays back up into a single
focus point.
And if a bird flies to that
focus point, poof.
Yummy.
Yummy, delicious, wild bird.
You know what?
Maybe to make solar more
powerful, or not powerful,
popular, what they should do is
open up some restaurants.
Yeah.
Near the big solar fields.
Yeah.
And what they'll do is they'll
advertise the birds that get
cooked by the solar panels.
Now, the other you had that you
mentioned was hydroelectric, or
hydro, which usually involves
damming up a large waterway.
And then the water goes through
the turbines and spins them.
Yeah.
So, that's how power works,
ladies and gentlemen.
End of discussion.
Hey, what about the nuclear
power?
Oh, sorry, we'll touch on that.
So, nuclear power has a bunch
of nuclear material that splits
in a process called fission.
Fission is how nuclear bombs
work, except for fusion bombs.
Most nuclear weapons convention
ally operated off of fission,
which means you're splitting
atoms apart.
Well, splitting atoms apart
generates a lot of energy,
which then boils water, which
then turns into steam, which
then turns the turbines.
So, those are the main
electrical systems that we use
for electric generation.
There are a few other ones out
there.
I mean, couldn't you also use,
like, a geyser or something to
boil the water?
I mean, I'm sure you could.
I mean, technically you could
use somebody pedaling on a bike
.
All right?
Like, power generation, as we
understand it at this point,
until we discover some kind of
zero-point energy or free
energy, involves spinning a
turbine using mechanical means,
which then generates
electricity.
The issue with power lately is,
first of all, we need a lot
more of it.
Especially around data centers.
With AI.
Because data centers need to be
air-conditioned.
They need to be water-cooled,
which takes up water, too.
And they need to have multiple
redundant backup systems,
because the last thing you want
to do is to have your major
website go down because the
data center became unavailable
or experienced a catastrophic
power failure.
So, these data centers are
massive and take a lot of
electricity, but we also have
just an increasing demand for
electricity in general.
We rely more and more on
devices that require
electricity, such as, you know,
you go to the store.
There's not mechanical cash
registers anymore.
It's all electrical.
There's electric cars.
There's electric cars that need
charging.
At home, you have how many
different devices, like
including the one in your
pocket that you're listening to
this on, or including the
computer screen that you're
listening to this through.
All of these things require
electricity.
And that's just an evolution of
society.
But what we've figured out,
also as a society, is certain
methods of generating
electricity are cleaner than
other methods of generating
electricity.
So, right now, coal and natural
gas are not viewed positively
as people treat that as, well,
it's burning carbon into the
atmosphere.
And by carbon, they mean carbon
dioxide, which then increases
the greenhouse effect and
increases the global
temperature changes that are
going on, in theory.
But, they're also the cheapest
and most effective ways of
producing electricity, aside
from nuclear.
And nobody wants nuclear,
because they know nuclear will
bloom.
And that's all they know.
There we go.
So, sir, can you think of any
one or two nuclear disasters in
, I don't know, the past hundred
years that come to mind?
Hmm.
No, seriously.
Name one.
Like nuclear bomb, or just...
No, no, no.
Nuclear power related disasters
.
I don't know.
Well, the big ones.
There's really three that come
to mind.
I'm not saying that there aren
't other ones.
But there are three that come
to mind.
Chernobyl.
That's what I was thinking.
I wasn't sure, though.
Chernobyl was the biggest one.
The Chernobyl nuclear facility
melted down, and they had put a
giant concrete bunker over the
entire thing.
And it affected plants.
It affected animals.
Like, it made the area unl
ivable.
And even now, scientists go
back into the zone around that
nuclear disaster site and find
ways that the nuclear radiation
has mutated or changed life
there.
Do we have rabbits walking on
two legs and talking yet?
Nope.
Uh-oh.
The second one was Three Mile
Island.
And that took place in the
United States, and that was
much smaller and contained.
I don't know if it actually
fully melted down or not.
And the last one in recent
memory was Fukushima in Japan.
And that was in part due to a
massive earthquake off the
shore of Japan that then made a
giant tidal wave come in that
smacked the power plant.
But on top of that, it also was
because they had regulatory
issues that they kind of swept
under the rug.
Yeah.
They kind of, you know, swept
the, oh, this could potentially
be an issue.
Yeah, don't worry about it.
That will never happen.
That type of thing.
Well, you know, if we ever had
a major ocean disaster, this
would be a major risk.
No, that would never happen.
No, we're never going to have a
major ocean disaster.
What are you talking about?
Japan's definitely not known
for earthquakes, typhoons, and
giant kaiju that occasionally
wander up out of the ocean and
destroy entire cities.
I'm just saying, this is a
known phenomenon.
So the problem with nuclear is
that everybody's afraid of a
meltdown.
The reality is that, first of
all, even with the older 1960s
era nuclear power plant designs
, there have been very few melt
downs.
But the risk of the meltdown is
huge because if nuclear
explosion happens, it kills
lots of people.
And by the way, so a nuclear
meltdown is when the nuclear
reaction gets out of control.
It's when the temperature
becomes too great for the
cooling systems to deal with.
And when that happens, the
cooling system, basically the
core, all the fuel rods start
to go critical, meltdown.
And it can eventually get to
the point where so much energy
is taking place that it blows
up.
And so that's a big issue.
And so basically, inside a
nuclear reactor, there are
these things called control
rods.
And what they're designed to do
is slow down the nuclear
reaction and control it so that
it's more or less energetic.
Yeah.
If there's not enough control
rods or the control rods fail,
the nuclear reaction runs out
of control and can blow up.
And the giant concrete building
can no longer hold it.
Now, that's what scares people
about nuclear.
But despite that, we've really
only had three major nuclear
power plant disasters in
history.
There's probably been one or
two smaller ones.
But nuclear is actually one of
the safest and most energy
efficient ways to generate
energy.
Yeah.
And people make the presumption
that, oh, well, any new nuclear
plant is going to be subject to
the risk of meltdown like the
old ones.
Well, guess what?
They're not.
Unless they're intentionally
sabotaged.
Right.
Because modern nuclear designs
use less nuclear fuel.
So if the reaction ever got out
of control, the fuel would eat
itself before a nuclear
reaction could ever happen.
I mean.
Not only that, but they also
eat their own waste.
1960s, 70s nuclear plants
generate nuclear waste products
.
And the problem with that is
there's only one thing you
could do with nuclear waste.
Dump it in New Jersey.
No, really, the one thing you
could do with nuclear waste is
store it in concrete bunkers
until it's gotten through
enough half-lives that it's no
longer dangerous.
Well, the problem is, is that
if that's not done properly, or
somebody stumbles across one of
those bunkers inadvertently,
or if one of those bunkers get
a crack in the side of their
housings, the radiation gets
out.
But modern nuke designs for
power plants would actually eat
that waste.
Yeah.
So it burns the waste.
It burns itself out if there's
any risk of, you know, issues.
But the problem is, is that
nuclear is not popular.
Yeah.
For example, Germany recently
took all of their nuclear power
plants offline.
Why?
Because nuclear is not safe.
Because we need greener options
.
Gee, I thought, I thought, I
thought radioactive stuff is
usually represented as green.
That's a greener option.
Yeah.
But I responded in that post.
I said, because they were
asking, you know, like, if,
would you want a power plant
built, like, right next to
where you live?
And I said, if it was a nuclear
power plant using newer melt
down-proof designs, I would be
fine with that.
And even with other options, I
think that we may have to
eventually reach a point where
we find ways to be more self-s
ufficient with energy.
And there are people that are
already doing this.
There are people that put solar
panels on their houses.
Now, the problem with solar,
again, is that it's not always
consistent.
And a lot of times, the way the
solar system's working out is
you're actually renting the
panels.
You don't own them.
So, you hire, you know, a solar
company.
They come in.
They evaluate your roof.
They put the right solar panels
on.
And they say, we're going to
charge you this amount for your
electricity.
And they lock you in a specific
rate.
Because that's how you're
paying them back for putting
the solar panels on your house.
Forever and ever and ever.
It's usually like a 10-year
agreement or a 5-year agreement
, whatever.
That's when your solar panels
inconveniently break.
And then you've got to upgrade
them.
At which point, then, they'll
be like, hey, we'll upgrade it.
You just have to re-sign the
contract.
So, that's one way to do it.
The other way is to actually
pay to have the solar done
yourself.
And then the cool thing about
it is you can either take that
solar energy, store it in a lot
of batteries.
And then when you lose power,
you'll actually be able to run
power off the batteries.
Or you can work in parallel
with the electric company.
Where, as you're producing
electricity, if you produce
more than you use, the electric
company buys it from you.
Those are some ways to start to
think about energy.
Also, if you have a house that
's on a windier plane of
existence, so if you live in an
area where there's a lot of
wind, you can set up a small
electrical windmill.
That will not power everything
all the time because if the
wind dies, you'll not have
power.
Unless you've been storing that
power in a battery, again.
And those batteries are very
big.
And they cost money.
Money.
I don't know.
I think the whole situation
with power, though, is that
because everybody wants to
think about the green options
of solar and of wind power.
They don't think about hydro
electric power.
Not as much.
And the reason for that is that
you have to dam up a waterway
to do that.
And if you have to dam up a
waterway, that can impact the
environment around that water
way.
That can impact, you know,
wildlife.
And there's also only so many
waterways where the cost-to-
benefit ratio is high enough.
You need a lot of water that is
consistently flowing in order
to ensure that you're going to
get the type of energy that
makes building and maintaining
a giant dam worthwhile.
How about Niagara Falls?
Well, there's a story behind
Niagara Falls.
Niagara Falls is not actually a
natural fall anymore.
They can turn it off.
You think I'm lying.
Go online and Google it.
There are times when Niagara
Falls gets turned off.
So, actually, I think that
might be because it's using it
for power.
I'm not 100% sure they can turn
Niagara Falls on and off, which
is kind of sad.
There was this once beautiful
natural waterfall, and they dam
med it up, and they could turn
it on and off.
Magical.
The magic of nature.
Wow.
The biggest issue is not going
to be addressed by the method
we use to generate electricity.
Don't get me wrong.
Coal and natural gas are easier
, and they can pollute more than
the other methods.
But the other methods, except
for nuclear, are not always the
most sustainable and even in
their power generation.
In my personal opinion, the
best option for generating more
power is newer nuclear plant
designs.
But that's my personal unin
formed opinion.
However, that doesn't solve the
problem.
The problem is not energy
generation.
The problem is energy usage.
What we need to do is start
unplugging.
We need to figure out ways to
use less energy.
Which might mean, dare I say it
, not being connected to your
phone all day and needing to
charge it on a regular basis.
No, but you need the phone.
That's small.
But it's a small amount.
But if you imagine like
everybody doing it, it adds up.
But we need the phone.
Remembering to turn off lights
when you leave the house.
Which I only occasionally have
issues with.
Hmm, hmm, hmm.
I try to be good with it.
Sometimes I forget.
Sometimes I intentionally leave
the lights on because I know I
'm going to be back in 10
minutes.
Those 10 minutes are precious.
How could you waste them?
But until we figure out better
energy sources that are less
harmful overall to the
environment and have less risk.
And also that won't nuke birds
as they're flying overhead.
We're in a situation where we
really need to figure out
better ways of generating
electricity.
Or if the alien technology is
real.
We need to release that to the
masses.
Which of course would
immediately disrupt all of the
energy industries.
And any companies associated
with those energy industries.
So oil companies.
But also the companies they sub
contract to to make equipment.
The companies that they subcont
ract to to find the oil.
You see, people don't think
about that.
So even if there is an energy
source that is infinite.
Which, I mean, who knows.
Chances are, it would
absolutely destroy the economy.
Meh.
Because the oil and gas
companies would be out of
business within 5 to 10 years.
And then things pop up our
economy something fierce.
Meh.
So yeah, this was a mostly me
talking episode.
Meh.
About energy.
Because we initially had
started talking about
government.
And that discussion was not
going well.
So I don't know.
What do you think about energy
stuff, sir?
Do you have any additional
thoughts?
No.
Okay.
Thank you for listening.
If this was at all enjoyable to
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And if you enjoyed this or any
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Because, as you know, it takes
time and energy and effort to
produce a show like this.
I think that about wraps it up
for this episode, episode 25.
Our next episode, sir, is
exciting.
Oh, boy.
What?
Oh, boy.
Yeah.
Our next episode is episode 26.
And given that we only release
episodes once every other week,
you know what that means.
That's our one-year episode.
Our one-year anniversary.
So I'm looking forward to that.
I'm thinking that we might do a
little bit of a retrospective
as to how this all started and
where it's been going and what
it may or may not be in the
future.
We don't know.
I don't know.
So you'll have to find that
next time.
So until then, next time, thank
you for listening.
And we'll catch you then.
Bye.