On this week’s Power Hour, Alex Epstein interviews Ron Stein, author of Energy Made Easy and Just Green Electricity, about the decline of California’s energy system.

On the show they discuss:

– How much oil California uses and where it comes from.

– The decline of California energy production and the rise of imports from the Middle East.

– Where California’s electricity comes from–hint: a lot of it isn’t from California.

– How California is shutting down 4 reliable power plants with no replacements on the horizon.

– How California’s regressive oil and electricity policies his poor and middle class Californians the hardest.

– How California can change its energy future.

On the podcast Alex also answers two listener questions: one about “energy privilege” and one about the role of reliable, low-cost energy in fighting oppression.

At the end of the second question Alex discusses how modern, high-powered communication systems are valuable for fighting many kinds of oppression, but how the current social media model is dangerously suppressive of open intellectual debate.