Irina Slav, Energy Writer, is a great friend and inspiration to me on energy and writing. This podcast with Irina is no different; There is a significant movement in the global energy transition due to unsustainable renewable energy. The world cannot print money to go to war and support renewable energy.
Please listen and also follow Irina on her.substack at https://irinaslav.substack.com/
00:00 – Intro
02:03 – Irina Slav’s background and writing for Oil Price since 2016.
03:08 – Discussion of economic challenges in the European Union due to the energy crisis, inflation, and rising interest rates, leading to insolvencies among German firms.
05:05 – Highlighting the concept of energy poverty affecting citizens in the EU, making it harder for people to heat their homes due to rising energy costs.
06:34 – Mentioning that Germany is not on track to achieve its energy transition goals by 2030.
09:13 – Discussing the global energy transition and its impact on various industries and individuals.
10:52 – Exploring the challenges and failures associated with electric vehicle (EV) adoption, such as issues with public charging infrastructure and increasing insurance costs for EV owners.
14:00 – Mentioning the possibility of more populist leaders coming into power as a response to challenges related to energy transitions.
14:52 – Highlighting Irina’s Substack, where she shares her articles and insights on energy-related topics at IrinaSlav@Substack.com.
15:42: Outro
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– Get in Contact With The Show –
Stuart Turley [00:00:03] Hello, everybody. Welcome to the energy news beat. My name’s Stu Turnley, president, CEO. And I’ll tell you what. Welcome to the conversations with Stu Turley. I’ve got my favorite Bulgarian on the line this morning. And we were chit chatting right before the show. And I mean, ironically, Irene Islam is one of the most important energy writers around the world. And you have got to sign up for her. Substack. It’s IrinaSlav@Substack.com. Irina. Good afternoon and welcome to the podcast.
Irina Slav [00:00:37] Good morning, Stu. Lovely to see you as always.
Stuart Turley [00:00:41] Well, I tell you what, you’re one of my most favorite people on the planet. And when I sit here and I read your article, you remind you must be the trump of energy. And I’m sorry. You know, that man, when he tweets mean tweets and in people, heads explode around the world, right? Right. You write articles in people that are stupid. Their heads are going down. So that’s going to tee up. I read your article that came out 3 minutes ago before we’re recording this podcast. Well done.
Irina Slav [00:01:21] Thank you. Thank you. It’s a rant rather than an article. But yeah.
Stuart Turley [00:01:26] But your rants are humorous. I mean, I’m serious. People call me up after a podcast and they go, Who’s I reading this? Long as I go her substack. And I guarantee you, they’re like, She’s funny. I just. I’m a legend. I’m a legend in my own mind. Now you’re a true legend, and here’s why. Your article today. Tell us what you were thinking on. Surprise. I’m over here. Kind. Okay. You had me on Surprised back in 2007. You worked at a local editor. What happened after that?
Irina Slav [00:02:03] I went freelance. Biggest corporate life was not for me. And things change. We weren’t just covering news, you know, we were doing other stuff. And I wasn’t I wasn’t okay with that. It wasn’t interesting. It was actually really boring and frustrating. So I went the freelance way and I wrote about I can’t believe the things that I’ve written about, you know, feminist articles, cosmetics reviews, lifestyle hack blogs, you know, goals written for so many blogs in the early years before I was kind of discovered by oil price. And I go back into energy and I haven’t stopped since, as you know.
Stuart Turley [00:02:54] [00:02:54]How many years have you been writing for Oil Press? [1.7s]
Irina Slav [00:02:57] Since. 2016. I think I’ll have to check.
Stuart Turley [00:03:05] Okay.
Irina Slav [00:03:06] But it’s been a while.
Stuart Turley [00:03:08] Oh, it is. I’ve. I’ve stopped you. I mean, I’ve followed you for a very long time. And so when we go down here into your article here, bad, bad things are going on for the EU economically. Wealth and growth potential are concentrated in the eurozone only be pointed out and ignored by the forecast makers, this so-called analyst. I do lament the fact that I had to call them so-called. The number of German firms pushed into insolvency rose in the first half of this year at the fastest pace in more than two decades due to the energy crisis, inflation and rising interest rates.
Irina Slav [00:03:57] Was so not funny as do, and nobody could have seen it coming.
Stuart Turley [00:04:03] Oh, we.
Irina Slav [00:04:04] Talked about it for a long.
Stuart Turley [00:04:05] Time. You talked about it when you.
Irina Slav [00:04:08] Talked about it on the Energy Transition podcast as well. Repeatedly, people have been warning, people have been, you know, waving around the fact. But no, we get analysts and, you know, statistical data, revise statistical data. No, it’s going to be fine. No, it’s going to be fine. No, it’s not going to be fine. And now we’re surprised, right? Oh, very, very obvious processes. It was just a matter of time before they unfolded. Mm hmm. So they become impossible to ignore and impossible to hide. And now it’s surprising.
Stuart Turley [00:04:53] You also put it in here. Energy poverty affects citizens across the EU and every country.
Irina Slav [00:05:02] That’s a quote from the European Commission.
Stuart Turley [00:05:05] The UK. Yes. The cost of living crisis means an extra 9.3%. Europeans were unable to heat keep their homes adequately warm compared to 6.9 in 2021. How do we tackle energy poverty where you don’t print money and you put in energy that works?
Irina Slav [00:05:27] Yeah, you don’t bring money that you actually borrow?
Stuart Turley [00:05:31] Oh, yeah. No.
Irina Slav [00:05:34] You don’t raise rates. So much.
Stuart Turley [00:05:39] Didn’t stimulate the economy yet.
Irina Slav [00:05:42] I can’t believe this, but I’m not an economist. So maybe there’s something to be said about rate hikes, but not all of it would be good saying where things are going with the energy transition.
Stuart Turley [00:05:56] Oh, yeah.
Irina Slav [00:05:57] I mean, would you have believed just five years ago that the European Commission could be talking about energy poverty across the European Union? Not in the poor members such as Romania and Bulgaria, where people are traditionally energy poor. Right. About the whole European Union.
Stuart Turley [00:06:17] Stupidity has No. It takes a village to raise an idiot.
Irina Slav [00:06:21] Yes, it does. Add a few more villages to elect this idiot or appoint him or her.
Stuart Turley [00:06:29] Yes.
Irina Slav [00:06:31] Few of these people are actually elected.
Stuart Turley [00:06:34] In only the. Energy trends. Germany will not be hitting its energy transition goals by 2030.
Irina Slav [00:06:44] They just won’t be hitting anything by 2030.
Stuart Turley [00:06:47] No, I read.
Irina Slav [00:06:50] I’m so sorry.
Stuart Turley [00:06:52] I’m getting my passport fixed. Not fixed, but updated. And it it’s like, where do you want to retire? And it seems like number one areas are retiring. Were you know, Bulgaria popped up into that list for conservative values and there’s also Poland was doing quite well until that.
Irina Slav [00:07:18] Much more difficult then Bulgarian to learn so there’s now.
Stuart Turley [00:07:22] Oh well yeah you know but then yeah I’m pretty I Oklahoma Texan so I can barely talk so you know you’re.
Irina Slav [00:07:35] Just fine.
Stuart Turley [00:07:38] And but you know, you sit back and take a look. We will learn. Will we just learn? Germany will continue burning coal until 2038.
Irina Slav [00:07:47] Yeah.
Stuart Turley [00:07:48] Okay. Greta was at the wind farms three or four months ago and was protesting and it was a fake all the police were throwing out. Yeah. Yeah. They shut that wind farm down and then they were protesting it. And then. They they had to fire up that coal plant again.
Irina Slav [00:08:13] Yeah. And they’re expanding a coal mine to, you know, supply the coal plants. Because isn’t it amazing how they’ve realized that local supply of fuel is important?
Stuart Turley [00:08:29] It’s nuts. And. And I can’t believe it. I had a great conversation, Irina, with the secretary general of the African Oil Producers organization, the OPEC of Africa. There’s 18 member countries. He’s cool cat. And I really appreciate his time. And he’s like, We’re done with the West forcing this energy transition down. As I’m like, Yeah, I’m over here going your time.
Irina Slav [00:09:05] Yeah.
Stuart Turley [00:09:06] Yes. And so your article kind of folds into that as well. People are waking up and going, [00:09:13]we can’t be forced on a transition right now. [2.9s]
Irina Slav [00:09:17] Absolutely. Even their own wind and solar developers are not building new installations fast enough because they wouldn’t be profitable. I mean, the the transition interest industries themselves. You know, showing everyone where things are headed and they are flashing red lights. Oh, can’t do this fast enough for your plans and politicians are just ignoring it until it becomes impossible to ignore. You know, that’s that’s the thing I love about the truth. You can suppress it. You can ignore it. But you can’t do this forever.
Stuart Turley [00:10:00] Now. I think we’ve hit the wall. Have you ever seen those crash test dummies where they run a car into a wall? I think the global economic model has now hit it crash test dummy into the wall. And the energy consumers are like they’re they’re all laying on the side of the road. We can’t do any more.
Irina Slav [00:10:26] No, we don’t. And I would only hope that this reassertion of reality and facts will only accelerate, because the sooner I keep repeating this, the sooner this whole narrative, baseless narrative breaks down, the better, because the less damage. Advocates will be able to have done before it breaks down.
Stuart Turley [00:10:52] Right. You know, the. That you have in here, all will be well. And people will be buying EVs and displacing oil demand at staggering rate of 34,000 barrels per 1 million EVs. Bloomberg any ev because of that, they will, Bloomberg points out, if they don’t because EV owners told J.D. Power about 21% of their attempts to charge in public will end in failure due to broken chargers or faulty payment systems.
Irina Slav [00:11:25] That’s one in five attempts.
Stuart Turley [00:11:30] And in in the U.S.. And how is all of the eves are piling up on all the lots? Ford just announced they’re discontinuing the Ford F-150 lightning next year because they’re continuing it.
Irina Slav [00:11:46] Yeah.
Stuart Turley [00:11:47] Well, they’re going to shut down the production for a little while.
Irina Slav [00:11:51] Absolutely.
Stuart Turley [00:11:51] That’s a code for we’re going to shut the whole thing down. You have the GM, you have the worker strike going on and. But the what I’m saying is the people can’t afford the insurance. Insurance companies are the biggest gangsters of the entire world.
Irina Slav [00:12:14] Yeah.
Stuart Turley [00:12:15] And they’re not wanting to injure them again in the EU was paying €1,000 or £1,000 a year for his insurance for his Tesla. And now he’s going to be paying 5000. I read when I’m serious that they just kind of like they decide one day to just kind of blow up and start firing. I can’t afford that as a car owner.
Irina Slav [00:12:46] A few can. That’s what’s. That’s interesting. I didn’t count on the insurance industry, as you know, an ally in the battle between reason and fantasy. But they’re gently they’re doing just that. They’re making EVs even more unaffordable.
Stuart Turley [00:13:06] Exactly. And did you know when the EVs took out those. Those roll on, roll on of ferries. They’ve taken out the several cargo carrying ships. Insurance carriers are not insuring ships that are hauling EVs with their prices.
Irina Slav [00:13:28] One shipping company actually banning electric vehicles from being shipped on on its vessels. I mean, just write this down as an idea about insurance in EVs, because it’s.
Stuart Turley [00:13:40] It’s.
Irina Slav [00:13:42] It’s.
Stuart Turley [00:13:44] I actually brought a point to a podcast that somebody wrote down. Yeah, I can have a great weekend.
Irina Slav [00:13:53] But I can do this every time. I just don’t want to look impolite, you know, because I’m here to talk, not take notes. But yeah.
Stuart Turley [00:14:00] No, I read you. We we know each other well enough. You could even leave the room, and I’ll just keep talking to myself, you know? But this is pretty cool when you sit back and take a look. I think people are waking up and I think that there’s only 1% of the global leaders. And I think there’s going to be some more shaking out of leaders versus what actually is good for people.
Irina Slav [00:14:37] Yeah. So we might see more populists coming into power.
Stuart Turley [00:14:42] I hope so. Yeah. Yeah, It’s going to get interesting. Okay. Tell us how everybody finds your substack and how they find you.
Irina Slav [00:14:52] Well, I think you already said the address irinaslav@substack.com I can’t remember my address.
Stuart Turley [00:15:01] irinaslav@substack.com
Irina Slav [00:15:05] Oh, okay. Thank you.
Stuart Turley [00:15:06] And I’m saying that for our podcast listeners, because our podcast listeners may be driving and then they may want to replay this, but it will be in the show notes. I read it.
Irina Slav [00:15:16] Oh, I can just Google Irina Slav and it will come out.
Stuart Turley [00:15:21] See, now you’re being logical.
Irina Slav [00:15:24] That’s what I would say. That’s what I try to do over there. Biological. Stay logical.
Stuart Turley [00:15:30] Well, I think that’s one of the reasons I just really enjoy stalking you. I mean, following you on on on this stuff.
Irina Slav [00:15:38] Friends of friends don’t Stalk. Friends.
Stuart Turley [00:15:42] Owe me a thank you so much, Irina, for stopping by the Energy News Beat podcast, and I just really appreciate you and your sanity.
Irina Slav [00:15:53] Thank you. Same here.
Stuart Turley [00:15:54] If you’re. If you’re the sane one. Do what?
Irina Slav [00:15:59] We need to stick together, you know, help each other. Sanity.
Stuart Turley [00:16:03] Oh, yes. You’re the sane one, and I’m the insane one.
Irina Slav [00:16:07] So now we’re the same kind of crazy. That’s why we’re friends.
Stuart Turley [00:16:13] I like that.
