Alex Epstein
- Contributor to the Wall Street Journal, Forbes and the Washington Times
- Cutting-edge researcher brings original insights to the energy debate
- Champions the use of fossil fuels by arguing the benefits far outweigh the costs
- Erases the stigma against fossil fuels with concrete facts and a unique perspective
Travels From
California
Do 97% of Climate Scientists Really Agree? | 5 Minute Video
The Moral Case for Fossil Fuels | Alex Epstein | Talks at Google
Alex Epstein Speaker Biography
Alex Epstein is the New York Times best-selling author of The Moral Case for Fossil Fuels and Fossil Future, and an expert on energy and industrial policy. Called the “most original thinker of the year” by political commentator, John McLaughlin, he champions the use of fossil fuels like coal, oil, and natural gas and has changed the way thousands of people think about energy. He has risen to prominence as the nation’s leading free-market energy debater, publicly facing off against 350.org, Greenpeace, and the Sierra Club. He believes that fossil fuels are about maximizing human progress and improving people’s lives, and he challenges many popularly held ideas about energy, industry, and the environment, including the big picture benefits (and costs) of fossil fuels and nuclear power.
Epstein draws on cutting-edge research and original insights to offer an alternate perspective on the energy debate and shares eye-opening thoughts into how fossil fuels and technology will improve the lives of people—safely, cleanly, and effectively—for years to come.
The Moral Case for Fossil Fuels in Global Human Flourishing. In his highly acclaimed and thought-provoking books, Epstein challenges everything you thought you knew about the future of energy. He argues that fossil fuels, despite popular perception, have improved every measure of human well-being, from life expectancy to clean water. Believing that the public only hears one side of the story, he discusses how we are programmed to only concentrate on the risks and side effects of fossil fuels rather than their unique ability to provide cheap, reliable energy to a world of seven billion people, most of who are in developing countries and have no access to alternatives.
An Energy Thought Leader. Epstein has written articles for the Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Investor’s Business Daily, the Washington Times, the San Francisco Chronicle, Detroit Free Press, Houston Chronicle, Chicago Sun-Times, and dozens of other prominent publications. His work has also been featured in Rolling Stone, the Daily Caller, Al Jazeera, Press-Enterprise, National Review, and Oil and Gas Journal, and his views on philosophy, business, and energy have also been featured in 10 books, including Why Businessmen Need Philosophy.
Epstein is the president and founder of the Center for Industrial Progress, a for-profit think tank that aims to “inspire Americans to embrace industrial progress as a cultural ideal.” He also hosts a weekly podcast called, Power Hour, that highlights discussions with the nation’s leading energy thinkers.
The Moral Case for Fossil Fuels
This speech introduces audiences to a new, moral case for fossil fuels. Epstein, a philosopher and energy expert, makes the case that the guiding principle of energy and environmental decisions should be human flourishing—and that if we look at the whole picture, human flourishing requires that we use more fossil fuels not less.
Oil and Gas's Millennial Problem—and How to Solve It
The oil and gas industry has a problem. “The Great Crew Change” brought on by the looming mass retirement of baby boomers and the shortage of workers in their 30s to 50s means that millennials will be a key source of industry talent in the years ahead, and that they will have to take on more responsibility more quickly than workers in the past. At the same time, those millennials have experienced by far the most anti-fossil fuel educational and media system of any generation of Americans, ever.
Drawing on new research and on-the-ground experience influencing hundreds of thousands of millennials, philosopher and energy expert, Alex Epstein, gives the industry a blueprint for educating millennials to becoming proud, persuasive champions of their industry.
Winning Hearts and Minds
In this speech, Epstein, a leading consultant on energy persuasion, discusses why companies have so much difficulty winning the hearts and minds of their stakeholders, including employees—and how reframing the conversation is the fundamental solution.
How to Talk to Anyone About Energy
One common challenge throughout the fossil fuel industry is the challenge that employees have in talking to one’s friends, family, and communities about their work. In this speech Epstein, an innovator in “constructive conversations,” shares three key principles employees can use to effectively communicate what they do to their personal networks, both online and offline.
The Moral Case for GMOs
This speech introduces audiences to the moral case for creating and consuming genetically modified organisms (GMO). Drawing on the principle that the guiding principle for industrial and environmental decisions should be maximizing human flourishing, not minimizing human impact, Epstein illustrates how genetic modification has already added years to our lives. Using intelligent modification and the latest technology, he argues, we can continue to make human life longer, healthier, and happier.
The Moral Case for Nuclear Power
This speech introduces audience to the moral case for nuclear power. Despite being the most proven, scalable form of non-carbon energy, nuclear power is opposed furiously by most opponents of fossil fuels. Why is this? Epstein, a philosopher and energy expert, argues that it is not because of stated concerns about safety (nuclear power has been empirically demonstrated to be the safest form of power ever devised). It is because of our society’s deep technophobia and nature-worship, which regards generating power via radiation as “unnatural” and therefore bad. Arguing that the guiding principle of energy progress should be human flourishing, not preserving nature, Epstein makes the case that with proper policies nuclear power can be the safest, most abundant, most affordable energy ever created.
Energy Heroes
This inspirational talk draws upon Alex Epstein’s work as an oil historian studying the lives and work of the creators of the modern energy industry—the people he calls “Energy Heroes.” It is guaranteed to inspire both new recruits to the industry and seasoned C-level executives.
In “Energy Heroes,” Alex tells the story of how scientists, inventors, engineers and, above all, businessmen transformed black glop into black gold—into the fuel that would power man’s transportation by car, boat, truck, airplane, space shuttle. He focuses on the legacy of the heroic John D. Rockefeller, who set a standard for efficiency and technological innovation that epitomizes the oil industry to this day.
