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YTS.MX

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[Robert] What if I told you
all the things we care about

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can be tied back
to one simple question,

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can you turn your lights on
in the morning?

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[bright music]

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Electricity is all around us,
but we rarely notice it.

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It's something
I think about every day.

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I'm a numbers guy,
when I look at the world

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I see stats and spread sheets.

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My house is filled
with electric stuff.

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I have my personal
fire cooking device,

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a spiffy teapot, a dishwasher,
toaster, an oven

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and the ultimate gadget,
the entirety of the world's

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information, and it fits
in the palm of my hand.

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Nearly everything we touch,
almost everything we read,

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eat or wear, has in one way
or another been electrified.

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When I look at my refrigerator, I see a device

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that uses more
electricity per year

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than roughly
three billion people.

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Having electricity
doesn't guarantee wealth,

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but not having it almost
always means poverty.

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I'm Robert Bryce,
and the way I see it,

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electricity explains the world.

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[bright music]

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[announcer] P.G and E
presents REDDY,

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your tireless household service.

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♪ I wash and dry your clothes

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♪ Play your radios

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♪ I can heat your coffee pot

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♪ I am always there

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♪ With lots of power to spare

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♪ 'Cause I'm Reddy Kilowatt

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Remember,
just plug in, I'm Reddy.

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You know, it's funny
how we take things

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like electricity for granted.

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[Robert] Electricity is
different from every other

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form of energy, because,
for the first time in history,

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we're controlling forces
we can't see or feel.

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Thanks to the electric grid,
we're harnessing the motion

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of zillions upon
zillions of electrons,

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and we can unleash
those electrons whenever

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and wherever we want.

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Hey, wait a minute,
Jim, I need some facts.

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The national academies of
engineering ranked the electric grid

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as the most important
engineering innovation

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of the 20th century.

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[announcer] Not just for a wealthy privileged class,

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but for everyone.

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[Steve] Promotional literature

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from the '30s and the '40s,

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it's all aimed at the woman
of the household.

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"Make your life easier
with an electric washer,

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with an electric stove."

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[Robert] Electricity
has allowed people

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and, in particular,
women and girls,

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to escape the drudgery
of past eras.

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It has liberated them from the
pump, the stove and the washtub.

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Electricity has changed
how we communicate,

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how we travel and where we live.

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Our nation was stirring
with new ideas,

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new wants, new needs.

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[Steve] Modern life
and electricity

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are synonymous with one another.

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Your refrigerator,
your lights, your microwave,

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those are all part of the grid.

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[announcer] To realize
how much our lives

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have changed in just
two generations.

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[Joyashree] It's
amazing innovation.

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To me it's like
a co-creation with nature.

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Naturally, we got the sunlight,

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but rest of the time it is dark,

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but you have co-created,
so you have light 24 hours.

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Life has been on
this planet for about

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four and a half billion years,

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Homo sapiensfor

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maybe half a million years,

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civilization only
began 40,000 years ago,

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humanity advanced
through fire and the wheel

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and levers and building ships,
very, very slowly advancing.

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Give me a lever long enough
and I can move the world.

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[Richard] And there've really
been two major revolutions

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that have increased
the rate of this change.

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First was the industrial
revolution with mechanics,

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only 150 years ago,
human civilization

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went under radical
transformation.

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As grand as that was,
that pales in comparison

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to the rate of change we've seen

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since the emergence
of electricity.

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[Robert] Archaeological
records show that our hominid

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ancestors began using fire
about one million years ago.

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Fire use became common
some 400,000 years ago.

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By contrast, we have
only been putting

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electricity to work
since the 1880s.

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Therefore, if we could
compress the 400,000 years

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that humans have been using
fire into one 24 hour period,

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the electric age would span

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only the last 30 seconds
before midnight.

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[Richard] Now the rate
of change is so fast,

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it is very difficult,
for even those of us

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working within it
are trying to track it

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and trying to plan it,
we are constantly surprised

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by how much
faster change happens

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than we can predict ourselves.

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[Robert] If we're going
to talk about electricity,

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we should probably
start at the beginning.

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To do that, we went to the birth place of the electric age.

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[Robert] We're here
in lower Manhattan.

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It was in this region
where Thomas Edison began

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the electric age with
the first electric grid,

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and within a mile
of where I'm standing

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right here in the battery,

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was also the cradle
of the skyscraper.

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For centuries, humans
have built tall structures

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like the statue of liberty.

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But the electric age
fundamentally changed the city.

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[Reddy] Just plug in, I'm ready.

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[Steve] As the technology
came into being,

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it behaved like every
other technology.

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We had some successful
entrepreneurs,

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they saw a market,
and they started out small.

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Edison, he wanted
a demonstration plant,

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where he's going to supply
electric light

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to anyone who wants it.
And he wanted

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to be near Wall Street,
because he felt he needed

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the bankers on his side.

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[Steve] The first commercial
power plant in the United States,

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the Pearl Street Station
in New York City reached out

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and served a small
number of customers.

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Pearl Street does
not make a profit.

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And Edison saw that if
he were going to be successful,

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you need some way to distribute
this over a large area,

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it's the only way to make it
economical for the common user.

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[Robert] Most of us have
heard names like Edison,

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Tesla and Westinghouse,
they were key pioneers,

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but Frank Sprague changed
the way we use juice.

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Before Sprague, electricity
was used almost exclusively

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for lighting, his innovations
forced electric companies

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to focus on providing power.

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[Joseph] Well, Frank Sprague was
a graduate of the Naval Academy,

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and the Navy had
the first electrical school,

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and when Sprague comes
into the Edison company,

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he immediately starts seeing
places for improvement.

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Edison doesn't see motors
as something that's important.

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Sprague comes up with a motor,
he needed something efficient,

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he needed something compact,

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he needed something
that was economically viable

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and he delivered on all three,
he gets Edison's approval.

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The Pearl Street plant becomes
profitable for the first time,

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and that changes
the future of electric power,

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because the early
companies are all called

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lighting companies, you go
ten years to the future,

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they're all power
and light companies.

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The power customer becomes
the most important customer,

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not the light customer.

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[dramatic swooshing]

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[Robert] In 1894, Frank Sprague
completed the first bank

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of electric elevators inside
the Postal Telegraph building

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at 253 Broadway.

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Powered by Sprague's
compact electric motors,

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those elevators were faster,
cheaper and cleaner

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than ever before.

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[Joseph] Frank Sprague,
because of the project

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that they posed in Telegraph
building at 250 Broadway,

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really casts the mold
for all future skyscrapers,

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large urban buildings or,
as you go in any large building

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anywhere in the world today,
you've got banked elevators,

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but this is sort of a new idea.

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Basically, height is electrical,

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from the time of the caves,
30,000 or 40,000 years ago.

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Humanity was essentially flat.

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Cities, on the one hand,
are old, uh,

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Rome 2,000 years ago
had a million people.

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But, essentially,
cities remained the same

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for hundreds,
thousands of years.

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And then,
electricity came along,

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and suddenly cities
had become three-dimensional.

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The urge to go skyward
that you saw in New York

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through the whole 20th century,
was a manifestation

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of the tremendous amount
of concentrated energy.

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[Jesse] If you look
at the greatest buildings

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of the Middle Ages,
the cathedrals,

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they were small
by modern standards.

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[Carol] In the history
of architecture there were

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symbolic structures
which used height

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in order to signify
their importance,

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their spirituality.

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But New York, a kind of
capital of capitalism

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found in the skyscraper,
a way to exploit the demand

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for central locations
and cities, and the ability

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to use the elevator in order
to go above the normal height

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that people feel comfortable
to walk upstairs,

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which is about five
or six stories.

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[Jesse] The ability
to rise in space,

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even 100 feet or 200 feet,
which doesn't seem like much,

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completely transformed
the structure,

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the geography,
the geometry of cities.

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It made possible,
office buildings

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in which you could
have hundreds,

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thousands of people
working for the same firm.

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[narrator] Hundreds of
relays had transferred

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10,000 electrical impulses
to motivate the cars.

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Once you have a tall building,
if you look down from space,

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you can calculate
the watts per square meter

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that that building consumes.

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The spatial density
of the consumption

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in a city like New York
is extremely high.

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[Robert] And here's the deal,
vertical cities reduce

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the human footprint
on the natural world.

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Small footprints are good.

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Density, whether it involves
energy production,

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food production
or urban living, is green.

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The process of human
progress is also a process

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of environmental progress
in that it's comprised

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centrally,
of energy transitions.

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From energy diffused fuels
to energy dense ones.

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With electricity being the most
important ultimate carrier

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of energy for modern societies.

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Energy is often referred to
as the master resource.

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Electricity is the master
of the master resources.

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Without electricity,
you are effectively going back

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in time to a world
that we have been able

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to innovate away from.

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[Michael] There was a point
when we were relying heavily

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on wooden dung and also horse
and carriages in cities,

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and cities, just after
a while, became unlivable.

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You have to understand
the energy ladder.

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There's a broad pattern for
how people become prosperous,

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but also how we protect
the natural environment.

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[Jesse] Cities from
my point of view,

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00:11:02,618 --> 00:11:04,098
as a green,
as an environmentalist,

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are the salvation of nature.

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It's only by concentrating
a significant portion

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of humanity in livable
attractive cities,

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that we have the chance
to spare the rest of nature

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for the lions and the tigers
and the eagles.

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00:11:18,590 --> 00:11:19,679
[wind blowing]

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[Steve] We know that there are
about 1.2 billion people

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in the world today who have
no access to electricity at all.

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00:11:28,513 --> 00:11:30,777
What's missing in that statistic
is that there are a couple

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of billion more whose access
to electricity is inadequate,

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intermittent, the system
doesn't work all the time.

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[Robert] The defining
inequality in the world today

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is the disparity
between the electricity rich

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and the electricity poor,
what does that mean?

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Let's go back
to my refrigerator.

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00:11:50,187 --> 00:11:54,148
It uses about 1,000 kilowatt
hours of electricity per year.

248
00:11:54,191 --> 00:11:57,194
By my count, there are about
three billion people today

249
00:11:57,238 --> 00:11:58,979
who, on an individual basis,

250
00:11:59,022 --> 00:12:01,590
use less electricity
than my fridge.

251
00:12:02,199 --> 00:12:05,376
[narrator] India, a country
as ancient as it is modern.

252
00:12:05,899 --> 00:12:09,250
Moving as history moves across
the threshold of the past.

253
00:12:09,293 --> 00:12:10,164
[tape rewind]

254
00:12:10,207 --> 00:12:12,470
[upbeat music]

255
00:12:22,829 --> 00:12:25,962
[Robert] About a third
of all Indians live in poverty

256
00:12:26,006 --> 00:12:28,573
and about 300 million
of them, a population

257
00:12:28,617 --> 00:12:31,620
nearly the size of the United
States, don't have access

258
00:12:31,663 --> 00:12:33,143
to any electricity at all.

259
00:12:34,144 --> 00:12:36,756
[upbeat music]

260
00:12:46,548 --> 00:12:48,506
[Robert] When electricity
isn't readily available,

261
00:12:48,550 --> 00:12:50,508
people will do whatever it takes

262
00:12:50,552 --> 00:12:52,989
to get it,
and that includes theft.

263
00:12:53,903 --> 00:12:58,386
People are using wires
to put a hook in the wires

264
00:12:58,429 --> 00:13:01,955
and draw the electricity,
that is un-metered supply.

265
00:13:01,998 --> 00:13:03,434
That is theft.

266
00:13:04,348 --> 00:13:07,308
In central Calcutta,
where hooking has been going on,

267
00:13:07,351 --> 00:13:09,745
T and C losses, technical
and commercial losses.

268
00:13:10,180 --> 00:13:13,836
We have around 11.5%
where the national average

269
00:13:13,880 --> 00:13:16,796
is around 40, 45, 50,
it's as high as that.

270
00:13:16,839 --> 00:13:18,841
[Robert] If I can interrupt you
and have you repeat that,

271
00:13:18,885 --> 00:13:22,671
because these numbers
kind of stagger the mind.

272
00:13:22,714 --> 00:13:26,022
We... our, our loss figures,
T and C losses,

273
00:13:26,066 --> 00:13:27,807
technical and commercial
losses total,

274
00:13:28,285 --> 00:13:32,246
it's around 11.5%,
whereas the national average

275
00:13:32,289 --> 00:13:34,248
is around 40%, 40.

276
00:13:38,208 --> 00:13:40,907
- [Robert] That's a staggering number.
- That's a staggering loss.

277
00:13:40,950 --> 00:13:42,952
[indistinct chattering]

278
00:13:47,304 --> 00:13:49,263
So, if you look above me
here to the right,

279
00:13:49,306 --> 00:13:51,091
there's some hooks
on the electric line

280
00:13:51,134 --> 00:13:52,875
which is, uh, common,

281
00:13:52,919 --> 00:13:54,398
but the locals don't want
to talk about it.

282
00:14:07,890 --> 00:14:10,893
[Robert] It's one of the
conundrums of electricity service,

283
00:14:10,937 --> 00:14:13,113
to make electricity
available to everyone,

284
00:14:13,156 --> 00:14:16,594
it has to be cheap, but it can't be cheap when the system

285
00:14:16,638 --> 00:14:19,467
lacks integrity, whether
it's customers stealing

286
00:14:19,510 --> 00:14:22,818
from the utility or the utility ripping off customers,

287
00:14:22,862 --> 00:14:26,256
integrity is as important
to the grid as engineering.

288
00:14:29,129 --> 00:14:32,088
[Steve] You can have food
and not have a modern life.

289
00:14:32,132 --> 00:14:34,090
There are plenty of people
who don't have electricity

290
00:14:34,134 --> 00:14:38,225
and have food, but whose
standard of living is really

291
00:14:38,268 --> 00:14:40,401
not up to what we would think

292
00:14:40,444 --> 00:14:42,272
of as a modern
standard of living.

293
00:14:42,316 --> 00:14:44,971
[Robert] This is a biomass
stove, this is rice straw,

294
00:14:45,014 --> 00:14:48,931
called paddy, and then they feed
it into the bottom of the...

295
00:14:48,975 --> 00:14:50,367
- Yeah.
- ...the, the pit here and then,

296
00:14:50,411 --> 00:14:51,847
put the pots
on the top so this is

297
00:14:52,456 --> 00:14:54,502
uh, just a traditional
method of cooking.

298
00:14:55,024 --> 00:14:57,940
There's a methodic correlation
found between those people

299
00:14:57,984 --> 00:15:00,856
who are using the conventional
biomass for their cooking

300
00:15:00,900 --> 00:15:03,467
and their health, and what
happens is that cooking is done

301
00:15:03,511 --> 00:15:06,731
by the women, and that
woman actually inhales all

302
00:15:06,775 --> 00:15:08,385
the pollutant during cooking.

303
00:15:08,429 --> 00:15:12,215
Cooking in that environment
for four to five hours

304
00:15:12,259 --> 00:15:14,783
has a serious health impact.

305
00:15:14,826 --> 00:15:17,873
[Robert] Every year in India,
more than one million people

306
00:15:17,917 --> 00:15:20,920
die from indoor air pollution,
the use of biomass

307
00:15:20,963 --> 00:15:23,966
in cooking causes horrifying
damage to human health.

308
00:15:24,010 --> 00:15:25,881
Especially, to that
of women and girls.

309
00:15:25,925 --> 00:15:28,840
University of California,
Berkeley, professor Kirk Smith

310
00:15:28,884 --> 00:15:31,365
estimates the health impact
of cooking with biomass

311
00:15:31,408 --> 00:15:33,889
is akin to burning
400 cigarettes

312
00:15:33,933 --> 00:15:35,847
an hour in your kitchen.

313
00:15:35,891 --> 00:15:38,938
[Priscilla] Women take up
the brunt of domestic work

314
00:15:39,503 --> 00:15:41,331
and in the absence
of electricity,

315
00:15:41,897 --> 00:15:43,943
that domestic work is
more difficult, more time

316
00:15:43,986 --> 00:15:45,509
consuming, less productive,

317
00:15:45,553 --> 00:15:48,164
and it's women and girls
who deal with it.

318
00:15:48,208 --> 00:15:51,124
The mothers are
spending all day long

319
00:15:51,167 --> 00:15:54,257
just doing the basic
household chores.

320
00:15:54,301 --> 00:15:55,824
Women and girls are sort of

321
00:15:55,867 --> 00:15:57,869
the managers
of household energy,

322
00:15:57,913 --> 00:15:59,741
the way they get that
is labor intensive.

323
00:15:59,784 --> 00:16:02,135
Women spend a lot of
time fetching firewood

324
00:16:02,178 --> 00:16:04,572
because there's no energy
for actual light.

325
00:16:04,615 --> 00:16:07,357
It's, you know, collecting
wood, collecting dung.

326
00:16:07,401 --> 00:16:09,664
- [Joyashree] Collecting water.
- You don't have a fridge,

327
00:16:09,707 --> 00:16:10,926
so you have
to cook every evening.

328
00:16:10,970 --> 00:16:13,320
Kitchens are five degrees warmer

329
00:16:13,363 --> 00:16:14,930
when you are cooking there.

330
00:16:14,974 --> 00:16:18,064
Suppose the temperature
outside is 35 degrees,

331
00:16:18,107 --> 00:16:19,979
so your kitchen is 40 degrees.

332
00:16:20,022 --> 00:16:22,024
You need air conditioning.

333
00:16:22,068 --> 00:16:24,896
[Priscilla] Oftentimes people
will talk about energy poverty

334
00:16:24,940 --> 00:16:27,203
in very abstract terms
without thinking about,

335
00:16:27,247 --> 00:16:29,727
"Okay, what do we want
this energy to achieve

336
00:16:29,771 --> 00:16:32,556
"once people have it?" When
you're able to transform the economy

337
00:16:33,035 --> 00:16:36,082
from just being based off
of raw materials,

338
00:16:36,125 --> 00:16:38,040
you put women on the path

339
00:16:38,084 --> 00:16:40,782
to participate
in an economy that is richer,

340
00:16:40,825 --> 00:16:43,393
in an economy that is more
just for women and girls.

341
00:16:45,961 --> 00:16:48,181
[dramatic music]

342
00:16:52,011 --> 00:16:53,795
[upbeat music]

343
00:16:55,710 --> 00:16:57,103
[traffic whooshing]

344
00:17:02,108 --> 00:17:03,674
[birds chirping]

345
00:17:04,849 --> 00:17:06,286
[rooster crowing]

346
00:17:08,940 --> 00:17:13,293
And in India, sun is down
by 6:00, 6:30, max.

347
00:17:13,336 --> 00:17:16,209
In the summer,
your time becomes short

348
00:17:16,252 --> 00:17:19,995
and it's all dark,
you can't see anything.

349
00:17:20,517 --> 00:17:23,085
[Robert] This is an old
style kerosene lamp.

350
00:17:23,129 --> 00:17:28,395
This is the centuries old
now version of what we use,

351
00:17:28,438 --> 00:17:31,441
and we use LED lights,
incandescents, fluorescents,

352
00:17:32,138 --> 00:17:34,705
but in villages like this one,
this is what they use here.

353
00:17:37,447 --> 00:17:40,711
- [thunder rumbling] - [Joyashree]
If you are absorbed in the dark,

354
00:17:41,408 --> 00:17:43,584
darkness absorbs you too,

355
00:17:44,063 --> 00:17:46,108
so you do not see the light

356
00:17:46,152 --> 00:17:48,328
and you cannot bring
the light to others.

357
00:17:48,893 --> 00:17:50,591
[Robert] Electricity
has allowed us to conquer

358
00:17:50,634 --> 00:17:53,072
our oldest foe, darkness.

359
00:17:53,115 --> 00:17:56,292
For millennia, the cost of having well-lit spaces at night

360
00:17:56,336 --> 00:17:59,165
was so high that only
the very rich could afford it.

361
00:17:59,687 --> 00:18:02,298
Those well-lit spaces
matter more than you think.

362
00:18:02,907 --> 00:18:05,127
A few months before our visit,
an elephant invaded

363
00:18:05,171 --> 00:18:07,216
the tiny village of Chargora.

364
00:18:07,260 --> 00:18:10,393
Turns out well-lit spaces
help keep unwanted guests

365
00:18:10,437 --> 00:18:12,961
out of the village, when the lights are out and you live

366
00:18:13,004 --> 00:18:15,137
in rural West Bengal, you risk

367
00:18:15,181 --> 00:18:17,487
getting trampled
by roaming elephants.

368
00:18:18,271 --> 00:18:20,577
Like my friend Joyashree,
I had a moment

369
00:18:20,621 --> 00:18:23,319
in which I finally understood
what darkness means.

370
00:18:23,972 --> 00:18:27,323
In the small agricultural
settlement of Majalesh Pukur,

371
00:18:27,367 --> 00:18:31,414
located southeast of Calcutta,
I met Rehena Jamadar.

372
00:18:31,458 --> 00:18:33,329
So, Rehena, can you tell me
how your life is different

373
00:18:33,808 --> 00:18:35,679
with electricity versus before?

374
00:18:36,637 --> 00:18:39,379
[speaking in Bengali]

375
00:18:39,422 --> 00:18:42,164
She is saying that there
is still much to happen.

376
00:18:42,208 --> 00:18:44,166
- [Robert] Sure.
- But at least some help

377
00:18:44,210 --> 00:18:47,865
is happening, so in the home
they have entertainment system

378
00:18:47,909 --> 00:18:49,606
and they have
the grinding systems,

379
00:18:49,650 --> 00:18:51,391
so things are happening there.

380
00:18:51,434 --> 00:18:53,958
[Robert] But also your
children can read at, at night?

381
00:18:54,002 --> 00:18:55,786
[translating into Bengali]

382
00:18:55,830 --> 00:18:58,485
[Joyashree] The, the girl
goes to college.

383
00:18:58,963 --> 00:19:00,269
[Robert] But, but could
she go to college

384
00:19:00,313 --> 00:19:01,488
when she couldn't read at night?

385
00:19:01,531 --> 00:19:03,011
- No.
- No.

386
00:19:03,446 --> 00:19:04,447
- No.
- Straight answer is no.

387
00:19:04,491 --> 00:19:06,057
If you had electricity

388
00:19:06,101 --> 00:19:07,494
when you were small,

389
00:19:07,537 --> 00:19:09,060
could you have gone
to university?

390
00:19:09,104 --> 00:19:11,585
[translating into Bengali]

391
00:19:14,805 --> 00:19:17,156
Yes, she would have gone.

392
00:19:18,287 --> 00:19:20,637
[Robert] Darkness had kept
this gracious and intelligent

393
00:19:20,681 --> 00:19:22,335
woman from achieving something

394
00:19:22,378 --> 00:19:24,511
that she knew was
within her grasp.

395
00:19:24,554 --> 00:19:27,253
Here was a person who, had she
been born in one of India's

396
00:19:27,296 --> 00:19:30,517
cities instead of Magalesh Pukur, would've gone to college.

397
00:19:31,082 --> 00:19:33,433
With a college education,
she could've been a doctor,

398
00:19:33,476 --> 00:19:35,826
a lawyer or maybe
a nurse or engineer.

399
00:19:35,870 --> 00:19:38,655
By the time I met Rehena,
I knew plenty of facts

400
00:19:38,699 --> 00:19:40,701
and statistics,
the average resident of India

401
00:19:40,744 --> 00:19:44,661
uses about 800 kilowatt hours
of electricity per year,

402
00:19:44,705 --> 00:19:46,881
which is about a quarter
of the global average.

403
00:19:47,360 --> 00:19:50,058
I understood the myriad
correlations between electricity,

404
00:19:50,101 --> 00:19:52,626
availability
and health and wealth.

405
00:19:53,322 --> 00:19:56,238
But that 15 minute conversation with Rehena and Joyashree

406
00:19:56,282 --> 00:19:57,892
made me see the light.

407
00:20:09,120 --> 00:20:10,209
...in Accra,

408
00:20:10,687 --> 00:20:12,515
they used to happen quite often.

409
00:20:12,559 --> 00:20:14,778
[Nader] We grew up in a place
in the mountains and it was

410
00:20:14,822 --> 00:20:17,041
normal to us that
we're going to have

411
00:20:17,085 --> 00:20:19,566
some yellow electricity
and some white electricity.

412
00:20:19,609 --> 00:20:21,132
[Priscilla] And I remember
I was in the first grade,

413
00:20:21,176 --> 00:20:23,134
I was six, and there was
going to be

414
00:20:23,178 --> 00:20:25,093
a pop quiz the next morning.

415
00:20:25,136 --> 00:20:28,052
[Nader] In our house, we used
to have the yellow lights on,

416
00:20:28,096 --> 00:20:29,663
and this indicates
that this electricity

417
00:20:29,706 --> 00:20:31,447
is being supplied by the EDL.

418
00:20:33,101 --> 00:20:36,409
So I go home and I'm studying,
I'm really excited

419
00:20:36,452 --> 00:20:38,672
but also very nervous,
and in the middle

420
00:20:38,715 --> 00:20:40,151
of my study session,
the power goes off.

421
00:20:40,195 --> 00:20:41,544
[light switches off]

422
00:20:42,284 --> 00:20:44,895
And I began crying inconsolably,
because there's no way

423
00:20:44,939 --> 00:20:49,248
I'm going to go finish
memorizing this times table

424
00:20:49,291 --> 00:20:50,684
when there's no power.

425
00:20:51,641 --> 00:20:54,644
And then every six hours
the lights will go off

426
00:20:54,688 --> 00:20:58,431
and then we will turn on the
UPS, so we used to communicate

427
00:20:58,474 --> 00:21:01,303
with my, with my father, tell
him that, "I need to study now

428
00:21:01,347 --> 00:21:04,219
for the school, shall I study
when the yellow lights are on

429
00:21:04,263 --> 00:21:05,873
or when the white
lights are on?"

430
00:21:05,916 --> 00:21:08,049
So the white lights,
we use them using the UPS,

431
00:21:08,092 --> 00:21:09,311
the fluorescent lamp.

432
00:21:09,355 --> 00:21:11,400
[Priscilla] And, uh,
my mother got

433
00:21:11,444 --> 00:21:14,534
a kerosene lantern,
lit it up for me

434
00:21:14,577 --> 00:21:17,972
and sat by me while
I studied my times table,

435
00:21:18,015 --> 00:21:21,454
and I think that was
my first recollection of

436
00:21:21,497 --> 00:21:24,370
just how important
that basic infrastructure is.

437
00:21:24,413 --> 00:21:27,547
So, to us this was normal,
it was like, we lived with it,

438
00:21:27,590 --> 00:21:29,810
that we're going
to be having two different types

439
00:21:29,853 --> 00:21:31,855
of power and sometimes we're
not going to be having power,

440
00:21:31,899 --> 00:21:34,380
this was normal to us,
we didn't know

441
00:21:34,423 --> 00:21:37,557
that, actually,
people get 100% electricity.

442
00:21:38,122 --> 00:21:40,908
You know, we have this classic
image of someone in a poor village

443
00:21:40,951 --> 00:21:43,389
who finally has light,
getting an education.

444
00:21:43,432 --> 00:21:45,216
Let's say there's a,
a solar panel on the roof,

445
00:21:45,260 --> 00:21:47,741
it's brought light,
and in the evening now,

446
00:21:47,784 --> 00:21:49,873
they can s... they can be
safe and they can study.

447
00:21:49,917 --> 00:21:51,571
And then the kid turns 16
and they've got an education.

448
00:21:53,268 --> 00:21:54,269
What are they going to do?

449
00:21:54,704 --> 00:21:56,010
Is our expectation that they...

450
00:21:56,053 --> 00:21:57,707
The extent of their ambition

451
00:21:58,360 --> 00:22:00,667
is to remain a subsistence
farmer with an education?

452
00:22:00,710 --> 00:22:03,278
I don't think so,
they're going to want a job.

453
00:22:03,322 --> 00:22:05,324
They're going to want to do something
clever, become a better farmer,

454
00:22:05,367 --> 00:22:06,847
maybe an agronomic scientist.

455
00:22:06,890 --> 00:22:09,893
When we top out
our energy expectations

456
00:22:09,937 --> 00:22:12,200
for the developing world,
all we're really saying is,

457
00:22:12,243 --> 00:22:15,464
"We expect that
you can have enough energy

458
00:22:16,422 --> 00:22:18,511
to stay poor
in a little more comfort...

459
00:22:19,903 --> 00:22:22,689
maybe, and maybe
to be educated enough

460
00:22:22,732 --> 00:22:24,168
"to know that you are poor."

461
00:22:24,212 --> 00:22:27,128
Incrementalism is good,
but is dangerous

462
00:22:27,171 --> 00:22:30,436
when we view it as the only
paradigm, what makes you think

463
00:22:30,479 --> 00:22:33,787
that an African's need
for power is inferior

464
00:22:33,830 --> 00:22:35,310
to an American's need for power?

465
00:22:36,920 --> 00:22:38,792
[Joyashree] I think
that rest of the world

466
00:22:38,835 --> 00:22:41,055
who is enjoying modernity

467
00:22:41,577 --> 00:22:45,015
and we are not allowing
others to be modern

468
00:22:45,059 --> 00:22:47,322
is a crime, is a major crime.

469
00:22:47,366 --> 00:22:49,890
Mutual respect for the humanity
of people who live

470
00:22:49,933 --> 00:22:52,283
in other continents,
that should guide

471
00:22:52,327 --> 00:22:55,069
global energy
policy discussions.

472
00:22:55,112 --> 00:22:57,071
[Robert] Today, billions
of people are living

473
00:22:57,114 --> 00:22:58,812
in conditions
like those in rural

474
00:22:58,855 --> 00:23:01,205
India and sub-Saharan Africa.

475
00:23:01,249 --> 00:23:04,426
Collectively, those billions
make up the low watt world.

476
00:23:04,470 --> 00:23:06,341
Those with intermittent
or insufficient

477
00:23:06,385 --> 00:23:08,474
access to electricity.

478
00:23:09,126 --> 00:23:13,435
[Priscilla] In 1989, less than
20% of the country had access

479
00:23:13,479 --> 00:23:16,656
to electricity,
it was a military government

480
00:23:16,699 --> 00:23:18,440
that had come in power
through a coup d'etat,

481
00:23:18,962 --> 00:23:22,531
and the government decided
that by the year 2020,

482
00:23:23,010 --> 00:23:25,839
everyone in this country
will have power.

483
00:23:25,882 --> 00:23:28,842
Ghana transitioned
into democratic rule in '92

484
00:23:28,885 --> 00:23:31,627
and every government
that has come since then

485
00:23:31,671 --> 00:23:35,457
has stayed on the promise
of universal electricity access.

486
00:23:35,501 --> 00:23:38,982
So, now in 2017,
access is at 83% in Ghana.

487
00:23:40,723 --> 00:23:43,465
To date, whenever Ghana
is about to have elections,

488
00:23:43,509 --> 00:23:46,337
you see a lot of infrastructure
projects going up and down

489
00:23:46,381 --> 00:23:49,079
all over the country. So, in
this case, democracy has really

490
00:23:49,123 --> 00:23:52,126
been the tool that has propelled
the electrification project.

491
00:23:52,909 --> 00:23:55,651
[Robert] Keeping the electricity
flowing day after day,

492
00:23:55,695 --> 00:23:59,350
year after year, requires
constant infusions of cash

493
00:23:59,394 --> 00:24:02,092
which is then used
to buy fuel, repair wires

494
00:24:02,136 --> 00:24:03,703
and replace poles.

495
00:24:04,094 --> 00:24:06,793
Electricity systems
have to pay for themselves.

496
00:24:06,836 --> 00:24:08,751
If there's any kind
of leakage, like theft

497
00:24:08,795 --> 00:24:11,058
or corruption, the system fails.

498
00:24:13,060 --> 00:24:15,932
[Priscilla] In the year 2050,
most of the world's population

499
00:24:15,976 --> 00:24:18,108
will live in Africa
or will be African.

500
00:24:18,152 --> 00:24:20,676
How are we going
to have a population

501
00:24:21,155 --> 00:24:24,201
of all these bright young
minds, if you're not plugged in?

502
00:24:24,245 --> 00:24:25,942
What is going
to be their function?

503
00:24:25,986 --> 00:24:28,902
It's a huge demographic crisis
staring us in the face.

504
00:24:28,945 --> 00:24:31,774
I think that one of
the first things to do now,

505
00:24:31,818 --> 00:24:35,386
to ensure that by 2050, the
young Africans on the continent

506
00:24:35,430 --> 00:24:38,215
and around the world,
are people who are productive,

507
00:24:38,259 --> 00:24:41,480
self-reliant, empowered,
people who will be free

508
00:24:41,523 --> 00:24:45,484
from poverty, we have to plug
them in now, it begins now.

509
00:24:47,355 --> 00:24:49,488
[Robert] While scores
of low watt countries around

510
00:24:49,531 --> 00:24:51,925
the globe struggle to bring
their people out of the dark

511
00:24:51,968 --> 00:24:54,318
and into the light,
the U.S. enjoys

512
00:24:54,362 --> 00:24:56,843
an almost embarrassment
of riches.

513
00:24:56,886 --> 00:25:00,542
Electricity abounds, so much
so that the high watt world

514
00:25:00,586 --> 00:25:02,675
keeps stumbling into new ways

515
00:25:02,718 --> 00:25:04,851
of using massive
amounts of juice.

516
00:25:05,329 --> 00:25:07,549
[projector whirring]

517
00:25:07,593 --> 00:25:09,725
[soft instrumental music]

518
00:25:35,838 --> 00:25:36,752
[tape rewinding]

519
00:25:40,930 --> 00:25:42,410
[water bubbling]

520
00:25:43,585 --> 00:25:46,414
[light dramatic music]

521
00:25:46,457 --> 00:25:47,981
[plane rumbling]

522
00:25:59,209 --> 00:26:01,081
[people chattering]

523
00:26:08,697 --> 00:26:10,612
[heavy breathing]

524
00:26:17,227 --> 00:26:18,315
Take me back to sea level.

525
00:26:22,058 --> 00:26:24,017
Electricity does, in fact,
explain the world.

526
00:26:24,060 --> 00:26:25,801
That's why I'm here
in Boulder, Colorado.

527
00:26:25,845 --> 00:26:29,239
Arguably, the world capital
of legal weed cultivation

528
00:26:29,283 --> 00:26:32,286
and retailing, within about
five miles of where I'm standing

529
00:26:32,329 --> 00:26:34,505
here in Chautauqua Park,
there are about a dozen

530
00:26:34,549 --> 00:26:37,247
and a half legal weed
dispensaries selling brands

531
00:26:37,291 --> 00:26:40,555
like Purple Haze,
but to produce Purple Haze

532
00:26:40,599 --> 00:26:42,992
and other brands of cannabis
sativa, they are using

533
00:26:43,036 --> 00:26:45,908
lots of electricity, in fact,
marijuana cultivation

534
00:26:45,952 --> 00:26:47,867
is the world's single
most electricity

535
00:26:47,910 --> 00:26:50,696
intensive agricultural business.

536
00:26:50,739 --> 00:26:52,654
All over this town,
entrepreneurs are busy

537
00:26:52,698 --> 00:26:54,700
turning watts into weed.

538
00:26:55,439 --> 00:26:57,093
[light dramatic music]

539
00:27:02,011 --> 00:27:05,667
We're, we're looking for a dispensary.
It's not that hard to find them,

540
00:27:05,711 --> 00:27:08,844
but there are about
20 of them in the city

541
00:27:08,888 --> 00:27:11,238
or at least a dozen and a half
of them, but, you know,

542
00:27:11,281 --> 00:27:13,196
we're bagging dispensaries.

543
00:27:14,676 --> 00:27:18,027
So to speak, uh, all these
buildings, though, have big signs

544
00:27:18,071 --> 00:27:20,551
on them, but the grow operations
don't have any signs

545
00:27:20,595 --> 00:27:22,423
and they usually only
have the street number.

546
00:27:22,466 --> 00:27:25,818
You just look at the exterior
of the building, no signs.

547
00:27:25,861 --> 00:27:28,211
And look at the long
electrical conduit lines

548
00:27:28,255 --> 00:27:30,083
that are on the outside,
look at the size

549
00:27:30,126 --> 00:27:31,519
of the three phase conduit

550
00:27:31,562 --> 00:27:34,174
going into that gray box,
and then how many meters

551
00:27:34,217 --> 00:27:35,828
they've got right behind it.

552
00:27:35,871 --> 00:27:38,526
That's all new conduit on
the outside of the building.

553
00:27:38,569 --> 00:27:40,354
Why else would you need
that much electricity

554
00:27:40,397 --> 00:27:41,703
in such a nondescript warehouse.

555
00:27:41,747 --> 00:27:43,923
Look at this,
this is all brand new.

556
00:27:43,966 --> 00:27:47,230
This is new electrical service,
500 kilovolt amps.

557
00:27:47,274 --> 00:27:49,580
That's a brand new
transformer put in just

558
00:27:49,624 --> 00:27:52,671
for a marijuana grow operation
in this, in this warehouse.

559
00:27:53,454 --> 00:27:55,804
Marijuana growers don't want
people to know they're growing

560
00:27:55,848 --> 00:27:59,199
marijuana, but you know what
to look for, you can find them.

561
00:27:59,242 --> 00:28:01,941
It's certainly keeping
the energy company busy.

562
00:28:01,984 --> 00:28:04,030
Operating transformers,
all sorts of equipment,

563
00:28:04,073 --> 00:28:05,205
upgrades like that
that are needed

564
00:28:05,248 --> 00:28:07,424
for high energy use facilities.

565
00:28:07,468 --> 00:28:09,775
Electricity used
by the cannabis industry

566
00:28:09,818 --> 00:28:12,821
has been increasing sharply
over the past several years.

567
00:28:12,865 --> 00:28:16,085
I believe the average
has been about 34% per year.

568
00:28:16,129 --> 00:28:18,653
[Robert] The electricity
intensity of marijuana cultivation

569
00:28:18,697 --> 00:28:21,525
is 23 times that of a hospital

570
00:28:21,569 --> 00:28:24,790
and about 130 times that
of an average U.S. residence.

571
00:28:25,355 --> 00:28:26,487
That's a lot of juice.

572
00:28:26,922 --> 00:28:28,663
Want to know the real buzz kill?

573
00:28:28,707 --> 00:28:31,492
About half of Colorado's
electricity comes from

574
00:28:31,535 --> 00:28:35,148
coal fired power plants. As
a result, Boulder dispensaries

575
00:28:35,191 --> 00:28:37,324
are required by city
ordinance, to prove

576
00:28:37,367 --> 00:28:39,805
they're growing polar
bear friendly ganja.

577
00:28:40,457 --> 00:28:43,460
Colorado's had a number
of different mandates

578
00:28:43,504 --> 00:28:46,550
and opportunities for using
renewable technologies.

579
00:28:46,594 --> 00:28:48,465
So, for example,
I live in Boulder,

580
00:28:48,509 --> 00:28:50,076
I get my, my electricity

581
00:28:50,119 --> 00:28:53,122
from Xcel Energy,
I can pay a little bit more

582
00:28:53,688 --> 00:28:55,385
to have that energy
come from wind power.

583
00:28:55,908 --> 00:28:58,475
It's important for a lot
of people because of politics

584
00:28:58,519 --> 00:29:00,608
and wealth to be able to feel
like you're doing something

585
00:29:00,651 --> 00:29:03,306
environmental while you're
living like everyone else does.

586
00:29:03,350 --> 00:29:05,613
It has not led to an appreciable

587
00:29:05,656 --> 00:29:07,789
decarbonization
of the Colorado economy.

588
00:29:07,833 --> 00:29:09,965
A lot of the offsetting
provisions,

589
00:29:10,009 --> 00:29:11,662
whether it's for
the cannabis industry,

590
00:29:11,706 --> 00:29:13,926
for individual homeowners,
it's simply accounting.

591
00:29:13,969 --> 00:29:15,710
The number that
really matters is,

592
00:29:15,754 --> 00:29:18,626
where does the energy come from.
And so long as Colorado

593
00:29:18,669 --> 00:29:21,847
gets 85% of its energy
from fossil fuels,

594
00:29:21,890 --> 00:29:25,111
85% of the economic activity in
Colorado is from fossil fuels,

595
00:29:25,154 --> 00:29:26,895
no matter which
we assign to the 15%

596
00:29:26,939 --> 00:29:28,418
and which we assign to the 85%.

597
00:29:29,071 --> 00:29:33,815
[Robert] We're going to a black
market grower in Denver.

598
00:29:33,859 --> 00:29:36,426
He has decided that
it's far easier to operate

599
00:29:36,470 --> 00:29:38,559
in the black market
and more profitable

600
00:29:38,602 --> 00:29:41,344
to do it in the black market
than in the regulated market.

601
00:29:41,388 --> 00:29:42,868
[light dramatic music]

602
00:29:42,911 --> 00:29:44,478
Okay.

603
00:29:45,131 --> 00:29:46,828
[Daniel] My name is Daniel,
I'm currently driving

604
00:29:46,872 --> 00:29:50,179
an Uber and I also
grow marijuana.

605
00:29:50,223 --> 00:29:54,618
I was arrested for growing
marijuana in 2003

606
00:29:54,662 --> 00:29:57,143
and I received a felony
conviction for that.

607
00:29:57,186 --> 00:30:00,320
As a result of that,
I'm not allowed to participate

608
00:30:00,363 --> 00:30:02,278
in the legitimate
marijuana industry.

609
00:30:02,322 --> 00:30:04,106
[Robert] If you were going
to tell me what are

610
00:30:04,150 --> 00:30:05,978
the three key things
you need to know

611
00:30:06,021 --> 00:30:08,458
to set up a clandestine
operation.

612
00:30:08,502 --> 00:30:10,896
[Daniel] You have to have
buyers for your product,

613
00:30:10,939 --> 00:30:13,507
you need to have good
knowledge of botany

614
00:30:13,550 --> 00:30:15,770
and you need to have
a good knowledge

615
00:30:15,814 --> 00:30:17,990
of setting up
an electrical system

616
00:30:18,033 --> 00:30:19,861
that will support
an operation like that.

617
00:30:19,905 --> 00:30:21,994
[Robert] What about stealing
electricity, what about that?

618
00:30:22,037 --> 00:30:23,734
[Daniel] That's something
I would never do

619
00:30:23,778 --> 00:30:25,736
because if you are
caught doing that,

620
00:30:25,780 --> 00:30:27,434
you're probably going
to be in more trouble

621
00:30:27,477 --> 00:30:29,784
for stealing the electricity
than you are going to be

622
00:30:29,828 --> 00:30:31,481
in trouble for growing the weed.

623
00:30:31,525 --> 00:30:35,616
They have ways of detecting
leakage in electricity,

624
00:30:36,051 --> 00:30:39,750
and they do that by scanning
each part of the grid,

625
00:30:39,794 --> 00:30:43,624
periodically. That could bring
down the operation in itself.

626
00:30:43,667 --> 00:30:47,019
[Robert] In 2013,
indoor pot farms in Denver

627
00:30:47,062 --> 00:30:50,587
were consuming about 100
gigawatt hours of electricity.

628
00:30:50,631 --> 00:30:52,894
By 2016, that figure had almost

629
00:30:52,938 --> 00:30:56,158
tripled to about
275 gigawatt hours.

630
00:30:56,202 --> 00:30:58,769
To put that in perspective,
businesses in Denver

631
00:30:58,813 --> 00:31:02,686
are using nearly as much
electricity just to grow weed

632
00:31:02,730 --> 00:31:05,472
as what's consumed by
the entire country of Burundi.

633
00:31:06,168 --> 00:31:09,476
Colorado, which had a 2020
target for renewable energy

634
00:31:09,519 --> 00:31:12,305
and emissions reduction,
now has a 2025 target,

635
00:31:12,348 --> 00:31:15,221
so we've moved our targets
off into the future

636
00:31:15,264 --> 00:31:16,352
because we're not hitting them.

637
00:31:16,396 --> 00:31:17,745
Right now we're working towards

638
00:31:17,788 --> 00:31:20,748
a long-term goal,
a very significant goal

639
00:31:20,791 --> 00:31:23,882
of 80% reduction
in emissions by 2050.

640
00:31:23,925 --> 00:31:27,233
Obviously, if the emissions
from this industry continue

641
00:31:27,276 --> 00:31:31,019
to increase exponentially,
that could have a major impact,

642
00:31:31,063 --> 00:31:33,413
but right now we don't think
that it is going to

643
00:31:33,456 --> 00:31:35,371
cause us to be
derailed from our goal.

644
00:31:36,851 --> 00:31:39,245
[Robert] To be sure, it's
easy to snicker at the amount

645
00:31:39,288 --> 00:31:41,290
of electricity needed
to grow marijuana,

646
00:31:41,856 --> 00:31:44,511
but the fact that people in rich countries are using electricity

647
00:31:44,554 --> 00:31:47,949
to grow cannabis while people
in poor ones are stealing it

648
00:31:47,993 --> 00:31:51,213
solely to survive, provides
a stark reminder of the vast

649
00:31:51,257 --> 00:31:54,086
disparity between the people
who live high watt lives

650
00:31:54,129 --> 00:31:55,652
and those who live
mostly in the dark.

651
00:31:57,480 --> 00:32:00,005
[dramatic music]

652
00:32:04,009 --> 00:32:05,619
[thunder rolling]

653
00:32:07,316 --> 00:32:09,492
[dramatic music]

654
00:32:09,536 --> 00:32:11,233
[wind blowing]

655
00:32:30,383 --> 00:32:32,646
[gentle music]

656
00:33:18,083 --> 00:33:20,520
[upbeat music]

657
00:34:04,781 --> 00:34:06,740
- [man] Keep running.
- [Robert] Keep, keep going...

658
00:34:06,783 --> 00:34:09,221
- So this is, this is normal for...
- Now, now you have the problem

659
00:34:09,264 --> 00:34:10,918
that we have here
in Puerto Rico.

660
00:34:10,961 --> 00:34:12,615
[Robert] So, please,
keep going if you don't mind

661
00:34:12,659 --> 00:34:14,443
because we'll just
ignore the lights

662
00:34:14,487 --> 00:34:15,705
- for now and just keep going.
- [man] Yeah,

663
00:34:15,749 --> 00:34:16,880
let's put the batteries
on the LEDs.

664
00:34:17,446 --> 00:34:18,795
[Robert] We just
had a black out,

665
00:34:18,839 --> 00:34:20,449
this could be for
an hour or two hours,

666
00:34:20,493 --> 00:34:21,668
- could be the rest of the day.
- Yeah,

667
00:34:21,711 --> 00:34:23,452
yeah, probably two hours.

668
00:34:23,496 --> 00:34:24,627
- Two hours.
- Yeah.

669
00:34:26,107 --> 00:34:28,718
[light dramatic music]

670
00:34:54,875 --> 00:34:57,095
[gentle saxophone music]

671
00:35:17,376 --> 00:35:19,639
[cameraman] So, right now
we're stuck in traffic,

672
00:35:19,682 --> 00:35:23,164
and in the middle of
a black out in Puerto Rico.

673
00:35:23,208 --> 00:35:24,992
And, obviously,
the lights aren't working

674
00:35:25,035 --> 00:35:27,125
because the electricity is out.

675
00:35:27,168 --> 00:35:29,910
[Robert chuckles] So, you have
all these cars trying to merge

676
00:35:29,953 --> 00:35:34,262
through the intersection
and it's kind of a, a little

677
00:35:34,306 --> 00:35:36,308
game of chicken
about who's going to stop

678
00:35:36,351 --> 00:35:39,049
and who's going to play,
and right now I'm winning.

679
00:35:39,093 --> 00:35:40,964
[both chuckle]

680
00:35:41,835 --> 00:35:44,054
And here's the good part,
we're heading

681
00:35:44,751 --> 00:35:47,188
right over there
to see the power plant

682
00:35:47,232 --> 00:35:50,017
that is owned by PREPA,
that is not working

683
00:35:50,496 --> 00:35:52,933
because no one
knows exactly why.

684
00:35:52,976 --> 00:35:54,064
[turn signal beeping]

685
00:35:54,108 --> 00:35:55,762
[Robert hums]

686
00:35:56,458 --> 00:35:58,199
- [man] We're going in this way.
- [cameraman] Yeah,

687
00:35:58,243 --> 00:36:00,419
private property, that's...

688
00:36:00,462 --> 00:36:02,464
[man] Hi, we're doing
a documentary on the corruption.

689
00:36:02,508 --> 00:36:04,118
- [cameraman] Well...
- [Robert laughs]

690
00:36:04,162 --> 00:36:05,728
...yeah, you might have heard.

691
00:36:07,774 --> 00:36:09,210
- This is Robert Bryce, people like him a lot.
- [cameraman] Let's not push it.

692
00:36:09,254 --> 00:36:11,125
I'm standing
on the Bay of San Juan.

693
00:36:11,169 --> 00:36:13,171
Puerto Rico now has
the distinction of having

694
00:36:13,214 --> 00:36:15,738
the longest blackout
in American history.

695
00:36:15,782 --> 00:36:20,003
And today, April 18th,
2018, that blackout record

696
00:36:20,047 --> 00:36:23,006
is getting even longer,
in fact, the entire island

697
00:36:23,050 --> 00:36:25,835
of Puerto Rico today,
is in blackout.

698
00:36:25,879 --> 00:36:29,099
And this power plant behind me,
the Palo Seco Power Station,

699
00:36:29,143 --> 00:36:31,798
rated at 600 megawatts,
appears to be producing

700
00:36:31,841 --> 00:36:32,973
no electricity at all.

701
00:36:58,999 --> 00:37:00,783
[rhythmic beating]

702
00:37:00,827 --> 00:37:01,697
[cash machine dinging]

703
00:37:14,362 --> 00:37:17,060
[Mariano] There's still 300,000
people that don't have power.

704
00:37:19,237 --> 00:37:23,023
We are U.S. citizens
and we do deserve to have

705
00:37:23,066 --> 00:37:26,287
the same level of support
that any U.S. citizen

706
00:37:26,331 --> 00:37:28,071
has anywhere in the world.

707
00:37:28,594 --> 00:37:30,552
[light dramatic music]

708
00:37:31,597 --> 00:37:33,729
[car whooshing]

709
00:37:42,042 --> 00:37:44,392
[Miguel] There is no production
without electricity.

710
00:37:44,436 --> 00:37:47,221
I mean, there is
no economic movement

711
00:37:47,265 --> 00:37:49,702
without access to power.

712
00:37:49,745 --> 00:37:52,661
My name is Miguel Colón,
I'm the vice president

713
00:37:52,705 --> 00:37:55,795
of Model Offset Printing,
we do mostly printing

714
00:37:55,838 --> 00:37:59,407
for our manufacturing
industry in Puerto Rico.

715
00:38:00,060 --> 00:38:04,194
The business has been in the
family since the last 30 years.

716
00:38:04,717 --> 00:38:07,937
Right after the hurricane,
it was like a war zone.

717
00:38:07,981 --> 00:38:10,897
Passage through the roads
was difficult

718
00:38:10,940 --> 00:38:13,769
because there was a lot
of trees on the roads.

719
00:38:14,248 --> 00:38:17,295
A lot of power posts
were on the floor.

720
00:38:17,817 --> 00:38:21,951
It was a total devastation,
inside the business

721
00:38:21,995 --> 00:38:25,825
there was a lot of water,
a lot of equipment damaged

722
00:38:25,868 --> 00:38:31,178
by the water, our solar
infrastructure was gone.

723
00:38:31,221 --> 00:38:35,356
It was messy. We were
without electrical power

724
00:38:35,400 --> 00:38:38,664
for about three months,
we are still operating

725
00:38:38,707 --> 00:38:43,277
without AC, in... on the whole
plant. And before the hurricane

726
00:38:43,321 --> 00:38:48,195
we were paying about 30,000
dollars per month on electricity.

727
00:38:48,630 --> 00:38:51,329
I pay more for the electricity
than I do for paper.

728
00:38:53,156 --> 00:38:55,333
[light dramatic music]

729
00:39:01,556 --> 00:39:03,776
[Mariano] I understand time,
I understand we're an island,

730
00:39:03,819 --> 00:39:06,953
I understand it takes time to
get things here, but does it take

731
00:39:06,996 --> 00:39:09,390
seven months,
is there really a plan?

732
00:39:11,000 --> 00:39:12,219
Some people still
don't have water.

733
00:39:28,801 --> 00:39:33,327
I cannot envision or imagine
living without access to power,

734
00:39:33,371 --> 00:39:36,069
it's like water,
it's a necessity.

735
00:40:00,267 --> 00:40:01,964
[chickens clucking]

736
00:40:02,008 --> 00:40:03,705
[gentle music]

737
00:41:03,156 --> 00:41:05,506
[Robert] While visiting with
Iris Ortiz and her family,

738
00:41:05,550 --> 00:41:07,900
she shared a story about
how one of her daughters

739
00:41:07,943 --> 00:41:10,250
wanted to have her hair
done for school pictures.

740
00:41:10,293 --> 00:41:12,078
She was distraught,
how could she use

741
00:41:12,121 --> 00:41:14,036
a hair dryer
without electricity?

742
00:41:14,080 --> 00:41:17,170
How would she iron her
clothes without electricity?

743
00:41:17,213 --> 00:41:20,086
The luxuries we so often take
for granted on the mainland

744
00:41:20,129 --> 00:41:23,263
had disappeared, their world
had been turned upside down.

745
00:41:23,306 --> 00:41:25,352
They were now living
low watt lives

746
00:41:25,395 --> 00:41:27,441
and they're American citizens.

747
00:41:28,268 --> 00:41:29,878
[Mariano] The grid looked
like it was being held up

748
00:41:29,922 --> 00:41:31,010
by clothes pins.

749
00:41:32,315 --> 00:41:33,360
Irma comes in, who was
our sparring partner,

750
00:41:34,666 --> 00:41:36,842
and, obviously, the grid
suffered damage there,

751
00:41:36,885 --> 00:41:38,757
and some of
the resources were used,

752
00:41:39,540 --> 00:41:41,673
and two weeks later
we get the knock-out punch.

753
00:41:41,716 --> 00:41:44,763
So, the clothes pins were
all over the island

754
00:41:45,372 --> 00:41:46,721
and everything just fell apart.

755
00:41:47,200 --> 00:41:50,464
[Miguel] There was a lot
of competition for resources.

756
00:41:50,508 --> 00:41:55,382
FEMA came very quickly,
but it took control of all

757
00:41:55,425 --> 00:42:00,430
the resources, there was no
gas for the whole population.

758
00:42:00,474 --> 00:42:03,172
The gas was for the military
and for FEMA.

759
00:42:03,216 --> 00:42:06,132
Drinking water
supply was reserved

760
00:42:06,175 --> 00:42:08,047
for the military and for FEMA.

761
00:42:32,245 --> 00:42:35,335
[interviewer] How long
do you think New Yorkers

762
00:42:35,378 --> 00:42:37,903
would accept being
without power?

763
00:42:40,209 --> 00:42:45,824
A day, a week, a month before
you would have massive

764
00:42:47,042 --> 00:42:50,219
demonstrations, there's
people here that today

765
00:42:50,263 --> 00:42:51,656
still don't have power.

766
00:42:52,526 --> 00:42:55,398
Seven months after
the hurricane.

767
00:42:57,662 --> 00:42:58,576
It is unacceptable.

768
00:43:01,970 --> 00:43:04,190
[Robert] Two months after
our trip to Puerto Rico,

769
00:43:04,233 --> 00:43:07,280
Iris Ortiz sent me an email,
"One minute ago

770
00:43:07,323 --> 00:43:08,673
we got electricity
to our neighborhood."

771
00:43:08,716 --> 00:43:09,935
She wrote in Spanish:

772
00:43:15,418 --> 00:43:18,204
"Thank you for your prayers,
God bless you very much."

773
00:43:19,248 --> 00:43:21,816
I replied touched that she'd
shared her family story

774
00:43:21,860 --> 00:43:24,819
with someone who was a stranger only two months prior.

775
00:43:24,863 --> 00:43:27,605
[speaking in Spanish]

776
00:43:27,648 --> 00:43:30,782
I wrote, "You're going
back to the modern world."

777
00:43:32,087 --> 00:43:34,002
[airplanes zooming]

778
00:43:43,795 --> 00:43:45,623
[light dramatic music]

779
00:44:58,870 --> 00:45:01,263
[Robert] We're here in Iceland,
at Gullfoss Falls.

780
00:45:01,786 --> 00:45:03,483
As you can see,
this country has enormous

781
00:45:03,526 --> 00:45:05,180
hydro power potential.

782
00:45:05,224 --> 00:45:09,054
About 75% of the electricity
here comes from hydro.

783
00:45:09,097 --> 00:45:12,057
The other 25% comes
from geothermal.

784
00:45:12,100 --> 00:45:14,276
This abundant electricity
is attracting industries

785
00:45:14,320 --> 00:45:16,365
from all over the world
and, in particular,

786
00:45:16,409 --> 00:45:18,628
data centers
and cryptocurrency miners.

787
00:45:20,805 --> 00:45:23,285
[dramatic music]

788
00:45:25,200 --> 00:45:27,550
[traffic whooshing]

789
00:45:32,425 --> 00:45:33,731
[Robert] You know,
the Pirate Party said,

790
00:45:33,774 --> 00:45:35,428
"Just come in,
they'll let you in."

791
00:45:35,471 --> 00:45:37,517
You'll find the security
situation is not anything

792
00:45:37,560 --> 00:45:39,519
- "like what's on Capitol Hill."
- [man] So, this is your left.

793
00:45:39,562 --> 00:45:44,306
From the... [mimics Icelandic]

794
00:45:45,133 --> 00:45:46,482
[Robert] It sure
looks way too small

795
00:45:46,526 --> 00:45:48,006
to be the Parliament House.

796
00:45:48,963 --> 00:45:50,922
[man] There are only
330,000 people in this...

797
00:45:50,965 --> 00:45:53,359
[Robert] No, I got it,
but even still.

798
00:45:54,099 --> 00:45:56,928
More than a third of Iceland's
citizens live in Reykjavik,

799
00:45:56,971 --> 00:45:59,017
the country's
spotless capital city.

800
00:45:59,060 --> 00:46:01,802
It's politically stable
and has been for centuries.

801
00:46:01,846 --> 00:46:04,109
In fact, Iceland's Parliament,
the Althing,

802
00:46:04,152 --> 00:46:06,372
was founded in 930,
making it one

803
00:46:06,415 --> 00:46:08,156
of the world's
oldest parliaments.

804
00:46:08,200 --> 00:46:10,463
Among the newest political
parties in Iceland

805
00:46:10,506 --> 00:46:13,248
is the Pirate Party, which
views itself as something

806
00:46:13,292 --> 00:46:15,207
of a Robin Hood of politics.

807
00:46:15,860 --> 00:46:19,211
[Birgitta] The Pirate Party
was created to make sure that

808
00:46:19,254 --> 00:46:22,562
Iceland would become a safe
haven for freedom of information,

809
00:46:22,605 --> 00:46:24,782
expression and, uh, privacy.

810
00:46:25,391 --> 00:46:27,045
I want transparency.

811
00:46:27,088 --> 00:46:28,873
Taking the power
from the powerful

812
00:46:28,916 --> 00:46:30,700
and giving it to the powerless.

813
00:46:30,744 --> 00:46:33,268
I created the Pirate Party
to make sure that these laws

814
00:46:33,312 --> 00:46:35,140
would be written
and implemented,

815
00:46:35,183 --> 00:46:38,883
and Iceland could resurrect
as a Switzerland of bits.

816
00:46:38,926 --> 00:46:41,320
A digital safe haven
where you could host,

817
00:46:41,363 --> 00:46:43,191
among other things,
all the forbidden

818
00:46:43,235 --> 00:46:44,453
knowledge in our world.

819
00:46:44,976 --> 00:46:47,108
This vision is
responsible for a lot

820
00:46:47,152 --> 00:46:48,849
of the data centers in Iceland.

821
00:46:48,893 --> 00:46:50,895
[dramatic music]

822
00:47:10,349 --> 00:47:11,480
Um.

823
00:47:12,873 --> 00:47:15,658
Electricity and money
are becoming the same thing.

824
00:47:16,181 --> 00:47:18,270
The transfer of money is
the transfer of information.

825
00:47:18,313 --> 00:47:21,882
Money is constantly becoming
more and more electrified.

826
00:47:21,926 --> 00:47:24,102
[Helmut] When you have cheap
electricity available,

827
00:47:24,145 --> 00:47:25,755
you can turn it into money.

828
00:47:25,799 --> 00:47:28,584
That's why we need
stable electricity,

829
00:47:28,628 --> 00:47:30,935
stable power supply,
reliable partners

830
00:47:30,978 --> 00:47:32,458
like we have here in Iceland.

831
00:47:32,501 --> 00:47:34,242
[Gísli] We are seeing
cryptocurrency

832
00:47:34,286 --> 00:47:36,462
disrupt the financial industry,

833
00:47:36,505 --> 00:47:39,378
or at least gaining
a lot of traction.

834
00:47:39,421 --> 00:47:42,685
Banks have, for many years,
been trading currency

835
00:47:42,729 --> 00:47:44,687
only electronically, when you
store your money in the bank,

836
00:47:44,731 --> 00:47:46,646
they don't have a vault with
cash in it, they just have

837
00:47:46,689 --> 00:47:48,474
a digital register themselves.

838
00:47:48,517 --> 00:47:51,520
One of the reasons I became
fascinated with cryptocurrency

839
00:47:51,564 --> 00:47:55,916
was, I heard a story about
migrant workers could move money

840
00:47:55,960 --> 00:47:59,267
back to their families without
Western Union chipping in

841
00:47:59,311 --> 00:48:00,486
a big chunk of that.

842
00:48:00,529 --> 00:48:02,444
I also became fascinated

843
00:48:02,488 --> 00:48:04,620
by it because
I don't want somebody

844
00:48:04,664 --> 00:48:07,232
to have access to every
transaction I make.

845
00:48:07,275 --> 00:48:09,974
I don't care if I make
normal transactions,

846
00:48:10,017 --> 00:48:12,933
I just don't want anybody
to know exactly everything I do.

847
00:48:12,977 --> 00:48:16,806
We have to develop ways
to regain our privacy,

848
00:48:16,850 --> 00:48:20,158
and cryptocurrency is
certainly one way to do that.

849
00:48:20,201 --> 00:48:22,334
[Robert] Iceland has some
of the strictest privacy laws

850
00:48:22,377 --> 00:48:25,772
in the world, and when you consider their views on privacy

851
00:48:25,815 --> 00:48:29,080
along with a cool climate and cheap, abundant electricity,

852
00:48:29,123 --> 00:48:31,691
it makes perfect sense that
Iceland has become a hotbed

853
00:48:31,734 --> 00:48:33,475
of cryptocurrency production.

854
00:48:33,954 --> 00:48:37,218
[Gísli] This is an industry
that relies on high tensity

855
00:48:37,262 --> 00:48:40,004
with their infrastructure that
is consuming a lot of energy.

856
00:48:40,047 --> 00:48:42,484
Here in Iceland we have
free air cooling.

857
00:48:42,528 --> 00:48:47,054
We can rely on the cool
air outside to cool down

858
00:48:47,098 --> 00:48:48,708
the servers in our data centers.

859
00:48:49,143 --> 00:48:51,841
[Helmut] Electricity intensity
will definitely increase

860
00:48:51,885 --> 00:48:55,367
because it takes more hash
power to mine one bitcoin.

861
00:48:55,410 --> 00:48:57,369
The more bitcoins are mined,
more difficult

862
00:48:57,412 --> 00:48:59,240
it gets to mine one bitcoin.

863
00:48:59,719 --> 00:49:02,678
There are studies
and predictions that say that

864
00:49:02,722 --> 00:49:05,464
the bitcoin network
is going to consume

865
00:49:05,507 --> 00:49:08,989
as much power
as Denmark in 2020.

866
00:49:09,033 --> 00:49:12,036
The deployed power
behind that is massive.

867
00:49:12,079 --> 00:49:14,734
[dramatic music]

868
00:49:21,306 --> 00:49:23,482
[Robert] So, you've been your
whole career with HS Orka then?

869
00:49:23,961 --> 00:49:25,571
Not the whole career, no.

870
00:49:26,180 --> 00:49:29,575
I've been here for
around... or with HS Orka

871
00:49:29,618 --> 00:49:31,229
- for almost ten years.
- I see.

872
00:49:32,056 --> 00:49:33,405
[Robert] In terms
of electricity, then,

873
00:49:33,448 --> 00:49:35,885
for all the geothermal

874
00:49:35,929 --> 00:49:38,018
in Iceland, about how
much is produced here?

875
00:49:38,062 --> 00:49:42,544
[Kristín] We are producing,
in total, 175 megabytes.

876
00:49:42,588 --> 00:49:44,851
Iceland has gone from
undeveloped to developed.

877
00:49:44,894 --> 00:49:47,375
I've also been
to Africa, to Ethiopia

878
00:49:47,419 --> 00:49:49,377
where, where they have
very unstable electricity

879
00:49:49,421 --> 00:49:50,552
and you could see it.

880
00:49:51,075 --> 00:49:53,555
Where we were 50 years ago.

881
00:49:54,034 --> 00:49:55,601
[Robert] So it's
really only 50 years

882
00:49:55,644 --> 00:49:57,646
that Iceland's gone
from completely dependent

883
00:49:57,690 --> 00:49:59,692
- on cod and diesel fuel...
- Yeah.

884
00:49:59,735 --> 00:50:02,173
...to one now where your
electricity's all renewable.

885
00:50:02,216 --> 00:50:03,478
- [Kristín] Yeah.
- And you're attracting

886
00:50:03,522 --> 00:50:04,523
industry from
all over the world.

887
00:50:04,566 --> 00:50:05,654
[Kristín] Yeah.

888
00:50:06,133 --> 00:50:07,091
[Robert] It's a simple question,

889
00:50:07,134 --> 00:50:08,092
what does electricity mean?

890
00:50:09,963 --> 00:50:10,877
Technology.

891
00:50:11,312 --> 00:50:12,139
[Robert] Technology?

892
00:50:13,836 --> 00:50:14,837
[Kristín] Innovation

893
00:50:16,013 --> 00:50:18,798
and higher standards
for living people.

894
00:50:19,494 --> 00:50:21,801
[Robert] The evolution
of Iceland's economy was due,

895
00:50:21,844 --> 00:50:24,673
in large part, to its ability
to tap into its natural

896
00:50:24,717 --> 00:50:27,763
resources, like, geothermal
and hydroelectric power.

897
00:50:27,807 --> 00:50:30,636
Just 50 years ago, the country's main export was cod.

898
00:50:30,679 --> 00:50:33,465
Today, Iceland has the world's
highest per capita

899
00:50:33,508 --> 00:50:36,903
electricity consumption,
over 53,000 kilowatt hours

900
00:50:36,946 --> 00:50:38,731
per year. And its main exports

901
00:50:38,774 --> 00:50:40,515
are things made
with electricity.

902
00:50:40,559 --> 00:50:44,302
[Richard] For us to survive,
much less thrive as humanity,

903
00:50:44,345 --> 00:50:49,872
we have got to dramatically
step up the energy availability

904
00:50:49,916 --> 00:50:52,049
and the cleanliness
of that energy.

905
00:50:52,571 --> 00:50:56,314
Wars are fought
over profound disparities

906
00:50:56,357 --> 00:50:59,360
in access to natural resources
and access to information,

907
00:50:59,404 --> 00:51:01,971
and almost all of that goes
back to the availability

908
00:51:02,015 --> 00:51:03,712
of cheap and plentiful
electricity.

909
00:51:04,757 --> 00:51:06,237
[missile launching]

910
00:51:06,280 --> 00:51:08,717
[dramatic music]

911
00:51:12,721 --> 00:51:14,723
[missiles exploding]

912
00:51:17,987 --> 00:51:20,077
[dramatic music]

913
00:51:22,340 --> 00:51:24,385
[fighter jets soaring]

914
00:51:29,303 --> 00:51:30,739
[narrator] Where history began,

915
00:51:30,783 --> 00:51:33,133
history today has made anew.

916
00:51:33,177 --> 00:51:35,788
In lands at once
timeless and changing,

917
00:51:36,441 --> 00:51:40,532
fabled and mysterious, yet
as sharply real as a headline,

918
00:51:40,575 --> 00:51:42,142
the lands of the Middle East.

919
00:51:45,537 --> 00:51:47,626
[dramatic music]

920
00:51:54,589 --> 00:51:56,852
[driver] It's going to take 10
to 15 minutes to be in the hotel.

921
00:51:56,896 --> 00:51:58,506
- [man] Thank you.
- [driver] Oh, very welcome.

922
00:51:59,203 --> 00:52:00,421
Where are you coming from?

923
00:52:00,465 --> 00:52:02,858
- [Robert] Texas.
- [driver] Texas, America.

924
00:52:02,902 --> 00:52:04,686
[all chuckle]

925
00:52:04,730 --> 00:52:08,037
[driver] I'm American, guys,
I'm from Michigan.

926
00:52:08,081 --> 00:52:09,778
- [Robert] No kidding?
- [driver] I swear to God.

927
00:52:09,822 --> 00:52:11,389
[Robert] I've wanted
to come here my whole life.

928
00:52:11,432 --> 00:52:14,261
[stutters] I've heard about
Beirut my whole life.

929
00:52:14,305 --> 00:52:16,350
[driver] Enjoy then, enjoy,
you going to be enjoyed.

930
00:52:16,394 --> 00:52:18,744
[light dramatic music]

931
00:52:31,800 --> 00:52:35,369
For 1975, the state of
electric utility in Lebanon

932
00:52:35,413 --> 00:52:38,024
was so good that they were
selling electricity to Syria.

933
00:52:38,067 --> 00:52:39,591
We didn't have any shortage,
we didn't have

934
00:52:39,634 --> 00:52:41,201
any problem with the quality.

935
00:52:41,245 --> 00:52:43,464
And during the war, things
started deteriorating.

936
00:52:44,857 --> 00:52:47,120
[Robert] Stuck in the world's
toughest neighborhood,

937
00:52:47,164 --> 00:52:50,079
Lebanon was once the crown
jewel of the region.

938
00:52:50,123 --> 00:52:52,212
Its capital, Beirut, was called

939
00:52:52,256 --> 00:52:54,083
the Paris of the Middle East.

940
00:52:54,606 --> 00:52:57,522
But a 15 year civil war coupled with constant skirmishes

941
00:52:57,565 --> 00:52:59,567
with its neighbors,
has left ordinary

942
00:52:59,611 --> 00:53:02,440
Lebanese living low watt lives.

943
00:53:02,483 --> 00:53:05,312
They were bombing roads, they
were bombing, eh, power plants,

944
00:53:05,356 --> 00:53:08,359
so they were trying
to break the infrastructure

945
00:53:08,402 --> 00:53:10,796
of the country,
break the Lebanese economy

946
00:53:10,839 --> 00:53:14,365
to try, to somehow, make Lebanese
give up on their government.

947
00:53:14,408 --> 00:53:17,237
[Robert] Destroying electric
infrastructure is a staple

948
00:53:17,281 --> 00:53:19,935
of modern warfare, the U.S.
military bombed power plants

949
00:53:19,979 --> 00:53:23,156
in North Korea,
in North Vietnam and in Iraq.

950
00:53:23,200 --> 00:53:25,332
Knocking out electricity
supplies is considered

951
00:53:25,376 --> 00:53:28,466
a strategic move, like
destroying bridges or roads.

952
00:53:29,031 --> 00:53:31,773
The Israelis were
in conflict with Hezbollah

953
00:53:31,817 --> 00:53:34,994
and they actually wanted
to penalize the Lebanese people

954
00:53:35,037 --> 00:53:38,519
because Hezbollah was and has
been, and I think will continue

955
00:53:38,563 --> 00:53:40,347
to be, part of
the Lebanese government.

956
00:53:40,391 --> 00:53:42,436
They are represented in the
Parliament, they are represented

957
00:53:42,480 --> 00:53:43,785
in the Cabinet of Ministers.

958
00:53:43,829 --> 00:53:47,485
You have certain
factions in this nation

959
00:53:47,528 --> 00:53:50,836
that do not care about
the progression of the life

960
00:53:50,879 --> 00:53:52,359
of the ordinary
Lebanese citizen.

961
00:53:52,403 --> 00:53:54,231
[Nader] We lost a lot of,
uh, infrastructure

962
00:53:54,753 --> 00:53:56,450
and we haven't recovered yet,

963
00:53:56,494 --> 00:53:58,670
why haven't we recovered?
I think because

964
00:53:58,713 --> 00:54:01,020
we had lack of political will.

965
00:54:01,063 --> 00:54:03,762
The one reason in Lebanon that
we do not have electricity

966
00:54:03,805 --> 00:54:06,808
is corruption, plain and simple.

967
00:54:06,852 --> 00:54:09,637
[Joseph Al Assad] In Lebanon,
you need to schedule life

968
00:54:09,681 --> 00:54:12,161
depending on electricity,
you schedule your shower,

969
00:54:12,205 --> 00:54:15,426
you schedule when your washing
machine, your washing time,

970
00:54:15,469 --> 00:54:17,166
you schedule
everything depending

971
00:54:17,210 --> 00:54:18,777
on electricity
in our daily lives.

972
00:54:18,820 --> 00:54:19,865
[Robert] Do you pay
two electric bills?

973
00:54:19,908 --> 00:54:21,040
As all Lebanese people,

974
00:54:21,083 --> 00:54:22,563
we pay two power electric bills,

975
00:54:22,607 --> 00:54:24,522
we pay one power
electric bill to EDL

976
00:54:24,565 --> 00:54:25,958
and you pay like
the double of that

977
00:54:26,001 --> 00:54:28,221
to the private
generators in general.

978
00:54:28,265 --> 00:54:30,310
Let's be frank of this,
so the average Lebanese,

979
00:54:30,354 --> 00:54:33,052
they need electricity,
they need power, they don't need

980
00:54:33,095 --> 00:54:35,228
to live in the dark,
so they don't care

981
00:54:35,272 --> 00:54:36,708
where this comes from,

982
00:54:37,230 --> 00:54:40,189
we can't live without
electricity for 12 hours a day,

983
00:54:40,233 --> 00:54:43,932
so we have to rely on private
generators or diesel generators,

984
00:54:43,976 --> 00:54:47,066
and we can't all afford it.
So, the idea of having

985
00:54:47,109 --> 00:54:49,416
what we call a neighborhood
generator evolved.

986
00:54:49,460 --> 00:54:51,592
Where every powerful person
in the neighborhood,

987
00:54:52,071 --> 00:54:55,770
will buy a private generator,
produce electricity

988
00:54:55,814 --> 00:54:57,598
and sell electricity
to the neighborhood.

989
00:54:58,077 --> 00:55:00,166
That's we call
the generator mafia.

990
00:55:00,209 --> 00:55:02,951
[Robert] Do you know this
term, the generator mafia?

991
00:55:03,430 --> 00:55:05,302
- 100%.
- [Robert laughs]

992
00:55:05,345 --> 00:55:07,173
- Um, 100%, yeah.
- [Robert] Everybody knows

993
00:55:07,216 --> 00:55:09,697
- about generator mafia?
- Oh, yes, it's the mafia.

994
00:55:10,219 --> 00:55:12,918
They don't want to,
to fix the electrical...

995
00:55:12,961 --> 00:55:14,136
[Robert] They don't want
the grid to work.

996
00:55:14,180 --> 00:55:15,312
Exactly.

997
00:55:15,747 --> 00:55:17,792
Because, you know,
if they do the work

998
00:55:17,836 --> 00:55:20,012
and they give it
to us, 24 hours,

999
00:55:20,055 --> 00:55:21,492
those mafias going to close.

1000
00:55:21,535 --> 00:55:23,015
- Yeah.
- They not going to make money.

1001
00:55:23,058 --> 00:55:24,582
[Salah] And this business is

1002
00:55:24,625 --> 00:55:26,888
a very, it's a very big
business, and it's hundreds

1003
00:55:26,932 --> 00:55:28,890
and hundreds
of billions of dollars.

1004
00:55:28,934 --> 00:55:32,459
I don't think they would be
happy if this business stops.

1005
00:55:32,503 --> 00:55:35,636
Look, I am a positive person,
I don't like to call

1006
00:55:35,680 --> 00:55:38,639
these mafias, I, I would say

1007
00:55:38,683 --> 00:55:42,034
these are companies
or business men

1008
00:55:42,077 --> 00:55:44,645
that were created by necessity.

1009
00:55:44,689 --> 00:55:46,908
If the national utility
was supplying electricity,

1010
00:55:46,952 --> 00:55:49,171
reliably, 24 hours,
this wouldn't have existed.

1011
00:55:49,607 --> 00:55:51,565
I live, my parents live
in a village, and I know,

1012
00:55:51,609 --> 00:55:53,872
without those generators,
life would have been

1013
00:55:53,915 --> 00:55:55,352
much, much more difficult.

1014
00:55:56,135 --> 00:55:58,920
They need the money, they taking
the money from the people

1015
00:55:58,964 --> 00:56:01,488
just to put in his... their,
their pocket, government.

1016
00:56:01,532 --> 00:56:03,185
First, the government.

1017
00:56:03,229 --> 00:56:05,100
I'm talking about
the government in Lebanon.

1018
00:56:05,710 --> 00:56:09,975
The mafia, who's the government,
the mafia, who's the government.

1019
00:56:10,497 --> 00:56:14,936
EDL produces around 20
to 25 cents per kilowatt hour,

1020
00:56:14,980 --> 00:56:17,461
and they are selling it
around 10 to 11 cents,

1021
00:56:17,504 --> 00:56:20,072
so the more they generate,
the more they lose.

1022
00:56:20,594 --> 00:56:23,423
At the time, the private
generators, they generate

1023
00:56:23,467 --> 00:56:26,948
at around 20 cents and
they sell it around 27 cents.

1024
00:56:26,992 --> 00:56:29,342
So, the more they generate,
the more they make profit.

1025
00:56:29,386 --> 00:56:31,605
So, if you look at this
very simple equation,

1026
00:56:31,649 --> 00:56:35,000
you would immediately conclude
that EDL would lose money

1027
00:56:35,043 --> 00:56:37,568
by producing electricity,
whereas the private generators

1028
00:56:37,611 --> 00:56:40,397
would, would make money by
producing electricity so. [Chuckles]

1029
00:56:42,486 --> 00:56:44,401
[Robert] Throughout
our travels in Lebanon,

1030
00:56:44,444 --> 00:56:47,229
I asked people what they thought of the generator mafia.

1031
00:56:47,273 --> 00:56:50,363
The best answer, by far,
came from an advisor

1032
00:56:50,407 --> 00:56:51,799
to the Energy Minister.

1033
00:56:52,583 --> 00:56:54,628
He paused for a moment
and then replied,

1034
00:56:54,672 --> 00:56:58,415
dead serious,
"Well, they're not all mafia."

1035
00:57:07,859 --> 00:57:10,470
We're here in Jounieh,
Lebanon, just north of Beirut.

1036
00:57:11,036 --> 00:57:12,994
My right over here
is the old power plant.

1037
00:57:13,038 --> 00:57:15,910
You can see the big fuel tanks
and the old smoke stacks.

1038
00:57:15,954 --> 00:57:18,826
It's not operating right now,
but if you look over here,

1039
00:57:18,870 --> 00:57:20,872
that's one of
the Turkish power ships.

1040
00:57:20,915 --> 00:57:23,091
Why are they leasing these
power plants from the Turks?

1041
00:57:23,135 --> 00:57:26,138
Because the power grid here
in Lebanon is so fragile,

1042
00:57:26,181 --> 00:57:28,401
they can't meet demand
with the power generation

1043
00:57:28,445 --> 00:57:31,012
stations that they have,
so they're leasing them

1044
00:57:31,056 --> 00:57:34,146
from the Turks. And what happens
if they don't pay the bill?

1045
00:57:34,189 --> 00:57:36,888
The Turks just take the power
ship and sail back to Turkey.

1046
00:57:38,280 --> 00:57:40,282
[light dramatic music]

1047
00:57:44,765 --> 00:57:46,506
My name is Mustafa Baalbaki.

1048
00:57:46,550 --> 00:57:48,943
I'm 30 years old,
software engineer,

1049
00:57:48,987 --> 00:57:50,510
living in Beirut, Lebanon.

1050
00:57:50,554 --> 00:57:52,860
So, the cool feature of my app,
Beirut Electricity,

1051
00:57:52,904 --> 00:57:55,515
is that it provides you
push notifications

1052
00:57:55,559 --> 00:57:57,735
ten minutes ahead of time when
the electricity will be off,

1053
00:57:57,778 --> 00:58:00,477
so that you can maybe
grab that elevator

1054
00:58:00,520 --> 00:58:04,219
or just save your work before
shutting down your computer.

1055
00:58:04,263 --> 00:58:06,918
I'm not fixing the electricity
issue here in Lebanon.

1056
00:58:06,961 --> 00:58:09,790
I'm just trying to help
people to cope with it.

1057
00:58:11,270 --> 00:58:15,143
[Antoine] I returned to Lebanon in
2011 after a long career in energy,

1058
00:58:15,187 --> 00:58:18,495
and I brought with me a coffee
machine that I had purchased

1059
00:58:18,538 --> 00:58:22,281
in Canada, and I love that
machine because I'm used to it.

1060
00:58:22,324 --> 00:58:25,240
It, it, it's fantastic,
it grinds you fresh beans

1061
00:58:25,676 --> 00:58:28,417
at exactly at the time where
it's brewing the coffee.

1062
00:58:28,461 --> 00:58:30,594
And you can program it to
wake you up at seven o'clock

1063
00:58:30,637 --> 00:58:32,770
in the morning. And when
I plugged it in Lebanon,

1064
00:58:32,813 --> 00:58:35,076
it woke me up at ten,
and I realized they had

1065
00:58:35,120 --> 00:58:36,861
the power cut off
three hours the same night.

1066
00:58:36,904 --> 00:58:40,778
My wife that actually
I met in Canada,

1067
00:58:40,821 --> 00:58:43,476
she said, "Look, either you solve
this problem, or I'm going back."

1068
00:58:43,520 --> 00:58:45,173
So, had to fix it.

1069
00:58:45,957 --> 00:58:47,175
[Robert chuckles]

1070
00:58:48,002 --> 00:58:50,135
[dramatic music]

1071
00:58:53,399 --> 00:58:55,096
[traffic whooshing]

1072
00:58:59,448 --> 00:59:01,581
[Robert] Still going backwards.

1073
00:59:02,843 --> 00:59:04,192
Hey, E24, rock on.

1074
00:59:13,245 --> 00:59:16,422
[Antoine] The reason we are in
Lebanon is because it's a great lab.

1075
00:59:16,857 --> 00:59:19,033
The first problem
is environment.

1076
00:59:19,077 --> 00:59:22,428
We are breathing our own fumes.

1077
00:59:22,950 --> 00:59:25,518
The second issue is, I know
households who are paying

1078
00:59:25,562 --> 00:59:27,607
800 dollars for their mortgage

1079
00:59:27,651 --> 00:59:30,958
and another 700 or 800
dollars for electricity.

1080
00:59:31,002 --> 00:59:34,396
It is overall a catastrophe
on both economical

1081
00:59:34,440 --> 00:59:35,876
and environmental aspect.

1082
00:59:36,355 --> 00:59:40,402
The tendency today is for
consumers to buy more iPhones,

1083
00:59:40,446 --> 00:59:44,711
more laptops, more ACs,
more equipment in general.

1084
00:59:44,755 --> 00:59:46,757
All of those
require electricity.

1085
00:59:47,235 --> 00:59:50,021
The infrastructure that
every country on the planet has

1086
00:59:50,064 --> 00:59:52,414
is basically fixed,
and it takes time.

1087
00:59:52,458 --> 00:59:54,939
And the larger the country,
the more time it takes

1088
00:59:54,982 --> 00:59:56,331
to upgrade that infrastructure.

1089
00:59:57,506 --> 00:59:58,769
Micro-grids are the future.

1090
01:00:00,901 --> 01:00:02,860
[Robert] In spite of
Lebanon's many challenges,

1091
01:00:02,903 --> 01:00:06,341
corruption, war and a reliance
on diesel generators

1092
01:00:06,385 --> 01:00:09,997
that are both expensive
and dirty, along came E24.

1093
01:00:11,085 --> 01:00:14,262
Theirs was a two-fold solution, one part solar,

1094
01:00:14,306 --> 01:00:18,571
Lebanon has plenty of sunshine, and the other part, storage.

1095
01:00:18,615 --> 01:00:22,923
At a resort called, Qirzai, E24 is using lead acid batteries

1096
01:00:22,967 --> 01:00:26,666
designed in Bulgaria
and manufactured in India

1097
01:00:26,710 --> 01:00:29,930
to store electricity produced
by panels made in China.

1098
01:00:30,409 --> 01:00:33,325
It's a true micro-grid,
unplugged from EDL

1099
01:00:33,368 --> 01:00:35,806
and beyond the reach
of the generator mafia.

1100
01:00:36,807 --> 01:00:39,374
[Jessica] There's a lot of
different sources of clean energy.

1101
01:00:39,810 --> 01:00:41,812
We need to be
pursuing all of them.

1102
01:00:41,855 --> 01:00:43,683
[Roger] There is an idea that,
wouldn't it be great

1103
01:00:43,727 --> 01:00:45,990
if we could get
the electricity for free?

1104
01:00:46,033 --> 01:00:47,687
Free in terms of its cost,

1105
01:00:47,731 --> 01:00:49,254
free in terms of
its environmental impacts.

1106
01:00:49,297 --> 01:00:51,865
The idea of renewable energy

1107
01:00:51,909 --> 01:00:53,388
meets that need for some people,

1108
01:00:53,432 --> 01:00:54,912
because there's sunshine,
there's wind.

1109
01:00:54,955 --> 01:00:57,436
We don't have to dirty
the world to get that.

1110
01:00:57,479 --> 01:01:00,787
[Jessica] The idea that we can
power the world on 100%

1111
01:01:00,831 --> 01:01:03,964
renewables, particularly wind
and solar, is powerful

1112
01:01:04,008 --> 01:01:07,664
because it's pure and simple,
it's sort of wholesome,

1113
01:01:07,707 --> 01:01:10,754
like your grandma's energy.
People see, you know,

1114
01:01:10,797 --> 01:01:13,539
solar panels on a roof
and that feels good to them.

1115
01:01:13,582 --> 01:01:16,107
We have to focus on
cost, reliability

1116
01:01:16,150 --> 01:01:17,848
and environmental attributes.

1117
01:01:17,891 --> 01:01:22,200
We can't develop a system
for decarbonization

1118
01:01:22,243 --> 01:01:23,941
that doesn't accomplish
those goals.

1119
01:01:24,332 --> 01:01:25,812
[Ben] Why do we care about
climate change? It's not

1120
01:01:25,856 --> 01:01:27,901
because we care
about the number,

1121
01:01:27,945 --> 01:01:31,426
the atmospheric CO2, it's
because we're trying to protect

1122
01:01:31,470 --> 01:01:32,863
ourselves and protect
the world we have around us

1123
01:01:32,906 --> 01:01:34,734
from the impact
of climate change.

1124
01:01:34,778 --> 01:01:37,345
So why in the name of doing that
would you flood a river forest?

1125
01:01:37,389 --> 01:01:39,043
Why would you cover the
landscape with wind turbines?

1126
01:01:39,086 --> 01:01:41,610
Why would you take
sensitive desert area for solar

1127
01:01:41,654 --> 01:01:43,830
if those were the values
that we were seeking to protect

1128
01:01:43,874 --> 01:01:46,006
by the low carbon system,
why would we go and interfere

1129
01:01:46,050 --> 01:01:48,879
with those values in the name
of bringing down carbon?

1130
01:01:49,618 --> 01:01:51,359
[Roger] One of the defining
characteristics of debate

1131
01:01:51,403 --> 01:01:53,361
over energy and climate is,

1132
01:01:53,405 --> 01:01:54,885
it's vitriolic, it's nasty,

1133
01:01:54,928 --> 01:01:56,756
um, people have
very strong views,

1134
01:01:56,800 --> 01:01:58,366
they also have
very strong beliefs

1135
01:01:58,410 --> 01:01:59,977
that their views
are the right ones.

1136
01:02:00,847 --> 01:02:05,156
We want to have broad access
to a wide variety of

1137
01:02:05,199 --> 01:02:08,725
energy sources that meet
the needs of modern life

1138
01:02:08,768 --> 01:02:12,206
for as much of the world's
population as we can achieve,

1139
01:02:12,685 --> 01:02:15,993
cheaply, reliably
and with attention paid

1140
01:02:16,036 --> 01:02:18,386
to the environmental impacts
of producing their power.

1141
01:02:19,518 --> 01:02:22,869
That's the goal, should
renewables be a part of that

1142
01:02:22,913 --> 01:02:25,219
solution, I think
the answer is yes.

1143
01:02:25,829 --> 01:02:27,787
[Priscilla] And then people
start talking about things like,

1144
01:02:27,831 --> 01:02:30,834
"Okay, well, maybe instead
of expanding the grid,

1145
01:02:30,877 --> 01:02:32,357
maybe we should give
people solar lamps."

1146
01:02:32,400 --> 01:02:33,750
No, it doesn't work that way.

1147
01:02:33,793 --> 01:02:36,013
People are not going
to eat solar lamps.

1148
01:02:36,056 --> 01:02:39,364
People are not going to be
transformed by solar lamps.

1149
01:02:39,407 --> 01:02:43,324
[Steve] I think the idea that
we can move the entire economy

1150
01:02:43,368 --> 01:02:45,805
to a set of renewable
energy resources,

1151
01:02:45,849 --> 01:02:48,286
it's really framing
the objective in the wrong way

1152
01:02:48,329 --> 01:02:50,984
because it makes
renewables the objective.

1153
01:02:51,680 --> 01:02:54,074
It turns the means
into the end itself.

1154
01:02:54,683 --> 01:02:58,470
[Ben] By creating this brand, renewable,
which has put in the same basket,

1155
01:02:58,513 --> 01:03:01,908
a massive hydroelectric dam,
a wind turbine

1156
01:03:02,387 --> 01:03:05,172
and a solar PV panel. They're
remarkably different ways

1157
01:03:05,216 --> 01:03:07,784
of getting energy,
each with respective advantages

1158
01:03:07,827 --> 01:03:10,134
and disadvantages. It's
the opposite of what we actually

1159
01:03:10,177 --> 01:03:11,788
want in the system
we're trying to provide.

1160
01:03:11,831 --> 01:03:13,702
We're not trying
to create something chaotic.

1161
01:03:13,746 --> 01:03:16,053
We're trying to create something
stable, predictable,

1162
01:03:16,096 --> 01:03:18,359
that can give people what
they want, when they want it

1163
01:03:18,403 --> 01:03:20,797
at a low cost [chuckles]
every hour of the year.

1164
01:03:21,449 --> 01:03:23,843
Preferably, you wouldn't do that with
something that was driven by the weather.

1165
01:03:23,887 --> 01:03:26,585
[light dramatic music]

1166
01:03:26,628 --> 01:03:28,543
[Michael] If you care about
the natural environment,

1167
01:03:28,587 --> 01:03:30,371
you're not going
to create a power plant

1168
01:03:30,415 --> 01:03:31,851
that requires

1169
01:03:31,895 --> 01:03:33,984
150 times more land,

1170
01:03:34,027 --> 01:03:35,855
per unit of energy,
than a nuclear plant.

1171
01:03:35,899 --> 01:03:40,294
Nuclear power was 50,
60 years ago, thought of as

1172
01:03:40,860 --> 01:03:43,210
our energy future, it was going
to provide energy that was too

1173
01:03:43,254 --> 01:03:46,474
cheap to meter, and that
everyone would have free energy.

1174
01:03:46,518 --> 01:03:49,303
Nuclear power became
perceived as risky,

1175
01:03:49,347 --> 01:03:52,480
and high profile events like Chernobyl
and Fukushima have contributed

1176
01:03:52,524 --> 01:03:54,178
to that public perception.

1177
01:03:54,221 --> 01:03:55,483
[man on TV] May I say something?

1178
01:03:55,527 --> 01:03:56,658
Go ahead.

1179
01:03:58,399 --> 01:04:00,053
The energy in the atom
is the most

1180
01:04:00,097 --> 01:04:02,664
destructive force
the world has ever seen.

1181
01:04:03,448 --> 01:04:05,580
It can also be one
of the greatest blessings.

1182
01:04:05,624 --> 01:04:08,018
God has ever given us,
which is it to be?

1183
01:04:08,496 --> 01:04:10,847
[Robert] When people consider
environmental protection,

1184
01:04:10,890 --> 01:04:13,240
nuclear energy is likely
one of the last things

1185
01:04:13,284 --> 01:04:17,201
to come to mind,
it seems divorced from nature.

1186
01:04:17,244 --> 01:04:18,985
I understand that sentiment.

1187
01:04:19,029 --> 01:04:20,465
The first article
I ever published

1188
01:04:20,508 --> 01:04:22,336
was an anti-nuclear piece.

1189
01:04:22,380 --> 01:04:25,426
I was in high school, and like
many people from that era,

1190
01:04:25,470 --> 01:04:27,820
I associated anything
having to do with nuclear

1191
01:04:27,864 --> 01:04:29,822
with the war effort
and the military.

1192
01:04:29,866 --> 01:04:32,738
Fear of nuclear, and especially,
from environmental

1193
01:04:32,781 --> 01:04:36,133
organizations is really
a long standing tradition.

1194
01:04:36,176 --> 01:04:38,918
Most of these environmental
organizations really came out

1195
01:04:38,962 --> 01:04:42,356
of anti-war organizations,
they benefited a lot

1196
01:04:42,400 --> 01:04:45,925
from conflating nuclear power
with nuclear weapons.

1197
01:04:45,969 --> 01:04:48,667
You know, early nuclear designs
did come out of the military,

1198
01:04:48,710 --> 01:04:50,364
so I think there's
that association for people

1199
01:04:50,408 --> 01:04:53,367
who don't like that big,
military industrial complex.

1200
01:04:54,281 --> 01:04:56,544
[traffic whooshing]

1201
01:04:57,284 --> 01:05:00,200
- So, where we going, Robert?
- [Robert] We're at the Indian Point Energy Center

1202
01:05:00,244 --> 01:05:02,072
in the village of
Buchanan, New York.

1203
01:05:02,724 --> 01:05:06,032
This is the largest nuclear
plant in the state of New York.

1204
01:05:07,033 --> 01:05:09,209
[gentle music]

1205
01:05:22,092 --> 01:05:24,007
[Robert] Today I'm at
the Indian Point Energy Center,

1206
01:05:24,050 --> 01:05:26,531
located about 40 miles
north of New York City.

1207
01:05:26,574 --> 01:05:29,577
This plant has been
operating since 1962

1208
01:05:29,621 --> 01:05:32,929
and today it produces about
25% of all the electricity

1209
01:05:32,972 --> 01:05:34,931
consumed in the city
of New York.

1210
01:05:35,453 --> 01:05:37,716
These two reactors behind me
produce more than 2,000

1211
01:05:37,759 --> 01:05:39,544
megawatts of electricity.

1212
01:05:40,066 --> 01:05:41,807
The amazing thing about
this plant is that is sits on

1213
01:05:41,850 --> 01:05:43,983
about one square
kilometer of land.

1214
01:05:44,984 --> 01:05:47,160
[narrator] As uranium atoms
in the nuclear reactor

1215
01:05:47,204 --> 01:05:50,033
disintegrate, tremendous
amounts of heat are generated.

1216
01:05:50,511 --> 01:05:52,818
When the heat is
transferred to a liquid

1217
01:05:52,861 --> 01:05:54,298
and the liquid
has circulated from

1218
01:05:54,341 --> 01:05:55,952
the reactor to a boiler room,

1219
01:05:55,995 --> 01:05:57,736
it can produce steam.

1220
01:05:58,171 --> 01:06:01,218
Steam drives a generator
to produce electricity.

1221
01:06:01,740 --> 01:06:04,090
[Robert] Getting into
Indian Point wasn't easy.

1222
01:06:04,134 --> 01:06:06,571
We went through multiple
security checkpoints

1223
01:06:06,614 --> 01:06:10,227
and multiple ID checks,
but once inside I was,

1224
01:06:10,270 --> 01:06:13,143
as the Brits like
to say, gobsmacked.

1225
01:06:13,186 --> 01:06:15,972
I've seen oil fields,
coal mines, gas plants,

1226
01:06:16,015 --> 01:06:18,365
hydro plants, refineries
and all kinds of factories,

1227
01:06:18,931 --> 01:06:21,064
but Indian Point was
an engineering marvel.

1228
01:06:21,542 --> 01:06:23,240
A relic from another era.

1229
01:06:24,110 --> 01:06:26,983
Indian Point covers
one square kilometer.

1230
01:06:27,026 --> 01:06:29,768
Replacing its output with
wind energy would require

1231
01:06:29,811 --> 01:06:32,814
covering more than
13 hundred square kilometers

1232
01:06:32,858 --> 01:06:34,860
with wind turbines.
That's one and half

1233
01:06:34,903 --> 01:06:36,340
times the size of New York City.

1234
01:06:37,950 --> 01:06:40,387
This pad will hold
about 75 years' worth

1235
01:06:40,431 --> 01:06:42,041
of nuclear fuel.

1236
01:06:42,085 --> 01:06:43,521
- So, the spent fuel.
- Of spent fuel.

1237
01:06:43,564 --> 01:06:45,958
So, in eight decades
of reactor years,

1238
01:06:46,002 --> 01:06:47,394
- right?
- Right.

1239
01:06:47,438 --> 01:06:48,787
You can fit all of the waste

1240
01:06:48,830 --> 01:06:51,311
from all of that in this area

1241
01:06:51,355 --> 01:06:53,313
which, I don't know,
a couple tennis courts, maybe?

1242
01:06:53,357 --> 01:06:55,054
The likelihood
of somebody coming along

1243
01:06:55,098 --> 01:06:56,490
and carrying
one of these off is...

1244
01:06:56,534 --> 01:06:58,405
It's impossible,
each cast weighs

1245
01:06:58,449 --> 01:07:00,712
about 230,000
pounds when loaded.

1246
01:07:04,020 --> 01:07:05,978
You can see our equipment
that moves it, it moves

1247
01:07:06,022 --> 01:07:09,329
at about one mile an hour, it's,
you know, a tank, basically.

1248
01:07:11,592 --> 01:07:14,204
So, the original plan was
for the federal government

1249
01:07:14,247 --> 01:07:18,034
to come in and take that fuel
off the hands of the utilities,

1250
01:07:18,077 --> 01:07:20,558
and when the utilities realized
that that... that wasn't

1251
01:07:20,601 --> 01:07:23,343
going to happen, they basically
invented dry cast storage,

1252
01:07:23,387 --> 01:07:25,432
so they could safely
store it on site.

1253
01:07:25,476 --> 01:07:27,652
Just really a political
issue about

1254
01:07:27,695 --> 01:07:29,828
what to do with it long-term.

1255
01:07:29,871 --> 01:07:31,656
[Robert] Indian Point is
suffering a fate similar

1256
01:07:31,699 --> 01:07:33,484
to that of many
nuclear facilities

1257
01:07:33,527 --> 01:07:36,965
throughout the U.S.,
premature closure.

1258
01:07:37,009 --> 01:07:40,578
Since 2013, U.S. utilities
have closed or announced

1259
01:07:40,621 --> 01:07:43,624
the closure of
15 nuclear power plants.

1260
01:07:44,234 --> 01:07:46,845
In many cases, those reactors
including the ones

1261
01:07:46,888 --> 01:07:49,891
at Indian Point, could've
obtained license extensions

1262
01:07:49,935 --> 01:07:52,155
that would've allowed them
to continue operating

1263
01:07:52,198 --> 01:07:53,591
for decades into the future.

1264
01:07:54,548 --> 01:07:56,724
[cars whooshing]

1265
01:08:03,862 --> 01:08:06,125
[birds chirping]

1266
01:08:06,169 --> 01:08:08,867
[Theresa] So, we've been known
for many years as the smallest

1267
01:08:08,910 --> 01:08:11,609
municipality with nuclear
power plants in it.

1268
01:08:11,652 --> 01:08:14,090
And there's
generations of people

1269
01:08:14,133 --> 01:08:15,743
who have worked at that plant,

1270
01:08:15,787 --> 01:08:17,397
continue to work at that plant.

1271
01:08:17,876 --> 01:08:20,531
Entergy is the largest
employer here,

1272
01:08:20,574 --> 01:08:22,663
they employ over 1,000 people.

1273
01:08:22,707 --> 01:08:25,623
Our budget in the village
Buchanan is approximately

1274
01:08:25,666 --> 01:08:28,104
six million dollars,
we're looking at losing half

1275
01:08:28,147 --> 01:08:30,323
of our budget
when Entergy closes.

1276
01:08:30,367 --> 01:08:32,934
When you talk about replacing
three million dollars

1277
01:08:32,978 --> 01:08:35,720
and replacing 1,000 jobs,

1278
01:08:35,763 --> 01:08:38,723
that's, that's a pretty
s... steep hill to climb.

1279
01:08:39,767 --> 01:08:41,987
[train whirring]

1280
01:08:43,597 --> 01:08:46,034
[light dramatic music]

1281
01:08:51,475 --> 01:08:53,738
[Jessica] We're seeing a lot of
these nuclear power plants close

1282
01:08:53,781 --> 01:08:56,871
prematurely in the U.S.
and almost everywhere,

1283
01:08:56,915 --> 01:08:59,047
when they closed, they're being
replaced by natural gas.

1284
01:08:59,091 --> 01:09:00,919
That's the first
choice for utilities.

1285
01:09:01,876 --> 01:09:04,140
For Indian Point,
they are planning to replace

1286
01:09:04,183 --> 01:09:06,707
the generation from Indian
Point with natural gas,

1287
01:09:06,751 --> 01:09:10,798
which is a huge loss
for the state of New York,

1288
01:09:10,842 --> 01:09:14,715
because New York has a very
ambitious climate target

1289
01:09:14,759 --> 01:09:18,632
to reduce emissions,
and Indian Point is about 25%

1290
01:09:18,676 --> 01:09:20,373
of the electricity
for New York City.

1291
01:09:20,417 --> 01:09:24,203
So, taking that offline and
replacing it with natural gas,

1292
01:09:24,247 --> 01:09:27,206
that's a big step backwards
if you're concerned

1293
01:09:27,250 --> 01:09:29,252
about climate and trying
to reduce emissions.

1294
01:09:29,295 --> 01:09:32,559
Indian Point is a built system,
there are a lot of assets

1295
01:09:32,603 --> 01:09:35,301
that have already been
invested in Indian Point.

1296
01:09:35,345 --> 01:09:38,957
It's zero carbon emitting,
so if we want to reduce

1297
01:09:39,000 --> 01:09:42,090
carbon emissions in New York
City, then we really don't want

1298
01:09:42,134 --> 01:09:45,529
to be removing a source of power

1299
01:09:45,572 --> 01:09:47,270
when it's not emitting carbon.

1300
01:09:47,313 --> 01:09:50,708
I commend reforming
the energy vision as a vision,

1301
01:09:50,751 --> 01:09:53,624
as an ambitious plan,
Indian Point

1302
01:09:53,667 --> 01:09:55,452
contributes to that vision.

1303
01:09:55,495 --> 01:09:58,368
To me, it just doesn't seem
to really make good

1304
01:09:58,411 --> 01:10:00,544
economic or environmental sense.

1305
01:10:01,240 --> 01:10:03,590
It's a premature
political decision.

1306
01:10:03,634 --> 01:10:06,550
Reducing carbon emissions,
fighting climate change

1307
01:10:06,593 --> 01:10:09,640
is a big challenge, and you
don't want to take anything off

1308
01:10:09,683 --> 01:10:12,338
the table, I think
we're going to need a lot

1309
01:10:12,382 --> 01:10:15,428
more wind and solar, for sure,
but we're also going to need

1310
01:10:15,472 --> 01:10:18,257
a lot more nuclear and a lot
more natural gas to replace coal.

1311
01:10:19,780 --> 01:10:21,652
[Robert] You're either
a climate change denier

1312
01:10:21,695 --> 01:10:24,524
or a believer,
it's drill baby drill

1313
01:10:24,568 --> 01:10:26,613
or save the spotted owl.

1314
01:10:26,657 --> 01:10:29,137
Like most things in life,
especially with something

1315
01:10:29,181 --> 01:10:33,359
as complex as electricity,
it just isn't that simple.

1316
01:10:33,838 --> 01:10:36,797
But here's what we know,
there are over three billion

1317
01:10:36,841 --> 01:10:40,323
people in the world today
without adequate access

1318
01:10:40,366 --> 01:10:43,630
to electricity, in order
to empower the low watt world

1319
01:10:43,674 --> 01:10:45,893
and keep up with the ever
increasing power demand

1320
01:10:45,937 --> 01:10:49,723
from high watt citizens, we're going to need a lot more juice.

1321
01:10:50,202 --> 01:10:52,030
[Robert] What's the iron
law of climate?

1322
01:10:52,073 --> 01:10:55,120
So, the iron law of climate
is based on the idea that...

1323
01:10:55,163 --> 01:10:57,688
There, there's really only two
ways that we can reduce emissions.

1324
01:10:57,731 --> 01:10:59,994
One is we could become poorer,

1325
01:11:00,038 --> 01:11:01,692
the other is that
we can use technology

1326
01:11:01,735 --> 01:11:04,129
through how we source
and use energy.

1327
01:11:04,172 --> 01:11:06,392
The iron law says we're not
going to reduce emissions

1328
01:11:06,436 --> 01:11:08,612
by willingly getting poorer,

1329
01:11:08,655 --> 01:11:10,309
rich people aren't
going to want to get poorer,

1330
01:11:10,353 --> 01:11:12,268
poor people aren't going
to want to get poorer.

1331
01:11:12,311 --> 01:11:15,227
If there's one thing that we can
count on, it's that policy makers

1332
01:11:15,271 --> 01:11:18,578
will be rewarded by populations
if they make people

1333
01:11:18,622 --> 01:11:21,320
wealthier, so GDP is going
to go up, we're doing everything

1334
01:11:21,364 --> 01:11:24,062
we can to try to get richer
as nations, as communities,

1335
01:11:24,105 --> 01:11:27,805
as individuals, so if we want
to reduce emissions,

1336
01:11:27,848 --> 01:11:30,895
we really have only one place
to go, and that's technology.

1337
01:11:32,113 --> 01:11:34,768
[gentle music]

1338
01:11:35,682 --> 01:11:37,467
[Michael] I think the reason
that nuclear is special is that

1339
01:11:37,510 --> 01:11:40,687
it's the only way to lift
everybody out of poverty

1340
01:11:40,731 --> 01:11:42,646
and solve climate change.

1341
01:11:43,168 --> 01:11:45,301
[Ben] People don't appreciate
the quantum of difference.

1342
01:11:45,344 --> 01:11:47,215
We've seen a step up of
energy density in the fields

1343
01:11:47,259 --> 01:11:50,131
that we've used today,
going from wood to charcoal,

1344
01:11:50,175 --> 01:11:54,919
coal, oil, gas... [chuckles]
and then suddenly you step up

1345
01:11:55,398 --> 01:11:59,053
two orders
of a magnitude to uranium.

1346
01:11:59,097 --> 01:12:01,273
[narrator] In a piece of
uranium the size of a walnut,

1347
01:12:01,317 --> 01:12:04,058
there's as much potential
energy as in the amount

1348
01:12:04,102 --> 01:12:06,670
of coal to fill a 100 car train.

1349
01:12:06,713 --> 01:12:08,585
We're not going to get
a better battery than that.

1350
01:12:08,628 --> 01:12:11,370
So, here's the only way
to make electricity production

1351
01:12:11,414 --> 01:12:15,069
that contains all of
its toxic waste, all of it.

1352
01:12:15,592 --> 01:12:17,376
[Ben] I was raised in the
environmental school of thought

1353
01:12:17,420 --> 01:12:19,160
that was telling me
the world was getting worse,

1354
01:12:19,204 --> 01:12:21,554
and then I hit my 30's and
started doing my own research

1355
01:12:21,598 --> 01:12:24,078
and realized, actually, on,
on so many metrics the world

1356
01:12:24,122 --> 01:12:26,472
has got better, we're just
stuck in an energy paradox

1357
01:12:26,516 --> 01:12:29,649
that the energy that's helping
us make the world get better

1358
01:12:29,693 --> 01:12:31,956
has this horrible
side effect, let's get rid

1359
01:12:31,999 --> 01:12:34,350
of the side effect,
let's not get rid of the energy.

1360
01:12:35,176 --> 01:12:38,310
[Michael] This idea that there's
too many people and that we all

1361
01:12:38,354 --> 01:12:42,140
have to reduce our energy
consumption, the only people

1362
01:12:42,183 --> 01:12:43,750
in the world who say
that are rich people.

1363
01:12:43,794 --> 01:12:45,796
I, I go around the world,
I interview small farmers

1364
01:12:45,839 --> 01:12:48,146
everywhere, India, Africa,
Latin America, Asia,

1365
01:12:48,189 --> 01:12:50,017
I've never had a small farmer

1366
01:12:50,061 --> 01:12:52,411
tell me that there's
too many people and that

1367
01:12:52,455 --> 01:12:56,720
we consume too much, never, you
know, um, never had that happen.

1368
01:12:58,069 --> 01:12:59,853
[Robert] Whenever we think
about electricity,

1369
01:12:59,897 --> 01:13:02,421
if we think about it at all,
we tend to think

1370
01:13:02,465 --> 01:13:05,990
of it on our own terms,
as long as we can flip on

1371
01:13:06,033 --> 01:13:08,819
the air conditioner,
charge our phone, watch TV

1372
01:13:08,862 --> 01:13:11,778
and surf the web,
we take it for granted.

1373
01:13:11,822 --> 01:13:15,173
Electricity's just there,
ever present, invisible,

1374
01:13:15,216 --> 01:13:17,480
making our high
watt lives richer.

1375
01:13:18,263 --> 01:13:20,091
That's why we hit the road.

1376
01:13:20,787 --> 01:13:23,486
It's why we traveled over
60,000 miles and interviewed

1377
01:13:23,529 --> 01:13:26,271
more than 50 people
over a three-year period.

1378
01:13:26,793 --> 01:13:29,230
We talked to professors
and authors, engineers

1379
01:13:29,274 --> 01:13:31,798
and activists, and, of course,
to people who grapple

1380
01:13:31,842 --> 01:13:34,453
with electricity poverty
on a daily basis.

1381
01:13:35,149 --> 01:13:36,934
Their answers and observations

1382
01:13:36,977 --> 01:13:38,805
were as varied
as their backgrounds,

1383
01:13:39,545 --> 01:13:43,114
but they could, on occasion,
find common ground.

1384
01:13:43,941 --> 01:13:45,203
[Robert] What does
electricity mean?

1385
01:13:45,246 --> 01:13:47,640
Electricity means prosperity,

1386
01:13:47,684 --> 01:13:50,208
means good life, means business.

1387
01:13:50,251 --> 01:13:52,689
What does electricity mean?
I feel like it means life.

1388
01:13:52,732 --> 01:13:54,865
Electricity means opportunity.

1389
01:13:54,908 --> 01:13:57,345
Electricity is the life
blood of a modern society.

1390
01:13:57,389 --> 01:14:00,653
Modern society
is hooked on electricity.

1391
01:14:00,697 --> 01:14:04,918
If we can't keep our hospitals
open, our ventilators going,

1392
01:14:04,962 --> 01:14:08,487
our refrigeration going,
it all requires electricity.

1393
01:14:08,531 --> 01:14:11,142
Electricity means
you are a human being.

1394
01:14:11,185 --> 01:14:12,926
If you don't have food,
you can't live.

1395
01:14:12,970 --> 01:14:14,275
In a modern world,
if you don't have

1396
01:14:14,319 --> 01:14:16,060
electricity,
you don't have food.

1397
01:14:16,103 --> 01:14:17,627
If you don't have electricity,

1398
01:14:17,670 --> 01:14:19,977
you're cut off
from policy making,

1399
01:14:20,020 --> 01:14:22,545
if you are not plugged in,
how will you know?

1400
01:14:22,588 --> 01:14:25,504
How will you have mobile money,
how will you have a bank account?

1401
01:14:25,548 --> 01:14:28,986
Electricity is like gold to us,
without electricity,

1402
01:14:29,552 --> 01:14:32,293
we're nowhere,
we go backwards, not forward.

1403
01:14:32,337 --> 01:14:34,121
No human should
live on this planet

1404
01:14:34,165 --> 01:14:36,472
without basic access
to electricity.

1405
01:14:36,515 --> 01:14:39,518
I see electricity
as a basic human right.

1406
01:14:39,562 --> 01:14:42,042
I think people
have basic rights,

1407
01:14:42,086 --> 01:14:44,349
rights for water,
rights for necessity.

1408
01:14:44,392 --> 01:14:46,351
It should be
the universal access,

1409
01:14:46,394 --> 01:14:48,962
everybody at the same level,

1410
01:14:49,006 --> 01:14:51,443
imagine how much more we can do?

1411
01:14:51,487 --> 01:14:53,314
You think about
the potential of that.

1412
01:14:53,358 --> 01:14:57,014
When you can marriage dense
fuel, particularly electricity

1413
01:14:57,057 --> 01:15:00,104
with human ingenuity,
we can do nearly anything.

1414
01:15:01,453 --> 01:15:03,542
[Robert] As I drove home,
I thought about the battles

1415
01:15:03,586 --> 01:15:06,197
that are waged in the name
of electricity in the U.S.,

1416
01:15:06,240 --> 01:15:08,329
and couldn't help but compare
them to what I had seen.

1417
01:15:08,982 --> 01:15:11,898
While we bicker about our
favorite electricity sources,

1418
01:15:11,942 --> 01:15:14,205
billions of people are
still stuck in the dark.

1419
01:15:15,119 --> 01:15:17,643
Electricity explains
the world because everywhere

1420
01:15:17,687 --> 01:15:20,864
we went we saw how the electric grid reflected the society

1421
01:15:20,907 --> 01:15:23,997
it was powering. In Reykjavik,
they smelt aluminum

1422
01:15:24,041 --> 01:15:27,000
and mine bitcoin because their
electricity's almost free.

1423
01:15:28,088 --> 01:15:30,308
In Beirut, people
endure daily blackouts

1424
01:15:30,351 --> 01:15:32,223
because the city's
grid has been hobbled

1425
01:15:32,266 --> 01:15:34,573
by endless war and corruption.

1426
01:15:35,052 --> 01:15:37,707
Electricity, or rather,
electricity access,

1427
01:15:37,750 --> 01:15:39,056
pits two of the toughest
challenges

1428
01:15:39,099 --> 01:15:41,275
of our day against each other.

1429
01:15:41,319 --> 01:15:43,582
Energy poverty
versus climate change.

1430
01:15:44,061 --> 01:15:47,238
There is no easy,
one size fits all solution.

1431
01:15:47,281 --> 01:15:49,545
The only certainty is
that people will do whatever

1432
01:15:49,588 --> 01:15:52,635
they have to do to get
the electricity they need.

1433
01:15:52,678 --> 01:15:55,507
The challenge,
it's a daunting one, is this.

1434
01:15:56,203 --> 01:15:58,989
We have to double global
electricity production

1435
01:15:59,032 --> 01:16:01,687
over the next three decades
or so, and we're going to need

1436
01:16:01,731 --> 01:16:05,604
solar, nuclear, coal, gas,
geothermal, wind and hydro,

1437
01:16:05,648 --> 01:16:07,693
all of it, to make that happen.

1438
01:16:08,564 --> 01:16:11,523
[Roger] Governments aren't going
to wait around for academics

1439
01:16:11,567 --> 01:16:14,134
to resolve their disputes,
people around the world

1440
01:16:14,178 --> 01:16:16,397
are going to demand
access to electricity.

1441
01:16:16,441 --> 01:16:18,791
[Steve] Can we, the developed
industrialized world,

1442
01:16:18,835 --> 01:16:20,967
help these countries

1443
01:16:21,011 --> 01:16:24,449
move towards a place
of political stability

1444
01:16:24,971 --> 01:16:28,235
and help them along the road
to electrification?

1445
01:16:28,279 --> 01:16:30,629
[Joyashree] We are spending so
much of time, how do we provide

1446
01:16:30,673 --> 01:16:33,110
sanitation, how do you
provide... just provide

1447
01:16:33,153 --> 01:16:35,329
electricity
and everything will come.

1448
01:16:35,373 --> 01:16:38,942
I think this is a wonderful
opportunity to start fresh.

1449
01:16:38,985 --> 01:16:42,815
To look at new ideas, to
experiment, I want to be totally

1450
01:16:42,859 --> 01:16:45,644
sustainable, I want to be off
the grid, I want to be able

1451
01:16:45,688 --> 01:16:49,735
to take charge of
my future and my business

1452
01:16:49,779 --> 01:16:52,172
and not depend on
a third person.

1453
01:16:52,216 --> 01:16:56,176
It's both an opportunity,
but also an impending challenge,

1454
01:16:56,220 --> 01:16:58,352
and it all goes back
to electricity,

1455
01:16:58,396 --> 01:17:02,182
it shouldn't be an either
or trade off, we can't afford

1456
01:17:02,226 --> 01:17:05,621
to choose electricity
over climate change.

1457
01:17:05,664 --> 01:17:07,187
[Ben] I mean, the moment
we start trying to trade

1458
01:17:07,231 --> 01:17:10,538
these things off,
something has to lose.

1459
01:17:10,582 --> 01:17:12,758
If people have a choice
between either no energy

1460
01:17:12,802 --> 01:17:14,978
and dirty energy, they will
take dirty energy every time.

1461
01:17:15,718 --> 01:17:17,110
[Steve] By mid-century,

1462
01:17:17,154 --> 01:17:19,722
something, like, 75 to 80%
of the world's

1463
01:17:19,765 --> 01:17:23,334
population is going to live in an urban or suburban setting.

1464
01:17:24,465 --> 01:17:28,382
It's going to be populated
by people who really

1465
01:17:28,426 --> 01:17:31,211
don't want to have to think
about their electricity.

1466
01:17:32,125 --> 01:17:34,388
They want to walk in a room,
they want to flip on a light

1467
01:17:34,432 --> 01:17:36,826
and they want the light
to work, just like us.

1468
01:17:37,914 --> 01:17:40,917
[light dramatic music]