TrendMacro conversation with Dr. John Constable on the energy crisis facing Europe

Energy consumption has been declining in Europe for decades. This does not reflect productivity-enhancing efficiencies, but rather the ruinous cost of energy imposed by subsidized transition to so-called sustainable sources, and poorly organized cap-and-trade schemes. By contrast, energy consumption in Asia has been growing rapidly, mostly sourced from fossil fuels. Thus the West has not only systematically switched from competent to incompetent fuels, but delegated strategically critical energy-intensive activities to Asia. At the same time, the remaining fossil fuels used by Europe are delegated to Russia, threatening supply of the only competent energy sources. The Inflation Reduction Act drives the US to imitate over the coming decades all the same mistakes Europe has made over the past decades. Next-generation nuclear, especially low-power site-specific plants, are the most credible future, but these technology-intensive solutions can only come if the US and European economies are economically robust enough to undertake them -- which means pulling out of the downward spiral of falling power consumption first.