Podcast #35: Mark Nelson - Energy and ESG

In today's episode, Marcelo López spoke with Mark Nelson, executive director of the Radiant Energy Fund, a non-profit organization focused on the energy market.

Mark is a nuclear engineer who started his career working with the famous Michael Shellenberger, author of the book “Apocalypse Never” and a great defender of nuclear energy as a source of clean and sustainable energy.

Nelson spoke about ESG investments – these are investments in line with best practices regarding environmental, social and corporate governance aspects. Mark questioned the ESG title that giants in a few sectors, especially technology, claim they hold . Mark explained in detail how energy is a topic of great relevance, but it is not given the proper credit.

Mark also explained the cultural war being waged against nuclear energy and its impacts on the world and told us how to deal with differences of opinion in communication.

When asked how wind and solar power would have supposedly gotten cheaper in recent years, while people who live in regions where there is a lot of availability of these types of energy sources end up paying more for electricity, Mark gave a surprising explanation. He demonstrated that the metric used by the sector is wrong and misleading (LCOE -levelized cost of energy) and gave a fantastic example to substantiate his point.

Mark also spoke about the situation in France, the anti-nuclear youth movement today, its origins and how to deal with the issue. In addition, it addressed an interesting item, the reverse carbon tax.

Nelson also spoke about the German situation and the major problem that nuclear energy will have to face in that country.

Finally, Mark explained, from his point of view, why it is easier to develop nuclear projects and build atomic reactors in Asian countries than in Western countries.