Climate hysterics are going to destroy modern civilization if they get their way.
Tens of millions of people across Spain, Portugal, and France are without power after a massive grid failure took out electricity across the region. At this point it looks like it may take up to a week, potentially more, to get the power back on across the three countries. This grid blackout comes just one week after the Spanish government was gloating about the fact that they had fully transitioned to 100% renewable energy base load.
As we've said for many years in this rag, renewable energy is the least reliable base load energy source that one could have underlying their grid. It is impossible to run a nation's electrical system and purely renewable. Unfortunately, these countries had to find out the hard way. It's a great shame because this outcome was very predictable. In fact, every nation in Europe that has been trying to make the transition to net zero energy mix, heavily reliant on renewables like wind, solar, and hydroelectric, have been warned that the consequences will be dire if they are successful.
We've talked about Germany's idiotic moves over the course of the last two and a half decades many times over the last few years. Decommissioning reliable coal and nuclear power plants in favor of wind and solar facilities only to find themselves completely reliant on natural gas from Russia. That was until Nord Stream 2 was blown up.
For whatever reason, it seems like the Europeans are dead set on destroying their energy sector, which is the most important sector in any economy. Energy is the base from which all modern economies are built. These nations are quite literally suicidal. Human flourishing depends on reliable energy. And the climate hysterics have convinced many in power, predominantly across Europe, that this isn't the case. That economies can run on unreliable sources of energy.
The specific problem that led to the grid failure across Spain, Portugal and France stems from the inherent instability of voltage flows that wind and solar introduce to a grid system at scale. Typical generation facilities that use more reliable base load fuel sources like natural gas, coal, and nuclear use turbines to produce their electricity. The inertia created within the turbines makes it very easy to sync up the voltage as it flows through transmission lines.
This is not the case with wind and solar. The variability of wind and solar generation - they only produce energy when the wind is blowing and the sun is shining, which is inherently unpredictable - creates variability in the way that voltage flows through the transition lines. If there's a disruption in those voltage flows it can trip a section of the grid and create a cascading effect that leads to widespread blackouts.
Jamie McAvity explained this very well last February when he joined me on the TFTC podcast. Here's a clip of Jamie describing these dynamics in the West Texas power markets and how a potential grid failure could arise:
Renewables Sound Great... Until the Lights Go Out
— TFTC (@TFTC21) April 28, 2025
"You could have blackouts with these largely renewable grids... We are voluntarily degrading our standard of energy availability." - @jamesmcavity pic.twitter.com/r3mN6rxRYC
This is all very serious stuff that many people in positions of power across the world have not been taking seriously for decades. It's high time that anyone with more than two brain cells in positions of power stands up and calls out this bullshit. If they don't they forsake their constituents to a life of unmet potential at best and misery at worst.
Luckily for us in America, it seems like the current administration is dead set on reversing the insane energy policies that have been forced on the nation by climate hysterics for the better part of three decades. The Trump administration is spinning up coal plants, cutting red tape on nuclear power plants, and trying to incentivize the build out of more natural gas facilities, all of which we desperately need more of. Renewables, I'll even admit, have a place in the grid. They can be a part of the energy mix. However, this idea that they can be the whole energy mix is completely misguided and suicidal.
My hope as an American is that we accelerate the proliferation of reliable base load energy as quickly as possible and as aggressively as possible. Since the 1970s, we've completely flatlined the Henry Adams curve, which has been at the great detriment of American citizens. Increased energy production equates to increased human flourishing. And our energy production per capita in the United States has been flatlined for 50+ years. It's time to pump the numbers. Spin up all the nuclear power plants. Spin up all the natural gas power plants. Turn the coal plants back on. Shove the climate hysterics into a corner and tell them to shut up. It's time to get back to business.
With that in mind, talk is cheap. And this energy build out is going to be very expensive. Luckily, 16 years ago, a mechanism to monetize energy that is agnostic to location was introduced to the market. Bitcoin can play a key role in expanding the energy production in the United States and globally, for that matter. (I hope Europe comes to their senses and begins expanding their reliable energy infrastructure as well.) Bitcoin miners provide an incredible economic lever that can be pulled by those in the energy sector looking to expand generation. Bitcoin is the buyer of first and last resort for any energy producer.
Imagine a future where we're spinning up small modular reactors, coal plants, natural gas plants, hydroelectric dams. Hell, even wind and solar farms across the country. The owners of these facilities spin them up, start producing electricity, and bitcoin miners consume that electricity behind the grid while the utilities work to build transmission lines and interconnects to be able to deliver that electricity to the grid at some point in the future. Enabling themselves to monetize their assets while they're building the capabilities to deliver those assets to market. Completely eliminating the incredible high time cost of capital that currently exists for projects sitting there waiting for transmission lines to be built out.
It's a beautiful thing. We can have an efficient, abundant energy future. We just need to act. What's happening in Spain, Portugal and France right now is an absolute travesty. It should be looked at as a glaring example that anybody moving in that direction is moving in the wrong direction. They're moving in a suicidal direction. Their actions are inherently anti-human and they need to come to their senses. Let's lead by example here in the United States, not only by expanding our reliable base load energy mix, but by incorporating bitcoin into that expansion process.
The future is bright if you're willing to act and operate from a framework that acknowledges reality. Reliable base load is important. Wind and solar are not reliable. Even if you believe cataclysmic climate change is around the corner, it doesn't change the fact that this is the reality we operate within.
It's time to come to grips with reality. The abundant energy future is here if we're willing to take it. Don't look now, but China is gladly taking it while the West virtue signals about a clean energy future.
In our latest episode with Jim Carucci of Cascador, we explored how Bitcoin enables truly private AI interactions. Jim explained how his "Pull That Up Jamie" service lets users pay via Lightning Network without creating accounts or revealing personal information. Unlike traditional payment systems that require extensive user data, Bitcoin transactions minimize metadata leakage. This creates what Jim calls the "machine-payable web" - a future where autonomous agents can interact privately and efficiently using Bitcoin as the monetary base layer.
"If you pay in Bitcoin, how the hell do I even know who you are? There's no real way for me to trace that." - Jim Carucci
I was particularly impressed by Jim's discussion of integrating Bitcoin with Open Secret's Nitro Enclaves. This combination creates end-to-end encrypted AI computation that even service providers can't decode. This approach could revolutionize fields like healthcare, legal services, and finance, where data privacy is paramount. By eliminating the need for user accounts and personal information, Bitcoin payments create AI systems that enhance rather than compromise our privacy.
Check out the full podcast here for more on open source AI vs. monolithic models, agent-to-agent communication frameworks, and the surprising future of specialized AI models in a decentralized economy.
BlackRock ETF Adds 10,220 Bitcoin in Massive One-Day Buy - via X
Carney Leads Liberals to Victory in Canadian Election - via X
Arizona Bitcoin Reserve Bill Passes House, Awaits Hobbs - via X
China's Deepseek R1 Narrows AI Gap with US in New Tests - via X
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Final thought...
There has never been more opportunity to build a company than there is right now.
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