LAST WEEK TONIGHT
WITH JOHN OLIVER
Welcome to Last Week Tonight.
I'm John Oliver,
thank you so much for joining us,
just time for a quick recap
of the week, which has been busy.
The House finally passed
the big infrastructure bill.
Abba released
it's first album in forty years,
so you know your parents
are f*cking tonight,
and the Democrats had
a rough time in Tuesday's elections.
They lost the Governor's race
in Virginia
and nearly lost
the governorship of New Jersey.
The clearest sign of how much
voters have turned on them was this:
The truck driver
with no prior political experience
has defeated one of the most powerful
democrats in New Jersey.
He is republican Edward Durr and
he has won the district 3 Senate seat
over incumbent Steve Sweeney,
the State Senate president.
Hold on. I know there is
a lot to process there:
from a surprise upset by a man
with no political experience,
to someone being called one of most
powerful democrats in New Jersey
while looking like Daddy Dinosaur
from "Dinosaurs".
What I didn't need to be told
is that the name of his vanquisher,
this man, is "Ed Durr".
Because when you look like this,
the "Ed Durr" is very much assumed.
I see this image
and I immediately know three things:
he's a middle-aged white guy,
his style icon is Larry King
and his name is, unavoidably,
Ed Durr.
This was a huge upset,
and if you're thinking:
"Maybe Ed Durr
simply captivated people"
"with his unique and powerful
vision for New Jersey",
good luck landing that argument.
Ed, what's the first thing you're going
to do when you get in Trenton?
I really don't know.
That's the key factor.
I don't know what I don't know,
so I will learn what I need to know.
Come on, Ed Durr. You could have
answered "lick every door handle"
or "get to the bottom
of this Epstein thing"
or you could have just said
"Durr."
Any of which would have been
better than "I don't know."
What's he wearing? Black on red?
He looks like he's auditioning
to be the newest member
of My Chemical Romance.
The only time that color combination
is remotely acceptable
is if you're a middle school boy
who wants his classmates to know
that he is gonna buy a g*n
as soon as he's old enough.
It's not just Durr's lack of experience
that's troubling.
He's compared Covid-19 mandates
to the Holocaust.
Tweeted that the prophet Muhammad
was a pedophile
and Islam is a false religion.
All of which makes me less concerned
about the things Ed Durr doesn't know
and way more concerned
about the things he thinks he does.
Meanwhile, President Biden traveled
to the COP-26 climate summit,
where world leaders met to tackle
the most urgent issue of our time
and Biden didn't get off
to a great start.
President Biden is at the U.N.
climate summit in Scotland today
and during today's opening session,
he appeared to fall asleep there.
This conference is one of the most
important meetings in history.
Yeah, that's not ideal.
"This conference is one of the most
important meetings in history"
is one of the worst things
someone can say as you nod off,
right up there with
"You may now kiss the bride"
or "In one mile, exit highway"
or "Welcome to Last Week Tonight,
I'm John Oliver".
The conference was full of reminders,
big and small,
of just how serious this situation is,
from the massive protests outside,
to some of the displays within.
For example,
the tiny island nation of Tuvalu,
which may soon be flooded out of
existence thanks to climate change,
installed this exhibit, depicting
polar bears in life vests
and a penguin in a noose.
Which is a striking image,
and either suggests Tuvalu's plight,
or a tragic situation where a group
of polar bears committed a crime
so heinous, they had to k*ll the only
witness, an innocent penguin,
and make it look like a su1c1de before
popping on their getaway life vests
and escaping to start new,
happier lives.
But the main attraction
was clearly the world leaders,
many of whom made big promises,
like cutting back
on coal and methane emissions
and committing
to ending deforestation.
Cumulatively, those promises
could have some effect.
The International Energy Agency says
if all the pledges from COP26 are
fulfilled as promised and on schedule,
global warming can be
limited to 1.8 degrees.
Yeah, 1.8 degrees.
Which sounds okay,
until you remember
the scientific consensus
is that the rise needs
to be limited to 1.5 degrees
and beyond that threshold,
there is a far greater likelihood
of devastating consequences...
And it gets worse, because
that already insufficient target
is predicated on every single country
living up to its pledges,
which seems very unlikely,
because their track record isn't great.
At the COP15 conference
twelve years ago,
rich nations promised to channel
to less wealthy nations by 2020,
to help them adapt to climate change.
But they're nowhere close to that.
There are things it's okay to take
a decade on and not deliver,
the "Avatar" sequels,
for instance.
Take your time, James Cameron,
no one gives a sh*t.
I'll give anyone in this audience
a thousand dollars
if they remember either
of these characters' names.
Exactly!
Aid to fight climate change, though,
is something people actually need.
Truth is, while world leaders may be
loudly patting themselves on the back
for pledging a better future
this week,
the last decade of broken promises
should serve as a warning
that we have to keep pushing them,
because this next decade is "it".
Everything on the line, your life,
mine, those sadistic polar bears...
And we all need to take an active role
in waking world leaders up,
figuratively and sadly,
in one case, literally.
And now, this.
And now: people on TV
saying things wrong.
Dr. Rodriguez
is a board certified internist and...
A virolist... Am I saying that...
A virologist!
You can now listen to Taylor Swift's
new album, it's titled "Folklore"...
Can you help me out?
Fok... Am I saying that incorrectly?
You are looking live, right here,
at Cape...
Canaveral? Am I saying that right?
A rocket is set to take off...
He's always been chivalrous...
- Am I saying that right?
- It was right.
Steve Deely, the director
of Workers for Opportunity,
at the Maknak Center...
- Am I saying that right?
- Macanaw, but thans for having me.
Trending this morning,
a work of art by Bansky...
- Am I saying it right?
- Banksy.
- Banksky?
- Have you not heard of Banksy?
- Yeah, he painted that thing...
- It's the rogue, kind of street...
On the walls and stuff...
Okay, Banky...
- Banksy!
- ... at an auction in London.
- Banky?
- Whatever.
Moving on. Our main story
tonight concerns electricity.
It's like Oscar Isaac,
in that without its involvement,
nothing in my house
gets turned on.
Electricity is such an integral part
of modern life, it's hard to believe
that we used to have to sell people
on the idea of electric appliances
with ads like this.
When you step inside
the total electric home,
you step into
an entirely new concept in living
organized around electric centers
such as this entertainment center.
The pride and joy
of the man of the house
is the weather control center,
a center that puts you in charge
of the electric heating
and air conditioning
and the electronic air filtering
of the entire house.
Yes, the pride and joy
of the man of the house is,
of course,
the temperature control system.
Invite all your thermo-bros over
on a Sunday, cr*ck open a few brews
and watch
the temperature for hours.
Sorry, ladies, you wouldn't understand.
It's a guy thing.
Specifically, we're going
to talk about the power grid,
the system of generators
that produce electricity
and the vast latticework of wires
that get it to our homes.
The grid is something you probably
don't think about until it goes down,
which has been happening
more and more in recent years.
Millions of texans woke up to cold
homes when the power grid failed.
This video shows lights going out
as parts of the power grid failed.
That power grid failed yesterday
when Hurricane Ida
ravaged parts of Louisiana.
The lights went out
across downtown Detroit,
cutting power to 1400 buildings.
Watch as the lights go out
during a m*rder trial,
these lawyers left in the dark.
Holy sh*t! When the lights
go out during a m*rder trial,
one of two things is happening:
you've either got a power grid
deeply in need of repair
or the m*rder victim has come back
as a ghost, and is seeking revenge.
Either way,
your priorities have shifted
and it's time to focus
on a much bigger problem.
If it feels like there've been more
outages than usual recently,
that's because there have.
By one estimate, from 2015 to 2020,
the number of blackouts annually
in the United States doubled...
That is not good
for numerous reasons.
The most obvious being,
sitting around without power for
any period of time absolutely sucks.
What are you supposed to do
without TV and the internet?
Go outside?
That's where snakes live, you idiot!
So what else are you supposed to do?
Read a book?
That's where snakes sleep, you idiot!
Why do you think we invented Kindles?
But it's not just inconvenience, losing
electricity wreaks havoc on everything
from sewage treatment plants
to water purification systems,
and can be lifethreatening to people
who rely on medical equipment
like ventilators
and powered wheelchairs.
It's traumatizing, it's terrifying.
For Terhorst, an outage is more
than just an expensive inconvenience.
This isn't, like, "I'm going
to lose a casserole in my fridge".
You know?
This is: "I may not be alive tomorrow."
Exactly. This is about much more
than just lost casseroles
especially because, let's be honest:
all casseroles are sh*t.
They don't rely on specific ingredients
so much as on
"whatever's in someone's house".
Casseroles are a sad smorgasbord
of "other" leftovers
cobbled together to make
a pathetic almost meal
with names like "Tuna surprise"
and "Chicken I'm sorry".
To have a casserole "leftover"?
That's abandoned food that didn't
make the cut "two rounds in a row"!
I'm sorry,
but if that's your only option,
there are worse fates
than being dead.
While things are bad now, they
could get a lot worse in the future,
because the U.S. has a goal of
"net-zero carbon emissions by 2050."
Which we must meet. But one study
estimates that's going to require
a 40-60 percent increase
in peak electricity consumption.
Which does make sense,
if we're switching to electric cars,
cooking and heating,
all that electricity is going
to have to come from somewhere.
And the truth is, if everyone
suddenly had an electric car tomorrow,
that'd be great for the planet,
but could push our grid to the limit.
So tonight,
let's talk about the power grid,
the current state it's in
and what we can do to fix it.
And let's start with the fact that
while I'm saying "grid", singular,
our system is made up
of three grids.
There's the Eastern interconnection,
the Western interconnection
and the Texas interconnection.
It's like major league baseball,
in that there are two dominant groups
and then assholes in Texas
who'd rather make up their own rules.
And it all started in 1882,
right here in New York,
when Thomas Edison unveiled
the country's first central
power station on Pearl Street.
Interestingly, it was then
Edison's sometime rival, Nikola Tesla,
who helped develop the technology
enabling electricity to travel.
Something all the more remarkable,
given Tesla's...
...let's say, eccentricities.
Tesla suffered from bizarre compulsions
like his consuming need
to rescue injured pigeons
and nurse them back to health.
He has an infirmary for them
right outside his bedroom window
where he's trying to heal, some might
have broken wings, broken legs.
And in fact, at one point,
he referred to one bird as his wife.
And he said, when she d*ed,
the inventive spirit left him.
Did it, now?
Look, this isn't the point
of this story or anything,
but if Tesla were alive today
I wonder which would upset him more,
the fact that his name's been co-opted
by history's first edgelord billionaire
or the fact that modern pigeons
have gotten so unfuckable.
I said no. Respectfully,
thank you for the attention,
but I am not interested,
please leave me and my friends alone.
When it was built, our power grid
wasn't just a technical marvel,
it was a civic one.
Until the 1930s,
electricity was a luxury
mainly for dense
urban areas of the country.
After FDR created the Rural
Electrification Administration in 1935,
that began to change.
The REA was set up by the President
and the Congress in 1935
to help farmers to get the power and
the light at a price they can afford.
Here is the first thing
women ask for after light itself.
If you have ever ironed for an hour,
you'll know why.
An electric iron may not
look important to a man,
but it lightens
one whole day's burden for a woman.
Don't worry, with hubby naturally
busy staring at the thermostat,
you'll have plenty to do
to occupy your time,
like ironing his clothes or teaching
a different woman to iron his clothes
and, if there's still time,
pressing the iron to your neck,
just for a moment,
just to feel something.
You thought getting lights
would make things better,
but it only made things
clearer, didn't it?
Didn't it?
In the end, we wound up with
and around 5.5 million miles
of local distribution lines,
like the ones you might see
outside of your house,
all of which form
our modern electrical grid.
It's been called
"The supreme engineering
achievement of the 20th century."
Which is not to say
that it's completely invulnerable.
When you string wires in the air,
they're subject to interference
from all sorts of things.
A website that tracked disruptions
found there've been over
over 200 by birds,
and a number of others caused
by everything from snakes to slugs.
And let me just say,
kudos, slugs.
Out of everything on that list,
you're the ones I underestimated.
The nicest thing I can say about you
is that on your best day
you look like sassy poop.
But you really showed us something
by disrupting our power.
So, once more, slugs... Kudos.
But it's not just animals
that can wreak havoc.
There've also been multiple
balloon-based disruptions,
and if you're wondering how on Earth
a balloon could cause a power outage,
the answer is like this:
sh*t!
Excellent. Not one single note.
I hope no one standing there was hurt,
but honestly,
even if someone was,
it wouldn't be a dealbreaker for me.
But disruptions have always
been an issue for the power grid.
What makes it especially vulnerable now
is a combination of two key factors.
The first is old age.
Most power lines were constructed
in the '50s and '60s,
with a 50-year life expectancy,
which they're clearly now well past.
And the second is climate change,
meaning there's now more danger
posed by extreme weather,
like hurricanes, tornadoes and
abnormally hot or cold temperatures.
That combo of old equipment and new
climate threats has been disastrous.
The massive camp fire in California
a few years ago happened
because of a drought in the area,
making it essentially a Tinderbox.
In intense winds, some Pacific
Gas & Electric equipment failed,
for a pretty infuriating reason.
This is the hook that k*lled
That groove took
about 98 years to wear in.
It's not a defect.
These hooks are what are holding
the electrical lines off the ground,
PG&E's decision was to let these
things hang until they broke.
When this old hook did break,
the power line made contact
with the metal tower,
showering the ground in sparks.
That's how
PG&E started the camp fire.
Let that be a lesson. You can't
just keep something that old in place
and expect it
to keep working forever.
PG&E basically took the same approach
to their equipment
as democrats did with
Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
And in both cases,
it didn't end well.
Basically, we've got a power grid
built in the twentieth century,
that's not equipped to deal with
the needs of the twenty-first.
And if you're thinking:
"Okay, let's upgrade it then!",
you are absolutely right,
but that's also a massive undertaking.
Because there are a lot of fixes,
both small and huge,
that the power grid badly needs.
The small ones,
we don't have time to get into,
like investing in microgrids
and weatherproofing,
as well as better storage capabilities,
so excess power we generate
doesn't go to waste.
But we're going to focus
on the huge one.
Because our shift to renewable energy
is going to require
a fundamental shift
in what our grid looks like.
One of the few benefits
of fossil-fuel plants is,
you can put them anywhere,
that's why most are located
near densely-populated areas,
close to the people they serve.
But you can't just replace
every coal plant with a wind farm,
because that's not necessarily
where the wind is strongest,
and that fact alone
changes everything.
This is a model created by Princeton,
mapping out possible places,
in the U.S., where wind and solar
projects could, in theory, be built.
Aside from some offshore wind farms,
it's mostly in the middle of the U.S.
Another study found that these states
have most of the potential,
yet the people living there
would only make up 30 percent
of the electricity demand.
In a decarbonized future,
we're going to need to get electricity
from here to here.
Right, and you probably
don't even need me to tell you
why this is going to be
an uphill battle,
because as soon as you saw that
graphic and realized updating the grid
was going to require a Princeton
researcher telling a midwestern farmer:
"We need to build something
in your backyard,"
"so someone in California
can power their electric car",
you already called the next eight
election cycles for Republicans.
But there's actually
some good news here.
Because we've already
made considerable progress
in building out renewable energy
power sources.
Last year, for the first time ever,
renewables like solar,
wind and hydropower
accounted for the largest
portion of new generating capacity.
That's good not just for consumers,
but in many cases,
for the communities where
those facilities are built.
In 2019, wind energy projects alone
provided 706 million dollars in land
lease payments to rural landowners.
So entire towns and areas
can benefit
from the money and jobs
renewables can bring,
as this mayor in Wyoming
can attest.
My personal belief is it provides
money, it provides jobs, taxes.
Then I look at the towns
that they're by
and just think of what people have
that they wouldn't have had.
A lot of infrastructure, police cars,
those kind of things.
When I look at a wind farm,
all I think about is Cha-ching.
That's great, though, to be clear,
when you look at a wind farm,
you can't think cha-ching,
that's the cash register noise.
I know you're trying to make a point,
but this is important.
Wind farms go...
That's how wind farms go.
A cash register goes...
A solar farm goes...
A cat on the day everyone
forgot its birthday goes...
A horny cartoon wolf goes...
And again, wind farms go...
Just so we're clear
about how things go.
The physical generation of renewable
energy isn't really the problem.
The key issue
is the transmission of it.
Basically, how do you get that
energy from where it's made,
like a wind farm in Wyoming,
to where it's needed,
which could be a thousand miles away?
And that brings us
to transmission lines.
Because they are
at the absolute heart of our grid
and we are going to need
a lot more of them.
Due to the limitations of our
aging transmission infrastructure,
in some places,
we actually have more electricity
than we have
the capability to transport.
For instance, in Vermont,
they had to put a moratorium
on new solar and wind projects,
because the transmission lines
couldn't carry any more electricity.
So building out new, higher capacity
lines is crucially important.
but so far,
we haven't done nearly enough.
And that's for a couple of reasons.
And the first big one is location.
Stringing power lines across
the country is a logistical nightmare,
unlike interstate gas lines,
which only require approval
from the Federal Energy
Regulatory Commission,
with power lines, you must secure
the buy-in from multiple state
and local agencies,
in every state you pass through,
alongside all the individual landowners
whose property you need to use.
There are legitimate reasons
for people to not want
power lines in their backyard.
If it disrupts their farming operation
or goes through
environmentally sensitive areas,
or cultural or sacred sites
for native americans.
Other objections are simply aesthetic.
The fact is, high-voltage lines
capable of carrying more electricity
require bigger towers
than their predecessors
and some people
just don't want to see them.
It's such an issue that some
countries have actually made efforts
to "beautify" their towers.
In Hungary, they decided to build ones
that look like jesters.
In Iceland, they've proposed
these designs
for a project
called "Land of Giants".
And in Argentina, there is "Coloso",
the giant transmission line robot.
At night, Coloso lights up
and can even smile and wink.
I get the smile part, you want
Coloso to come off as friendly
so children aren't terrified
of the giant electrified robot
with glowing monster eyes,
but why does it need to wink?
What is it trying to communicate?
Is it coming on to us?
I feel the same way about Coloso
as I do about that pigeon.
Never in a million f*cking years.
No, thank you.
Please stop looking at me like that,
it's making me uncomfortable.
It's my friend's birthday. We're
trying to give her a nice evening.
Although I will keep
the Long Island iced tea.
Thank you and goodnight!
Local opposition can be effective
in k*lling transmission line projects.
A few years back,
a company proposed plans
to build 16 miles of new lines
through Pennsylvania.
But local landowners formed
a grassroots group to push back,
even releasing videos like this one
to detail their objections:
I understand everybody needs electric
and everybody has to have electric.
I wouldn't want to be without
electric. But from what I understand,
this is only going to help people
in Western PA, Maryland and Virginia.
And what's it do... I chose to live
here and they chose to live there.
So don't make your problem
my problem. That's how I feel.
That is a little maddening.
The mirrored sunglasses don't help,
but it's more than that.
I do get "I don't want
this on my land",
but to make your argument
"I don't want this here,
if it helps someone there",
makes you sound like a d*ck.
Also: if we don't upgrade the grid,
absolutely everyone is going
to have problems, including you.
It's like saying: "Don't make
your problem my problem"
when your neighbor's yard
is full of bears.
Sure, but when it gets over
that fence, guess what?
It's your problem, too.
When you consider all the hurdles
transmission projects have to clear,
it's no wonder it can take up
to a decade to get new ones approved,
if they're approved at all.
This can make it harder
to bring renewable energy
onto the grid in the first place.
Fewer than a quarter of proposed
energy projects, like solar and wind,
actually ever make it
to commercial operation,
because of transmission hurdles,
and that's not good!
Now, the second big obstacle
to overcome is cost.
Because the truth is,
this won't be cheap.
One study projects decarbonizing
our power grid
could cost 2.5 trillion dollars
over the next decade.
To put it mildly, not everyone
is on board with spending that money.
When Congress was considering
the Clean Future Act,
a bill that would,
among other things,
provide for expanding
our transmission system,
Representative Bill Johnson
refused to entertain the notion
that it could possibly be worth it
and would not back down.
Whether the american people
are stuck picking up this tab
via higher taxes or rate increases
on their utility bills,
can you say that they'll receive
a return on their investment?
As you look at the cost benefit for
the health and safety of communities...
No, what's
the return on investment?
They're making
a monetary investment
with their taxes
or their rate increases.
What is the return
on their investment?
So, the return on the investment
is access to clean energy.
That's not a return on investment.
It's a monetary thing.
That's why you make an investment.
Okay, a few things:
One, shut up.
Two, if you had let her talk
for more than two f*cking seconds,
she might have told you many studies
have found that it is cost effective.
A federal lab looked into expanding
transmission lines across the country
and found that such a project could
return up to 2.50 dollars in benefits
for every dollar of cost.
Which, as an assh*le might put it,
is a return. A return on investment.
But set that aside.
Set aside also, that blackouts
can cost us a lot of money,
as the people of Texas will tell you,
after what happened to them.
There are also many benefits here
that aren't purely monetary.
A cleaner grid
helps combat climate change,
meaning maybe your grandkids
won't die in weekly lava hurricanes.
Which does seem pretty worthwhile.
Framing this purely as a matter
of net profit is so weird.
Like saying: "What's the return
in funding the fire department?
How much money
do we make off that?
Technically none,
but if your house is on fire,
someone will come with a hose
to put it out.
Plus, we get those
sexy firefighter calendars,
full of oiled up fire hunks,
so we get to be safer and hornier.
This is going to require
a lot of compromise
and flexibility from all of us.
But there are ways to overcome
the hurdles I've described.
When it comes to transmission line
location, we can ease concerns.
Not necessarily
by going creepy Coloso here,
we don't have to be winked at,
but we can make sure
people are compensated fairly
for the use of their property,
or place lines,
to the extent possible,
on already "disturbed lands"
like along railroads and highways.
When it comes to cost,
we're finally making some progress.
The infrastructure bill
that passed the House this week
devotes over 65 billion
to improve the power grid,
with a portion going directly to
transmission upgrades and expansion.
It's a good start,
while also being not nearly enough.
But the key thing going forward
might be to start thinking about this
differently than we currently are.
For too long, whenever
we've experienced blackouts,
we tended to think of it
as "the power grid failing".
But truth is: it's not failing us,
we're failing it,
by asking it to do something
it wasn't designed to do,
in conditions
it wasn't designed to handle.
We need to act boldly and quickly,
as if both our lives and our
shitty casseroles depend on it.
And if we do this,
if we manage to properly
upgrade our power grid,
it'll genuinely be one of the biggest
accomplishments of the 21st century
and one
definitely worth celebrating.
Perhaps with some balloons!
Balloons are so fun, aren't they?
sh*t!
No! Hold on! I'm okay.
That's our show,
thanks so much for watching,
we will see you next week.
f*ck!
Good night!
Thank you! That's it!
Which way...
I'm gonna go this way!
Is over here?
We'll be back next week!
08x29 - Modern American power grid and the Unified Smart Grid
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American late-night talk and news satire television program hosted by comedian John Oliver.
American late-night talk and news satire television program hosted by comedian John Oliver.