Supersonic Jet Flight, Energy & Climate Innovation and Regulatory Hacking
Podcast Ep. 27 with Eli Dourado
A long-awaited episode!
I speak with Eli Dourado, a senior research fellow at the Center for Growth and Opportunity at Utah State University.
Eli is also a blogger, investor, and self-described "regulatory hacker".
Eli and Niklas have a conversation about many things technology, innovation, and regulatory bottlenecks. His breadth of knowledge includes aviation, energy, housing, cryptocurrency, biotech, cybersecurity, and many more areas.
Eli has a background in regulatory and technology policy. He was involved in initiatives such as saving the internet from UN regulation and the debate about noise limits in civil aviation, in his role as a public policy specialist at Boom Supersonic.
(The kind of stuff Eli works on unleashing to the world.)
Energy is the key to a better future. The major regulatory mistake was the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), which led to a major slowdown in the adoption of nuclear energy and hampered America's ability to build new infrastructure.
Eli sees potential for modular and small-scale nuclear power. He also sees geothermal energy as a major potential source of clean energy, made possible by better drilling techniques developed during the hydraulic fracturing boom.
Generally, Eli sees the pro-progress camp aligned with the environmental movement. The major disagreement he has is with the de-growth camp. Instead, to solve environmental challenges more economic growth is needed.
Economic growth is at the heart of improving society in all areas and developing better solutions for problems such as climate change.
After a Tour de France through many promising areas in technology, Eli is optimistic that entrepreneurs can overcome the regulatory challenges that often come with adoption. It's hard, but it can be fun, and come with a moat for your businesses.
"Embrace the hardness."