Welcome to Focus Group. I work in real estate and I own solar panels. I grew up in Idaho. I've definitely been thinking a lot more about my relationship with energy this year. And we've kind of been in solar panel purgatory. We just don't know what direction to go in yet. So today we're going to be playing overrated or underrated.
Renewable energy. We do have a crisis with our earth and using a lot of fossil fuels. There's some good things about it, but I don't know what it's going to cost me. The barrier to entry feels so high, like picking the right solar panel for your house, for example. But I think it's pretty uncontroversial. It's pretty underrated.
Choice of energy suppliers. I think that choice is a great thing. If we only had one or two, there would be no competition. Prices would probably be a lot higher. Like, have you ever gotten one phone line and they're like, man, these people suck. So yeah, I want to have a choice in who I get my power from.
Energy prices. Well, energy prices are definitely too high. I find energy bills very confusing. I don't think they're very clear in terms of what you're paying for. I would say it's overpriced. I have never had to pay a bill since I got my solar panels on. In fact, I've had credits, usually between negative $8 and negative $25 each month.
Backup power generators. Oh my God, underrated. When you know what hits the fan, you're going to be in a lot of problems. As someone who doesn't have one, I live in fear of an earthquake or a hurricane knocking out the power. Generators are underrated. People need to have them, especially people who live in the desert.
Okay, we're going to do rapid fire round. Solar power. Underrated. Overrated. If someone said to me that solar energy was overrated, I would be a little taken aback. Why wouldn't you want to take advantage of this massive battery?
Natural gas. Overrated. Overrated as well. Overrated.
Wind power. Underrated. I think that's underrated. Underrated.
Geothermal energy. Now that is underrated. Underrated. Underrated.
Nuclear power. Overrated. Overrated. I just don't know if we've really examined what the long-term effects are going to be on the planet. Underrated. One nuclear reactor can power, like, what, an entire state nowadays?
Now we're going to play this or that. Gas stove or electric stove. I'm going to go with an electric stove. Electric stove. With a gas stove, I live in constant terror that I have left it on and the house will explode. Electric stove. You turn it on, it's on, done.
CFL bulb or LED bulb? No, this is going to sound bad, but CFL bulb because LED bulbs, I don't like the light. LED bulb. They have way more capability in terms of color. If an LED bulb is also good for the environment, then hey, added perk. Go for it.
This is the physical challenge. Okay. Your challenge is to make a potato battery. And in order to increase the difficulty... Oh, as if I knew what I was doing to begin with. We are going to ask you a handful of energy-related questions. Oh, yeah, nothing like doing it under duress. Go ahead and start building a potato battery. Okay.
Guess the top five CO2-emitting countries. I know it's us, meaning the U.S., and I know it's China. China, India, and the U.S. India, China, and... I feel like it'd be something you wouldn't suspect, like France or something. It's probably Japan and Russia. It can't be Japan. They're super clean. It is Japan. What?
It's something deep enough is the thing. I don't know if there's, like, you got to get them at a certain depth to get the potato life source flowing.
True or false? Wind turbines are the leading cause of bird deaths. Yeah, I would say that's true because, I mean, I know how they love running into airplanes. Wind turbines, I'm going to say no, they're not the leading cause of bird deaths. Can you guess other than wind turbines what the leading cause of bird deaths might be? Cars. I'm going to say rice. Birds will eat the rice and then it expands in their stomachs and the birds explode. Cats. Cats? Oh, wow. I didn't think they were that fast. Birds, get it together. He's dead, Jim. We have no life.
Okay, I do think I've done something wrong, but that's fine. Black on black. Right now we're cooking with potatoes. Okay, it appears to have not worked, which means that I have done something incorrectly. I need to reprogram some things here. Ah! I did it! Take that, science! Dumb man make magic. There we go. It's on. Ta-da! Oh, that's awesome. That feels really frickin' good.