« Tornadoes and Climate Change: Is there a connection? | Main | Solar power will be cheaper than fossil fuels by 2016, says General Electric »

In a fantastic interview over at GreenBiz.com, Bill Gates talks about what it's going to take to get us to zero carbon emissions:

Gates was interviewed by Climate Solutions' board co-president Jabe Blumenthal, who asked Gates about his interest in energy, climate change and how these topics relate to the work being done by the Gates Foundation.

Q: How and why did you get involved in climate change?

Gates: I think it's important to think about energy and how critical it is in so many ways. Why has our civilization gotten so advanced in the last few hundred years? A lot of it is about breakthroughs in energy and intensification of energy use. If you think about poor people and improving their lives ... getting around, getting fertilizer, getting lighting at night ... so many of the things that count for them are related to energy.

As I learned about energy, I began to understand that we've got this constraint. We have to do it in a way that's not emitting CO2. We need multiple breakthroughs -- a portfolio of solutions--that deal with the environment and getting the costs down. In terms of overall planetary energy use, we have to have something that works for everyone. I've enjoyed learning about it and helping people understand how important this is.

The interview continues, and then ends with this question:

Q: You ended last year's TED talk with the statement: If I have one wish for the next 50 years, it would be energy at half the cost of today's energy with zero carbon emissions. Do you feel as strongly about that today?

Gates: Absolutely. If you look at the history of mankind -- why is it in the last 300 years that we've doubled life span, reduced childhood death by a factor of 10, raised literacy from under one percent to over 80 percent? Innovation is so core to how we've gotten as far as we've come. It's exciting that we have the potential to solve these problems. The amount of sun that hits the earth is gigantic so it's possible to use that as a source that will solve this. The amount of energy in uranium molecules is one million times per reaction than oxidizing carbon.

We have to get organized to do high-risk things in this area. If can get energy improved, it is deeply empowering. Meeting with scientists working on this stuff makes me feel optimistic. Then I look at the political elements that should be in place -- for example, pricing carbon, R&D. When I despair why we're not moving forward, I have to think we are not being creative enough.

Bill Gates: Optimist...through and through.

Name (required)
Email
Website
Remember personal info? Yes   No
Comments

home | music | democracy | earth | money | projects | about | contact

Site design by Matthew Fries | © 2003-23 Consilience Productions. All Rights Reserved.
Consilience Productions, Inc. is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization.
All contributions are fully tax deductible.