Notes - On Bill Gates Articles & TED Talk
Kilian Hennig
What you can do to fight climate change?
Questions to ask about climate change solutions
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Energy Miracles
"What do you mean by an energy miracle? ... If we can get [energy] that's measurably less expensive than hydrocarbons, completely clean and providing the same reliability, that I will consider a miracle" - Bill Gates
Buy Vegan or Vegetarian Food
Encourage Bosses and Employers to buy Green Products
Raise your voice
Solutions that drastically change either the price of electricity or make renewable energy, more effective.
when going on errands that are close by, try to use a bicycle instead of a car or any other form of transportation to reduce your carbon footprint.
Shows the Market That there is a need for the product
More innovations are made, to make the product cheaper and reducing its environmental impact, etc.
ways to fight climate change
Companies purchase more then the average consumer and so have a bigger impact if they change to environmentally friendly products.
try not to order things that have international shipping as this increases co2 emissions because of the air/sea shipping and try to obtain your produce from local markets or local farms.
It can also, set an example, for the average consumer again, bringing down the purchase of products harmful to the environment.
Install solar panels on your home or try to get your community to start using solar power as their main source of electricity
More innovations are made, to make the product cheaper and reducing its environmental impact, etc.
How much power are we talking about?
How much space do you need?
What’s your plan for cement?
How much is this going to cost?
How much of the 51 billion tons are we talking about?
This Question is important, to find out the importance of a solution. As an example, a company that might save 10 million tonnes of CO2 a year and that only once, is less beneficial to the environment, than a company that might save 5 million tonnes of Co2 and increasing that amount every year.
When trying to find a solution for climate change, making a solution that tackles only one point of the processes in which CO2 might work, but other sectors also, require a lot of solutions. Also, all the sectors have to be brought down to 0 or very closely to 0, to stop climate change.
Energy Visualization
This Question, is very important due to space, on earth being limited and so if you want to slow down climate change, this space has to be used efficiently.
cost is important, as it determines if people are even going to buy the product. It is also, important for there to be a reason, except it being green to buy it over the cheaper version, if the product is more expensive than the environmentally damaging one.
Small town: 1 megawatt
Mid-size city: 1 gigawatt
The United States: 1,000 gigawatts
The world: 5,000 gigawatts
Average American house: 1 kilowatt
Fighting climate change
reduce your home's emissions, eat plant-based products, eliminate food waste, participate in democratic processes, use LED lighting, rethink transportation, recycle
This question mostly comes up when thinking about electricity. It might say that an energy production facility is producing 500 Megawatts and you question how much that actually is.
questions to ask about climate change solutions
how much of the 51 billion tons are we talking about?
CO2 Emission distribution
whats your plan for cement?
how much power are we talking about?
how much space do you need?
how much is it going to cost?
Making things (cement, steel, plastic) 31%
Plugging in (electricity) 27%
Growing things (plants, animals) 19%
Getting around (planes, trucks, cargo ships) 16%
Keeping warm and cool (heating, cooling, refrigeration) 7%
Energy miracles
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It is also, important for power plant or power generating facilities to know how much, energy they produce per square meter, which helps in determining which, energy production is more efficient.
Estimates for Energy Production in different Ways.
Fossil fuels: 500–10,000 watts per square meter
Nuclear: 500–1,000 watts per square meter
Solar: 5–20 watts per square meter
Hydropower (dams): 5–50 watts per square meter
Wind: 1–2 watts per square meter
Wood and other biomass: Less than 1 watt per square meter