Prediction: At least half of all passenger vehicles sold by 2030 will be electric, revolutionising transportation – and energy.
Series 5 continues with more bold predictions for the next decade — an era of transition and remediation, as we work across multiple fronts and multiple industries – internationally – to cool the climate.
climate change
The Users Guide to the Future #2 – Why are we seeing more heatwaves?
The hot, dry conditions that preceded our Black Summer bushfires are becoming more common – how can we prepare for more frequent heatwaves?
Paleoclimatologist Nerilie Abram used coral samples to look back into a thousand years of climate, and heatwave expert Sarah Perkins-Kirkpatrick analysed the last seventy years of global data about heatwaves. Our climate past gives us a view into a hot future.
The Users Guide to the Future was produced in partnership with GIO.
Episode 2.02: Power Tools with Ramez Naam
Solar power cost $100 per kilowatt hour when energy futurist Ramez Naam entered the world. Last year, the UAE signed a 20-year contract for solar power at a four thousandth the cost. For Ramez Naam it’s no longer a question of if renewables, it’s a matter of when: the data proves it. Energy has been mixed with politics from the beginning – so over the next billion seconds, how do we talk ourselves out of our coal culture and into a sustainable future? Ramez Naam makes a convincing case for a future where we profit from the sun.
Here’s an excerpt:
There are some amazing things happening in the renewable energy space, as shown in this chart about a typical week of energy generation in South Australia:
Ramez gives a lot of talks about energy futures, here’s a recent one given in South Africa – a nation with some energy problems…
Ramez has also written a series of blog posts on the energy future – the first is linked here.
Finally, here’s that infamous photo of Australian Treasurer Scott Morrison, on the day they passed a lump of coal around in Parliament: