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Hannah Ritchie

What Hannah Ritchie thinks about energy

@hannah-ritchie · 40 positions · On ppll ↗

Data scientist at Our World in Data and author of Not the End of the World. Writes Sustainability by Numbers, working through energy and climate questions with the numbers in front of her, and revises in public when they say something she did not expect.

Hannah Ritchie did not write this page.

We collected these quotes from things they published elsewhere, and every quote links to where it was said. They have no account here and have not endorsed this site. Quotes are word for word; the short line under each one is our own restatement, not their wording. Their own site. Is this you? Claim it or ask us to remove it. Or tell us what is wrong here.

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Only Hannah Ritchie on energy. See everyone on energy

14 dated positions, 2023 to 2026, in their own words. Our reading of what Hannah Ritchie has said — not written or endorsed by them.

  1. Our readingSupplying drinking and household water through desalination is quite cheap and uses far less energy than the author had guessed.

    infrastructure

    Their wordsSupplying drinking and household water through desalination is really quite cheap, and uses far less energy than I’d have guessed.

    ↗Forget more reservoirs; should the UK just build desalination plants instead?hannahritchie.substack.com

  2. 13 days earlier

  3. Our readingBritain has a systemic problem building large infrastructure projects, including reservoirs

    infrastructure

    Their wordsI think Britain has a real problem with building almost anything, from train lines to houses, and reservoirs to energy infrastructure.

    ↗The UK needs to build more reservoirshannahritchie.substack.com

  4. 6 months earlier

  5. Our readingQuoted subsidy totals for meat and fossil fuels mostly describe unpriced damage, not money any government could take back and spend elsewhere.

    government

    Their wordsAgain, you cannot pay for the externalities by pulling subsidies (there is nothing there to pull

    ↗Do subsidies make meat much cheaper?hannahritchie.substack.com 2nd of 4 in this piece

  7. Our readingMaking food more expensive is not a way to fix the food system, because higher food prices fall hardest on the poorest people.

    Their wordsSimply making fossil fuels more expensive without having affordable alternatives just makes energy more expensive, which hits the poorest hardest.

    ↗Do subsidies make meat much cheaper?hannahritchie.substack.com 3rd of 4 in this piece

  8. 2 months earlier

  9. Our readingCheap clean energy has broken the old trade-off between raising living standards and cutting environmental harm.

    batteries

    Their wordsThe rapid drop in renewable energy costs in the last decade (alongside huge improvements in battery technologies) has started to break this deadlock.

    ↗Can we break the human development-environment trade-off?sustainabilitybynumbers.com 3rd of 4 in this piece

  10. 7 months earlier

  11. Our readingTariffs on Chinese clean energy reduce the total number of clean-energy jobs, because most of those jobs are in deployment rather than manufacturing.

    tariffs

    Their wordsThat’s because most clean energy jobs are in deployment and maintenance rather than manufacturing, and since higher costs slow down the rollout of renewables, increasing prices reduces the total number of people working in clean energy (even if the number working in manufacturing increases).

    ↗Why are solar panels and batteries from China so cheap?sustainabilitybynumbers.com 1st of 5 in this piece

  13. Our readingHigh electricity prices are what is killing European industrial competitiveness.

    Europebatteries

    Their wordsAnother factor that is killing Europe’s competitiveness — not just for batteries but for many industrial products — is the high electricity costs.

    ↗Why are solar panels and batteries from China so cheap?sustainabilitybynumbers.com 3rd of 5 in this piece

  15. Our readingForced labour in Chinese clean-energy supply chains is real, and it is not why the goods are cheap.

    China

    Their wordsBut my point is that this is still not the reason (or is only a very small reason) why these goods from China are cheaper than elsewhere. The main driver of lower labour costs has been automation; not having a human worker at all.

    ↗Why are solar panels and batteries from China so cheap?sustainabilitybynumbers.com 4th of 5 in this piece

  16. 9 days earlier

  17. Our readingConcerns about the energy cost of an individual LLM prompt are no longer credible, though the environmental impact of the AI datacenter buildout remains a real worry.

    LLMsdata centers

    Their wordsUnless you’re an extreme power user, asking AI questions every day is still a rounding error on your total electricity footprint.

    ↗What's the carbon footprint of using ChatGPT?hannahritchie.substack.com

  18. 5 months earlier

  19. Our readingVertical farming swaps a land problem for an energy problem, and the energy cost is what stops it feeding the world.

    Their wordsWhat stands in the way is energy demand. Growing crops indoors is energy-intensive. So we’re really swapping a land problem for an energy one.

    ↗Vertical farming: a local solution for greens, but not feeding the world any time soonhannahritchie.substack.com 1st of 3 in this piece

  21. Our readingCereals will stay an outdoor crop, because the energy to grow them indoors costs far more than the grain is worth.

    Their wordsWithout some crazy technological breakthrough, cereals are are going to be an outdoor-only crop for a long time.

    ↗Vertical farming: a local solution for greens, but not feeding the world any time soonhannahritchie.substack.com 2nd of 3 in this piece

  22. 15 months earlier

  23. Our readingBiofuels have probably raised greenhouse gas emissions rather than lowered them, once the land they take is counted.

    Their wordsThey estimate that biofuels have increased emissions, not decreased them.

    ↗Biofuels: the US could switch to electric cars and solar power on just a fraction of the landhannahritchie.substack.com 1st of 5 in this piece

  25. Our readingBiofuels cannot supply enough energy to matter for a country like Britain or to replace all transport fuels.

    Their wordsThe US uses a UK-sized amount of land to grow biofuels.4 In return, it accounts for around 10% of the country’s motor gasoline supply.

    ↗Biofuels: the US could switch to electric cars and solar power on just a fraction of the landhannahritchie.substack.com 2nd of 5 in this piece

  27. Our readingGrowing food to put in cars is a mistake at a moment when the world should be farming less land, not more.

    Their wordsThe world’s croplands are still expanding. At a time when we should be using less land for farming, allocating high-quality farmland to grow food that we then put into cars is a mistake.

    ↗Biofuels: the US could switch to electric cars and solar power on just a fraction of the landhannahritchie.substack.com 5th of 5 in this piece