Vaclav Smil
Czech-Canadian scientist and policy analyst, born 9 December 1943 in Plzeň; Distinguished Professor Emeritus in the Faculty of Environment at the University of Manitoba, studying energy, environment, food, population and the history of technical change.
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Their wordsBut even if that trend continues for the next 50 years, we would still see top densities of about 3,500 Wh/L, no more than a third that of kerosene. The wait for superbatteries ready to power intercontinental flight may not be over by even 2070.
↗Waiting for Superbatteries (IEEE Spectrum, Numbers Don’t Lie)spectrum.ieee.org
- 5 weeks earlier
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Their wordsThis ennoblement is strange, given that wind projects require enormous quantities of embodied energy in the form of steel for towers, plastics for blades, and concrete for foundations.
↗Why Is Hydroelectricity So Green, and Yet Unfashionable? (IEEE Spectrum, Numbers Don’t Lie)spectrum.ieee.org 1st of 3 in this piece
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Their wordsAnd hydro still matters more than any other form of renewable generation.
↗Why Is Hydroelectricity So Green, and Yet Unfashionable? (IEEE Spectrum, Numbers Don’t Lie)spectrum.ieee.org 2nd of 3 in this piece
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Their wordsI never understood why dams have suffered such a reversal of fortune. There is no need to build megastructures, with their inevitable undesirable effects.
↗Why Is Hydroelectricity So Green, and Yet Unfashionable? (IEEE Spectrum, Numbers Don’t Lie)spectrum.ieee.org 3rd of 3 in this piece
- 4 weeks earlier
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Their wordsToday, no category mistake is perhaps more consequential than the all-too-common view of the global energy transition. The error is to think of the transition as the discrete, well-bounded task of replacing carbon fuels by noncarbon alternatives.
↗Taming the Climate Is Far Harder Than Getting People to the Moon (IEEE Spectrum, Numbers Don’t Lie)spectrum.ieee.org 1st of 4 in this piece
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Their wordsBut difficult and costly as those two endeavors were, they affected only small parts of the economy, their costs were relatively modest, and the lives of average citizens were hardly affected. It is just the opposite for the decarbonization of the energy supply.
↗Taming the Climate Is Far Harder Than Getting People to the Moon (IEEE Spectrum, Numbers Don’t Lie)spectrum.ieee.org 2nd of 4 in this piece
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Their wordsOurs is an overwhelmingly fossil-fueled civilization, and the size and complexity of our extensive supersystem of fuel extraction, processing, distribution, storage, and conversion means that a complete displacement of it will directly affect every person and every industry, not least the growing of food and the long-distance transport of goods and people. The costs will be stupendous.
↗Taming the Climate Is Far Harder Than Getting People to the Moon (IEEE Spectrum, Numbers Don’t Lie)spectrum.ieee.org 3rd of 4 in this piece
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Their wordsOf course, nobody can provide a reliable account of the eventual cost of global energy transition because we do not know the ultimate composition of the new primary energy supply.
↗Taming the Climate Is Far Harder Than Getting People to the Moon (IEEE Spectrum, Numbers Don’t Lie)spectrum.ieee.org 4th of 4 in this piece
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