Growth and the Energy Transition with Vaclav Smil

For the first time in history, we have to tackle a truly global problem: climate breakdown. Energy transition away from fossil fuels is imperative, but there is no consensus on how to achieve this. The preeminent expert on energy history and development, Vaclav Smil, joins Azeem Azhar to explore the limits of renewables, the consequences of megacities, and why waste reduction is a game-changer.

In this podcast, they also discuss:

• Whether the massive amounts of information we gather today has purpose.
• What possibilities Moore’s Law predicts for biology and chemistry.
• The limits of nuclear power.

Further reading:

• “What I See When I See a Wind Turbine” (IEEE Spectrum, Vaclav Smil, March 2, 2016)
• “Thank Maxwell for Cellphones” (IEEE Spectrum, Vaclav Smil, Feb. 28, 2017)
• Inside Bill’s Brain (Netflix, 2019)

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