Can Solar Power and Battery Tech Save the World From Climate Change?

Plain English with Derek Thompson

The Ringer

News Commentary, News

4.8 • 1.8K Ratings

🗓️ 9 February 2024

⏱️ 57 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

You could make the argument that last year was the worst year in human history for climate change. The Earth experienced its hottest day on record over and over and over again. Air surface temperature anomalies set a record in September. Ocean heat set a record too. The number of wildfires in Canada? Another record high. But you don’t have to squint too hard to see the good news. U.S. and European carbon emissions have actually declined this century. The rate of global deforestation is going down. And investment in clean energy technology—particularly solar and batteries—is smashing records and changing the world. Those glimmers of hope come from an epic annual report from Nat Bullard, an independent, Singapore-based climate researcher who spent several years at Bloomberg. In today’s episode, Nat and I discuss the twin pillars of the global clean energy revolution (solar and storage), how these two technologies have consistently beat expert predictions, how they’re reshaping energy generation around the world, and what stands in the way of a clean energy future based around sunshine and batteries. If you have questions, observations, or ideas for future episodes, email us at [email protected]. Host: Derek Thompson Guest: Nathaniel Bullard Producer: Devon Baroldi Links: Nat's presentation on the clean energy revolution: https://www.nathanielbullard.com/presentations Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Did Don Draper really buy the world of Coke?
0:04.0	Did Tony Soprano really die or just order more onion rings?
0:08.0	The finales of our favorite shows can make us argue,
0:10.0	make us cry, and make us crazy.
0:13.2	From Spotify and the Ringer, I'm Andy Greenwald, and this is Stick The Landing, a new
0:17.1	podcast where we'll be telling the story of Modern TV backwards, one fade out at a time. Find Stick the landing on Wednesdays on the Prestige TV feed,
0:26.0	on Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. Today's episode is about the revolution in solar and battery technology that is
0:37.4	changing the global picture of energy, where we get it, how we use it, and
0:41.8	how the energy that we use changes the planet.
0:46.9	You can make an argument that last year, 2023, was the single worst year in human history for climate change.
0:54.8	The Earth experienced its hottest day ever, over and over and over again just
1:00.8	within the same summer. Air Surface Temperature Anomaly set a record in September.
1:06.2	Ocean heat set a record.
1:08.0	And the effects of climate change
1:09.8	can't just be measured in heat alone.
1:12.4	It was a year of droughts, of floods, of fires, the
1:15.2	number of wildfires in pick a country, Canada? Well that set a record too.
1:19.9	Now if you want it to be really sullen, or some might argue, perfectly realistic, you could say,
1:27.0	that's the best things will ever be.
1:30.0	The number of carbon molecules in the atmosphere is just going to go up.
1:33.0	The Earth is only going to get hotter from here on out.
1:36.0	You've just experienced the coldest temperature of your lifetime in the summer.
	...

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