Can we run the world on electricity?
The Inquiry
BBC
4.6 • 1.7K Ratings
🗓️ 12 August 2021
⏱️ 24 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
The target for many countries around the world is to reach net zero emissions within the next few decades. That means a dramatic move away from fossil fuels like oil, coal and gas. For some the answer to the problem is to boost “green” electricity production, so that we can run our transport, our homes and our industry on electrical power. We already have a lot of the technology to produce clean electricity. But for hundreds of millions of people around the world, especially in sub-saharan Africa, the real problem is the lack of access to electricity.
Image: Wind turbines and solar panels in Vietnam (Credit: Quang Ngoc Nguyen/Getty Images)
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | You're listening to the BBC World Service with me John Murphy and this is The Inquiry. |
| 0:09.1 | Each week one question for expert witnesses and an answer. |
| 0:26.2 | The Coma Park Maryland September 2019. |
| 0:31.9 | America's first ever gas station to fully convert to charging electric vehicles open. |
| 0:39.7 | It may take up to half now to fill up but it costs less than $10. |
| 0:44.2 | It's the start of a new world. |
| 0:48.8 | We need to move away from fossil fuels to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions. |
| 0:53.5 | For many electricity is the answer. |
| 0:56.7 | But across much of the world there are already problems just getting access to it. |
| 1:01.2 | So this week we're asking, can we run the world on electricity? |
| 1:08.1 | Part 1. |
| 1:09.1 | Batteries. |
| 1:10.1 | Not included. |
| 1:11.1 | It's getting on for 45 years I've been involved in studying electricity and working |
| 1:22.7 | as an electrical engineer. |
| 1:26.1 | Professor Nick Jenkins is a leading expert on renewable energy and he now teaches in Cardiff |
| 1:32.2 | University in Wales. |
| 1:34.4 | In his 20s though he spent some time practicing his trade in newly independent Bangladesh. |
| 1:40.7 | One of the things we were doing was expanding the electricity system around DACA but also |
| 1:47.0 | repairing a certain amount of war damage, building power lines and substations after the |
| 1:53.7 | war between East and West Pakistan. |
| 1:56.3 | The experience highlighted an obvious but nonetheless important point. |
... |
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