1 00:00:01,000 --> 00:00:03,080 Speaker 1: Well, it's thank you for having me. It's great to 2 00:00:03,080 --> 00:00:06,919 be here. Paris is one of my favorite places in 3 00:00:06,919 --> 00:00:09,880 the world, and it's actually the the on the first 4 00:00:09,880 --> 00:00:13,199 trip that I went out of South Africa, Paris, that 5 00:00:13,599 --> 00:00:15,359 was where I went and when I when I was 6 00:00:15,400 --> 00:00:17,399 a young little kid, well my my parents brought me 7 00:00:17,600 --> 00:00:20,280 when I was like six years old, so I've loved 8 00:00:20,280 --> 00:00:23,199 Paris ever since. So thank you for having me. What 9 00:00:23,199 --> 00:00:26,239 I'm gonna talk about today is just in general terms, 10 00:00:26,760 --> 00:00:32,240 what is needed to address the climate crisis. And this 11 00:00:32,320 --> 00:00:34,920 is the thing that if, if, if, we if we 12 00:00:34,960 --> 00:00:38,640 do what actions can we take that that will accelerate 13 00:00:38,840 --> 00:00:44,479 the transition out of the fossil fuel era. So where 14 00:00:44,479 --> 00:00:50,159 we are today is let's see if it's worthy. Maybe not, okay, 15 00:00:52,039 --> 00:00:54,600 all right, we have the we have the present era 16 00:00:55,520 --> 00:00:58,719 where we have the carbon cycle. And my apologies if 17 00:00:58,759 --> 00:01:00,759 if some of you already know all about this, but 18 00:01:01,240 --> 00:01:03,159 I think some of these things are maybe not as 19 00:01:03,159 --> 00:01:05,959 obvious as they may seem. So there's a certain amount 20 00:01:05,959 --> 00:01:09,120 of carbon that is circulating through the environment. So it's 21 00:01:09,159 --> 00:01:12,760 going into the air, being absorbed by and getting absorbed 22 00:01:12,760 --> 00:01:15,799 by plants and animals, and then going back into the 23 00:01:15,799 --> 00:01:18,359 air and this this carbon is just circulating on the 24 00:01:18,400 --> 00:01:21,319 surface and this this is fine, and it's been doing 25 00:01:21,319 --> 00:01:25,680 that for millions, hundreds of millions of years. The thing 26 00:01:25,719 --> 00:01:29,560 that's changed is that we've added something to the mix. 27 00:01:30,760 --> 00:01:32,480 So this is what I would call the sort of 28 00:01:32,719 --> 00:01:36,840 the turd in the punch bowl. So we're added all 29 00:01:36,840 --> 00:01:42,480 this extra carbon to the carbon cycle, and the net 30 00:01:42,519 --> 00:01:47,480 result is that the carbon and the ocean's atmosphere is 31 00:01:47,519 --> 00:01:50,000 growing over time. It's much more than can be absorbed 32 00:01:50,319 --> 00:01:54,879 by the ecosystem. It's really it's really quite simple. We're 33 00:01:54,920 --> 00:01:58,799 taking billions of tons of carbon that's been buried for 34 00:01:58,879 --> 00:02:01,560 hundreds of millions of years and is not part of 35 00:02:01,560 --> 00:02:04,319 the corbon cycle, taking it from deep underground and adding 36 00:02:04,319 --> 00:02:08,520 it to the corbon cycle. The result is that a 37 00:02:08,560 --> 00:02:12,319 steady increase in the carbon in the atmosphere and in 38 00:02:12,360 --> 00:02:16,520 the ocean oceans, which doesn't look like much if you 39 00:02:16,639 --> 00:02:18,560 look at it on this chart, but when looked at 40 00:02:18,599 --> 00:02:21,759 in the context of history, it actually looks like this. 41 00:02:23,879 --> 00:02:28,680 So the carbon posts million has really been bouncing around 42 00:02:28,840 --> 00:02:33,479 the three hundred level for around ten million years, and 43 00:02:33,520 --> 00:02:35,840 then the last few hundred years it went into a 44 00:02:35,919 --> 00:02:39,879 vertical climb this. This is the essence of the problem. 45 00:02:39,960 --> 00:02:44,479 This is very unusual and and a and a very 46 00:02:44,919 --> 00:02:47,520 very extreme threat, as you can see from from this 47 00:02:47,599 --> 00:02:51,599 rate of growth. Then this is accompanied by a temperature 48 00:02:51,639 --> 00:02:58,039 increase as one would expect, and and then and this 49 00:02:58,159 --> 00:03:01,319 and this temperature increase. If people talk about two degrees 50 00:03:01,879 --> 00:03:04,919 or three degrees, it's important to appreciate just how sensitive 51 00:03:05,280 --> 00:03:09,759 the climate actually is to temperature. And it's important to 52 00:03:09,800 --> 00:03:13,080 look at it in terms of absolute temperature, not in 53 00:03:13,159 --> 00:03:16,560 degrees celsius relative to zero. We need to say, what 54 00:03:16,680 --> 00:03:19,680 is the temperature change relative to absolute zero. That's how 55 00:03:19,680 --> 00:03:23,199 the universe thinks about temperature, It's how physics thinks about temperature. 56 00:03:23,680 --> 00:03:31,719 It's relative to absolute zero. So for small changes result 57 00:03:31,759 --> 00:03:35,360 in huge effects. So New York City under ice would 58 00:03:35,400 --> 00:03:38,479 be minus five degrees. New York City underwater would be 59 00:03:38,560 --> 00:03:42,879 plus five degrees, but looked at as a percentage relative 60 00:03:42,919 --> 00:03:46,120 to absolute zero, it's only a plus minus two percent change. 61 00:03:50,199 --> 00:03:55,759 So the sensitivity of the climate is extremely extremely high. 62 00:03:56,080 --> 00:03:59,240 We've amplified this sensitivity by building our cities right on 63 00:03:59,400 --> 00:04:04,240 the on the coastline, and most most people live very 64 00:04:04,280 --> 00:04:07,360 close to the ocean. In some countries of course, that 65 00:04:07,400 --> 00:04:09,800 are that are very low lying and would be completely 66 00:04:10,520 --> 00:04:17,000 uh underwater in a in a climate crisis. So then 67 00:04:18,680 --> 00:04:22,879 we've essentially designed civilization to be super sensitive to climate 68 00:04:22,959 --> 00:04:33,199 change and the the the important thing to appreciate is 69 00:04:33,240 --> 00:04:36,079 that we are going to exit the fossil fuels era. 70 00:04:36,560 --> 00:04:39,000 So it is it is inevitable that we will exit 71 00:04:39,000 --> 00:04:40,959 the foss fuel era because at a certain point we 72 00:04:40,959 --> 00:04:44,439 will simply run out of carbon to mine and burn. 73 00:04:45,160 --> 00:04:47,720 So the question is really when when do we exit 74 00:04:47,759 --> 00:04:52,399 the era? Not not? If the goal is to exit 75 00:04:52,480 --> 00:04:57,079 the era as quickly as possible, that means we need 76 00:04:57,120 --> 00:04:59,920 to move from from the old goal with the prenu 77 00:05:00,079 --> 00:05:03,759 real goal, which was to move from uh chopping down 78 00:05:03,800 --> 00:05:10,360 forests and uh killing lots of whales. That the old 79 00:05:10,399 --> 00:05:14,680 goal was to move from from chopping wood and and 80 00:05:14,759 --> 00:05:18,439 killing whales to fossil fuels, which is actually in that 81 00:05:18,519 --> 00:05:21,839 context was a good thing. But the new goal is 82 00:05:21,879 --> 00:05:27,959 to move to a sustainable energy future, and we want 83 00:05:28,000 --> 00:05:33,240 to use things like hydrosolar, wrange geo thermal. Nuclear is 84 00:05:33,240 --> 00:05:37,480 also a good option in places like France which don't 85 00:05:37,560 --> 00:05:42,120 aren't subject to natural disasters, and we want to use 86 00:05:42,240 --> 00:05:44,720 energy sources that will be good for for a billion years. 87 00:05:49,879 --> 00:05:53,839 So how do we accelerate this transition away from fossil 88 00:05:53,839 --> 00:05:57,959 fuels to sustainable era and and and and what happens 89 00:05:57,959 --> 00:06:04,000 if we don't? So if we if we wait, and 90 00:06:04,079 --> 00:06:09,800 if we delay the change, the best case, the best case, 91 00:06:10,519 --> 00:06:15,279 is simply delaying that inevitable transition to sustainable energy. So 92 00:06:15,439 --> 00:06:17,120 this is the this is the best case. If we 93 00:06:17,160 --> 00:06:21,240 don't take action now, at the risk of being repetitive, 94 00:06:21,319 --> 00:06:24,120 it's there's gonna be no choice in the long term 95 00:06:24,160 --> 00:06:27,199 to move to sustainable energy. It's it's totological. We have 96 00:06:27,319 --> 00:06:29,079 to have sustainable energy or something to run out of 97 00:06:29,079 --> 00:06:32,360 the other one. So the only thing we gain by 98 00:06:32,399 --> 00:06:36,160 slowing down the transition is is just slowing it down. 99 00:06:36,439 --> 00:06:38,519 It doesn't doesn't make it not occur, It just slows 100 00:06:38,560 --> 00:06:43,600 it down. The worst case, however, is more displacement and 101 00:06:43,639 --> 00:06:47,240 destruction than all the wars in history combined. Okay, this 102 00:06:47,399 --> 00:06:49,839 is these are these are the best worst case scenarios. 103 00:06:49,879 --> 00:06:54,079 So then if we have you know, about three percent 104 00:06:54,120 --> 00:06:57,000 of scientists that believe in the best case, about ninety 105 00:06:57,120 --> 00:07:00,639 seven percent that believe in the worst case. This is 106 00:07:00,680 --> 00:07:04,839 why I call it the dumbest experiment in history. Ever, 107 00:07:06,079 --> 00:07:12,560 why would you do this? So the reason that the 108 00:07:13,120 --> 00:07:17,439 transition is delayed or is happening slowly is because there 109 00:07:17,519 --> 00:07:23,319 is a hidden subsidy on all carbon producing activity. In 110 00:07:23,399 --> 00:07:26,639 a healthy market, if you have say ten years of 111 00:07:26,720 --> 00:07:29,759 benefit and four years of harm to his society, the 112 00:07:29,879 --> 00:07:32,759 profit would be six euros. The sort of you know, 113 00:07:32,879 --> 00:07:36,399 makes obvious sense. This is where the incentives are aligned 114 00:07:36,439 --> 00:07:39,639 with the good future. This is not this is not 115 00:07:39,759 --> 00:07:43,240 the case today. But if you have the incentives aligned, 116 00:07:43,600 --> 00:07:47,240 then the forcing function towards a good future, towards its 117 00:07:47,439 --> 00:07:52,920 sustainable energy future, will be powerful. In an unhealthy market, 118 00:07:53,600 --> 00:07:57,600 you have your ten years of benefit if your four years, 119 00:07:57,639 --> 00:08:00,720 but the four years doesn't isn't tax. You have untaxed 120 00:08:00,759 --> 00:08:05,759 negative externality. There's basically economics one on one. So you 121 00:08:05,920 --> 00:08:10,800 have basically unreasonable profit and a forcing function to to 122 00:08:10,920 --> 00:08:16,519 do carbon emitting activity because this this this cost to 123 00:08:16,639 --> 00:08:21,399 society is not being paid. The net result is thirty 124 00:08:21,439 --> 00:08:28,759 five gigatons of carbon per year into the atmosphere. So 125 00:08:29,120 --> 00:08:34,679 this is analogous to not paying for garbage collection. And 126 00:08:34,799 --> 00:08:36,759 it's it's not as though we should we should say 127 00:08:37,000 --> 00:08:40,320 in the case of garbage, have a garbage free society. 128 00:08:40,440 --> 00:08:43,480 It's very difficult to have a garbage free society, but 129 00:08:43,720 --> 00:08:46,039 it's just important that people pay for the garbage collection. 130 00:08:50,919 --> 00:08:55,000 So we need to go from having an untaxed negative 131 00:08:55,080 --> 00:09:00,200 externality and which is effectively a hidden carbon subsidy of 132 00:09:00,399 --> 00:09:05,759 enormous size UH five point three trillion dollars a year 133 00:09:05,799 --> 00:09:10,639 according to the IMF every year. We need to move 134 00:09:10,639 --> 00:09:14,320 away from this UH and and and and have a 135 00:09:14,399 --> 00:09:18,879 carbon tax. So but this has been this has been 136 00:09:18,960 --> 00:09:24,519 fought quite hard by the UH, the carbon producers, and 137 00:09:24,519 --> 00:09:26,919 they're using tactics that are very similar to what the 138 00:09:27,720 --> 00:09:31,879 UH cigarette industry or the back industry used for many years. 139 00:09:33,679 --> 00:09:36,159 They would they would take the approach of having of 140 00:09:37,039 --> 00:09:41,759 even though the overwhelming scientific consensus was that UH smoking 141 00:09:41,759 --> 00:09:44,559 cigarettes was bad for you, they would find a few 142 00:09:44,879 --> 00:09:47,519 scientists that would disagree, and then they would say, look, 143 00:09:47,919 --> 00:09:51,440 scientists disagree, so that that that's essentially how they would 144 00:09:51,919 --> 00:09:55,360 try to trick the public into thinking that smoking is 145 00:09:55,399 --> 00:10:01,639 not that bad. The solution, obviously is to remove the subsidy, 146 00:10:04,519 --> 00:10:09,440 so that means we need to have a carbon tax 147 00:10:10,159 --> 00:10:12,919 and to make it sort of something which is neither 148 00:10:13,039 --> 00:10:15,360 a left nor a right issue. We should make it 149 00:10:15,679 --> 00:10:19,000 probably a revenue neutral carbon tax, So this would be 150 00:10:19,360 --> 00:10:22,720 a case of increasing taxes on carbon, but then reducing 151 00:10:22,799 --> 00:10:25,919 taxes in other places. So maybe there would be a 152 00:10:26,000 --> 00:10:29,559 reduction in sales tax or VAT and an increase in 153 00:10:29,639 --> 00:10:34,720 common tax, so that only those using high levels of 154 00:10:34,799 --> 00:10:40,440 carbon would pay an increased tax. And moreover this I 155 00:10:40,519 --> 00:10:44,440 mean in order to give industry time to react, This 156 00:10:44,519 --> 00:10:47,440 could be a phased in approach, so that maybe it 157 00:10:47,519 --> 00:10:52,159 takes five years before the carbon taxes are very high, 158 00:10:52,559 --> 00:10:54,919 so that means that only companies that don't take action 159 00:10:55,039 --> 00:10:58,360 today will suffer in five years. But there needs to 160 00:10:58,399 --> 00:11:01,679 be a clear message from from government in this regard, 161 00:11:02,679 --> 00:11:06,720 because the fundamental problem is the rules today incent people 162 00:11:06,799 --> 00:11:10,320 to create carbon and this is madness, and whatever you 163 00:11:10,440 --> 00:11:15,279 incent will happen. That that's why you know we're we're 164 00:11:15,279 --> 00:11:21,480 seeing little, very little effect thus far, and depending upon 165 00:11:21,720 --> 00:11:25,440 how what what action we take, well we'll drive the 166 00:11:25,759 --> 00:11:32,200 common number to either extreme or moderate levels. I think 167 00:11:32,240 --> 00:11:34,399 it's pretty much a given that that the two degree 168 00:11:34,799 --> 00:11:37,440 see increase will occur. The question is whether it's going 169 00:11:37,480 --> 00:11:40,320 to be much more than that, not if there will 170 00:11:40,360 --> 00:11:45,759 be a two degree increase. So then the question is, 171 00:11:46,039 --> 00:11:48,960 so what can you do? I would say, whenever you 172 00:11:49,039 --> 00:11:52,960 have the opportunity, talk to your politicians, ask them to 173 00:11:53,120 --> 00:11:55,720 enact a carbon text where we have to fix the 174 00:11:55,799 --> 00:11:59,720 unpriced externality. I'll talk to your friends about it and 175 00:12:00,000 --> 00:12:04,679 fight the propaganda from the carbon industry. So that that's 176 00:12:04,720 --> 00:12:07,240 the basic message I have, and I'm happy to take questions. 177 00:12:08,799 --> 00:12:19,320 Speaker 2: Okay, so we have we have some mics in the 178 00:12:19,399 --> 00:12:22,360 audience being passed around. Do you want to raise your 179 00:12:22,399 --> 00:12:24,279 hand and we'll give you a mic. 180 00:12:26,759 --> 00:12:32,039 Speaker 3: Hi, sir, he I'm coming old pass from the Master 181 00:12:32,200 --> 00:12:36,639 of Innovation and Technology management management. And my question is 182 00:12:36,840 --> 00:12:38,679 what do you say to those who think there are 183 00:12:38,759 --> 00:12:42,840 more important concerns right now than clean change and global warming? 184 00:12:43,919 --> 00:12:47,480 Speaker 1: Sure, I mean there's definitely there are many important issues 185 00:12:47,519 --> 00:12:50,720 in the world. This is not the only important issue, 186 00:12:51,519 --> 00:12:53,240 but it is I think the thing that will have 187 00:12:53,480 --> 00:12:57,559 the biggest negative effect on humanity if we do not 188 00:12:57,639 --> 00:13:03,440 address it. I mean, based on the projections that we're 189 00:13:03,440 --> 00:13:06,200 seeing right now, these are, like I said, arguably best 190 00:13:06,279 --> 00:13:09,120 case projections. We're going to see significant rises in temperature 191 00:13:09,200 --> 00:13:13,240 and sea level. The net result is if we don't 192 00:13:13,240 --> 00:13:16,600 take action. We could see you anywhere from five to 193 00:13:16,720 --> 00:13:20,519 ten percent maybe more of the land mass absorbed by water, 194 00:13:21,399 --> 00:13:25,159 which would which is maybe not doesn't sound like that much, 195 00:13:25,360 --> 00:13:28,440 but about a third of humanity lives right on the 196 00:13:28,879 --> 00:13:32,240 coastline or in low lying countries, so we'd be talking 197 00:13:32,279 --> 00:13:37,159 about maybe two billion people being displaced and their home 198 00:13:37,240 --> 00:13:40,759 is being destroyed and their country is being gone. So 199 00:13:40,840 --> 00:13:41,720 I think we should take action. 200 00:13:48,519 --> 00:13:51,480 Speaker 4: Hello, sir, thank you for coming here. My question is 201 00:13:52,000 --> 00:13:54,200 I'm PhD student in marketing and what I study is 202 00:13:54,399 --> 00:13:57,240 what motivates people to participate in challenges. Now, you have 203 00:13:57,360 --> 00:14:00,360 created a company which creates challenges, which which brought a 204 00:14:00,440 --> 00:14:02,519 rocket to Moon and back. If I if I'm not wrong, 205 00:14:02,960 --> 00:14:06,000 my question would be, do you think a challenge? Maybe 206 00:14:06,039 --> 00:14:06,559 not Moon and back? 207 00:14:06,639 --> 00:14:08,360 Speaker 1: Right? Yeah? Quite getting there? 208 00:14:08,960 --> 00:14:10,840 Speaker 4: Getting there? My question to you would be do you 209 00:14:10,919 --> 00:14:13,679 think that incentives, which is the biggest incentive to use 210 00:14:13,759 --> 00:14:16,879 monetary incentives are the best possible incentive to get people 211 00:14:16,919 --> 00:14:19,399 to participate and solve the world's biggest problems or do 212 00:14:19,440 --> 00:14:22,799 you think people can do it in order to just 213 00:14:22,960 --> 00:14:25,039 help everyone on the planet and make it better. So 214 00:14:25,240 --> 00:14:28,519 is money the only way to ask people to get 215 00:14:28,600 --> 00:14:30,799 in and solve challenges, or do you have other ways 216 00:14:30,840 --> 00:14:32,559 to actually motivate people to participate. 217 00:14:34,080 --> 00:14:39,120 Speaker 1: I think there's definitely a philanthropic element, and there's you know, 218 00:14:39,320 --> 00:14:41,720 I think there's I think in general, people want to 219 00:14:41,759 --> 00:14:43,240 do the right thing and they want to do what's good. 220 00:14:44,960 --> 00:14:47,840 The the issue we have right now is that the 221 00:14:48,120 --> 00:14:52,039 rules fundamentally favor the bad outcome. So when you're fighting 222 00:14:52,120 --> 00:14:55,600 for the good outcome and it's an uphill battle, it's 223 00:14:55,720 --> 00:14:59,960 just it's just slower. So with respect to to climate change, 224 00:15:00,480 --> 00:15:02,480 it's just critical that the government and the goverment is 225 00:15:02,519 --> 00:15:06,120 the center of rules. The government decides what rules companies 226 00:15:06,159 --> 00:15:09,519 will play by. And if we currently have a system 227 00:15:09,879 --> 00:15:15,919 which massively incents bad behavior, so even if most people 228 00:15:16,000 --> 00:15:18,039 don't do the bad behavior, some people will still do 229 00:15:18,120 --> 00:15:24,200 the bad behavior. Yeah, I mean money and prices are 230 00:15:24,399 --> 00:15:27,440 Prices are basically just an information mechanism. They're just they're 231 00:15:27,480 --> 00:15:31,799 just basically they tell you that it's money. Is mostly 232 00:15:32,600 --> 00:15:35,960 an information mechanism for labor, labor allocation and for you know, 233 00:15:36,200 --> 00:15:38,799 and and sort of tells companies what to do. So 234 00:15:39,480 --> 00:15:41,559 it's just critical, This is why it's so critical to 235 00:15:42,000 --> 00:15:44,120 that actually be taken at a government level, because the 236 00:15:44,159 --> 00:15:46,200 government is the one they're setting the rules of the game, 237 00:15:47,039 --> 00:15:48,679 and it's just crazy to have the rules of the 238 00:15:48,720 --> 00:15:53,279 game favor a bad outcome. The question up top there 239 00:15:53,840 --> 00:15:58,519 there's a question here. Hi La Mosque. My name is Michelle. 240 00:15:58,759 --> 00:16:07,519 Speaker 5: I'm an undergriding economics that here. My question is, there 241 00:16:07,559 --> 00:16:14,320 are some new studies on removing carbon dix dark side 242 00:16:14,519 --> 00:16:18,840 from the atmosphere and burrowing deep in the ocean. Do 243 00:16:18,879 --> 00:16:22,559 you think it's a sustainable solution and why? 244 00:16:23,200 --> 00:16:27,600 Speaker 1: Thank you? You know, I'm not aware of any carbon 245 00:16:27,720 --> 00:16:31,600 sequestration or carbon storage system that is that that that 246 00:16:31,720 --> 00:16:36,320 works and works economically, and I definitely wouldn't want to 247 00:16:36,559 --> 00:16:38,679 I wouldn't want to store the carbon in the ocean 248 00:16:38,720 --> 00:16:42,919 because of possible acidification. You know, as the as the 249 00:16:42,960 --> 00:16:46,519 carbon as its huge levels rise in the atmosphere, some 250 00:16:46,639 --> 00:16:49,960 of that is absorbed into the ocean becomes carbonic acid, 251 00:16:51,120 --> 00:16:52,919 and a lot of the shell fish in particular are 252 00:16:52,960 --> 00:16:57,879 super sensitive to changes in in VH level, So I 253 00:16:57,919 --> 00:17:00,679 would definitely er against trying to store in the ocean. 254 00:17:01,039 --> 00:17:02,600 There are potentially you could try to store some of 255 00:17:02,679 --> 00:17:06,359 it in giant underground caverns, but the sheer quantity we're 256 00:17:06,400 --> 00:17:10,079 talking about. I don't think itn be stored anywhere. There's 257 00:17:10,319 --> 00:17:17,359 there's just nowhere to store it. Yeah, question love right, Hello, sir. 258 00:17:17,680 --> 00:17:21,079 Speaker 6: I'm sidering management at the Barion and I would know 259 00:17:21,160 --> 00:17:24,799 how long do you do? Teslam Motors intends to use 260 00:17:24,920 --> 00:17:28,160 lithium batteries knowing that it is not a limited resource. 261 00:17:30,440 --> 00:17:32,920 Speaker 1: Well, actually, I think so so lithium in terms of 262 00:17:33,119 --> 00:17:35,599 energy storage. Lithium, I think is is definitely the future 263 00:17:35,799 --> 00:17:38,519 and will be for a long time. There's actually not 264 00:17:38,839 --> 00:17:42,079 a shortage of lithium on Earth, so lithium is number 265 00:17:42,079 --> 00:17:45,559 three on the periodic table. It's actually extremely common. Any 266 00:17:45,720 --> 00:17:50,279 salty water has has lithium, so there definitely won't be 267 00:17:50,319 --> 00:17:55,759 a lithium constraint on energy storage for batteries. So I 268 00:17:55,839 --> 00:18:00,119 feel pretty confident that one could make enough batteries to 269 00:18:00,200 --> 00:18:02,440 store all the energy that the world needs with the 270 00:18:02,519 --> 00:18:11,839 current resources that are that are available. Yeah, I know. 271 00:18:12,799 --> 00:18:15,480 Speaker 7: My name is idvite Idea. I am a PhD student 272 00:18:15,680 --> 00:18:19,519 in Project and infrastructure finance in Sorbon. First of all, 273 00:18:19,559 --> 00:18:22,079 I would like to thank you for your latest product, 274 00:18:22,519 --> 00:18:25,799 power Wall, which to me, it gives to the citizens 275 00:18:25,839 --> 00:18:28,160 to have the power to select the way they can 276 00:18:29,319 --> 00:18:33,079 consume energy. I can spend a few thousand dollars to 277 00:18:33,160 --> 00:18:38,559 buy some solar panel and the power wall and to 278 00:18:38,680 --> 00:18:44,119 be free of any offer in the market. My question 279 00:18:44,400 --> 00:18:50,279 is about the larger scale storage systems you have designed. 280 00:18:50,839 --> 00:18:55,400 Have you received any serious involvement from governments and large 281 00:18:55,680 --> 00:19:01,039 companies to develop such such infrastructure or do you have 282 00:19:02,279 --> 00:19:05,680 any serious plans within the within the United States or 283 00:19:05,759 --> 00:19:08,160 maybe in other countries. 284 00:19:08,119 --> 00:19:11,880 Speaker 1: For large energy storage. Yeah, we do. Actually we've got 285 00:19:12,319 --> 00:19:18,400 a number of very very big storage projects underway with 286 00:19:18,559 --> 00:19:22,279 utilities around the world, so both in the US and outside. 287 00:19:23,799 --> 00:19:28,759 The thing that's interesting about the energy storage situation is 288 00:19:28,799 --> 00:19:33,039 that even even without renewables, there's a there's a huge 289 00:19:33,079 --> 00:19:36,920 potential to make the energy grid more efficient and to 290 00:19:37,000 --> 00:19:40,839 be able to shut down the heaviest polluting power plants 291 00:19:41,480 --> 00:19:45,880 because the the energy consumption through the day usually changes 292 00:19:45,920 --> 00:19:49,000 by a factor of two or more so an ent 293 00:19:49,039 --> 00:19:53,160 Since with the exception of hydroelectric, you can't store the power, 294 00:19:53,200 --> 00:19:55,160 it has to be available in real time. The world 295 00:19:55,279 --> 00:19:57,839 has somewhere between two to three times as many power 296 00:19:57,880 --> 00:20:00,680 plants as it actually needs, so if you can buffer 297 00:20:00,799 --> 00:20:05,559 the power with a big, big stationary battery packs, then 298 00:20:06,400 --> 00:20:09,319 you can actually shut down the worst half of the 299 00:20:10,240 --> 00:20:12,799 power plants in the world. So I think that's a 300 00:20:12,880 --> 00:20:14,359 that's sort of a very exciting thing that I think 301 00:20:14,359 --> 00:20:16,920 a lot of people don't appreciate, and I think it's 302 00:20:17,039 --> 00:20:20,680 it's going to make it make a big difference. Yeah. 303 00:20:22,799 --> 00:20:26,480 Speaker 8: Hi, Sarah, I'm Geanny from the mess or degree Innovation 304 00:20:26,640 --> 00:20:30,839 and Technology Management. And my question is do you believe 305 00:20:30,880 --> 00:20:34,920 that in the ability of government, international government to prevent 306 00:20:35,160 --> 00:20:35,920 climate change? 307 00:20:36,000 --> 00:20:37,319 Speaker 9: And what would you suggest? 308 00:20:38,559 --> 00:20:42,319 Speaker 1: Yeah? Absolutely, I think this fundamentally is a government issue. 309 00:20:43,079 --> 00:20:46,720 So it's it's the as mentioned, the government is the 310 00:20:46,759 --> 00:20:48,279 one that sets the rules of the game. That they 311 00:20:48,359 --> 00:20:53,640 said how companies are awarded financially, and so in the 312 00:20:53,680 --> 00:20:57,880 absence of government, uh actually establishing some kind of a 313 00:20:57,960 --> 00:21:01,160 carbon tax or potentially a cap and trade on carbon, 314 00:21:02,160 --> 00:21:04,279 which I was very excited to see that China announced 315 00:21:04,480 --> 00:21:05,839 earlier this year that they were going to do that. 316 00:21:06,880 --> 00:21:10,079 Unless the government does something to fix the market mechanism, 317 00:21:11,119 --> 00:21:14,640 the it's we're fundamentally gonna have a very slow transition 318 00:21:15,559 --> 00:21:18,839 out of the fossil fal era. So it's it's critical 319 00:21:18,920 --> 00:21:25,519 that government action changed the incentive structure. Yeah, and and 320 00:21:25,599 --> 00:21:29,720 that would be very clear. And so it's like, hopefully 321 00:21:29,799 --> 00:21:32,279 what comes out of this, out of these the climate 322 00:21:32,319 --> 00:21:35,519 talks in Paris, is that that the governments of the 323 00:21:35,559 --> 00:21:38,880 world say that they put their foot down and they 324 00:21:38,920 --> 00:21:41,880 say five years from now, let's say there has to 325 00:21:41,920 --> 00:21:46,839 be a huge change, and and and that companies know 326 00:21:47,400 --> 00:21:49,599 for sure that this is going to happen and if 327 00:21:49,599 --> 00:21:52,119 they if they do, then the the investment decisions that 328 00:21:52,240 --> 00:21:55,319 make today will will will bear fruit in five years. 329 00:21:56,400 --> 00:22:01,279 So the for for heavy industrial application, for heavy industry, 330 00:22:01,599 --> 00:22:03,160 you kind of know what the world is going to 331 00:22:03,200 --> 00:22:05,559 look like in five years if you know what plan, 332 00:22:05,680 --> 00:22:09,519 what what what factories are being built today, because if 333 00:22:09,519 --> 00:22:12,079 you built a really big factory, to get to full 334 00:22:12,119 --> 00:22:15,920 production takes about five years from from the start. And 335 00:22:16,079 --> 00:22:19,039 so since we know that today there are very few 336 00:22:20,079 --> 00:22:23,400 sustainable energy projects at large scale that are that are 337 00:22:23,440 --> 00:22:27,799 being built, we know that unless something changes very quickly, 338 00:22:29,319 --> 00:22:31,799 the sustainable energy will still be in a bad situation 339 00:22:31,920 --> 00:22:36,319 five years from now. So you know, I mean, there 340 00:22:36,599 --> 00:22:39,400 are companies like you know at Teslin and Solar City, 341 00:22:39,599 --> 00:22:45,599 we're quite ideologically motivated, but but that's that's relatively unusual. 342 00:22:45,799 --> 00:22:50,759 So Hiland, my name is Thomas. 343 00:22:52,079 --> 00:22:54,200 Speaker 7: What do you think about people who are saying, then, 344 00:22:54,519 --> 00:22:57,359 rather than trying to save the years, we should try 345 00:22:57,400 --> 00:22:59,240 to colonize other planets. 346 00:23:00,000 --> 00:23:05,680 Speaker 1: Well, I think we should do both. Yeah, I think 347 00:23:05,720 --> 00:23:11,680 we yea. The I mean, my sort of personal ideology 348 00:23:12,440 --> 00:23:15,559 is is kind of split right now between trying to 349 00:23:15,599 --> 00:23:19,440 be helpful on Earth related stuff, which is sustainable energy, 350 00:23:19,519 --> 00:23:23,160 and then trying to you know, advance space technology so 351 00:23:23,240 --> 00:23:25,759 we can establish self sustaining city on Mars. But I 352 00:23:25,799 --> 00:23:27,720 do think it's important to be a multiplanet, not just 353 00:23:27,799 --> 00:23:32,200 one planet, but another planet. So the and and the 354 00:23:32,240 --> 00:23:36,880 overarching goal is to minimize existential risk. You know, so 355 00:23:36,880 --> 00:23:39,680 if we look at look out into the future and say, 356 00:23:39,720 --> 00:23:43,240 what are the things that pose a risk to humanity 357 00:23:43,359 --> 00:23:45,759 to what? What? What? What? What is going to make 358 00:23:45,799 --> 00:23:49,079 the future good versus bad? And I think if obviously, 359 00:23:49,079 --> 00:23:51,920 if we have sustainable energy future that's good and the 360 00:23:52,000 --> 00:23:54,440 fastest that comes, the better. And then if we're a 361 00:23:54,480 --> 00:23:58,200 multiplanet species, that gives us much more resilience against an 362 00:23:58,200 --> 00:24:01,440 extinction event and also would be a really great and 363 00:24:01,559 --> 00:24:02,200 fun adventure. 364 00:24:05,480 --> 00:24:09,799 Speaker 10: Hi, my name is Dreda, and I wanted to know 365 00:24:10,119 --> 00:24:12,599 in your opinion, what would the future we look like 366 00:24:12,680 --> 00:24:16,079 in termine energy sources and how soon could we use 367 00:24:16,200 --> 00:24:17,559 nuclear fission efficiently? 368 00:24:18,920 --> 00:24:24,680 Speaker 1: Thank you sure well. The the thing to appreciate about 369 00:24:24,720 --> 00:24:29,240 the industry, the sort of installed industrial base, is that 370 00:24:29,359 --> 00:24:33,960 it's it's really enormous. Like the number of petrol and 371 00:24:34,000 --> 00:24:38,680 diesel cars on the road and trucks is about two billion. 372 00:24:40,720 --> 00:24:43,440 There are sort of hundreds of thousands of of of 373 00:24:43,880 --> 00:24:48,559 power plants using fossil fuels. So the the even if 374 00:24:48,599 --> 00:24:51,559 we if today we went super hard in the direction 375 00:24:51,680 --> 00:24:54,640 of renewables, it would still take a long time. So 376 00:24:55,400 --> 00:24:59,240 I think we will. It's before we see significant changes, 377 00:24:59,319 --> 00:25:07,720 probably ten or twenty years, and there's a lot that 378 00:25:07,759 --> 00:25:10,359 can happen in ten or twenty years of course, so 379 00:25:12,400 --> 00:25:15,000 the faster we can bring that date forward, the better. 380 00:25:16,680 --> 00:25:16,880 Speaker 2: Yeah. 381 00:25:19,160 --> 00:25:22,440 Speaker 11: Hi, my name is Natasha and from the Master Program 382 00:25:22,519 --> 00:25:26,119 of Sustainable Development. I have two questions. First one, because 383 00:25:26,119 --> 00:25:27,680 I want to be optimistic that we are going to 384 00:25:27,720 --> 00:25:30,960 switch at some point to be completely sustainable and to 385 00:25:31,079 --> 00:25:34,160 use renewable energies. Do you think that there are going 386 00:25:34,200 --> 00:25:38,680 to be a gap between developing and developed countries and 387 00:25:39,160 --> 00:25:42,279 when developing countries will be able to reach developed ones 388 00:25:42,680 --> 00:25:46,279 switching into sustainable and renewable energies. Then second one would 389 00:25:46,319 --> 00:25:49,720 be sustainability of nuclear energy. 390 00:25:49,640 --> 00:25:54,279 Speaker 1: In your opinion, thank you sure. And I actually I 391 00:25:54,319 --> 00:25:57,319 should answer the nuclear question because that was posed just 392 00:25:57,400 --> 00:26:02,720 before this. I actually think that nuclear fission, if it's 393 00:26:02,880 --> 00:26:05,599 in a location that is not subject to natural disasters, 394 00:26:06,480 --> 00:26:08,599 like like in the case of France, there's a very 395 00:26:08,680 --> 00:26:12,519 hYP percentage of nuclear I think that's actually a good thing. Obviously, 396 00:26:12,559 --> 00:26:15,200 you don't want to have nuclear fission power plants in 397 00:26:15,319 --> 00:26:19,279 places that are subject to natural disasters because that obviously 398 00:26:19,319 --> 00:26:25,200 it can go wrong. So and so I think fission 399 00:26:25,240 --> 00:26:28,200 is a good is a good approach. Fusion is also interesting, 400 00:26:28,920 --> 00:26:31,440 and it's exciting to see what's happening with the itroproject, 401 00:26:31,880 --> 00:26:34,559 which is a fusion plant that's being built in France. 402 00:26:36,759 --> 00:26:40,319 I do think fusion is is a is a feasible technology. 403 00:26:40,359 --> 00:26:44,000 I think we can definitely make fusion work the but 404 00:26:44,240 --> 00:26:46,079 but it is it is a it is kind of 405 00:26:46,119 --> 00:26:49,000 a far off technology. So to make fusion at the 406 00:26:49,039 --> 00:26:51,799 power plant level work is probably I don't know, thirty 407 00:26:51,880 --> 00:26:56,880 years away, and and and and and a lot of 408 00:26:57,000 --> 00:27:00,599 a lot of effort. So that that's why in at 409 00:27:00,680 --> 00:27:03,039 least you know for now, and I think maybe even 410 00:27:03,079 --> 00:27:05,400 in the long term. I'm a proponent of using the 411 00:27:05,440 --> 00:27:07,519 big fusion power plant in the sky called the Sun, 412 00:27:08,119 --> 00:27:10,680 so that the Sun is a giant fusion explosion and 413 00:27:10,839 --> 00:27:15,279 it shows up every day, and if we have footable 414 00:27:15,319 --> 00:27:18,240 takes for solar panels, we can capture that fusion energy. 415 00:27:19,119 --> 00:27:21,720 It also needs to be stored in batteries so we 416 00:27:21,799 --> 00:27:24,720 can use it at night. And then we want to 417 00:27:24,759 --> 00:27:30,279 have high power lines to transfer solar energy from one 418 00:27:30,319 --> 00:27:34,079 place to another. So but the important thing to appreciate 419 00:27:34,119 --> 00:27:36,319 is like, if let's say the only thing we had 420 00:27:36,480 --> 00:27:38,799 was with solar energy, then that was the only power 421 00:27:38,880 --> 00:27:41,599 source you could If you just took a small section 422 00:27:41,759 --> 00:27:45,200 of Spain, you could power all of Europe. It's a 423 00:27:45,359 --> 00:27:48,400 very small amount of area that's actually needed to generate 424 00:27:48,480 --> 00:27:52,039 the di trisity we need to power civilization, or in 425 00:27:52,119 --> 00:27:53,640 the case of the US, like a little corner of 426 00:27:53,720 --> 00:27:56,240 Nevada or Utah power of the entire United States. 427 00:27:57,839 --> 00:28:05,920 Speaker 12: So good evening, you do have a very impressive and 428 00:28:07,000 --> 00:28:11,319 stimulating career. You succeed in business while staying true to 429 00:28:11,400 --> 00:28:14,039 yourself and believes so I would like to know what 430 00:28:14,440 --> 00:28:18,119 advice you would give to a young entrepreneur who is 431 00:28:18,200 --> 00:28:22,079 aware of climate change issues, and maybe what was the 432 00:28:22,200 --> 00:28:24,599 best and the worst advice you are given about that? 433 00:28:25,559 --> 00:28:31,400 Speaker 1: Thank you? Okay, Well, I think if somebody is wanting 434 00:28:31,440 --> 00:28:35,240 entrepreneurial and energy, I mean, either either you want to 435 00:28:35,279 --> 00:28:37,039 start a company or you want to join a company 436 00:28:37,119 --> 00:28:41,359 that's doing something sustainable, and it could be you know, 437 00:28:41,400 --> 00:28:48,319 there's there's obviously wind solar and the geodomo, there's title power. 438 00:28:49,079 --> 00:28:50,880 So I would just say, look at companies that are 439 00:28:51,160 --> 00:28:53,079 trying to do sustainable energy and decide if you want 440 00:28:53,079 --> 00:28:54,839 to join them or if you want to start one. 441 00:28:56,720 --> 00:29:01,160 So I generally wouldn't you know, starting companies in either 442 00:29:01,200 --> 00:29:03,799 the automotive arena or the energy like energy arena is 443 00:29:03,880 --> 00:29:06,119 of like quite a tricky business. I mean when when 444 00:29:06,319 --> 00:29:10,039 when we first started uh Tesla and Solar City, we 445 00:29:10,240 --> 00:29:13,160 thought they would fail. We thought Tesla in particular, we 446 00:29:13,279 --> 00:29:16,920 thought probably we've uh maybe ten percent chants of success. 447 00:29:18,200 --> 00:29:23,559 So it's you know, particularly particularly cars, uh the you know, 448 00:29:23,880 --> 00:29:26,160 it's it's hard, it's hard to stay alive as a 449 00:29:26,200 --> 00:29:29,720 car company. Honestly, it's like this must be one of 450 00:29:29,759 --> 00:29:33,759 the worst risk suggested returns. Yeah. 451 00:29:36,720 --> 00:29:39,680 Speaker 13: Hi, my name is Benjamin, and I was wondering what 452 00:29:39,759 --> 00:29:43,480 do you wish for in terms of international rules and 453 00:29:43,720 --> 00:29:48,440 politics to facilitate the implementation of your power wall battery. 454 00:29:50,240 --> 00:29:54,599 Speaker 1: Well, it's really that the what I've been saying here 455 00:29:54,759 --> 00:29:58,160 is that that that the governments of the world need 456 00:29:58,279 --> 00:30:01,240 to price the the extra now. They need to put 457 00:30:01,359 --> 00:30:04,799 put a proper price on carbon, and then automatically the 458 00:30:04,920 --> 00:30:08,920 right behavior will occur. So this is by by putting 459 00:30:08,920 --> 00:30:13,359 a price on carbon, we're essentially fixing a pricing error 460 00:30:13,440 --> 00:30:16,480 in the market's market system. So I mean, most of 461 00:30:16,480 --> 00:30:19,839 the times when government governments intervened in markets, it's usually 462 00:30:20,279 --> 00:30:24,799 increases the pricing error. But but when when the pricing 463 00:30:24,920 --> 00:30:28,519 error is a huge tragedy the commons issue, like we 464 00:30:28,640 --> 00:30:32,039 have with carbon capacity, uh, it's critical that the government 465 00:30:32,079 --> 00:30:33,599 put a price in it because you just can't go 466 00:30:33,680 --> 00:30:35,960 wrong by putting by in. Any price to put in 467 00:30:35,960 --> 00:30:38,480 it will be more right than close to zero, which 468 00:30:38,519 --> 00:30:40,960 it is right now. So this is this is by 469 00:30:41,000 --> 00:30:42,960 far the most important thing if we want to accelerate 470 00:30:43,000 --> 00:30:48,960 the transition to sustainable energy. There are other less effective ways. 471 00:30:49,200 --> 00:30:53,319 By providing incentives and subsidies to say electric cars or 472 00:30:53,400 --> 00:30:57,720 solar that that is, that is a sometimes a more 473 00:30:57,720 --> 00:31:00,279 politically expedient way to do it, but the best way 474 00:31:00,480 --> 00:31:03,400 is just to directly fix the pricing error by taxing carbon. 475 00:31:05,359 --> 00:31:08,519 And this is if you ask most economists, they would 476 00:31:08,680 --> 00:31:11,759 say the same thing. So this is sort of well 477 00:31:12,079 --> 00:31:13,799 known and obvious in the economics world. 478 00:31:16,279 --> 00:31:20,319 Speaker 9: Even could you say a few words on artificial intelligence, 479 00:31:20,519 --> 00:31:23,559 because you know, I think I read or you you know, 480 00:31:23,680 --> 00:31:27,240 you were quoted among with others Bill Gates and Peter 481 00:31:27,359 --> 00:31:29,440 Till and so forth, saying that you know, you were 482 00:31:29,480 --> 00:31:32,400 afraid of the that one day and hyper you know, 483 00:31:32,519 --> 00:31:37,359 intelligent machine would destroy humanity. And you know, are you 484 00:31:37,480 --> 00:31:41,079 investing a lot into artificial intelligence with you know, because 485 00:31:41,440 --> 00:31:43,799 are we wasting a lot of energy because we're using 486 00:31:43,880 --> 00:31:46,400 you know, we're not being smart or we're not having 487 00:31:46,480 --> 00:31:49,640 smart objects and so forth. And how do you reconcile 488 00:31:49,720 --> 00:31:52,200 the two if you know there's a there's a long time, 489 00:31:52,400 --> 00:31:54,279 you know, long term major risk. 490 00:31:56,039 --> 00:31:58,799 Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, I definitely want to stay stay on 491 00:31:58,960 --> 00:32:02,480 the you know, just doble energy topic because it's it's 492 00:32:02,480 --> 00:32:04,559 easy to get get derailed on too many other things. 493 00:32:04,640 --> 00:32:06,839 But yeah, I mean, I think, I just think we 494 00:32:06,880 --> 00:32:11,799 should be cautious about the adventive AI. And a lot 495 00:32:11,839 --> 00:32:14,319 of people that I know that are developing AI are 496 00:32:14,400 --> 00:32:17,720 too convinced that that the only outcome is good and 497 00:32:17,839 --> 00:32:23,359 we need to consider potentially less good outcomes, and you know, 498 00:32:23,440 --> 00:32:26,039 to be careful and and and and really to monitor 499 00:32:26,359 --> 00:32:28,599 what's happening and make sure the public is aware of 500 00:32:28,640 --> 00:32:29,160 what's happening. 501 00:32:32,880 --> 00:32:36,960 Speaker 14: I'm Gabrie rondoin from where I stood the innovation here 502 00:32:37,000 --> 00:32:40,480 in Sorbon I have a question about fundraising, specifically about 503 00:32:40,480 --> 00:32:43,480 the fundraising process regarding. 504 00:32:43,079 --> 00:32:44,039 Speaker 1: What Tesla does. 505 00:32:44,559 --> 00:32:47,400 Speaker 14: What is the most difficult thing to raise funds in 506 00:32:47,480 --> 00:32:50,599 the beginning, not now, because now you have a well 507 00:32:50,720 --> 00:32:54,279 developed project and the worldwide knows you and knows the 508 00:32:54,519 --> 00:32:59,799 Tesla also, but in the beginning about the industry that 509 00:32:59,880 --> 00:33:03,640 you are working about this kind of energy, What is 510 00:33:03,720 --> 00:33:08,079 the most difficult thing to find investors and also to 511 00:33:08,200 --> 00:33:11,720 convince investors and keep what you thought in the beginning 512 00:33:12,279 --> 00:33:14,119 throughout the development of the company. 513 00:33:17,079 --> 00:33:23,200 Speaker 1: Sure well, in the beginning, uh, at the beginning of 514 00:33:23,279 --> 00:33:25,519 Tesla and and Soul City, I mean, I thought the 515 00:33:25,839 --> 00:33:29,400 probability of success was was so low that I provided 516 00:33:29,400 --> 00:33:31,160 all of the money, So all of the money was 517 00:33:31,319 --> 00:33:33,720 just came from me personally, because I didn't want to 518 00:33:33,759 --> 00:33:37,400 ask people other investors for money if I thought we 519 00:33:37,480 --> 00:33:39,759 were going to die, because I thought I thought we would, 520 00:33:39,920 --> 00:33:46,400 So so I invested you entirely the money that I 521 00:33:46,599 --> 00:33:50,759 got from PayPal, all of all of that got invested 522 00:33:50,799 --> 00:33:55,319 into Tesla, Sol City and SpaceX and and even then 523 00:33:55,400 --> 00:34:00,240 we only narrowly survived. So you know too that in 524 00:34:00,720 --> 00:34:03,200 two thousand and eight for Tesla, we actually closed the 525 00:34:03,240 --> 00:34:06,920 financing round on Christmas Eve, two thousand and eight. It 526 00:34:07,039 --> 00:34:08,519 was the last hour of the last day that it 527 00:34:08,599 --> 00:34:13,719 was possible. And you know, this is one of the 528 00:34:13,760 --> 00:34:16,360 tricky things with with something like a car company, is 529 00:34:16,360 --> 00:34:19,639 like there are good times and bad times, and when 530 00:34:19,679 --> 00:34:22,480 the economy goes south, then that's when things get really 531 00:34:22,599 --> 00:34:27,559 really tricky for a manufacturing company. So yeah, I mean 532 00:34:28,000 --> 00:34:31,679 in the US, for example, like the only two car 533 00:34:31,760 --> 00:34:34,400 companies that haven't gone bankrupt in history or forward in Tesla, 534 00:34:35,519 --> 00:34:39,840 that's it. Everybody else is bankrupt or went bankrupt at 535 00:34:39,880 --> 00:34:43,320 some point, you know, General Motives, Chrysler and others. So 536 00:34:45,519 --> 00:34:46,960 so I think we just made it by the skin 537 00:34:47,000 --> 00:34:49,960 of our teeth. These days. Last few years, it's really 538 00:34:50,000 --> 00:34:53,119 really I'd say, you know, the last two years is 539 00:34:53,519 --> 00:34:59,480 when Tesla's achieved a level where it's not facing imminent death. 540 00:35:00,559 --> 00:35:03,400 I mean even as recently as early twenty thirteen, we 541 00:35:03,480 --> 00:35:09,159 were operating with maybe one to two weeks of money. Hi. 542 00:35:09,679 --> 00:35:13,280 Speaker 15: My name is Pascal, and I would like to ask you, 543 00:35:14,119 --> 00:35:18,719 don't you think that we need a deeper reflection about 544 00:35:19,480 --> 00:35:24,800 our dynamic of society because all the solutions that we're 545 00:35:24,840 --> 00:35:30,400 talking about is about efficiency. But don't you think that 546 00:35:31,360 --> 00:35:35,920 we need to sing differently and consume less because right 547 00:35:36,000 --> 00:35:40,920 now our didn't make is about confronting problems and going 548 00:35:41,079 --> 00:35:46,440 always in the same direction and trying to find the 549 00:35:46,679 --> 00:35:48,840 technological innovasion to save us. 550 00:35:50,920 --> 00:35:54,280 Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, I do think we should be watch 551 00:35:54,320 --> 00:35:59,920 our consumption. We shouldn't be wasteful. But even if we're 552 00:36:01,639 --> 00:36:05,679 really conservative in our use of energy and very effective 553 00:36:05,719 --> 00:36:09,400 with recycling and all sorts of things, that that that 554 00:36:09,599 --> 00:36:13,320 delays the that the need to move to a sustainable future, 555 00:36:13,400 --> 00:36:16,559 but it doesn't eliminate it. Like if we don't have 556 00:36:16,639 --> 00:36:20,679 sustainable energy generation, that that there's no way that we 557 00:36:20,800 --> 00:36:25,840 can conserve our way to a good future. We have 558 00:36:26,039 --> 00:36:30,920 to fundamentally make a sustainable energy available. I mean, on 559 00:36:31,320 --> 00:36:33,679 on the plus side, that there's actually an enormous amount 560 00:36:33,880 --> 00:36:40,199 of sustainable energy. The energy from the sun pers per 561 00:36:40,280 --> 00:36:43,360 square kilometer is a giga white. So if you just 562 00:36:43,440 --> 00:36:46,639 had a one kilometer by one kilometer array of solar 563 00:36:46,639 --> 00:36:50,199 panels generating, well, it would be receiving a gigawatt of 564 00:36:50,239 --> 00:36:53,559 solar energy. Then at a twenty percent efficiency, you would 565 00:36:53,559 --> 00:36:59,360 be generating two hundred megawahtes. So we can actually generate 566 00:36:59,519 --> 00:37:03,719 way more energy, like probably a hundred times more energy 567 00:37:04,000 --> 00:37:08,000 than we actually need to operate civilization just with solar panels. 568 00:37:09,440 --> 00:37:11,519 So we just need to fix the stata structure of 569 00:37:11,559 --> 00:37:15,639 the world to make sure that that companies are incentive 570 00:37:15,719 --> 00:37:23,760 towards sustainable versus unsustainable technology. This is fundamentally the problem. Hello. 571 00:37:23,920 --> 00:37:26,719 Speaker 16: My name is Lily and I'm a PhD physics students 572 00:37:26,880 --> 00:37:29,800 at Yale University that I graduated here. So I have 573 00:37:30,119 --> 00:37:33,480 three questions. So the first one is sort of political 574 00:37:33,559 --> 00:37:37,840 because because you mentioned it, you said that scientists sometimes 575 00:37:37,880 --> 00:37:40,039 they diverge, they have different. 576 00:37:39,800 --> 00:37:43,320 Speaker 1: Opinions, and it's probably on anything. 577 00:37:43,760 --> 00:37:46,719 Speaker 16: Yeah, and that's also probably because sometimes they are financed 578 00:37:47,000 --> 00:37:51,199 by different corporations, and so you said that we should 579 00:37:51,199 --> 00:37:55,079 stop the propaganda, we should try to ask the politicians 580 00:37:55,360 --> 00:37:58,320 to set the rules so that we will go in 581 00:37:58,360 --> 00:38:02,079 a better direction, you know, not a climate you know, 582 00:38:03,280 --> 00:38:08,760 global warming. But so that probably goes against the interest 583 00:38:08,960 --> 00:38:12,880 of oil companies, but as well probably the governments themselves 584 00:38:12,920 --> 00:38:15,719 when they have a financial interest. So I was thinking 585 00:38:15,760 --> 00:38:21,960 perhaps your own I mean, perhaps we could have lobbyists ourselves, 586 00:38:22,360 --> 00:38:25,679 so that would be perhaps an efficient way to to 587 00:38:25,840 --> 00:38:31,920 have those rules put into you know, so these rules 588 00:38:32,079 --> 00:38:35,039 the carbon tax would be applied. So that's my first 589 00:38:35,119 --> 00:38:38,800 question because also you know, France is one of the 590 00:38:39,840 --> 00:38:44,800 main import of nuclear energy, so you know, trying to 591 00:38:44,960 --> 00:38:49,599 ask them for a tax carbon tax when themselves are 592 00:38:49,719 --> 00:38:52,679 the people who are making the most money from importing 593 00:38:53,000 --> 00:38:55,159 you know, nuclear energy from power plants. 594 00:38:55,280 --> 00:38:57,559 Speaker 2: A little bit at our inference, we'll limited to one 595 00:38:57,639 --> 00:39:02,039 question per person for now, I think the thing So the. 596 00:39:02,039 --> 00:39:04,320 Speaker 16: Other question is, you know, renewable jogy that that would 597 00:39:04,320 --> 00:39:07,320 be great, but it's going kind of intermittent, you know, 598 00:39:07,480 --> 00:39:08,519 like solar. 599 00:39:10,079 --> 00:39:10,880 Speaker 7: Solar energy. 600 00:39:12,400 --> 00:39:14,599 Speaker 16: Okay, that's great, but perhaps we need to store it 601 00:39:14,679 --> 00:39:18,679 with perhaps with batteries. But we we want we want 602 00:39:18,719 --> 00:39:23,760 to use like sure, yeah, I see the last one 603 00:39:23,880 --> 00:39:28,119 was the fossil sial era. I mean yeah, I mean 604 00:39:28,320 --> 00:39:30,239 is it not going to go to an end on 605 00:39:30,360 --> 00:39:33,519 its own because it's not an unlimited resource? 606 00:39:34,320 --> 00:39:34,440 Speaker 8: Right? 607 00:39:34,920 --> 00:39:36,840 Speaker 17: Maybe pick one out of the three questions, you know. 608 00:39:38,039 --> 00:39:51,800 Speaker 1: Sure, yeah, I mean I think it's each government should 609 00:39:51,840 --> 00:39:54,400 just that they should do the right thing without waiting, 610 00:39:54,719 --> 00:39:57,920 without depending upon what other governments are doing, like the 611 00:39:58,360 --> 00:40:01,400 I think that's that there's too much in these pliant 612 00:40:01,480 --> 00:40:05,840 climate talks of countries like trying to only do things 613 00:40:05,880 --> 00:40:09,320 if another country does it. I mean, if something, if 614 00:40:09,360 --> 00:40:11,079 it's if it's the right if it's the right thing 615 00:40:11,119 --> 00:40:13,039 for the future, a country should just do it and 616 00:40:13,079 --> 00:40:15,199 don't worry about what other countries are doing. Just do 617 00:40:15,280 --> 00:40:19,239 the right thing. And many of the countries are so 618 00:40:19,480 --> 00:40:21,840 it's it's really just, you know, we just don't want 619 00:40:21,840 --> 00:40:25,159 to encourage as many governments as possible to change the 620 00:40:25,239 --> 00:40:28,920 rules to insent a good future. That this is fundamentally 621 00:40:29,079 --> 00:40:31,719 what what what has to happen or we will substantially 622 00:40:31,840 --> 00:40:37,199 lay the transition away from carbon so and and yeah, 623 00:40:37,519 --> 00:40:44,559 so that that's that's what has to happen. And and 624 00:40:44,679 --> 00:40:47,400 and you know, Tesla and Soulial study that my companies 625 00:40:47,400 --> 00:40:50,119 are very tiny, like we're tiny, tiny companies. So the 626 00:40:50,760 --> 00:40:54,039 in order for there to be a big move towards sustainability, 627 00:40:55,400 --> 00:40:58,519 the giant companies have to know that that that that 628 00:40:58,800 --> 00:41:01,199 is what the governments demanding for the future, and that's 629 00:41:01,239 --> 00:41:03,840 what the people are demanding for the future. So at 630 00:41:03,880 --> 00:41:06,679 the end of the day, if you know, the governments 631 00:41:06,760 --> 00:41:11,800 respond to to flood to popular pressure, Like if you 632 00:41:11,880 --> 00:41:15,639 tell politicians that that you will vote depends on them 633 00:41:15,719 --> 00:41:17,840 doing the right thing with climate change, that that makes 634 00:41:17,840 --> 00:41:22,239 a difference. So if they're having sort of a fundraising 635 00:41:22,239 --> 00:41:24,639 event or a dentive party or whatever, and at every 636 00:41:24,679 --> 00:41:27,679 fundraising event, every dynive party, somebody's asking them, hey, what 637 00:41:27,840 --> 00:41:30,320 are you doing about the climate, then they will take action. 638 00:41:32,199 --> 00:41:36,000 So I think you have tremendous power. You have the 639 00:41:36,039 --> 00:41:40,119 power to make the change. We can't. We can't. Let 640 00:41:40,159 --> 00:41:41,599 me tell you, we definitely can't beat the oil and 641 00:41:41,639 --> 00:41:44,880 gas industry on lobbyists. Okay, this is that that would 642 00:41:44,880 --> 00:41:49,920 be a losing battle. You know, the you know, uh, 643 00:41:51,199 --> 00:41:53,239 Exon makes more profit in a year than the value 644 00:41:53,280 --> 00:41:56,880 of the entire solar industry in the United States. So 645 00:41:56,960 --> 00:41:59,360 it's like if you take every solar company the United States, 646 00:41:59,559 --> 00:42:02,320 it's less than excellent profit in one year. There's no 647 00:42:02,400 --> 00:42:06,760 way you can win on money. It's impossible. Good evening. 648 00:42:06,880 --> 00:42:10,039 So I've just one small question, very actual. Do you 649 00:42:10,119 --> 00:42:12,000 think the coup twenty one will be a success? 650 00:42:13,519 --> 00:42:14,920 Speaker 8: You know, I am. 651 00:42:15,199 --> 00:42:17,920 Speaker 1: I don't have any real basis for this, but I 652 00:42:18,000 --> 00:42:20,679 have a good feeling about it. I do have a 653 00:42:20,719 --> 00:42:23,559 good feeling about it, so I think, well, it's going 654 00:42:23,639 --> 00:42:27,119 to be degrees of success. So it's sort of like like, 655 00:42:27,239 --> 00:42:30,599 for example, like the Copenhagen was terrible, like nothing, nothing 656 00:42:30,639 --> 00:42:33,719 came out of Copenhagen. The Copenhagen climate talks, I mean 657 00:42:33,760 --> 00:42:35,599 it was basically I think there was a net increase 658 00:42:35,639 --> 00:42:38,840 in global warming as a result of that one. Unfortunately, 659 00:42:39,559 --> 00:42:41,480 in the case of the Paris talks, I think there 660 00:42:41,519 --> 00:42:43,840 will be some positive movement, and it's a question of 661 00:42:43,880 --> 00:42:46,960 what degree. And I think we need to send a 662 00:42:47,000 --> 00:42:51,119 clear message to the negotiating teams and to the politicians 663 00:42:51,159 --> 00:42:53,760 that this time there needs to be significant change. At 664 00:42:53,800 --> 00:42:58,119 this time, something needs to happen. There's a question all 665 00:42:58,119 --> 00:42:58,679 the way up on them. 666 00:42:59,679 --> 00:43:02,360 Speaker 17: Hello and thank you for coming. My name is Marianne. 667 00:43:02,360 --> 00:43:04,280 I'm a student of international relations. 668 00:43:04,320 --> 00:43:04,440 Speaker 1: Here. 669 00:43:05,119 --> 00:43:08,360 Speaker 17: My question here is this, we know that climate is 670 00:43:08,920 --> 00:43:12,480 global or common good, So how do we get countries 671 00:43:12,960 --> 00:43:16,840 with economies relying heavily on fossil fuels on board with 672 00:43:17,000 --> 00:43:21,599 climate change? Which like, how do we get those who 673 00:43:21,679 --> 00:43:23,559 have the most to lose on board? 674 00:43:23,960 --> 00:43:29,440 Speaker 1: Thank you? I think I think we just need to 675 00:43:29,480 --> 00:43:31,400 turn that argument around and say, like, look, this, this 676 00:43:31,599 --> 00:43:37,119 is a common good and if if, if we if, 677 00:43:37,480 --> 00:43:40,559 if countries don't take action, that they all will share 678 00:43:40,719 --> 00:43:47,320 in a bad future, so that they need that everyone 679 00:43:47,360 --> 00:43:50,760 needs to take action and and care about what the 680 00:43:50,800 --> 00:43:55,719 future is going to hold and lead by example. So 681 00:43:57,480 --> 00:44:01,119 even countries that that are quite dependent on on fossil fuels, 682 00:44:01,800 --> 00:44:04,320 if they just change their tax structure, they can they 683 00:44:04,400 --> 00:44:07,159 can move away from that in in a way that's 684 00:44:07,239 --> 00:44:10,960 not super disruptive to the economy. It's really just a 685 00:44:11,079 --> 00:44:14,840 question of collecting like the same amount of taxes, but 686 00:44:15,480 --> 00:44:20,880 but weighted towards uh things that that's that people believe 687 00:44:21,000 --> 00:44:23,079 are most likely to be bad instead of things that 688 00:44:23,119 --> 00:44:25,320 are most likely to be good. And we do this 689 00:44:25,440 --> 00:44:29,400 already in you know, in in in our tax code, 690 00:44:29,679 --> 00:44:32,000 we we tax alcohol and cigarettes much more than we 691 00:44:32,159 --> 00:44:35,199 tax fruits and vegetables. It's just sort of the sensible things, 692 00:44:35,440 --> 00:44:37,679 the sensible thing to do, and nobody you know, you 693 00:44:37,679 --> 00:44:39,920 don't and you don't here, you know countries saying well, 694 00:44:39,960 --> 00:44:42,119 we make lots of fruits, you know, we make lots 695 00:44:42,119 --> 00:44:45,280 of fruits and vegetables, so like we we want lower taxes, 696 00:44:45,360 --> 00:44:47,679 or we make lots of alcoholics, background we want, you know, 697 00:44:47,760 --> 00:44:50,679 lower taxes. Like that's a silly debate that it's gone. 698 00:44:52,480 --> 00:44:55,719 And I think the same thing applies to to carbon emissions. 699 00:44:56,000 --> 00:44:58,039 Just just adjust the tax code and the right thing 700 00:44:58,079 --> 00:45:00,599 will happen over time. And if you if you're graduated 701 00:45:00,639 --> 00:45:02,960 over time and you know it starts so small and 702 00:45:03,039 --> 00:45:05,599 becomes significant in the future, then even if you're heavily 703 00:45:05,639 --> 00:45:09,679 dependent on corbon today, the that that that that message 704 00:45:09,760 --> 00:45:11,840 of seeing what's going to happen in the future will 705 00:45:11,880 --> 00:45:15,360 have a huge impact on UH, on the way that 706 00:45:15,559 --> 00:45:21,599 that any given country's economy works, so so so they 707 00:45:21,639 --> 00:45:25,079 will then become not dependent on carbon because of the 708 00:45:25,119 --> 00:45:28,199 incentive structure. So I really don't think they have anything 709 00:45:28,239 --> 00:45:31,760 to lose here, and anything to lose by taking action, 710 00:45:31,880 --> 00:45:33,480 and a lot to lose by not taking action. 711 00:45:35,559 --> 00:45:37,679 Speaker 2: We have time for maybe two or three more questions, 712 00:45:37,800 --> 00:45:39,039 So there's one right here. 713 00:45:39,920 --> 00:45:41,800 Speaker 1: Hi, My question is about batteries. 714 00:45:42,119 --> 00:45:46,280 Speaker 18: So electric batteries today, especially liftimayon have a significant carbon 715 00:45:46,320 --> 00:45:50,760 footprint and potential impacts on both the environments and our health. 716 00:45:51,320 --> 00:45:55,480 And the environmental impact moves away from consumables and to 717 00:45:55,639 --> 00:45:58,119 how the way how we produce and how we store 718 00:45:58,199 --> 00:46:00,960 the waste that comes from it. So the gap with 719 00:46:01,079 --> 00:46:03,039 fossil fuels might not be as wide as we think. 720 00:46:03,199 --> 00:46:05,400 So my question how do you respond to this and 721 00:46:05,519 --> 00:46:07,840 how do you see this evolving in the next years? 722 00:46:12,440 --> 00:46:14,199 Speaker 1: So I'm not sure I totally understand that question. Could 723 00:46:14,239 --> 00:46:15,480 you say that again? 724 00:46:15,960 --> 00:46:21,400 Speaker 18: Yeah, basically the impact on the environment of today are 725 00:46:21,480 --> 00:46:26,360 ways of electrical batteries, production of lithium ion batteries, and 726 00:46:26,519 --> 00:46:29,320 how do you equate this with fossil fuel and its 727 00:46:29,400 --> 00:46:32,039 impact as it's more about the production and how we 728 00:46:32,239 --> 00:46:34,320 use the waste and how we store the waist and 729 00:46:34,440 --> 00:46:36,039 so how do you see this, How is this going 730 00:46:36,079 --> 00:46:37,599 to be optimized in the next years or is this 731 00:46:37,679 --> 00:46:38,199 going to change? 732 00:46:39,320 --> 00:46:42,039 Speaker 1: Yeah? Well, the one thing is like once you once 733 00:46:42,079 --> 00:46:45,000 you've built a battery, then at the end of life, 734 00:46:45,039 --> 00:46:47,840 of the battery. You can recycle those components. So it's 735 00:46:47,920 --> 00:46:51,480 it's a it's it's something that you know has no 736 00:46:52,159 --> 00:46:55,320 long term or negligible long term impact on the carbon 737 00:46:55,400 --> 00:47:00,679 cycle because you essentially you get those of the lithium 738 00:47:00,719 --> 00:47:05,239 and nickel, cobalt and and you create create the battery 739 00:47:05,639 --> 00:47:08,119 you created. You just essentially get those materials once and 740 00:47:08,159 --> 00:47:12,719 then you recycle them forever. So I think that the 741 00:47:14,079 --> 00:47:17,039 it's really a negligible impact for for for batteries on 742 00:47:17,119 --> 00:47:26,480 the environment. And uh yeah, and as compared to carbon producing, 743 00:47:27,280 --> 00:47:30,639 mining and verting billions of tons of carbon every year, 744 00:47:31,280 --> 00:47:36,960 which which effectively permanently from from a pumous standpoint affects 745 00:47:37,000 --> 00:47:40,760 the carbon the carbon content of the ocean's and atmosphere. 746 00:47:41,239 --> 00:47:46,599 So yeah, it's it's really we're talking orders of magnitude 747 00:47:46,599 --> 00:47:51,199 difference between uh, fossil fuels and batteries, like you're not 748 00:47:51,360 --> 00:47:52,400 not even on the same scale. 749 00:47:54,480 --> 00:47:59,480 Speaker 19: Then the last one, hello, as on my question is 750 00:48:00,760 --> 00:48:03,480 taking into consideration of the technology, now, is it some 751 00:48:03,639 --> 00:48:07,000 of a breaking point it is advanced, but not so 752 00:48:07,119 --> 00:48:11,159 advanced to pass to the sustainable clean energy? How do 753 00:48:11,280 --> 00:48:14,679 you see this integration of clean energy in for long 754 00:48:14,800 --> 00:48:17,679 term in the future, step by step, maybe. 755 00:48:18,599 --> 00:48:20,599 Speaker 1: How do I see the integration? How do I see 756 00:48:20,639 --> 00:48:22,679 this getting to a sustainable energy future? Yes? 757 00:48:23,000 --> 00:48:27,320 Speaker 19: Yes, How will will the clean energy integrate into a society? 758 00:48:27,400 --> 00:48:31,719 Thinking into the consideration that technology isn't advanced. 759 00:48:33,679 --> 00:48:39,199 Speaker 1: Sure, well, I mean I expect, you know, all transport 760 00:48:39,280 --> 00:48:42,320 to go fully electric over time, with the ironic exception 761 00:48:42,400 --> 00:48:48,280 of rockets, and then all energy production to go sustainable 762 00:48:48,320 --> 00:48:52,239 over time. This will take this will take a long time, 763 00:48:52,719 --> 00:48:56,760 many decades. But you know, the way it will manifest 764 00:48:56,800 --> 00:48:59,599 itself is by people having batteries in their homes or 765 00:48:59,639 --> 00:49:05,480 at the utility substation, and by driving you know, electric 766 00:49:05,559 --> 00:49:10,679 vehicles and having electric planes. But as I said that 767 00:49:10,800 --> 00:49:13,239 this is this is going to be quite a very 768 00:49:13,320 --> 00:49:17,840 slow transition because the instead of structure is so biased 769 00:49:17,880 --> 00:49:22,920 against sustainable energy. So in fact, even I think even 770 00:49:23,079 --> 00:49:27,159 if there's quite a strong action by government as a 771 00:49:27,199 --> 00:49:30,000 result of of the climate talks in Paris, I think 772 00:49:30,079 --> 00:49:34,519 it's still going to be a transition that's measured in decades. 773 00:49:34,639 --> 00:49:37,599 So it will be it will be a slow, slow transition. 774 00:49:39,679 --> 00:49:43,719 And and and the fundamental question is how do we 775 00:49:43,960 --> 00:49:48,920 accelerate that transition? That that's the real question here, what 776 00:49:49,119 --> 00:49:52,400 actions can we take that would accelerate a transition to 777 00:49:52,480 --> 00:49:57,440 a good future. And that's why I'm so so harping 778 00:49:57,480 --> 00:50:00,880 on this notion of a revenue neutral and tax i. 779 00:50:00,960 --> 00:50:04,519 Think that's something that that every country can implement, and 780 00:50:04,639 --> 00:50:07,079 it can be graduated and faced and over time, and 781 00:50:07,199 --> 00:50:09,519 this is this will be by far the most effective 782 00:50:09,559 --> 00:50:13,159 thing for accelerating that transition to a good future. 783 00:50:14,880 --> 00:50:15,079 Speaker 8: Kay. 784 00:50:15,079 --> 00:50:24,599 Speaker 1: Thanks, all right, Well, thank you everyone, m 785 00:50:31,719 --> 00:50:34,440 Speaker 4: All right, all right,