HackerTube
HomeLongsLikedHistoryWatch laterCategoriesPlaylistsSettings

"Energy Revolution? More like a Crawl" - Dr. Vaclav Smil

Trottier Institute for Sustainability in Engineering and Design3 HN recommenders · recommended in 3 months, 2017-2022
YouTube
59K views · 11 years ago · lecture · evergreen

Energy scholar Vaclav Smil argues that global energy transitions are slow and that renewable targets should not rest on wishful thinking. He appraises how energy dependencies are likely to change and asks for using much less.

HN recommends it as a grounded, data-driven counter to hype about quick energy revolutions.

Renewables, batteries & storageClimate policy, solutions & debateEarth & energy (other)#vaclavsmil#energy#renewables#fossilfuels#sustainability

4 comments from Hacker News

@seltzered_2022 · in “Deadly, dirty, indispensable: the nitrogen industry has changed the world”

I get where you're coming from, folks like Vaclav Smil have talked about how the haber bosch process is arguably what's kept 2/3 of human population alive ( ▶ this video ). The issues are also: - Thinking beyond the anthropocentric and realize we've created many ocean dead zones: e.g. link . Think about what this'll mean in terms of ocean temperature in life within our lifetimes. - Many farmsites simply use way too much nitrogen, possibly impacting human drinking water (one good person to follow in Iowa is Chris Jones ( link ) and Silvia Secchi ( link ) - Despite the above the predicament of deciding to use nitrogen inputs during adverse weather conditions (curious to hear about the alternatives here, from what I see even smallholder farmers that try to minimize nitrogen input still use a bit of it). - The haber bosch process itself, and industries seeking to find alternatives to produce ammonia gas (iirc likely used in making diesel DEF fluid urea - link ). - The article also cites norman borlaug, of which there's plenty of questions to ask around the economic and ecological narratives around that work - e.g. link and likely 'the violence of the green revolution'

CitesView on HN
@lcamach842020 · in “How can we, as web professionals, help to make the web more energy efficient?”

I encourage you to look at the work of Vaclav Smil [1] . There's no such thing as clean energy. [1] ▶ this video

RecommendsView on HN
@Scea912018 · in “Seaweed could be scrubbing more carbon from the atmosphere than expected (2017)”

Exactly, we haven't achieved that much actually. Most of the technology we use for harvesting energy is not much further from what people could imagine in 19th century. Turbine was invented in the 19th century. I really suggest watching this talk by Smil ▶ this video and if you are interested reading some books from him about energy and oil. Really insightful.

Strongly recommendsView on HN
@tedsanders2017 · in “The Future of Energy Isn't Fossil Fuels or Renewables, It's Nuclear Fusion”

That is a bizarre claim to make. Energy will not be far cheaper and more abundant in 10 years. Trillions of dollars are invested in infrastructure that has lifetimes of 50+ years. It is not economically or technologically feasible to undergo an energy revolution that quickly. Even if we gathered the political and financial will, our production facilities and supply chains could not feasibly handle the load of rebuilding the world's energy infrastructure in a single decade. ▶ this video

RecommendsView on HN
Václav Smil at Driva Climate Investment Meeting 201952:11

Václav Smil at Driva Climate Investment Meeting 2019

Nysnø Klimainvesteringer
38K views • 7 years ago
Rethinking Energy -- 100% Solar, Wind and Batteries Is Just The Beginning12:02

Rethinking Energy -- 100% Solar, Wind and Batteries Is Just The Beginning

Tony Seba
90K views • 5 years ago
Tony Seba: Clean Disruption - Energy & Transportation1:03:34

Tony Seba: Clean Disruption - Energy & Transportation

Colorado Renewable Energy Society (CRES)
802K views • 9 years ago
The Future of Humanity's Energy No One Knows About | Terraform19:59

The Future of Humanity's Energy No One Knows About | Terraform

S3 | Science, Startups, & Stories
228K views • 2 years ago
Revealed: ExxonMobil’s lobbying war on climate change legislation8:52

Revealed: ExxonMobil’s lobbying war on climate change legislation

Channel 4 News
243K views • 5 years ago
Clean Disruption - Why Energy & Transportation will be Obsolete by 2030 - Oslo, March 201653:54

Clean Disruption - Why Energy & Transportation will be Obsolete by 2030 - Oslo, March 2016

Tony Seba
554K views • 10 years ago
The Contradictions of Battery Operated Vehicles  | Graham Conway | TEDxSanAntonio13:59

The Contradictions of Battery Operated Vehicles | Graham Conway | TEDxSanAntonio

TEDx Talks
4.1M views • 6 years ago
The Truth about Hydrogen14:58

The Truth about Hydrogen

Real Engineering
5.7M views • 8 years ago
Innovating to zero! | Bill Gates29:33

Innovating to zero! | Bill Gates

TED
4.7M views • 16 years ago
You are being misled about renewable energy technology.1:32:00

You are being misled about renewable energy technology.

Technology Connections
5M views • 9 months ago
"This Machine Greens" - Bitcoin Documentary - Online Premiere38:05

"This Machine Greens" - Bitcoin Documentary - Online Premiere

Swan Bitcoin
88K views • 5 years ago
The End of Suburbia - 52 minute documentary on peak oil51:44

The End of Suburbia - 52 minute documentary on peak oil

endofsuburbia
580K views • 20 years ago
How to Enjoy the End of the World1:03:31

How to Enjoy the End of the World

Sid Smith
167K views • 7 years ago
A Complete Beginner's Guide to Electric Vehicles57:50

A Complete Beginner's Guide to Electric Vehicles

Technology Connections
2.1M views • 4 years ago
Why renewables can’t save the planet | Michael Shellenberger | TEDxDanubia17:33

Why renewables can’t save the planet | Michael Shellenberger | TEDxDanubia

TEDx Talks
5.7M views • 7 years ago
Gwynne Dyer -- Geopolitics in a Hotter World1:31:53

Gwynne Dyer -- Geopolitics in a Hotter World

The University of British Columbia
82K views • 16 years ago
A CONSERVATIVE solution to global warming (Part 1)21:33

A CONSERVATIVE solution to global warming (Part 1)

potholer54
278K views • 8 years ago
Carbon Capture Isn't Real3:51

Carbon Capture Isn't Real

Adam Something
988K views • 4 years ago
Freeman Dyson: Heretical Thoughts About Science and Society1:01:37

Freeman Dyson: Heretical Thoughts About Science and Society

Boston University
317K views • 16 years ago
The Great Stranding: How Inaccurate Mainstream LCOE Estimates are Creating a Trillion-Dollar Bubble18:58

The Great Stranding: How Inaccurate Mainstream LCOE Estimates are Creating a Trillion-Dollar Bubble

RethinkX
38K views • 5 years ago