Bill Gates explains on clean energy: China won’t lead the way

China’s attempts to move towards nuclear and renewable energy is admirable, but the US will be the driving force behind innovations and development, in the field of clean energy – that’s what Bill Gates told a sold out crowd at a Seattle breakfast, where the topic was climate change.

“China is very important and can be part of the solution here,” Gates said. “But as for the power to innovate in sciences, the U.S. still has the dominant position.”

Since his (partial) retirement from Microsoft, Gates has become significantly involved in the clean market field, and he has invested in several clean energy companies, including an innovative nuclear power company TerraPower. He obviously knows what he’s talking about, and he keeps giving out more and more speeches, which I warmly recommend you watch; this time, he really put the situation in China into perspective.

“For solar, a lot of the manufacturing is happening in China, but a lot of the innovation is taking place in the U.S. The innovation will happen where there are great universities” doing basic research, Gates said. “I know of 100 great new energy ideas. I’d say 70% of them are based here in the U.S.”

His remarks at a discussion hosted by the nonprofit Climate Solutions were carried in a live video feed on Grist.org. China is currently getting 2% of their energy from nuclear plants, and they plan to double this number by building more plants. However, when considering the fact that they intend to increase their power output 4 times in the next 20 years, this can only mean that they want to build more coal plants.

Gates said on numerous occasions that he hopes to bring down energy costs to half and dramatically reduce CO2 emissions.

“It’s not going to be easy to get wind up to 30%, or solar, or solar thermal. Nuclear’s difficulty is the cost of plants is very, very high,” he explained. “Given this uncertainty, we have to go full speed ahead on every one of them.”

Gates also gave a piece of advice for the US government, explaining why its role is crucial in the following years.

“The energy sector is going to be underinvested unless the government comes in.” He also called for the government to make its energy policy clearer. “Some days when I meet with scientists, I feel very optimistic,” he explained. “Then I step back and look at the politics” and that optimism fades.

After years of semisuccessful experiences with Microsoft and my personal computer, I can finally truly say that I’m beginning to love Bill Gates – I really am.

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  • Allenbrothers

    Here is what is going to derail that dinosaur. Please take 15 min and explore the link providedRossi has given three demonstrations so far including with professors from Bologna University and the Swedish skeptics society and the Chairman of the Swedish Physics Union. This is a link to the LENR site where detailed information about cold fusion efforts is available. http://www.lenr-canr.org/News... The Naval Research lab has been working on this with positive results for over 10 years. Yet the major scientific magazines refuse to touch this issue since it was purportedly discredited by some researchers and an institution that stood to lose 10s of millions in funding per year and numerous PHD candidates and hundreds of grad students who were working on the government funded hot fusion reactor. This funded hot fusion system has never produced surplus energy after billions have been spent and years of research. Rossi has announced a 1MW Cold Fusion facility to be opened in Greece this Oct. Yet top line periodicals have yet to publish even one article. This will change the economics of the world lifting many people out of poverty and it will also threaten many vested interests. FROM LENR-News Rossi 6-hour demonstration convinces Swedish expertsApril 2011On March 29, 2011, a test of a smaller Rossi device was performed. It was attended by two new observers: Hanno Essén, associate professor of theoretical physics and chairman of the Swedish Skeptics Society, and Sven Kullander, chairman of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences’ Energy Committee. They agree with other independent observers that the device must be producing a nuclear reaction. See NyTeknik: Swedish physicists on the E-cat: “It’s a nuclear reaction.” This test employed a new, smaller device with a 50 cm3 cell. It produced ~4.4 kW for 6 hours, or 25 kWh (90 MJ).Essén and Kullander wrote a report, also in NyTeknik, Experimental test of a mini-Rossi device at the Leonardocorp, Bologna 29 March 2011. Focardi gave a revealing radio interview. Here is an English translation.NyTeknik has published a number of articles about Rossi. They are all listed here. The New Energy Times is keeping a close watch on news articles about Rossi. They have a list of articles here. Plans to begin commercial cold fusion reactor production this yearMarch 2011A company has been formed in Athens, Greece, Defkalion Green Technologies S. A., for the purpose of manufacturing and selling Andrea Rossi Energy Catalyzer cold fusion reactors. According to the Greek newspaper “Investor’s World” and other sources, the company is capitalized at €200 million, which includes €100 million to be paid in as royalties, presumably to Rossi. The Greek press says the company plans to manufacture 300,000 machines a year for the Greek and Balkan market. The company website says it has exclusive rights to sell the machines everywhere except the Americas.www.lenr-canr.org/News…Rossi has announced that he is fabricating a 1 MW reactor to produce hot water (not steam or electricity), scheduled for October 2011. He is building the machine in Florida before shipping it to the Defkalion factory. It will consist of 100 small devices similar to the one demonstrated at U. Bologna.We have uploaded a new paper from Scott Chubb describing the Rossi device and recent events about it.Rossi 18-hour demonstrationFebruary 2011, updated March 2011On February 10 and 11, 2011, Levi et al. (U. Bologna) performed another test of the Rossi device. Compared to the January 14 test, they used a much higher flow rate, to keep the cooling water from vaporizing. This is partly to recover more heat, and partly because Celani and others criticized phase-change calorimetry as too complicated. There were concerns about the enthalpy of wet steam versus dry steam, and the use of a relative humidity meter to determine how dry the steam was. A source close to the test gave Jed Rothwell the following figures. These are approximations:Duration of test: 18 hoursFlow rate: 3,000 L/h = ~833 ml/s.Cooling water input temperature: 15°CCooling water output temperature: ~20°CInput power from control electronics: variable, average 80 W, closer to 20 W for 6 hoursThe temperature difference of 5°C * 833 ml = 4,165 calories/second = 17,493 W. Observers estimated average power as 16 kW. A 5°C temperature difference can easily be measured with confidence.3,000 L/h is 793 gallons/h, which is the output of a medium-sized $120 ornamental pond pump. The control electronics input of ~80 W is in line with what was reported for tests before Jan. 14. Input power was high on that day because there was a problem with cracked welding, according to the Levi report.18 hours * 16 kW = 288 kWh = 1,037 MJ. That is the amount of energy in 26 kg of gasoline (7.9 gallons). Given the size and weight of the device, this rules out a chemical source of energy.NyTeknik published a fascinating description of the latest experiment (in English). This includes new details, such as the fact that the power briefly peaked at 130 kW. NyTeknik also published an interview with two outside experts about the demonstration: Prof. Emeritus at Uppsala University Sven Kullander, chairman of the National Academy of Sciences Energy Committee, and Hanno Essén, associate professor of theoretical physics, Swedish Royal Institute of Technology. Two versions are available, in English and Swedish.On March 3, Rossi conducted an informative on-line chat with NyTeknik readers.Rossi and U. Bologna have announced that tests on the device will continue for a year.

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