WEBVTT - The Future of Renewable Energy, Featuring Bill Gates 0:00:00.280 --> 0:00:03.279 This episode is brought to you by Squarespace. Start building 0:00:03.320 --> 0:00:06.360 your website today at squarespace dot com and our offer 0:00:06.440 --> 0:00:09.160 code stuff at check out and get ten percent off 0:00:09.480 --> 0:00:23.920 square Space. Build it beautiful. Hey, and welcome to the podcast. 0:00:24.000 --> 0:00:26.639 I'm Josh Clark. There's Charles w Chuck Bryant, and there's 0:00:26.720 --> 0:00:29.480 Jerry over there. And this is stuff you should know. 0:00:30.320 --> 0:00:33.960 And this is a I from my perspective of pretty 0:00:33.960 --> 0:00:36.760 awesome special stuff you should know. It is we uh, 0:00:36.920 --> 0:00:39.199 we don't normally have guests on the show. No, we 0:00:39.280 --> 0:00:43.680 almost never do. It's a very select group, that's right, 0:00:44.040 --> 0:00:48.120 but this this maybe the topper. Yeah, what happened last week? 0:00:49.240 --> 0:00:52.080 Well last week, um, I was in Hawaii and I 0:00:52.080 --> 0:00:55.000 got a text from you and it said, Buddy, I'm 0:00:55.040 --> 0:00:58.840 sorry to bother you on vacation, but Bill Gates wants 0:00:58.880 --> 0:01:01.240 to be on Stuff you Should Know. And you went, 0:01:01.360 --> 0:01:04.399 you mean old Billy Gates from elementary school, Billy bath Gate, 0:01:04.480 --> 0:01:09.920 And I said, no, Bill Gates, the entrepreneur, co founder 0:01:09.920 --> 0:01:14.080 of Microsoft and philanthropist, wants to be on our show. 0:01:14.600 --> 0:01:18.360 Because his personal communications person got in touch and said, 0:01:18.680 --> 0:01:20.760 I know you don't normally do this, but would you 0:01:20.800 --> 0:01:24.000 consider making an exception for Mr Gates, right, and we 0:01:24.000 --> 0:01:27.200 were like, we really appreciate that you did the research 0:01:27.240 --> 0:01:29.679 to know that we don't normally have people on. That 0:01:29.720 --> 0:01:31.800 actually was very kind because we've had other people that 0:01:31.880 --> 0:01:35.200 just assume like, well, you'd want to have this person on, right, Well, 0:01:35.280 --> 0:01:37.200 do you even listen to the show. We don't have 0:01:37.240 --> 0:01:39.920 guests normally. So we're like Bill Gates. Bill Gates like 0:01:39.959 --> 0:01:42.679 played by Anthony Michael Hall once and it made for 0:01:42.880 --> 0:01:45.480 TV movie on T n T Bill Gates and they 0:01:45.520 --> 0:01:48.240 said that Bill Gates, that's right. We said, yes, watch, 0:01:48.280 --> 0:01:49.760 We're going to show up for the interview and it's 0:01:49.760 --> 0:01:53.040 gonna be Anthony Michael Hall. That would blow my mind. 0:01:53.440 --> 0:01:56.400 So we're recording this first portion of the podcast on 0:01:57.080 --> 0:02:00.520 renewal renewable energy, which is a topic very dear to 0:02:00.720 --> 0:02:04.160 Mr Gates's heart, um and something he knows way more 0:02:04.160 --> 0:02:06.840 about than we do. So we're recording this before we 0:02:06.920 --> 0:02:09.320 go talk to him in New York City next week. Um. 0:02:09.400 --> 0:02:11.160 But through the magic of editing, it will be as 0:02:11.200 --> 0:02:14.120 if this is one seamless day, like he's in the 0:02:14.160 --> 0:02:16.520 studio with us, right. So he wanted to talk about 0:02:16.560 --> 0:02:19.520 renewable energy. He's pretty jazzed about it, um, And you 0:02:19.520 --> 0:02:22.239 could say I'm pretty jazzed about renewable energy as well. 0:02:22.360 --> 0:02:24.840 It's amazing what's coming down the pike. And there's yes 0:02:25.080 --> 0:02:29.160 coming down the Pike's very important, right because, um, there's 0:02:29.160 --> 0:02:32.560 a lot of stuff that's going on right now in 0:02:32.600 --> 0:02:34.880 the twenty one century and then coming in the next 0:02:34.919 --> 0:02:38.359 couple of decades that mean that we could really use 0:02:38.400 --> 0:02:42.799 renewable energy sooner than later. One is that, Um, it's 0:02:42.840 --> 0:02:48.799 predicted that energy consumption worldwide is going to increase by 0:02:49.960 --> 0:02:54.640 over two tho levels thirty years from hits. There's a 0:02:54.760 --> 0:02:57.920 lot more energy consumption than we're doing right now, and 0:02:57.960 --> 0:03:02.480 we consume a lot of energy. Yeah, in the world 0:03:02.520 --> 0:03:06.079 as a whole admitted thirty six billion tons of c 0:03:06.280 --> 0:03:09.040 O two and that is forty two percent more than 0:03:09.080 --> 0:03:11.560 we did, forty two percent more than we did in 0:03:11.680 --> 0:03:18.040 nine and the goal is below nine ls. So that's 0:03:18.080 --> 0:03:23.959 a hundred and twenty that's what I said. Yeah, you 0:03:24.040 --> 0:03:28.880 got it right, A hundred swing as in the wrong direction. Yeah, 0:03:28.919 --> 0:03:30.760 we need to get to and try and achieve. And 0:03:30.760 --> 0:03:32.840 this is not just the US, this is this is 0:03:32.840 --> 0:03:36.400 a world problem exactly. So you've got a two fold. 0:03:36.880 --> 0:03:40.400 You have two conflicting issues here. You have increasing energy demand, 0:03:40.600 --> 0:03:44.440 but you also have a desire to reduce CEO two emissions. 0:03:44.520 --> 0:03:47.960 Right then then if you want to confound things further, 0:03:48.040 --> 0:03:52.160 and this is where um, Bill Gates's passions lie. Um, 0:03:52.200 --> 0:03:54.800 You've got a lot of people out there, something like 0:03:54.880 --> 0:03:57.880 one point three billion people around the world who just 0:03:57.920 --> 0:04:01.880 don't have electricity at all. Yeah, of the world's population 0:04:01.920 --> 0:04:07.960 without electricity at all, sevent of Sub Saharan Africa no electricity. 0:04:08.240 --> 0:04:11.160 Three million people in India alone with no electricity. And 0:04:11.200 --> 0:04:13.880 that's not just oh well, you don't have all the 0:04:13.920 --> 0:04:15.640 mod cons it's you know, you don't have light to 0:04:15.680 --> 0:04:20.800 read by um and educate yourselves, or to refrigerate your 0:04:20.800 --> 0:04:24.120 food and not catch food born diseases. I mean, we 0:04:24.160 --> 0:04:26.560 could name out a hundred reasons why you need electricity 0:04:26.560 --> 0:04:32.039 in the exactly. So, you've got a growing energy demand, 0:04:32.240 --> 0:04:35.760 you have a need to reduce c O two emissions, 0:04:36.279 --> 0:04:39.239 and then you have a whole segment of the human 0:04:39.240 --> 0:04:43.479 population that needs access to energy, which means that if 0:04:43.600 --> 0:04:48.039 you can come up with some good renewable technologies, you 0:04:48.080 --> 0:04:51.839 can actually make all these things work together. But the 0:04:51.920 --> 0:04:56.800 key is so if it's renewable, it's automatically basically clean UM. 0:04:56.839 --> 0:05:00.000 And it has to come soon to offset that energy increase, 0:05:00.279 --> 0:05:05.080 energy consumption increase. But because we're factoring the developing low 0:05:05.160 --> 0:05:09.000 income world into this, it needs to also be cheap 0:05:09.480 --> 0:05:13.719 and easily accessible and reliable. Yeah. Until and this is 0:05:13.720 --> 0:05:16.160 something that I'm sure Bill Gates hammers home every time 0:05:16.200 --> 0:05:19.120 he has a chance. If it's gotta it's gotta be viable, 0:05:19.240 --> 0:05:24.159 And if it's not cheaper and better then fossil fuel consumption, 0:05:24.520 --> 0:05:26.479 then no one's ever gonna jump on board in a 0:05:26.480 --> 0:05:29.000 big way. Yeah. And if so from this point on, Chuck, 0:05:29.080 --> 0:05:31.720 because he is coming on as a personal guest to stuff, 0:05:31.760 --> 0:05:33.280 you should know, I think we can just refer to 0:05:33.320 --> 0:05:38.880 him as Bill our friend, Bill. Yeah, Bill our pal. Yeah. 0:05:39.240 --> 0:05:43.240 I can't wait to see a week from now. Uh, 0:05:43.320 --> 0:05:46.080 let's talk a little bit about UM. Who's contributing to 0:05:46.120 --> 0:05:49.760 the problem. China. They're the world's top CEO to admit 0:05:49.800 --> 0:05:56.040 her UM at least of global emissions, with the US 0:05:56.440 --> 0:05:59.039 number two at fifteen point five, followed by the EU 0:05:59.279 --> 0:06:01.480 at nine point I have an Indian at seven point two. 0:06:02.120 --> 0:06:06.960 But everybody agrees that let's there's a problem and let's 0:06:07.000 --> 0:06:09.520 try and reverse it. So they had a summit in 0:06:09.640 --> 0:06:12.080 Paris at the end of this past year where they 0:06:12.120 --> 0:06:14.840 all got together all these nations said you know what, 0:06:15.120 --> 0:06:18.040 let's set some goals here. Uh. In the US for 0:06:18.160 --> 0:06:19.800 their part, said you know what, let's try and cut 0:06:19.880 --> 0:06:26.080 national emissions by up to by the year from two 0:06:26.360 --> 0:06:30.400 five levels. Right. Um. And this is this is this 0:06:30.440 --> 0:06:34.040 whole Paris Accord, basically the Paris Climate Talks that came 0:06:34.040 --> 0:06:38.080 in November. Um, two hundred countries signed on to reduce 0:06:38.120 --> 0:06:42.440 their emissions and um uh it was lauded as a 0:06:42.520 --> 0:06:45.200 huge breakthrough. You got all these people together and all 0:06:45.200 --> 0:06:47.560 these different countries and they hammered out a document that's 0:06:47.640 --> 0:06:51.120 legally binding. But there's also criticism of the document and 0:06:51.160 --> 0:06:55.640 that the emissions reductions are just totally voluntary. There's no 0:06:55.680 --> 0:06:58.360 teeth in the document to say, well, here's the bad 0:06:58.400 --> 0:06:59.960 things that happened to you if you don't meet your 0:07:00.160 --> 0:07:04.960 reductions goals. But as criticized as the document the Paris 0:07:05.240 --> 0:07:09.400 Climate Talks were, there's also like a real sunny side 0:07:09.400 --> 0:07:12.040 to the whole thing, and that came in some kind 0:07:12.080 --> 0:07:16.920 of um between the lines, uh message that came out 0:07:16.920 --> 0:07:20.520 of it, and that was developed industrialized nations are ready 0:07:20.560 --> 0:07:25.560 to put down some serious coin into renewable energy technology. Yeah, 0:07:25.600 --> 0:07:30.320 to the tune um of total one billion euros per 0:07:30.400 --> 0:07:34.840 year UM to low income economies to try and build 0:07:34.880 --> 0:07:38.800 them up and give them robust economies which would help 0:07:38.840 --> 0:07:41.640 the world as a whole. Right, So, um, this basically 0:07:41.760 --> 0:07:46.160 is this hundred billion euros a year. It's a sizeable 0:07:46.240 --> 0:07:49.960 chunk and it's it's it represents kind of a funnel 0:07:51.040 --> 0:07:56.920 through developing nations, from developed nations to developing nations. Two 0:07:57.440 --> 0:08:01.080 renewable tech companies. So it's a it's a roundabout investment 0:08:01.120 --> 0:08:05.800 in renewable tech um. And there's a lot of stuff 0:08:05.840 --> 0:08:10.800 that's being it that that just went from pine in 0:08:10.840 --> 0:08:13.560 the sky to oh now you're throwing some real money 0:08:13.600 --> 0:08:16.240 at this. We can make this happen now because some 0:08:16.320 --> 0:08:20.120 stuff brand new, some stuff altering existing technologies. But it's 0:08:20.160 --> 0:08:23.640 all super exciting. Um. Should we talk about some of 0:08:23.640 --> 0:08:28.360 these What the first one I have to say? I 0:08:28.480 --> 0:08:31.760 love if you remember in the State of the Union 0:08:31.800 --> 0:08:37.560 address in January, President Obama said something about turning sunlight 0:08:37.600 --> 0:08:40.240 into liquid fuel. I thought he was having an acid 0:08:40.240 --> 0:08:46.000 flashback up and away in my beautiful But no, what 0:08:46.000 --> 0:08:50.480 he's talking about is a super promising UH process called 0:08:50.559 --> 0:08:56.040 artificial photosynthesis, and it's basically, well, it's exactly what it sounds. 0:08:56.160 --> 0:09:03.040 It's it's building machines that take CEO two emissions and 0:09:03.200 --> 0:09:06.599 that contribute the climate change and using that actually in 0:09:06.720 --> 0:09:10.360 the sunlight to make fuel. Right, So you're using CEO 0:09:10.360 --> 0:09:14.960 two emissions as a raw material for fuel. Unbelievable. So basically, UM, 0:09:15.000 --> 0:09:18.360 there's been a lot of UM stumbling blocks so far 0:09:18.400 --> 0:09:21.360 as far as the artificial photosynthesis industry is concerned. But 0:09:21.400 --> 0:09:26.000 they've also had some really good breakthroughs recently. One was 0:09:26.360 --> 0:09:28.360 it came out of the Department of Energy is Berkeley 0:09:28.400 --> 0:09:32.000 Lab where basically they took nano wire arrays they made 0:09:32.000 --> 0:09:34.720 what they call a synthetic forest of nano wires, right, 0:09:35.040 --> 0:09:38.960 and these nano wires collect solar energy and they transfer 0:09:39.040 --> 0:09:43.360 it to bacteria. And there's bacteria mixed in with carbon 0:09:43.400 --> 0:09:48.200 dioxide and water break down the CEO two, so they 0:09:48.280 --> 0:09:54.040 catalyze it into other components. Right. Then another bacteria takes 0:09:54.040 --> 0:09:57.520 those components and build them up into a usable fuel 0:09:57.720 --> 0:10:02.360 like methanol. And all this happened in basically Uh. A 0:10:03.160 --> 0:10:07.520 artificial photosynthetic fuel cell is what is what it is 0:10:07.600 --> 0:10:10.680 using sunlight to break c O two emissions down into 0:10:10.760 --> 0:10:15.079 usable fuel. Amazing, amazing it is. Uh. Something else I 0:10:15.160 --> 0:10:20.840 got going is actually taking water c O two and 0:10:20.960 --> 0:10:24.480 splitting this stuff up into its individual elements and then 0:10:25.200 --> 0:10:29.719 essentially recombining them to form c H three oh h, 0:10:29.760 --> 0:10:33.679 which is methanol a k A wood spirits. Uh, but 0:10:33.800 --> 0:10:35.960 you don't want to drink a k A what you 0:10:36.320 --> 0:10:39.720 would get it's like the simplest form of alcohol, and 0:10:39.760 --> 0:10:41.560 what you would get when you would burn would well, 0:10:41.559 --> 0:10:45.360 it's the simplest usable form. Well, yeah, I guess the 0:10:45.400 --> 0:10:49.400 simplest form would be golden grain, right, although you could 0:10:49.400 --> 0:10:51.080 probably put that in an engine. I wonder what would appen. 0:10:51.080 --> 0:10:53.520 Think it would work probably So if you're out of 0:10:53.559 --> 0:10:57.320 fuel in the hills of Georgia, it'll work. It'll do 0:10:57.400 --> 0:10:59.600 the trick. So methanol is the simplest that you can 0:10:59.800 --> 0:11:01.679 you in an engine, and it's already being used on 0:11:01.880 --> 0:11:05.240 China is blending it into gasoline for regular cars at 0:11:05.240 --> 0:11:09.160 about or less right there at the pumps, and their 0:11:09.280 --> 0:11:13.760 taxis and busses are running on up to blend of 0:11:13.840 --> 0:11:16.680 methanol on gasoline. Right, So it's a real thing. It 0:11:16.720 --> 0:11:18.440 definitely is a real thing. And one of the big 0:11:18.480 --> 0:11:24.120 problems with artificial photosynthesis has been that UM, the the 0:11:24.240 --> 0:11:29.120 catalyst to break the CEO two down into constituent components, 0:11:29.600 --> 0:11:32.800 has required something like platinum. Platinum is a very efficient 0:11:32.800 --> 0:11:36.680 catalyst for that process, right, Platinum also cost an ounce 0:11:36.960 --> 0:11:38.640 and if you're coming up with tech that you can 0:11:38.640 --> 0:11:42.480 sell cheap to the developing world, platinum can't be a 0:11:42.520 --> 0:11:44.800 major component of the whole thing, Which is why that 0:11:44.880 --> 0:11:49.600 Berkeley Labs breakthrough using bacteria to catalyze and synthesize this 0:11:49.679 --> 0:11:52.640 stuff is huge because one of the one of the 0:11:52.679 --> 0:11:57.760 bacteria they're using, the synthetic bacteria synthesizing bacteria is E. Coli. 0:11:58.000 --> 0:12:00.800 You can find that anywhere man skill, grab a bunch 0:12:00.800 --> 0:12:04.040 of cilantro, throw it in there. You've got your your 0:12:04.240 --> 0:12:09.640 your synthesizing bacteria. Another big goal is to UM well, 0:12:09.679 --> 0:12:12.640 and this is this is a goal for anyone making 0:12:12.679 --> 0:12:16.199 any sort of renewable energy machinery is to make them 0:12:16.320 --> 0:12:19.520 last super long, because then you can amoritize that cost 0:12:19.600 --> 0:12:22.760 over many many years, thus driving the overall costs down. 0:12:23.640 --> 0:12:27.559 UM and so long lasting is a big key. Uh. 0:12:27.600 --> 0:12:30.600 And then you know it's not just about building the 0:12:30.679 --> 0:12:34.600 machine that will actually not in the case of the bacteria, 0:12:34.640 --> 0:12:38.440 that will actually split up in these elements. Um, you 0:12:38.480 --> 0:12:41.480 also need other machines around it. You can't just do 0:12:41.520 --> 0:12:43.960 that and say I throw it in the gas. Um. 0:12:44.080 --> 0:12:46.679 It has to be recombined into something usable. Well yeah, 0:12:46.720 --> 0:12:48.920 and not only that, but it's got to be I mean, 0:12:48.920 --> 0:12:51.920 there's all kinds of ancillary equipment that need to be 0:12:52.000 --> 0:12:54.080 used to make this whole thing work. Right, So I 0:12:54.120 --> 0:12:56.240 think the point is that you can't have a huge 0:12:57.840 --> 0:12:59.640 just this huge thing if you're going to try to 0:12:59.679 --> 0:13:02.760 sell to the consumer. Right, No, it has to be 0:13:02.800 --> 0:13:05.600 in the pumped gas. But you could create a huge 0:13:05.679 --> 0:13:08.880 thing if you're going to basically create a fuel refinery 0:13:08.880 --> 0:13:12.960 and artificial photosynthesis fuel refinery, and then you can just 0:13:13.280 --> 0:13:16.840 sell it to gas stations. That would work to Another 0:13:16.880 --> 0:13:20.040 problem here that you point out is they figured out 0:13:20.040 --> 0:13:24.640 how to split uh, water and CEO two in separate processes, 0:13:24.679 --> 0:13:28.360 but not in one unit. Right. That's where that Berkeley 0:13:28.559 --> 0:13:30.800 breakthrough is such a big deal. So I would say, 0:13:30.800 --> 0:13:33.320 just bolt those two machines together and you got one machine. 0:13:33.400 --> 0:13:36.319 Right exactly. But they use two different kinds of bacteria 0:13:36.400 --> 0:13:39.320 to do two different jobs in the same in the 0:13:39.360 --> 0:13:43.800 same machine. It's it's it's amazing. And one of the 0:13:44.080 --> 0:13:47.920 researchers points out that funding for this stuff is kind 0:13:47.920 --> 0:13:50.959 of a problem because funding doesn't um you don't get 0:13:51.000 --> 0:13:54.200 the same amount of money every quarter. Uh. Sometimes it's high, 0:13:54.240 --> 0:13:57.120 sometimes it's low, And that's really tough and it's a 0:13:57.120 --> 0:13:59.800 big challenge when you're trying to figure out these things. 0:13:59.800 --> 0:14:02.920 But because you might get a great idea one year 0:14:03.200 --> 0:14:06.120 where you need that dough and you don't have it um, 0:14:06.240 --> 0:14:07.960 So it's just a lot harder to manage when that 0:14:08.320 --> 0:14:10.400 the ebb and flow of funding comes and goes. But 0:14:10.520 --> 0:14:14.560 I think that's where this huge, the big that's where 0:14:14.600 --> 0:14:16.760 this big thing that came out of the Paris Climate 0:14:16.760 --> 0:14:20.320 Talks comes in. That Like, it's not like money is 0:14:20.320 --> 0:14:23.640 a thing in the past, But if you're creating something 0:14:23.680 --> 0:14:27.920 that really has legs as far as creating renewable energy 0:14:28.560 --> 0:14:32.720 is concerned, you're gonna be able to find a capital. Yeah. 0:14:32.800 --> 0:14:35.000 Right now, the U. S Energy Department is renewing a 0:14:35.120 --> 0:14:38.560 seventy five million dollar five year grant to cal techs 0:14:39.280 --> 0:14:43.920 UH Center for artificial photosynthesis. So that's not pocket change. 0:14:44.080 --> 0:14:46.240 I'm sure it'll take more than that, but some you 0:14:46.280 --> 0:14:48.960 can you can do some research with that. So thumbs 0:14:49.040 --> 0:14:53.520 up to artificial photosynthesis. Thumbs up. We're both a little excited, 0:14:53.600 --> 0:14:55.600 so as is our custom, I think we should take 0:14:55.600 --> 0:15:15.600 a break, agreed, So chuck, Um, there's a there's this 0:15:15.720 --> 0:15:18.240 kind of this big issue right where we have wind 0:15:18.280 --> 0:15:21.560 power and we have solar power, and some places are 0:15:21.760 --> 0:15:25.320 sunnier than others in the United States, California or else 0:15:25.360 --> 0:15:29.880 in the world. Um, and some places are windier than others. Okay, 0:15:29.920 --> 0:15:32.560 So like Kansas can get all the wind it needs 0:15:32.640 --> 0:15:36.520 from wind farms if they wanted to, Probably California. Actually 0:15:36.720 --> 0:15:40.280 I looked up Reno, Nevada in Honolulu about the same 0:15:40.320 --> 0:15:43.160 amount of sunlight every year, did you know that? But 0:15:43.320 --> 0:15:47.360 very different places, very different. But um, so either one 0:15:47.400 --> 0:15:52.320 of them could subsist on solar energy technically, right. But 0:15:52.440 --> 0:15:54.080 you've got a place like Seattle it's not going to 0:15:54.200 --> 0:15:56.800 do very well for solar solar energy, or London not 0:15:56.840 --> 0:15:59.560 gonna do really well with solar energy. But if you're 0:15:59.560 --> 0:16:02.320 talking about out like say a national grid, and say 0:16:02.320 --> 0:16:04.800 the United States, if you step back and look at 0:16:04.800 --> 0:16:07.360 it rather than like Kansas is one region, in California 0:16:07.440 --> 0:16:13.200 is another, and say, actually, in Kansas in California are 0:16:13.240 --> 0:16:15.600 parts of this larger grid. We just have to figure 0:16:15.600 --> 0:16:17.960 out how to get the wind power that's constantly in 0:16:18.040 --> 0:16:22.840 Kansas over to Seattle, or the solar power that's you know, 0:16:22.960 --> 0:16:26.600 in Reno over to Boston. How do you do that? 0:16:26.720 --> 0:16:28.440 And they figured out all they have to do is 0:16:28.560 --> 0:16:33.080 use existing technology, which is just basically stepped up type 0:16:33.080 --> 0:16:35.440 of power line. Yeah, I think this is amazing. There 0:16:35.560 --> 0:16:39.080 was a guy named Alex Alex McDonald from the n 0:16:39.160 --> 0:16:42.360 O A A from Noah, that's right, and he kind 0:16:42.360 --> 0:16:46.040 of realized one day, Hey, the wind is always blowing somewhere, 0:16:46.840 --> 0:16:49.960 like we've got the wind, um, we got all these 0:16:49.960 --> 0:16:52.960 power lines. Why don't we do this. Let's think of 0:16:53.000 --> 0:16:55.000 things in a different way, and let's think of the 0:16:55.080 --> 0:16:59.800 US as one big, all encompassing, interconnected grid, which it 0:16:59.880 --> 0:17:02.240 is is, but we kind of don't think of it 0:17:02.280 --> 0:17:05.520 that way. No, he did exactly. He said, it's all connected, 0:17:05.560 --> 0:17:07.120 so why don't we do this, Let's switch over these 0:17:07.119 --> 0:17:10.840 power lines to direct current lines, which Edison apparently was right. 0:17:11.240 --> 0:17:14.560 So they suffer a lot less loss. Um. I looked 0:17:14.640 --> 0:17:20.600 up supposedly from power station to customer, there's about an 0:17:20.640 --> 0:17:25.119 eight to loss using current a C using what we 0:17:25.280 --> 0:17:28.200 have going now, and I believe if you switch over 0:17:28.440 --> 0:17:31.520 to the d c UH it would cut that in 0:17:31.560 --> 0:17:37.680 about half, not too bad. And beyond that, that means 0:17:37.680 --> 0:17:40.760 that you could transport electricity farther than you can now, 0:17:41.240 --> 0:17:45.080 which means you can look at a regional national grid. 0:17:45.200 --> 0:17:50.200 Is is something whole right, Um, But you also can 0:17:50.240 --> 0:17:53.639 take if you can connect these things better. If you 0:17:53.640 --> 0:17:57.040 can connect these regional grids into a comprehensive national grid, 0:17:57.520 --> 0:18:01.879 you can shuffle um wind power from one region of 0:18:01.920 --> 0:18:04.719 the country to another, solar power from one region of 0:18:04.720 --> 0:18:06.840 the country to another. Yeah. So what they did was 0:18:06.880 --> 0:18:10.000 they made this really cool computer model, and they said, 0:18:10.080 --> 0:18:12.399 let's figure this out. Let's divide the United States up 0:18:12.440 --> 0:18:17.240 into a hundred and fifty two thousand squares. All of 0:18:17.280 --> 0:18:21.080 these will are connected already, and let's input wind data 0:18:21.160 --> 0:18:23.760 from a couple of years two thousand six to two 0:18:23.800 --> 0:18:27.360 thousand eight nationally just to see where we're at. Let's 0:18:27.359 --> 0:18:30.160 see where the wind's blowing, Let's see where these grids are, 0:18:30.480 --> 0:18:33.680 and let's figure out demand where you need it most, 0:18:34.160 --> 0:18:38.240 less windy places obviously, uh, less sunny places maybe, and 0:18:38.320 --> 0:18:41.000 let's figure out what's the smartest way to lay this 0:18:41.080 --> 0:18:44.080 out and where the best places to invest in building 0:18:44.720 --> 0:18:48.400 these massive wind farms. Right. And they also were extremely 0:18:48.480 --> 0:18:52.000 cautious in um their inputs into this model. Right. They 0:18:52.080 --> 0:18:55.200 excluded national parks and mountain slopes where you can't put 0:18:55.359 --> 0:19:01.440 UM windmills or solar arras UM. They included uh, anticipated 0:19:01.560 --> 0:19:06.120 electrical demands in the future UM. And they basically used 0:19:06.160 --> 0:19:08.560 all of the low end figures they could find. And 0:19:08.680 --> 0:19:12.639 even with those low end figures, Chuck using these uh 0:19:12.920 --> 0:19:17.840 these DC power lines and putting new windmill and solar 0:19:17.920 --> 0:19:22.080 array outfits around the country in the right places, they 0:19:22.119 --> 0:19:24.720 came up with the idea that we could cut c 0:19:24.920 --> 0:19:27.919 O two emissions from power plants in the United States 0:19:28.520 --> 0:19:36.240 by of those by that's insane, which is the goal 0:19:36.320 --> 0:19:40.120 that we want less. And again they point out, we 0:19:40.119 --> 0:19:42.679 were really cautious in our projections here. So this is 0:19:42.760 --> 0:19:44.919 the low end, this is the least we could do 0:19:45.000 --> 0:19:47.959 by doing this, and this is using technology that's all 0:19:48.000 --> 0:19:50.920 available right now. Yeah, you point out the one big 0:19:50.960 --> 0:19:55.240 caveat is that if electric cars really take off, like, um, 0:19:55.320 --> 0:19:58.520 a lot of people hope they will. That um, they're 0:19:58.560 --> 0:20:01.960 gonna have to ramp up production because that they'll just 0:20:02.080 --> 0:20:04.840 be using a lot more power. Yeah, and they also 0:20:04.840 --> 0:20:07.320 said they in the United States, it's not necessarily a 0:20:07.480 --> 0:20:12.080 problem with um even finances or certainly not technology that 0:20:12.119 --> 0:20:15.000 It usually just political will, like say, one part of 0:20:15.000 --> 0:20:16.880 the country doesn't want to depend on another for its 0:20:16.960 --> 0:20:19.879 power for some weird reason. I could totally see some 0:20:20.000 --> 0:20:23.119 Georgia senator being like, we're not going to depend on 0:20:23.240 --> 0:20:26.480 Kansas for our wind our prest I could see that too. 0:20:26.600 --> 0:20:28.920 I could totally see it. But if you're taking this 0:20:28.920 --> 0:20:33.960 this concept of the high voltage grid right, uh, and 0:20:34.000 --> 0:20:37.199 in creating it from scratch in an area in the 0:20:37.240 --> 0:20:40.560 developing world that doesn't have a grid to speak of, yeah, 0:20:40.720 --> 0:20:43.960 they could really benefit exactly. Just build it, build it there, 0:20:44.080 --> 0:20:46.639 and that's just the way it is. Yeah, it's super 0:20:46.760 --> 0:20:49.360 I'm hyped about that one. That that one is. Which 0:20:49.359 --> 0:20:51.360 one is your favorite so far? Well, that one so far, 0:20:52.000 --> 0:20:55.760 This next one is neat, but it's uh, I just 0:20:55.760 --> 0:20:59.439 can't even wrap my brain around you know what photo 0:20:59.560 --> 0:21:03.800 voltae paint. Yeah, basically instead of a solar panel. How 0:21:03.800 --> 0:21:07.959 about solar paint, Jack, how about painting the painting your 0:21:08.040 --> 0:21:13.360 roof your roof with paint or with shingles that are 0:21:13.400 --> 0:21:16.200 made from this stuff, which they already have, but they're 0:21:16.240 --> 0:21:19.760 clumsy and cumbersome. This stuff. If you're using photovoltaic paint, 0:21:20.200 --> 0:21:25.880 you're using paint that's mixed with um colloidial quantum dots 0:21:25.960 --> 0:21:28.720 or some sort of nanoparticle, and there there are different 0:21:28.720 --> 0:21:32.400 types of nanoparticles that create an electrical charge when exposed 0:21:32.400 --> 0:21:35.560 to sunlight. Right, Well, if you have paint that's got 0:21:35.560 --> 0:21:37.639 a bunch of these mixed in with it, and you 0:21:37.720 --> 0:21:40.399 have a way to jack your house's power lines into 0:21:40.440 --> 0:21:44.399 said paint, you can generate electricity just from painting your house. 0:21:45.240 --> 0:21:48.919 And it's super flexible, it's easily transported, which is a 0:21:48.920 --> 0:21:51.440 big deal. And if they can get costs down, which 0:21:51.440 --> 0:21:53.880 it looks like they're starting to do um and get 0:21:53.880 --> 0:21:57.560 efficiency up. I think the record right now is somewhere 0:21:57.600 --> 0:22:01.119 around eight percent efficiency. So eight percent of the solar 0:22:01.200 --> 0:22:05.520 power that that hits these things is converted into electricity. Yeah, 0:22:05.840 --> 0:22:09.240 still not enough, but it's it's substantial and it's growing. 0:22:09.560 --> 0:22:11.200 But if you can get these things up. This could 0:22:11.240 --> 0:22:14.679 be extremely helpful for not just people in developing countries, 0:22:14.760 --> 0:22:16.640 people in remote areas. Like, if you want to live 0:22:16.640 --> 0:22:19.760 off the grid, just paint your house with this stuff. Yeah, 0:22:19.800 --> 0:22:21.720 the whole side of your home, the roof of your home. 0:22:22.359 --> 0:22:25.240 You could you could paint your cell phone in theory, 0:22:25.600 --> 0:22:29.439 you can paint your car, paint your dog. How are 0:22:29.440 --> 0:22:32.960 your dog? Don't paint your dog? I probably shouldn't paint. 0:22:32.960 --> 0:22:35.280 This one is a bit mind blowing and it seems 0:22:35.280 --> 0:22:38.520 slightly more far fetched as far as making it the 0:22:39.520 --> 0:22:43.160 realistic way to go. Well, that's the thing. They found 0:22:43.160 --> 0:22:44.880 that it works. But can you make it like big 0:22:44.880 --> 0:22:47.600 and widespread and mass produced, right? I think I think so? 0:22:47.720 --> 0:22:51.280 And um so using colloial quantum dots. I'm not quite 0:22:51.280 --> 0:22:54.040 sure how handy those are, how easy to find those are. 0:22:54.400 --> 0:22:58.680 There's another group UM that's working on making plastic ones 0:22:59.320 --> 0:23:03.160 not a bad idea plastic solar cells, but like nanoparticles 0:23:03.160 --> 0:23:05.399 made out of plastic that are that react to solar 0:23:05.520 --> 0:23:08.879 energy and create electricity. Um and as we know, we 0:23:09.040 --> 0:23:11.199 love to mass produce things as plastic and we can 0:23:11.240 --> 0:23:13.720 do it cheaply, so that could definitely have a huge 0:23:13.720 --> 0:23:16.720 impact on it. Once you start making something out of plastic, 0:23:16.760 --> 0:23:20.480 that automatically means it's available for cheap. Good point, we're 0:23:20.560 --> 0:23:24.720 masters of plastic. That's I think the world needs a 0:23:24.720 --> 0:23:27.399 T shirt that says that masters a plastic. It's a 0:23:27.400 --> 0:23:30.800 good band name opening up for cloydal Quantum Dots nice, 0:23:31.320 --> 0:23:35.359 not bad. You got anything else on that? Uh? No, 0:23:35.760 --> 0:23:39.640 I guess yeah. I think the high voltage power lines 0:23:39.680 --> 0:23:42.120 are my favorite so far. Yeah, I'm still going with that. 0:23:42.400 --> 0:23:44.520 UM And here's one thing that I know. We're going 0:23:44.560 --> 0:23:49.080 to talk with Bill about our friend Bill because his 0:23:49.600 --> 0:23:52.960 people that we were talking to said Bill gets really 0:23:52.960 --> 0:23:58.119 excited about batteries and the future of batteries. UM, And 0:23:58.160 --> 0:24:01.240 I think everyone in Renewable Inner G's excited about batteries 0:24:01.280 --> 0:24:05.280 because batteries are awesome and they can they can do 0:24:05.320 --> 0:24:07.760 a lot of things. They could potentially solve one of 0:24:07.800 --> 0:24:10.560