Sheer intellectual enlightenment! Seeing this after 10 years of his speech in 2021, all the topics Smil discussed about is even more relevant now than in 2011. What would Professor Smil thinks about Shallow Geothermal Energy? It’s stable, ubiquitous. It has not so much of the limitations as wind and solar, but has all the benefits a renewable energy should offer. It can certainly be used as thermal storage. Would like to hear Professor Smile’s talk on Geoenergy.
Prof Smil, I invite you to be one of the first honorary members of the Global Association of Transition Engineers (GATE). Our first tenet is that members must be honest with the public and policy makers about the realistic technical feasibility and EROI of "alternative" energy sources. Why haven't we made the transition to using less fossil fuel through requiring low consumption? Because everyone is googlie eyed about the "alternative" technologies coming in. That is the fault of engineers. We need to come clean. We need to start working on change, including not making stupid things any more. You are not alone Prof Smil!
Agreed. Keep our embedded energy by not knocking down perfectly good buildings for new, not creating high turnover stuff that could be made to last longer and wearing clothes that may not look perfectly new.
What a clever man. Obviously knows what he’s talking about, and with such detail. I would wish politicians would listen and act accordingly. They sure aren’t in Sweden anyway..
The energy density of wind is low on a square meter basis, but the turbines can be located on land which is still useful for farming, recreation and other uses. So it does not waste the land like an open pit coal mines, hydro reservoirs, tar sands extraction.
Tar sands extraction has progressed to the point that it can be done without those big strip mining pits, so that's one off the list. The others I still agree with, although hydroelectric reservoirs could be used more effectively, like providing places to farm fish or something.
If you want a new building - you know you need Geotechnical, Structural, Architectural and Mechanical Engineers. If you want a functioning power supply - you know you need Power Engineers. If you want a factory - you know you need Mechanical and Industrial Engineers.... There is now an emerging field of engineering that actually works on the HOW we are going to transition everything - Transition Engineering. If you are interested, want to support the emergence of this field, want to come to the International Transition Engineering Institute for training, or want to join us - visit our new website and start actioning the science and the hard facts. www.transitionengineering.org
He mentions Jevons’s paradox in his book energy and civilisation and he says “the rise of conversion efficiency did not necessarily result in actual energy savings. In 1865 Stanley Jevons (1835-1882), an English economist, pointed out that the adoption of more efficient steam engines was accompanied by large increases in coal consumption and concluded, “It is wholly a confusion of ideas to suppose that the economical use of fuels is equivalent to a diminished consumption. The very contrary is the truth. As a rule, new modes of economy will lead to an increase of consumption according to a principle recognized in many parallel instances” (Jevons 1865, 140). This reality has been confirmed by many studies (Herring 2004, 2006; Polimeni et al. 2008), but in affluent countries, those whose high per capita energy use has approached, or already reached, saturation levels, the effect has been getting weaker.” You should check this book out it’s great !
@@bharathwajramakrishnan1432 that is essentially what my comment is saying, efficiency is an engine for growth rather than resource saving. For it to manifest in reduced consumption, regulation is needed, which The free marketeers that believe the answers lie in efficiency, substitution and perpetual progress do not like.
From 1:01:50 - Gold from Smil - "if you don't have triple (glazed) windows, you're a criminal" and "you're not even brown, let alone green." Ha! Brilliant! :D
Residential solar does not require a huge investment in grid interconnects because most of the power will be used locally in the neighborhood. Solar scales well with daytime peaks. Electric vehicle batteries can be used to buffer power and handle eventing peaks.
Why is nobody watching this? There sure are people who could do with these intelligent suggestions if they are so worried about fossil fuels. Politicians could do with some lecturing.
I love Vaclav Smil's work. He knows so much that he sees the big picture in detail. He's the first person I've seen capable of this.
“Big picture in detail” is the perfect way to describe his work
Love the fact that he just throws in accurate, super detailed facts randomly in his talk. He knows exactly what he is talking about.
Sheer intellectual enlightenment!
Seeing this after 10 years of his speech in 2021, all the topics Smil discussed about is even more relevant now than in 2011. What would Professor Smil thinks about Shallow Geothermal Energy? It’s stable, ubiquitous. It has not so much of the limitations as wind and solar, but has all the benefits a renewable energy should offer. It can certainly be used as thermal storage.
Would like to hear Professor Smile’s talk on Geoenergy.
Prof Smil, I invite you to be one of the first honorary members of the Global Association of Transition Engineers (GATE). Our first tenet is that members must be honest with the public and policy makers about the realistic technical feasibility and EROI of "alternative" energy sources. Why haven't we made the transition to using less fossil fuel through requiring low consumption? Because everyone is googlie eyed about the "alternative" technologies coming in. That is the fault of engineers. We need to come clean. We need to start working on change, including not making stupid things any more. You are not alone Prof Smil!
Agreed. Keep our embedded energy by not knocking down perfectly good buildings for new, not creating high turnover stuff that could be made to last longer and wearing clothes that may not look perfectly new.
The audio disappears after the 28.11 mins: could something be done
The first problem is not the furnace efficiency, but most Canadian houses who are dramatically not well insulated.
What a clever man. Obviously knows what he’s talking about, and with such detail. I would wish politicians would listen and act accordingly. They sure aren’t in Sweden anyway..
I’m really glad Gru isn’t evil anymore.
the sound is muted at some parts (ex. minute 29), can u upload again or fix it?
Can anyone catch what he recommends as the best form of energy to focus on for power as per thermodynamic numbers at the 56:39mark?
Took me some time. but i think he says: it's the photovoltaics we shoud consider. Would also fit with the percentage numbers he talks about afterwards
Yesterday I knew that Bill Gates read all his 30 books.
The energy density of wind is low on a square meter basis, but the turbines can be located on land which is still useful for farming, recreation and other uses. So it does not waste the land like an open pit coal mines, hydro reservoirs, tar sands extraction.
Tar sands extraction has progressed to the point that it can be done without those big strip mining pits, so that's one off the list. The others I still agree with, although hydroelectric reservoirs could be used more effectively, like providing places to farm fish or something.
Sound quit after 28 minutes and then returned at 30 minutes ... frustrating!
If you want a new building - you know you need Geotechnical, Structural, Architectural and Mechanical Engineers. If you want a functioning power supply - you know you need Power Engineers. If you want a factory - you know you need Mechanical and Industrial Engineers.... There is now an emerging field of engineering that actually works on the HOW we are going to transition everything - Transition Engineering. If you are interested, want to support the emergence of this field, want to come to the International Transition Engineering Institute for training, or want to join us - visit our new website and start actioning the science and the hard facts.
www.transitionengineering.org
The wind turbines on home page suggest you are promoting REn, which he said has no future.
I'm sure this is a great lecture, but for those of us who are a little hard of hearing, could we have subtitles or a written script please?
The audio disappears around 27 min. Please fix this immediately.
Lol they havent fixed it in 6 years
5
Too much truth for the masses.
I wonder what impact he feels Jevons Paradox would have on efficiency savings? Surely we’d have to curtail extra usage with regulations.
He mentions Jevons’s paradox in his book energy and civilisation and he says
“the rise of conversion efficiency did not necessarily result in actual energy savings. In 1865 Stanley Jevons (1835-1882), an English economist, pointed out that the adoption of more efficient steam engines was accompanied by large increases in coal consumption and concluded, “It is wholly a confusion of ideas to suppose that the economical use of fuels is equivalent to a diminished consumption. The very contrary is the truth. As a rule, new modes of economy will lead to an increase of consumption according to a principle recognized in many parallel instances” (Jevons 1865, 140). This reality has been confirmed by many studies (Herring 2004, 2006; Polimeni et al. 2008), but in affluent countries, those whose high per capita energy use has approached, or already reached, saturation levels, the effect has been getting weaker.”
You should check this book out it’s great !
@@bharathwajramakrishnan1432 that is essentially what my comment is saying, efficiency is an engine for growth rather than resource saving. For it to manifest in reduced consumption, regulation is needed, which The free marketeers that believe the answers lie in efficiency, substitution and perpetual progress do not like.
One of my favorite humans
Hi Vaclav Smil🎊
Excelente conference
Brilliant lecture, except when he says towards the end he's in favor of quadrupling electricity prices.
Excellent!
"Less is more"❤
From 1:01:50 - Gold from Smil - "if you don't have triple (glazed) windows, you're a criminal" and "you're not even brown, let alone green." Ha! Brilliant! :D
sounds does not work for me
So interesting but so hard to understand
Forward to 2020 shale oil no longer profitable without subsidies
Cycles, Harvey. Everything in cycles.
Seeing Energy 2030 Vision, I am worry of our family's present energy sources👴🌟🌟
powerful truth
Geothermal in Iceland has 0,9 Capacity factor :)
Iceland and Norway, future lifestyle havens in Europe ;)
7:38
Residential solar does not require a huge investment in grid interconnects because most of the power will be used locally in the neighborhood. Solar scales well with daytime peaks. Electric vehicle batteries can be used to buffer power and handle eventing peaks.
Not quite. The electricity from your roof has to be stored in batteries until the car comes home. Those are big, expensive batteries.
My name is Nguyễn Quốc Hoàng from Vietnam
Why is nobody watching this? There sure are people who could do with these intelligent suggestions if they are so worried about fossil fuels. Politicians could do with some lecturing.
Oops diesel
Let's get traffic lights fixed to absolutely minimize sitting around waiting to go.
+1
He need to talk faster
What a bellend