Four different experts and hosts discussed various future energy technologies and tried to find an answer to the question “how likely is green energy to be banned in 10 years”?
Yuri Vasiliev, Executive Director, Institute of Arctic Technologies, MIPT presented the IAS Snowflake project as an example of the future use of green energy in the Arctic and non-Arctic regions.
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- Is it possible to meet all the needs with green energy?
- Technologically, of course, it is possible, but the question is when? The whole world is moving exactly in the green energy direction. That's why at MIPT we prefer doing rather than talking, and we do it in order to bring to life the future technologies and to make them economically available as quickly as possible.
- As for today, could we satisfy 8 billion people with green energy? And how much will it cost?
- Technologically, yes, but economically we are not ready yet, because of the prices. Today, the costs of wind or solar power plants are definitely going down. Also, it is important to mention a carbon neutrality, which is a key goal for all nations today. Last year Russia has also announced its goal to reach carbon neutrality by 2060, which is about the same as other countries (2050, 2055, 2060). This is more or less our future. This is not something that can be accomplished alone, it is a challenge for all of humankind.
The IAS Snowflake project is an example of this future. We will be the first in the world to make completely carbon-free International Arctic Station, i.e. it will run exclusively on wind and hydrogen energy. Of course, there will be a carbon footprint during construction and production, but not at the station. The side for the Station was not randomly chosen. The Station will be built in Yamal, Polar Urals, which is a border between Europe and Asia. In 2024 the Station will run in test mode.
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- We understand all the questions and doubts about the green energy and its cost, but we are talking about the future and if we know today that these green technologies become common in the 30s, 40s, and 50s, so we need to develop them now. But without a platform and a connection to business these technologies will never get a chance to be widely implemented. So, the Snowflake is the bridge between applied science and scaling. Currently we are living in an era of opportunity, not era of issues and problems.
- How likely is green energy to be banned in 10 years?
- Zero. It's like a question: can you forbid breathing? No, you can't. Either you can't ban green energy, because it is constantly developing and will continue to develop. I would focus here not on green energy, but on environmentally friendly technologies. In this case, we can argue for a long time what is green and what is not, but if it has a direct effect on protecting our nature, and it is also economically reasonable, then it is not possible to ban it.
The whole episode is here in Russian language.