zero emissions
Somehow I missed this:
I'll give you a brief synopsis. Bill Gates-third richest person in the world and head of the largest philanthropic foundation in the world-is saying we need to get to zero carbon emissions by 2050.
You might think to yourself "so what?" but then remind yourself that this is Bill Gates saying this, and "zero carbon emissions" is not a mainstream idea at all. The fact that Gates supports such an idea lends tremendous credibility to it. The fact that he's putting his vast fortune behind the effort to achieve this goal is meaningful (to say the least).
To this end he's putting money into research into building a traveling wave reactor, which is a kind of breeder reactor which requires minuscule amounts of enriched uranium. You can take the entire world's supply of nuclear waste (which is largely U-238) and use it to power the whole earth for 60 years, producing no carbon emissions.
Like my friend is fond of saying, "Build it out of garbage."
But the fact that Bill Gates has set a goal of zero emissions for 2050 might be more important than the funding or the research itself. It's one thing if an environmental yahoo says it. It's another thing when one of the most successful capitalists in history says and proves he's willing to put his money where his mouth is.
I'll give you a brief synopsis. Bill Gates-third richest person in the world and head of the largest philanthropic foundation in the world-is saying we need to get to zero carbon emissions by 2050.
You might think to yourself "so what?" but then remind yourself that this is Bill Gates saying this, and "zero carbon emissions" is not a mainstream idea at all. The fact that Gates supports such an idea lends tremendous credibility to it. The fact that he's putting his vast fortune behind the effort to achieve this goal is meaningful (to say the least).
To this end he's putting money into research into building a traveling wave reactor, which is a kind of breeder reactor which requires minuscule amounts of enriched uranium. You can take the entire world's supply of nuclear waste (which is largely U-238) and use it to power the whole earth for 60 years, producing no carbon emissions.
Like my friend is fond of saying, "Build it out of garbage."
But the fact that Bill Gates has set a goal of zero emissions for 2050 might be more important than the funding or the research itself. It's one thing if an environmental yahoo says it. It's another thing when one of the most successful capitalists in history says and proves he's willing to put his money where his mouth is.