HN Theater has aggregated all Hacker News stories and comments that mention Cleo Abram's video "The real dream of clean energy".
Youtube Summary
… I’ve been thinking about energy use all wrong. Subscribe to support Huge If True, an optimistic tech show.
As long as most of our energy still comes from fossil fuels, we’re in kind of a trap. Using less energy is our only real option to slow climate change. So most of us have heard only one message throughout our lives: “Conserve energy. Because terrible things will happen if we don’t.”
That’s true. But I now think of it as “the stick” of climate communication - the way to get people to care about climate change based on fear and desperation.
I think it’s time to talk about “the carrot” - the way to get people to work toward clean energy based on hope and audacious ambition.
This video explains why, with help from my former colleague at Vox, Matt Yglesias. As renewable energy continues to get cheaper, as more and more clean energy technologies become more viable, we have an opportunity to look ahead toward a better future. What would you do with abundant clean energy?
Chapters: 00:00 We’re thinking about energy wrong 01:17 The stick: climate change 02:25 Why you’re taught to conserve energy 03:23 Why we should use more clean energy 04:36 The carrot: energy abundance 05:38 Why poor countries need more energy 06:39 Why everyone needs more energy
Be featured in an episode - upload questions for me to answer! https://www.dropbox.com/request/Edocsb2kErpueQ7F9T1Q
I tell different stories in different places: You can find me on TikTok here for short, fun tech explainers: https://www.tiktok.com/@cleoabram You can find me on Instagram here for more personal stories: https://www.instagram.com/cleoabram You can find me on Twitter here for thoughts, threads and curated news: https://twitter.com/cleoabram
Bio: Cleo Abram is an Emmy-nominated video producer and journalist. Cleo produces detailed explainer stories about technology and economics. She wrote the Coding and Diamonds episodes of Vox’s Netflix show, Explained, was the host and a senior producer of Vox’s first ever daily show, Answered, as well as a host and producer of Vox’s YouTube Originals show, Glad You Asked. She now makes her own independent show, Huge If True. Each episode takes on one big technology innovation or idea, explains what it is, and helps people imagine the ways it could improve the world we live in by answering one simple question: If this works, what could go right?
Sources and additional reading: - “The case for more energy,” Matt Yglesias, Slow Boring: https://www.slowboring.com/p/energy-abundance - “The world’s energy problem,” Our World In Data: https://ourworldindata.org/worlds-energy-problem - “How Americans see climate change and the environment in 7 charts,” Pew Research Center: https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2020/04/21/how-americans-see-climate-change-and-the-environment-in-7-charts/ - “How to drive fossil fuels out of the US economy, quickly,” Vox: https://www.vox.com/energy-and-environment/21349200/climate-change-fossil-fuels-rewiring-america-electrify - “Energy: Key Charts,” Our World In Data: https://ourworldindata.org/energy-key-charts - “Why nuclear plants are shutting down,” Vox (previous episode I produced on clean energy dynamics): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KC7YD98HixM&t=274s&ab_channel=Vox
Gear I use: Camera: Sony A7SIII Lens: Sony 16–35 mm F2.8 GM Audio: Sennheiser SK AVX and Zoom H4N Pro
Music: Musicbed
Follow along for more episodes of Huge If True: https://www.youtube.com/cleoabram?sub_confirmation=1
— Welcome to the joke down low (an idea 100% in reference to Answer In Progress’ awesome “joke below the fold” - I always scroll down to see them and always wanted to do this myself too):
What do wind turbines think of renewable energy? They’re big fans.
Find a way to use the word “fan” in a comment to let me know you’re a real one ;)
Clean energy has been available for decades and it is known as "nuclear energy".
Fission energy is present and clean and mothballed. If you believe that after over 70 years scientists and engineers have not been able to develop safe fission energy I'm ready to sell you a bridge in any part of the world you want.
The fossil fuel industry has been lobbying for decades to shutdown nuclear power and placing all kinds of obstacles in its deployment.
Germany is shutting down its nuclear plants and claiming that they need "cleaner" gas energy from Russia and whatnots. Why don't they secure the gas first before shutting the nuclear plants? After the US succeeding in shutting down NordStream II the German govt has planned to build LNG terminals which will supply less than 4% of Germany's gas needs. Is that a scam or what?
People talk about Fukushima. What has failure to build a high enough wall at a nuclear plant go to do with nuclear itself?
Then you have these monstrous boondoggles known as ITER, Tokamak etc which have been promising clean energy in 30 years for how many years now.
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet,
consectetur adipisicing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et
dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation
ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor
in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla
pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui
officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum.