Earlier this week, Bill Gates told us about how an energy miracle is coming.
The miracle would be to provide power to humanity — including the billion people without electricity — without destroying the planet.
The only way to do it is with a power source that's super cheap and doesn't generate any carbon dioxide.
"If the electricity system isn't about zero CO2, there’s no way to get there," he said in an interview with the New York Times' Andrew Revkin.
"Just ignore the US," he said. "Assume we could cut some dramatic amount. Just look at India. They will be using over 10 times as much energy. And, yes, some of those light bulbs will be more efficient. Some of those refrigerators will be more efficient. But they will be using more kilowatt-hours."
"The generation system really has to do the magical work here," he said.
Finding a low-cost, zero-CO2 energy system is what Gates calls a "global public good," same as eradicating diseases like polio or malaria. It's not the job of utility companies to invent it, he says; their job is to supply low-cost power to people, not do research and development.
Rather, it'll be a combination of business, government, and philanthropy in researching, funding, and bringing to market a generation option that can power the world, like jet-stream wind power.
"In the $3 trillion a year energy market, for someone who really is cheaper, the rewards will be quite fantastic," Gates said to Tech Insider.
