Amory Lovins: A 40-year plan for energy

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12 жыл бұрын

www.ted.com In this intimate talk filmed at TED's offices, energy theorist Amory Lovins lays out the steps we must take to end the world's dependence on oil (before we run out). Some changes are already happening -- like lighter-weight cars and smarter trucks -- but some require a bigger vision.
TEDTalks is a daily video podcast of the best talks and performances from the TED Conference, where the world's leading thinkers and doers give the talk of their lives in 18 minutes. Featured speakers have included Al Gore on climate change, Philippe Starck on design, Jill Bolte Taylor on observing her own stroke, Nicholas Negroponte on One Laptop per Child, Jane Goodall on chimpanzees, Bill Gates on malaria and mosquitoes, Pattie Maes on the "Sixth Sense" wearable tech, and "Lost" producer JJ Abrams on the allure of mystery. TED stands for Technology, Entertainment, Design, and TEDTalks cover these topics as well as science, business, development and the arts. Closed captions and translated subtitles in a variety of languages are now available on TED.com, at www.ted.com/translate
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Пікірлер: 316

@ChemicalChrisOttawa 12 жыл бұрын

I love the guy with the big green pillow! He goes from sitting, clutching it, to lying down, too awesome, lol *he appears throughout, but can find him easily right at the end

@AvangionQ 9 жыл бұрын

Compared to what we're actually doing, this is incredibly optimistic ... makes me wish I knew who to kick to get these plans going into motion ...

@rusca8 7 жыл бұрын

@MinhNguyen-wz2wn 4 жыл бұрын

Donald Trump

@Galantasy 12 жыл бұрын

I love this video, so good to see someone who is hopeful for the future once in while.

@guadalupeestrada410 6 жыл бұрын

Not a philosophical discussion on integrated design, so I understand the negative comments. However, as an aspiring mechanical engineer, I encourage you watch his presentation to its completion, writing down anything you don’t understand to fully absorb the information.

@Oblentehands 12 жыл бұрын

Thanks for uploading!

@mc2gregory 12 жыл бұрын

An elegant and inspiring presentation. Well done, and thank you!

@AngilasGuy 12 жыл бұрын

Pleeeaaaase post more energy related videos. This stuff is important.

@Geo877 12 жыл бұрын

Brilliant talk, thanks Amory Lovins

@ManoharChannel 12 жыл бұрын

Great video! I'm glad I saw it!

@Games4Dummies 12 жыл бұрын

Is he using powerpoint? His presentation is amazing, very modern, simple and easy to comprehend. Loved it!

@austininflorida 11 жыл бұрын

I have a few questions. Why is fusion not mentioned, exactly? Is it just too far off? I saw another TED talk about thorium reactors. Would those be viable?

@ChristopherJManess 12 жыл бұрын

Very informative presentation. Well done.

@ClemonsKunkel 12 жыл бұрын

That was an AWESOME video. I work in construction and have installed roof vent fans that are solar and wind power for years and they only get better, he is right we need change and I do see it happening, we just need to do more. Very informative. I Like the idea of Reinventing Fire!

@lesliefortier6595 4 жыл бұрын

I think progress is soo cool!

@OriginalRipndip 9 жыл бұрын

It would be nice to have a now simplified presentation with links to implementation for average citizens.

@MrKlonik 12 жыл бұрын

Really nice presentation. What's the program he used?

@Eiden193 12 жыл бұрын

does anyone know what software he uses to write the graphs from 10:30 ?

@chintupods 12 жыл бұрын

Awesome vid !!

@TheRezvi89 12 жыл бұрын

does anybody know the software used for this presentation ?

@steve357g 11 жыл бұрын

Great talk! Everybody there was paying attention too (@ 2:47)

@dprimetime69 12 жыл бұрын

Hunter and Amory are heroes. So thankful for their contributions!

@pariexon1107 7 жыл бұрын

I approve of this message :)

@jespermathiasnielsen 12 жыл бұрын

Any idea which software was used for the presentation?

@vaeshi 12 жыл бұрын

Can someone please tell me what software did he use to present his idea?

@oO_ox_O 12 жыл бұрын

Well great and what with all the stuff that is depended on oil?

@theoj4234 9 жыл бұрын

Somebody knows what is the character font that is used in his presentation?!

@rusca8 7 жыл бұрын

I bet Helvetica Neue Ultralight. Though not sure.

@cwe5590 12 жыл бұрын

Does anyone know what type of presentation software he is using?

@subradford593 9 жыл бұрын

Thanks for sharing! -- And for your work. The naysayers on this thread remind me that cynicism is an easy rationale for inaction. Much of what we call "apathy" is really a state of despair at the lack of leadership and hopeful paths forward. Lovins' vision is promising. Is he promising too much? -- Or just challenging us to pull our heads out of this tar pit and realize we actually do have choices and don't have to just sit here and go extinct? Why not be part of the solution and lend a hand? What exactly is there to lose? If the theory's not perfect, what are you doing to improve on it? I think we owe it to future generations do our best to see what's possible. It's time to lead, follow or get out of the way!

@jordansage9655 6 жыл бұрын

22:40 - 23:00 that is a huge point that seems generally unrecognized by the public. PUC and Utility Monopolies are rewarded NOT to reduce people's rates NOR to develop renewable sources in most places. Rather, they are guaranteed a profit each year and have incentive to reward big projects for new power plants to their contracting buddies.

@Mderojasdierssen 11 жыл бұрын

what program is used to make that presentation? Anyone?

@TheTpointer 4 жыл бұрын

i bet keynote.. apple app

@vel0_rouge 10 жыл бұрын

Anyone else notice that at about 2:30 he said "we can eliminate our addiction to oil and coal", then the symbols for oil, coal and nuclear disappeared?

@AndrewDodson_AdamsAtoms 9 жыл бұрын

hes a shill for natural gas companies. You can notice him slip it in around 18 minutes

@malarbusto 9 жыл бұрын

Andrew Dodson But earlier, at 2.45, he envisages a 30% drop in gas usage

@AndrewDodson_AdamsAtoms 9 жыл бұрын

malarbusto who cares if America consumes 30% less NG. We are currently building around 5 natural gas liquefaction export terminals for billions of dollars each. The rest of the world is planning on 10,000 additional coal plants in the next decades... America shifting its consumption of energy marginally does squat to make the world a greener place... I am just trying to be honest. Understand the FF companies are international, all this crap from RMI is just "green propaganda"

@Trazynn 12 жыл бұрын

This is why I'm subscribed to TED.

@philthomas3437 7 жыл бұрын

8:25 I see a new episode of My Strange Addiction coming soon

@aarongrooves 12 жыл бұрын

He never said that they could crash the grid. He said that our grid can handle when individual plants "break," and that "the grid can handle wind and solar power's forecastable variations." Go back and watch from 19:43.

@trock30000 12 жыл бұрын

I love clean energy

@bobbyhill3323 12 жыл бұрын

I'm glad this video came today. Yesterday I watched two documentaries about how running out of oil would basically destroy our modern society. This gives me hope again.

@jasonmyintUK 12 жыл бұрын

What software did he used?

@skibumwilly1895 11 жыл бұрын

In “Occupying Chairlifts” a simple rule tweak on inheritance ends up changing the direction and purpose of modern human life! Here’s a fair way to transition forward to where we’re rewarded for cooperating and creating instead of competing and conquering. It's something specific we can demand. If this isnt the best answer, at least we’re thinking about what might be. Are we really just this close to having it work right? Oh yeah, it's a Ski movie! “Occupying Chairlifts” on KZfaq!

@AaaaghJOE 12 жыл бұрын

I WANT IN ON THIS!

@Games4Dummies 11 жыл бұрын

this presentation is amazing! is that powerpoint and what's the font?

@lostagainrob 12 жыл бұрын

I love his opening joke! Funny man

@jhulsla 12 жыл бұрын

darpa net was one the early incarnations of what we call the internet. And that is most definitely a military season. Also note, Universities were also working on networking computers at the same time. The two initiatives came together to grow into the internet.

@Crazygon1998 9 жыл бұрын

I love this idea but now think what it would coust to a constry to do this chances in terms of money and mind changing.While changing not after

@Daedana 12 жыл бұрын

I have assumed so. You don't really see solar panels anywhere. It might be that they are not as cost effective as some other options and that is why they haven't gotten used as much, as some other options.

@donaldclark9649 10 жыл бұрын

There are all of these great ideas from TED conferences that I don't see in my state of Missouri. (Except for Factor E Farm) Where are the people on the internet that I can make connections with, to effect positive change? A side note: I really want to call him "McLovin" for no reason. So anyways, I have watched other presentations from Mr. Lovins and it was all the exact same information. (I do understand that public speaking is a skill in itself.)

@robertweekes5783 10 жыл бұрын

To talk to other smart people about real energy solutions check out the Energy from Thorium website, Facebook page and LFTR KZfaq videos from Kirk Sorensen!

@since1990kevin 12 жыл бұрын

Can someone explain to me what he means by charging by distance not the gallon at 10:00 I am not sure what he means but if that is what he means then that would not help unless pricing is low on mileage.I drive a Hyundai Elantra 2003 my milege per gallon is 21 with pricing 4 dollars a gallon each mile cost me about 20cents (thats low) and this are hard times it would only make sence if it was a 1cent a mile. still how would you charge the people is it a monthly bill? questions still out there?

@Bvic3 11 жыл бұрын

Very optimistic views. Achieving such efficiency seems unrealistic. And the challenges to achieve the oil to elec transition requieres numerous new technologies. And for the growth of renewable energies, this will requiere enormous amounts of capital, that will not be easy to find in a period of no-growth economy ...

@Viddaric 12 жыл бұрын

I can state without irony or exaggeration that this video has given me new hope for the future of humanity

@dojohansen123 12 жыл бұрын

I think you're right. Unfortunately he didn't even try to demonstrate any of his claims, so we can't know whether he has any reasons for contesting your point or if he has just neglected practical issues like "could we really cover all land with solar panels AND wind mills?". The talk gives the impression he focused on cost, and we all know to what extent economics deserves the badge of "science". (In no other field is predictions constantly disproven with little or no consequence to theory!)

@TheLivirus 12 жыл бұрын

He's not talking to the consumers. He's talking to private enterprise. He's trying to make them realize they're about to miss the business opportunity of an entire industry by clinging to fossile fuels. He's not talking about what's out on the market, he's talking about the possibilities of modern technology. He gave a few examples of actual commercial electric vehicles just to alert them that it's going on as we speak. They're being overrun.

@Randy778 12 жыл бұрын

Thanx for this interesting upload. The US needs an overhaul! Why don´t follow the rest of us?

@Iker888 12 жыл бұрын

Now that I think about it, you're probably right. Given the massive cost of retrofitting factories and buildings, it's not an option most enterprises will eagerly embrace, especially when you think of all the other less complicated alternatives to cut costs (including corruption and legal loopholes). The general trend is still, after all, that the less envornmentally friendly you are, and the more you exploit your workforce, the more succesful you will be.

@dojohansen123 12 жыл бұрын

I agree that quality has suffered, but I'm not sure I agree it's a shame. The whole point with TED is to spread ideas, and making it less elitist probably helps towards that end. I'm sure quality was even better when it was a closed invitation-only conference that 1000 people got to experience every year in Monterey. :)

@52111centrumcz 12 жыл бұрын

That doesn't reduce anything; you need to keep those powerplants running anyway, because of ramp up/down abilities of standing power plants.

@giovannifoulmouth7205 11 жыл бұрын

What's with the complete disregard for wave, tidal, geothermal and LFTR? very disappointed :(

@dojohansen123 12 жыл бұрын

What was pointed out to you is that solar power simply has too low energy intensity.The average American uses 250 kWh/day, equivalent to 11 kW. At 40W/m^2 that's 250 m^2 of panel per person, ignoring embedded energy (currently halves the net contribution of solar PV) and any energy required to operate (neglible). We should do solar. We should NOT think this will cover the production side of things.

@iamtocoolforyou1000 12 жыл бұрын

fusion is the way to go :D

@gavwah 12 жыл бұрын

Good video, but what about non-thermal applications of oil and coal?? Oil is still the primary raw material to produce the plastics and carbon fibres integral to improving efficiency, and coal is needed in metallurgical processes to make Iron/steel, aluminium etc (titanium is currently produced using oil-derived coke). I don't know any commercially viable replacements for these processes. When he says 'zero oil/coal', does he only mean for the electrical industries?

@KimoSully 12 жыл бұрын

I find it ironic that he claims large generating stations can fail in seconds and crash the grid, but somehow renewable generating equipment will be able to disconnect and reconnect seamlessly.

@0MoTheG 12 жыл бұрын

That would work if the market would "work". Sadly the pricing is not working, energy is highly substituted, damage / long time costs is not priced, the market is not transparent.

@ApocDevTeam 12 жыл бұрын

as i said, when supply falls the market will react with higher prices. the higher the price, the more likely alternatives will be used. this is 100% certain when alternatives are cheaper than using oil itself. you can already see the effects, oil is getting more expensive, as a result people use it less. just wait till it reaches a really high price and corporations will be forced to invest and use alternative energy (which they're already in doing in large)

@jerrylittlemars 12 жыл бұрын

MAKE THIS VIRAL!

@52111centrumcz 12 жыл бұрын

Its EVERYWHERE and FREE once you get the generators - you don't understand its not important to have a resource, but to be a gatekeeper to energy sources that you are paid to enable others to acess for little or no work. THAT is their model.

@NezzyNesbitt 10 жыл бұрын

What is he using to present??

@MouseMaiden 10 жыл бұрын

I think he is using Keynote to flip through slides. Whatever designer created his info-graphics deserves a hand.

@oO_ox_O 12 жыл бұрын

My point was that the less oil use you use now for driving and heating, the more is left for the petrochemical industry tomorrow, and subsidies into alternatives to oil might be justified by this.

@STEFAZON500 9 жыл бұрын

There is a fundamental flaw in Lovins theory of saving energy, Saving energy is like saving money: everytime you invent a new way of saving money or energy you come up with 10 new things to use it on and has been the case over and over again.

@madman3891 7 жыл бұрын

"everytime you invent a new way of saving money or energy you come up with 10 new things to use it on and has been the case over and over again. Reply 4" Are you suggesting that we ignore it then? He did make the point that the energy production should come from a cleaner source, by using your analogy of saving money it would equal to spending that saved money on more productive things.

@kimweaver3323 6 жыл бұрын

That is only if you make bad choices. Otherwise, you make good choices in your spending and have an enhanced life.

@BloodRedCypher 12 жыл бұрын

2:46 did anyone else notice the guy holding the pillow?

@IanYatesDude 12 жыл бұрын

I like the quote "not all the fossils are in the oil" :)

@CloudNine201 12 жыл бұрын

Amor Lovins for world president!!!

@Dewkeeper 12 жыл бұрын

He made multiple mentions to natural gas, which has the potential to serve as a potent transition resource. The fact of the matter is that nuclear plant rollout is slow as hell, even with public motivation, so unless LFTR's become magically designed, tested and approved, nuclear is too slow for responding to shifts in the energy table. The idea of course is to reduce the amount of energy wasted while growing alternate energy production and his predictions seem sensible in that regard.

@theatheistpaladin 11 жыл бұрын

Actually, the ultra light vehicle concept of which he speaks of can be applied to electric cars. That would extend the rage without any improvements to batteries. Then building on a fast charge infrastructure and battery swap services and much of "range anxiety" will disappear.

@52111centrumcz 12 жыл бұрын

Titanium is used by reducing with chlorine. Iron/aluminium uses carbon, but aluminium uses it for electrodes.

@livefreeallways 12 жыл бұрын

Came out with a car made from hemp and fueled by hemp. Look it up. There is a vid on you tube somewhere with old footage.

@theatheistpaladin 11 жыл бұрын

Yes, that does make sense. Just that you are not accounting for something. Renewables tend to be small and distributed. While traditional power tends to be large and Central. That is harder to manage in truth.

@dojohansen123 12 жыл бұрын

His selling consulting. And as with most consultants, it's hard to know if he actually knows what he's on about unless you happen to be an expert yourself. And from what I've heard supposed experts say, this stuff is... at least very surprising.

@rudde7251 6 жыл бұрын

Excluding nuclear from the future is the dumbest and worst for the environment.

@Veladan 5 жыл бұрын

No-one is excluding it, it's just unaffordable.

@chapter4travels 3 жыл бұрын

@@Veladan Not for long.

@cephmyster 12 жыл бұрын

the guy holding a pillow* lol

@Trazynn 12 жыл бұрын

10:00 Why would charging for the mile be better than charging for the gallon? If it was by the gallon then the most economical use of that gallon would be rewarded.

@LeonidasGGG 12 жыл бұрын

"not all fossils and in fuel" - loved it.

@tmcthree 12 жыл бұрын

Amory Lovins!!! Best name EVA!

@Tutankh89 12 жыл бұрын

There's an issue here of relative versus absolute decoupling. To put it simply, efficiency increases in the UK for example may mean we use 10% less energy and thus 10% less fossil fuels. However, don't discount the fact that while in the UK they are increasing efficiency, they are increasing the amount of cars in China (to use a global example) So, when you take this into account... what's the actual rate of resource use reduction? Not less, that's for sure. An often forgotten consideration.

@Phyrexious 12 жыл бұрын

Yes, because judging someone on their clothes who you've seen for only 2 seconds is a good way to determine the content of the TED video.

@jmichek 12 жыл бұрын

@Daedana A company in new Zealand is releasing a free energy technology called e-cat that utilizes cold fusion technology. We absolutely do not need nuclear power for today's infrastructure

@dojohansen123 12 жыл бұрын

It may be "easy to comprehend" but the simplicity has the major drawback that it is completely impossible to tell if he just made it up or has any factual basis for his claims. I for one remain sceptical, and hope this kind of presentation doesn't lead to people taking the energy challenge less seriously.

@MrZingZinga 12 жыл бұрын

Great message. The guy looks like he's about to fall asleep between slides. His voice is just tired... lol

@TimMeep 12 жыл бұрын

Wow! 200% effective! So it charges the batteries as it drives then!

@poppyorangeflower 12 жыл бұрын

They're young. They're strong. They can handle it.

@mrwho995 12 жыл бұрын

I can't believe that even on a TED talk video there are people bragging about being x to comment.

@teddybruscie 12 жыл бұрын

Yea I'm still wondering why energy companies are still fucking with oil. It's obviously not making them as much of a profit as it used to. It's getting more and more expensive, because we used up all the good shit, we only got a little bit left. If I was a money hungry corporate machine I would choose the easiest, efficient, and most profitable resource to exploit. What's better than a resource that has no end? You can't hurt wind, it has no side effects, it's decorative, no emissions...

@DSBrekus 12 жыл бұрын

I am well aware :P

@b22chris 12 жыл бұрын

what did they do?

@thesystemsucks 12 жыл бұрын

@BloodRedCypher I was going to post about that dude. I guess it must be like a security cushion.

@livefreeallways 12 жыл бұрын

Speaking of elements for a better car, look at what ford did with hemp.

@JackMayerz 12 жыл бұрын

Take it up with Carlos slim.

@Lazerjo2000 12 жыл бұрын

beat me to it.

@oO_ox_O 12 жыл бұрын

Well, you are just talking about some of the uses of oil, but there is the whole petrochemical industry them finding viable (and too costly) alternatives might be a harder task, they might have to resort to coal liquefaction and such which from the environmental perspective would be worse.

@oO_ox_O 12 жыл бұрын

Vast but sometimes too much, that was the problem I was referring to, and in case of nuclear plants the bigger the better more than with any other plant type and there too you will have a problem with transfer.

@GeneralNgo 12 жыл бұрын

Agreed. Those numbers seemed to be speculations rather than calculation. Hydrogen fits the transportation system better anyways. Batteries don't provide enough mobility and currently cost too much for their lifespan.