This Country Runs on 98 Percent Renewable Electricity | Ramón Méndez Galain

This Country Runs on 98 Percent Renewable Electricity | Ramón Méndez Galain | TED

Рет қаралды 188,369

9 ай бұрын

Fifteen years ago, Uruguay was experiencing an energy crisis brought on by its reliance on fossil fuels; today, the nation produces 98 percent of its electricity from renewable sources (and even exports extra energy to neighboring countries). How did they turn things around so quickly? Uruguay's former secretary of energy, Ramón Méndez Galain, explains how they pulled off this unprecedented shift -- and shares how any other country can do the same.
Countdown is TED's global initiative to accelerate solutions to the climate crisis. The goal: to build a better future by cutting greenhouse gas emissions in half by 2030, in the race to a zero-carbon world. Get involved at countdown.ted.com/sign-up
Learn more about #TEDCountdown:
Twitter: / tedcountdown
Instagram: / tedcountdown
Facebook: / ted
Website: countdown.ted.com
If you love watching TED Talks like this one, become a TED Member to support our mission of spreading ideas: ted.com/membership
Follow TED!
Twitter: / tedtalks
Instagram: / ted
Facebook: / ted
LinkedIn: / ted-conferences
TikTok: / tedtoks
The TED Talks channel features talks, performances and original series from the world's leading thinkers and doers. Subscribe to our channel for videos on Technology, Entertainment and Design - plus science, business, global issues, the arts and more. Visit TED.com to get our entire library of TED Talks, transcripts, translations, personalized talk recommendations and more.
Watch more: go.ted.com/ramonmendezgalain
• This Country Runs on 9...
TED's videos may be used for non-commercial purposes under a Creative Commons License, Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives (or the CC BY - NC - ND 4.0 International) and in accordance with our TED Talks Usage Policy: www.ted.com/about/our-organiz.... For more information on using TED for commercial purposes (e.g. employee learning, in a film or online course), please submit a Media Request at media-requests.ted.com
#TED #TEDTalks

Пікірлер: 188

@agustinfigueroa3239 8 ай бұрын

Uruguay un tremendo ejemplo para el mundo y todos los hermanos latinoamericanos. Saludos desde Chile 🇨🇱♥️🇺🇾

@misinformationwars 9 ай бұрын

I guess I should be surprised by how many people in the comments are denigrating renewables, but it just goes to show how little they actually know about renewable energy.

@calista1280 9 ай бұрын

@misinformationwars, Your name says it all... It does show how little you know...

@avirichar4981 9 ай бұрын

@@calista1280 wow such an incisive comeback, shows your main point is you've achieved the astonishing brilliant brainpower level of a 1st grader who can read a single word....

@calista1280 8 ай бұрын

@avirichar4981 🤣 Apparently, you overlooked my lengthy, detailed reply 🙄

@misinformationwars 8 ай бұрын

@@PBFoote-mo2zr My name is 💯% to mock Alex Jones' Inforwars... But I also picked the name specifically to post about ways to spot misinformation and disinformation. Unfortunately I'm still working on the research part of the videos. There is a lot of good information on ways to spot and combat misinformation that I am trying to go through at them moment. 😅

@SK-lt1so 8 ай бұрын

It just goes to show how little you actually pay yourself for renewables.

@PaulADAigle 9 ай бұрын

If it moves on its own, or is hot, it can be converted to usable energy. Water flowing, waves, air currents, sun. Everything. It's just finding the right method and source.

@bernardgeorge9813 8 ай бұрын

And it is also about paying the bill. And it is about finding a way to keep the lights on 24/7 while your sources of electricity fluctuate. Not nearly as easy as you think. Often not at all practical.

@nahuelma97 7 ай бұрын

@@bernardgeorge9813 yeah but that's exactly what he goes into detail in the video about. There's a whole system designed to prevent gaps in coverage. There haven't been blackouts in decades since this was put in motion. It is manageable. And of course, worst case scenario, have those dirty power plants ready to go if it comes to it, but it almost never does

@bernardgeorge9813 7 ай бұрын

@@nahuelma97 you miss the point. They use a huge amount of dirty power, which they import. The statistics quoted were deliberately misleading We should not be conned to believe that wind and solar can ever make up more than a minority of electricity sources.

@luigicacciapuoti2480 8 ай бұрын

People like him should run the world because they would make it simply a better place!

@bernardgeorge9813 8 ай бұрын

Shame he was not honest enough to admit that Uruguay is totally dependent on imports of dirty power.

@faizanbabul5374 8 ай бұрын

I love Cavani and Suarez. So I love Uruguay!

@Karinamatters 8 ай бұрын

Hit 200k today. I'm really grateful for all the knowledge and nuggets you had thrown my way over the last months. Started with 14k in June 2022

@ellamariz2375 8 ай бұрын

That's awesome!!! I would really love to know how much work you did put in to get to this stage

@Karinamatters 8 ай бұрын

I engage in various prolific investments by compound interest & leveraging and as well operating with an investment professional Mrs Brisa Richardson, so far I've attained returns of over $30k last month

@ellamariz2375 8 ай бұрын

Wow! Wow please is there any way to reach there services?

@Karinamatters 8 ай бұрын

Her availability is constant on wats app

@Karinamatters 8 ай бұрын

+44

@sslaia 9 ай бұрын

I wish the UK where I live had done more to explore the renewable possibilities as Uruguay has done. But with Sunak at the helm, I don't have any hope.

@djayjp 9 ай бұрын

He's too busy eliminating imaginary taxes ha

@Justarandom_guy553 8 ай бұрын

You dont have much of Solar being in that hemisphere, wind energy can be utilized maybe. Thats all.

@djayjp 8 ай бұрын

@@Justarandom_guy553 Solar still works even during overcast days btw, just like how plants manage, but it's lower efficiency of course. Also hydro works.

@tcroft2165 8 ай бұрын

Wind is already the 2nd largest source of electricity in GB. And will be the largest in a couple of years.

@LAChinthaka 9 ай бұрын

Really good one. Cheers!

@DrinkinItIn 8 ай бұрын

I love this talk and the possibilities when a team can work toward a solution for a common goal. We (America) can learn a lot from this philosophy.

@bernardgeorge9813 8 ай бұрын

Sorry no. The US is not a tiny country that can rely on imports of dirty power when renewables are not producing. Nor can it have hydro power to the same extent as Uruguay. You have been taken in by slick marketing.

@DrinkinItIn 8 ай бұрын

@@bernardgeorge9813 Appreciate your reply but I disagree with your assessment. My point was that nobody in the US works together. Who knows what could be accomplished if everyone stopped fighting and disagreeing. It is a pollyanna type thought because we are so far gone but maybe one day we can make some progress.

@bocadelcieloplaya3852 8 ай бұрын

i have solar on my house, it produces more electricity than i use...for LESS THAN HALF the cost of a single javelin anti-tank missile.

@DrinkinItIn 8 ай бұрын

@@bocadelcieloplaya3852a little concerned that you may know the price of that item!

@bernardgeorge9813 8 ай бұрын

So what? You have to rely on the grid for the 70% of the time solar produces little or nothing. And you are paying over the odds for your power. Nice of you to do that, but this is not a solution to global warming. Nuclear allows us to have 100% carbon free power. Solar doesn't offer that.

@carlosmazal5338 7 ай бұрын

It works. This is a PPP and dividends are shared with partners. Some days we export to Argentine. If you don't like it, well. We like the fact that our energy matrix has changed and if we find oil, we will exploit it. The future is a mix. Like it or not.

@thefastandthedead1769 9 ай бұрын

Brilliant, well done!

@timkiemdautu 9 ай бұрын

I'm very happy to watch this video. Thank🎉🎉🎉❤❤❤

@KhaiSangTamThuc 9 ай бұрын

Ok🎉

@analaurajara2544 9 ай бұрын

Very inspiring video, muchas gracias! 👏

@juandovat4774 9 ай бұрын

DALE RAMONN

@rachelmedina3696 8 ай бұрын

I am from Uruguay electricity is not cheap there at O.225 kw/ h in march it might be renewable but the benefit does not reach the citizens that have to go without airconditiining in summer or heat the house burning wood or use kerosene heaters becsuse of the high ekectriciy cost

@Albertouy 8 ай бұрын

That's because the profits made from the electricity have been used to fund the healthcare and education, it's the benefit of having power state run

@MinhNguyen-wz2wn 8 ай бұрын

this video restores my hope

@bernardgeorge9813 8 ай бұрын

Mine too, until I checked the facts. Uruguay has to import massive amounts of dirty power from its neighbours, because renewables are intermittent. This is smoke and mirrors.

@MinhNguyen-wz2wn 8 ай бұрын

@@bernardgeorge9813 the same thing was mentioned in the video, you need to include the source, that would give more perspective as to how much was imported compared to the overall energy use and when was the data collected

@evilpanky 8 ай бұрын

I love to death how Dr. Galain asserts that there is a fallback/insurance of fossil fuels, but that's OK; it doesn't invalidate the system.

@sagnorm1863 8 ай бұрын

It does invalidate it. Its nonsense. First off, there is nothing good about "burning sustainable bio mass". Second, why is there no nuclear energy? Nuclear energy is the inevitable future. The fossil fuel fallback is just pure corruption. After a few elections, the "fallback" will become the main source lol. And why didn't they use modern nuclear for the fallback? And your fears of nuclear disaster is nonsense. Even with the 70 year old technology of the 1950s, it was very safe with a low probability of failure. If they ever decide to make modern 21st century nuclear reactors, there would be 0 risk.

@myparceltape1169 8 ай бұрын

That might be all you need them for.

@MartinCiriani 8 ай бұрын

Uruguay nomá!

@user-te3ov6bs1f 8 ай бұрын

11:46

@ow7112 8 ай бұрын

09:57

@TalisRushlock 9 ай бұрын

Its an awesome idea for gulf coast states. Montana gets periods of severe draught and winter.

@avirichar4981 9 ай бұрын

oh so Montana has no wind, nor biomass of any kind, sad to hear it's on Mars

@ronoldcross8189 9 ай бұрын

Australia has great solar and wind potential. US can utilize solar, wind, tidal and hydro if we can get out from under the coal/oil oligarky.

@thompsonsantiago8621 7 ай бұрын

🔥🔥🚀

@simonbowman6206 8 ай бұрын

Ok 1st Its not green if in the making of an item is polluting the environment and ends up in the tip 2nd At the end of life the item is not 100% recycled AND TODATE NON CAN!! Wind & solar are not green and pump hydro is as green as making a new dam So lets ask what is? well how about taking what is made and make it green. Like Old dams are made so why not make them live longer make more power and Yes they are nearly 100% recyclable am i talking about more turbines ? yes it has been proven in Australia

@lionkingofthejungle 8 ай бұрын

For consistency TED should change their slogan to "Ideas worth censoring".

@bernardgeorge9813 8 ай бұрын

Terribly misleading. First, Uruguay is not self-reliant. It imports and exports huge amounts of electricity (sometimes importing half its consumption) to cope with the intermittency of renewables. It is a tiny country (3.5m people) dependent on dirty power from its neighbours. Second, when he says wind and solar power are equal to demand, he means CAPACITY. The power produced by wind and solar averages at about 10% of capacity for solar and 20% for wind. Third, it has massive hydro power, which is not possible at the same scale for most countries. Lovely feel-good stuff, so long as you do not think about it.

@myparceltape1169 8 ай бұрын

His country, not yours. Compare with Iceland.

@Albertouy 8 ай бұрын

Do you have any references?

@sirsydneycamm1883 8 ай бұрын

He says it's all done without batteries and storage. When that gets installed, your capacity and intermittency issues are much reduced.

@bernardgeorge9813 8 ай бұрын

Did you not read my comment? Please do so. Also note that nobody has invented a storage technology that can remotely cope with the intermittency of renewables. True, storage can help balance the 24 hour demand cycle. But nothing can cope with a low-wind week, or the drop off in solar you get every winter.@@sirsydneycamm1883

@djayjp 9 ай бұрын

4:00 Wtf is a "traditional hydrothermal power mix"...? Also burning that biomass releases tons of CO2.

@dryzalizer 8 ай бұрын

I think he misspoke and meant to say a traditional hydropower and fossil fuel mix. I agree with your second point, if they're doing basic biomass burning to generate power that's not carbon-friendly at all. If they can capture the CO2 that would be great, but he didn't say a word about it. Overall though, this is a big step in the right direction and in particular the need for political parties to come together to get it done is probably the biggest hurdle in many countries at this point.

@djayjp 8 ай бұрын

@@PBFoote-mo2zr Idk I live in British Columbia where we're already like 95% renewables. If he was being unbiased he would've stated the carbon released from burning biomass, but just presented it as though it's perfectly fine. Btw you're confusing burning biomass % vs fossil fuels--the latter was 2% and sometimes 7% annually in dry years. Point being that burning biomass shouldn't be considered green or part of the solution.

@bernardgeorge9813 8 ай бұрын

Everywhere that appears to have high levels of electricity from renewables actually relies on importing dirty power. BC, like Uruguay, does this. Well done for having lots of renewables, but admit that they only work when twinned with power stations that burn things.@@djayjp

@Albertouy 8 ай бұрын

Biomass left by it's own say cow poo would release methane, by burning that, you are harnessing the energy and releasing co2 as a byproduct, the net effect between leaving it in a dump vs using for energy is net zero

@zahidulislam45 8 ай бұрын

nice

@mkk-un9nz 8 ай бұрын

👏👏👏

@lexogk1393 8 ай бұрын

Only Electricity, not the whole energy sources are renewable. What about traffic and heat?

@lexogk1393 8 ай бұрын

@@PBFoote-mo2zr huh? I liked his talk, this was just a critical question/notice regarding the misleading title of the video. What’s the point?

@bernardgeorge9813 8 ай бұрын

But he makes a fair point...Even if they were getting 98% of their electricity from renewables (and they aren't) that is only 20% of energy consumption.

@thinkingimpaired5663 9 ай бұрын

Have you had Patrick Moore speak yet?

@musicbymark 9 ай бұрын

How we can expand the electrical grid and also protect it. I just went ev with my car. TED I'm so disappointed in how you treated Coleman Hughes, caving in to appease the complainants 😢.

@jitojor87 8 ай бұрын

Laughs in Costa Rican ;)

@KhalidGujjar173635 9 ай бұрын

Just imagine what if earth filled with plastics, wastage and residual waste 😢. We should focus to save our planet and discourage all elements that cause environmental disorders.

@KhalidGujjar173635 9 ай бұрын

@@austindenotter19 bad joke

@haysjack6818 8 ай бұрын

Wind and solar also cause environmental disorders! Your ignorance is on display...

@phvaessen 4 ай бұрын

when there is a [political] will, there is a way ! Technology is not an issue anymore.

@MohdFarizudabinRosli 9 ай бұрын

Third?

@legal3556 8 ай бұрын

아 과제 긔찬

@joniboulware1436 8 ай бұрын

Well, if Uruguay imported nothing from other countries this would be a true achievement. But other countries supply the materials to create the energy system.

@mr.rajput1014 9 ай бұрын

First view

@c.f.3503 9 ай бұрын

Second

@fredbear-sf9st 8 ай бұрын

Yeh, but they have regular blacks as the power is not consistent. About 3 million people in Uruguay experienced the blackout. The blackout forced some businesses to close and interrupted public transit; it also led to some water shortages, as some water systems were powered with electricity. “It looked like a zombie city,” a taxi driver in Buenos Aires told the New York Times.17 June 2019. This guy is absolutely full of it. Imagine doing this to a big company. Uruguay is less than 3.5 million people.These people are mad and anyone who thinks they can do this in the UK, USA or any industrialised country.

@Albertouy 8 ай бұрын

"A Taxi driver in Buenos Aires" You do realize that Buenos Aires is in Argentina?

@carlosmazal5338 7 ай бұрын

Never seen one since I was child.

@wwkk4964 9 ай бұрын

Uruguay is comparable to Bangladesh in size. Would Bangladesh have to downsize their population by 50x to achieve your population size?

@vesawuoristo4162 9 ай бұрын

They would need to downsize anyways , much of their country will be under water.

@shajanjacob1576 9 ай бұрын

Then they invade India. Already mkiobs in India, coming illegally

@Silverlined_69 9 ай бұрын

@vesawuoristo4162 this must be the same people who said Florida we be underwater by now.

@wwkk4964 9 ай бұрын

@@vesawuoristo4162 to be clear, you are saying they need to rid of 170m people and downsize to 3.5 million to live like Uruguayans?

@wwkk4964 9 ай бұрын

@@vesawuoristo4162 if they switch to renewables only, they would have to whether they are submerged or not. We are looking at about 8 billion fewer people on earth if we go by Uruguayan standards. Max carrying capacity seems 150m

@Crabfather 9 ай бұрын

Watch planet of the humans then see how happy you are about this.

@jhunt5578 9 ай бұрын

Planet of the humans is hot garbage

@Crabfather 8 ай бұрын

@@jhunt5578 facts are facts. Why don't you like it?

@jhunt5578 8 ай бұрын

@@Crabfather Because it has no facts to speak of. Renewables can fulfil our energy needs.

@Crabfather 8 ай бұрын

@@jhunt5578 renewables are just based dependent on fossilmfuels as what we have now. You obviously didn't watch the film.

@jhunt5578 8 ай бұрын

@ninetydegreeplanet No they aren’t. You can build out renewable energy infrastructure to get away from fossil fuels.

@localfocalsales2751 9 ай бұрын

Six hundredth and sixty sixth..😮

@metalbubba69 9 ай бұрын

My favorite number! 🤘🏽

@Zikimayne 8 ай бұрын

Sabrina Suzuki Trans 500 New York's university Elsa Zepeda Chico State Butte College 1185 east ave Chico CA

@kforest2745 8 ай бұрын

“electricity at a fixed cost” and what about those who don’t want it don’t use it do you still charge them. Lol

@Albertouy 8 ай бұрын

He is talking about KWh consumption at a fixed cost instead of fluctuation

@kforest2745 8 ай бұрын

@@Albertouy yes I know, I simply meant I was bucking at being plugged in at all. Sometimes manipulators try to pass laws to make you use things.

@hexa1905 8 ай бұрын

Renewable will not save us alone, just slow down our extinction. We need low carbon, such as nuclear.

@adamdavies1126 8 ай бұрын

Yes! Nuclear is the way to go!

@adamdavies1126 8 ай бұрын

Then you are the problem. Pick up a book now and then. @@PBFoote-mo2zr

@ZakFromOhio 9 ай бұрын

Factually wrong, misleading title.

@samuelzev4076 9 ай бұрын

Do you have proof that it's wrong? Or is it just something you believe?

@bernardgeorge9813 8 ай бұрын

@@samuelzev4076 It is clearly wrong! The title says "energy" but he only talks about electricity. Electricity accounts for a small minority of CO2 emissions. Also he does not mention that they rely on importing massive amounts of dirty power from their neighbours, due to the extreme intermittency of renewables. It is all rather shoddy and dishonest.

@mashiat328 9 ай бұрын

Thanks for continues updates! I am super excited about how my investments is going so far, making over $13k every week is an amazing gain🥰

@Mary13583 9 ай бұрын

How please help me I really need to gain my losses back

@mashiat328 9 ай бұрын

Am sorry about the losses but you don't just need to hold them with out trading, for me I work with Carolyn reckhow one of the best Broker

@veronalaurence2306 9 ай бұрын

I have also been trading with her, The profits are secured and over a 100% return on investment directly sent to your wallet.

@nicholasbarros7416 9 ай бұрын

I have made up to $43k with her help, this is my 2rd month though with Carolyn Reckhow, all thanks to her, she's really good in what she does.

@thereta3933 8 ай бұрын

Bot spam

@LonnieCraig-ye2tv 9 ай бұрын

Solar & wind are no good if you don't have both 24/7. What happens on windless days when the sun hides behind dark clouds???

@anandkkuno 9 ай бұрын

That is why they have multiple types of energy source. Having a good portfolio will help the transition.

@soyasuki4531 9 ай бұрын

Did you even watch the video? Addressing exactly that is a mayor portion of the talk. Starting around 5:00

@anandkkuno 9 ай бұрын

@@soyasuki4531hi, I did watch it again, and may I know what did I say that is wrong? Having multiple energy sources is what allowed the country to not rely on the fossil fuel for electricity. Of course the country still need fossil fuel for transportation.

@insolencePL 8 ай бұрын

Yeah, they have 50%> of their electricty using hydro. So they just switch hydro on where there is no wind. You can do the same, just build more rivers bro

@insolencePL 8 ай бұрын

@@PBFoote-mo2zr Batteries cost 300bln for ONE day of storage of electricity for germany. That is more than whole fortune of richest man in the world. That is only price of raw batteries, not building and maintenance of facilities and infrastructure. Those batteries also have limited life time, recycling them is expensive. Please stop spreading battery misinformation online.

@chrisp308 9 ай бұрын

Where do you think the chemicals to manufacture these "green" energies comes from genius?

@anandkkuno 9 ай бұрын

What chemicals are you referring to?

@chrisp308 9 ай бұрын

@@anandkkuno petrochemicals

@anandkkuno 9 ай бұрын

@@chrisp308 maybe that is apart of the 2%? They never said is was 100% renewable.

@chrisp308 9 ай бұрын

@@anandkkuno maybe you should do some research before you make assumptions 👍

@anandkkuno 9 ай бұрын

@@chrisp308what assumptions did I do? He literally said they still use fossil fuel? They just do not for rely it for electricity.

@johnnyblade6088 9 ай бұрын

False title. Do you think people are that stupid? Ted seems to be now days.

@ddpwe5269 9 ай бұрын

Show proof or your words mean nothing.

@peterdollins3610 9 ай бұрын

First thought is this country is lucky for its sun resources, probably wind, has two rivers going round it. I'd guess a lot of bio from where it is situated. Only 20% of the earth has enough sun or wind to rely on such. Particularly in the North. Now there are new safer Nuclear Power Stations this must be the source for most high-density high-energy Northern countries. By all means research Uruguay but...

@shawnschaitel838 9 ай бұрын

new new nuke tech is great until you realize humans can't be trusted not to use the uranium to build bombs with it

@markmoore6258 9 ай бұрын

If America can build coast-to-coast 8 lane highways, it can certainly build a crap-ton of wind turbines and solar panels. Stop with the excuses!

@jotapeuy 9 ай бұрын

Not so good on sun, we have all 4 seasons, we are not a tropical country. We are good on wind and hydro because of 4 big damms.

@Pit5336 8 ай бұрын

I think you missed the part where he said that this can be implemented everywhere but not everyone will get to 100% besides majority of human population live in sunny countries where top energy consumption is correlated with sunniest hottest days and peak energy production.

@hermanvanniekerk1270 9 ай бұрын

Nice to state others can do it but it shows a complete lack of understanding scale. Your country is 178,000 km2. The auSA is 9.8 million square km.

@carolgibson-wilson4354 9 ай бұрын

Just requires more solar panels and wind turbines. Oh yes, it also depends on the greedy fossil fuel sellers. and the greedy utilities.

@Yuusou. 9 ай бұрын

Which means, you have far more space to implement solar panels and wind turbines and build tons of micro grids with batteries to ensure power availability. Don't see the point you're trying to make here.

@markmoore6258 9 ай бұрын

Tell me you didn’t listen to the video without saying you didn’t listen to the video. He addresses these concerns. They are unfounded. You’re just giving more excuses to do nothing…. Which benefits the oil companies.

@thefastandthedead1769 9 ай бұрын

Then scale up the equipment for this.

@Raykrueger 9 ай бұрын

So we do it one Uruguay at a time.