Latest news with #VaclavSmil
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
G7 Leaders Urged to Abandon Net Zero and Climate-Aligned Finance says Friends of Science
At the G7 Summit in Kananaskis, Alberta, Friends of Science Society urges world leaders to abandon Net Zero and climate-aligned finance goals, citing Vaclav Smil's new book on the impossibility of Net Zero. Retired energy economist, Robert Lyman, has issued several reports questioning Prime Minister Carney's energy superpower plans, which show that climate policies are strangling the Canadian economy. CALGARY, AB, June 12, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Based on the economic and security goals outlined in Prime Minister Mark Carney's G7 press release of June 07, 2025, Friends of Science Society urges world leaders to abandon Net Zero and climate-aligned finance goals. Renowned energy author Vaclav Smil's latest book "2050. Pourquoi un monde sans carbone est presque impossible" [translation: "2050. Why a carbon-free world is almost impossible."] makes the case that such goals are extremely unlikely. Smil's key points are summarized in French and English in this post on "Science, Climat et Energie." Professors Happer and Lindzen show, in this new report, that carbon dioxide (CO2) and other greenhouse gases are not driving global warming; expensive efforts to reduce these gases will lead to deindustrialization, poverty and famine worldwide. As noted in this CLINTEL report which cites Obama's former science advisor, the 2 degree Celsius (or 1.5 °C) Paris Agreement target was made up; it is not a product of science, thus compliance with the agreement will not provide "climate insurance" from extreme weather or wildfires; the objective is unaffordable and unnecessary. Friends of Science Society has issued an Open Letter to the Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions in Canada, explaining that Net Zero targets are unattainable and why. The letter challenges the push for the Climate-Aligned Finance Act (CAFA) "…would put such organizations in the position of acting in a fraudulent manner, as no amount of financial effort can make Net Zero a reality; and society will need to use fossil fuels for decades to come." CAFA is also presently promoted by Catherine McKenna and her "Women Leading on Climate" group. Prime Minister Carney has raised Canadian expectations of Canada becoming an energy superpower overnight leading to a bold economic recovery, but the likelihood of these propositions are questioned by Robert Lyman in two new reports, titled: "Canada's Infrastructure Selection Criteria – Deciphering The Rhetoric," and "Energy Superpower Vs. Net-Zero? Don't Jump!" Robert Lyman, is a retired energy economist who for 27 years served in the Canadian government as an advisor and manager on energy, environment and transportation issues and has written extensively on these issues since that time. As discussed in Lyman's "Deciphering the Rhetoric," Premier Tim Houston of Nova Scotia, Canada has proposed "Wind West," a massive 66-Gigawatt offshore wind farm, which he claims could provide 27% of Canada's electrical generation needs. "Deciphering the Rhetoric" explains why this proposal is uneconomic and would have the potential to cause national blackouts. On April 28, 2025, Spain and Portugal both experienced national blackouts, primarily due to far too great a ratio of renewables on the grid, versus more stable frequency control which comes from conventional inertial, dispatchable power. Though the Pathways Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) has been highlighted by both Prime Minister Carney and Minister of Energy and Natural Resources Tim Hodgson as a possible project of national importance, Robert Lyman's 2019 report "The Carbon Capture and Storage Trap – for Taxpayers" is a cautionary tale. Friends of Science Society's "Getting to Net Zero" in Canada shows the Canada Energy Regulator's proposals for applying CCUS to reach Net Zero are unrealistic: video explainer. Friends of Science Society expresses concerns that the push for Net Zero is simply a mirage to foist Article 6 carbon trading and so-called "Nature-based Climate Solutions" on corporations, and ultimately consumers, as outlined in this Western Standard report, "But, while many net-zero bankers see this as a gold mine, energy analyst Anas Alhajji calls carbon accounting the 'Mother of all Enrons.'" Canada's Curious Climate Connection with Europe is a Friends of Science video explainer that offers insights, pros and cons, into suggestions that Canada should join the EU. To achieve global security and prosperity, G7 attendees should abandon Net Zero, embrace conventional energy and reject Climate-Aligned Finance, says Friends of Science. AboutFriends of Science Society is an independent group of earth, atmospheric and solar scientists, engineers, and citizens that is celebrating its 23rd year of offering climate science insights. After a thorough review of a broad spectrum of literature on climate change, Friends of Science Society has concluded that the sun is the main driver of climate change, not carbon dioxide (CO2).Friends of Science SocietyPO Box 61172 RPO KensingtonCalgary AB T2N 4S6CanadaToll-free Telephone: 1-888-789-9597Web: contact(at)friendsofscience(dot)orgWeb: View original content to download multimedia: SOURCE Friends of Science Society
Forbes
04-04-2025
- Business
- Forbes
Could Lack Of DOGE Hamper Countries From Capturing The AI Bounty?
Robot plugging into power. ChatGPT generated image Energy is often treated like a commodity. Priced. Traded. Measured in barrels, kilowatt-hours, or BTUs. But that framing misses the bigger picture. Energy isn't just something we consume. It's the invisible foundation beneath every step of human progress. It fuels industry, powers cities, and increasingly, drives the digital revolution. Without it, prosperity doesn't just stall. It doesnt exist. Over the last century, access to energy has reshaped the human condition. In 1990, around 1.9 billion people, or 35 percent of the global population, lived in extreme poverty, surviving on less than two dollars a day. Today, that figure is down to 782 million. That drop didn't happen by accident. Expanding access to electricity and fuel enabled industrial growth, agricultural productivity, and urbanisation—all pillars of economic uplift. Now, we're entering a new chapter. One marked by rising population, accelerating technological breakthroughs, and surging demand for power. By 2050, an estimated 1.1 billion people will enter the global middle class. At the same time, the global population will approach 10 billion, with much of the growth concentrated in regions like sub-Saharan Africa. As living standards rise, so will the need for energy-intensive goods, services, and infrastructure. The U.S. Energy Information Administration projects a 135% increase in global energy consumption by mid-century. The systems that underpin this growth, whether economic, industrial or digital, are grounded in materials that require massive energy input. Vaclav Smil outlines four of these pillars in How the World Really Works: ammonia, steel, concrete, and plastic. These aren't optional; they are the non-negotiables of development. From feeding the world to building its infrastructure, they represent the baseline for progress. And producing them, at scale, still relies on fossil fuels. At the same time, a new force is reshaping energy demand across the globe: artificial intelligence. Behind every large language model or real-time inference engine lies a dense web of data centers, chips, storage, and cooling infrastructure. These physical systems, often invisible to users, require tremendous amounts of electricity to function. Electricity that must come from somewhere. The International Energy Agency estimates that global data center energy use could rise by up to 128% by 2026, adding the equivalent of Sweden or Germany's entire energy consumption to the global grid. In Ireland, data centers already use more than 20% of the country's electricity. In the U.S., data centers now account for more than 10% of total electricity use in at least five states. And S&P Global projects that U.S. data center usage will nearly double between 2024 and 2028, hitting 530 terawatt-hours, more electricity than Texas produced in 2022. But where will they come from into the future? Leading countries by number of data centers Cloudscene, Statista, Top 10 countries with electricity capacity IRENA The U.S. leads by a large margin, both in energy production and the concentration of AI data centers. However, as the data shows, the growing energy demands of AI and data centers in regions like the U.S. and China will strain existing infrastructure. While these regions have the capacity to generate the energy needed, many data centers still rely on outdated, inefficient systems, which will only exacerbate the challenge. But will bureaucracy hinder countries from reaching their AI potential? Regulatory hurdles, delays in grid development, and challenges in resource allocation could slow efforts to meet the rising demand. Governments may struggle to keep pace with AI's rapid growth, impeding progress on critical infrastructure updates and the scaling of sustainable energy solutions. As this demand surges, it won't be limited to tech giants. With AI becoming more accessible, energy demand will rise across industries. Yet much of today's infrastructure is ill-equipped for the task. Many data centers still rely on inefficient cooling systems and legacy hard drives. Building the next generation of AI systems will require a shift toward more sustainable hardware: high-capacity SSDs, decentralised storage that taps into idle capacity, and liquid cooling systems that use less water and power. Companies like Nvidia are already leading the way with Blackwell GPUs, which are 25 times more energy efficient than their predecessors. But efficiency introduces its own paradox. William Stanley Jevons observed in the 1800s that increased efficiency in resource use often leads to higher total consumption, a concept now known as the 'Jevons Paradox'. AI is already showing signs of following this pattern. When DeepSeek released its R1 model, it claimed to use 11 times fewer computing resources than Meta's Llama and cost just $6 million to train, compared to Llama's $60 million. Yet that drop in cost sparked market concerns: would cheaper, more efficient models accelerate development, drive up energy use, and add further pressure to power grids? It's not guaranteed that every AI model will follow this path, but the trend is clear. As Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella put it, 'Jevons Paradox strikes again.' Jevons Paradox Twitter Satya Nadella This tension between efficiency and demand underscores the complexity of today's energy challenge. Countries like India and China, home to nearly three billion people, are still in the process of building. Their industrial revolutions are far from over, and their need for reliable, affordable power is only accelerating. Shutting off fossil fuels isn't an option when the priority is lifting hundreds of millions into the middle class. The systems driving global economic, industrial, and digital growth are built on materials that demand immense energy. The four pillars of modern life all rely on energy. So does innovation. From data centers to semiconductors, building the future takes power. Simply put, progress needs energy. In that light, the countries best positioned to meet the AI-driven surge in energy demand may not be the ones with the most ambitious targets, but the ones with abundant energy resources and the ability for government approvals to move quickly. In the race to power the future, bureaucracy, not technology, might be the biggest bottleneck.
