Michael (Müller) Pretorius’ Post

The transition to carbon free energy is in full swing

🌍 Energy: The Backbone of Progress, but at What Cost? Our lifestyles demand energy—for homes, industries, and technology. But too often, we chase benefits without addressing hidden costs. Plastic revolutionized convenience but now chokes our oceans. Data centers drive innovation but devour energy. The paradox: To tackle climate change, we need to stop emitting CO2, therefore stop burning oil, gas, and coal. Sustainable CO₂-based energy solutions already exist, waiting for us to adopt them. If the main obstacle correct information and perception? We need smarter, future-focused decisions—because our planet can’t afford anything less. 💡 What’s your vision for responsible energy use? #EnergyTransition #Sustainability #CleanEnergy #Innovation #ClimateAction #FutureOfEnergy https://lnkd.in/dvbXXnVK Adrian (Adi) Paterson, Oscar L. Martin, Robert Habeck

🌎 Hinton Lecture/Steven Chu: recycling below an important, interesting, learned and engineering-driven contribution to the challenges of achieving net zero GHG emissions. 9 May saw Royal Academy of Engineering and its President, Sir Jim McDonald, welcome keynote speaker Professor Steven Chu to deliver the annual Hinton Lecture. The latter is the Academy’s flagship annual lecture (focused on sustainability), named for the late Lord Hinton of Bankside, the Academy's first President. He, significantly in this context, was responsible for commissioning Calder Hall, the world's first commercial nuclear power station.   Elected as an Academy international Fellow in 2011, Professor Chu is now a Professor at Stanford University. He received the 1997 Nobel Prize in Physics for laser cooling and trapping of atoms. From January 2009 to April 2013, he served as U.S. Secretary of Energy under President Obama, initiating for example ARPA-E (Advanced Research Projects Agency – Energy). Last week, he shared then his unique insights into both shaping policy inside government and creating new technologies in the lab, reflecting on the status of renewable investment, net zero targets and whether nuclear fusion has a realistic chance of being the breakthrough technology. Professor Chu's comprehensive lecture (watch here https://lnkd.in/e88qrM_p) reflected a dry sense of humour, a distinct lack of cynicism despite his time at the most senior levels of the US Administration - and some highly pragmatic thinking on net zero: for me neither too evangelical nor too sceptical. Many thanks to CEO Hayaatun Sillem and colleagues for organising. Always great to revisit Prince Phillip House. #netzero #sustainabledevelopment #engineering

🌈 15-minute read: Everything you need to know about achieving net-zero emissions through cost-effective innovations. 👇 https://lnkd.in/gJU6SMpj #ClimateChange #Sustainability #CarbonOffset #EnvironmentalScience #BillGates #ClimateAction

This new video elucidates why carbon capture/synthetic direct air capture & nuclear exacerbate climate, pollution, & energy security problems It also shows why they are not needed since we have a cost-saving solution that can be implemented quickly https://lnkd.in/gFKNvw76 @ResponsibleSci

When you look at Trump’s first term, the clean energy industry really found its own during Trump 1. Right? And so my sense is that the deployment of clean technology is going to keep going. I think the real question is what our leadership looks like around the world. And even there, I would say that people are continuing to clamor for American technology in #geothermal, in nuclear, in some of these other areas. https://lnkd.in/ejvvDQ2S

What we're seeing in Labor's environmental and climate actions is a total breakdown in any commitment to a sustainable future. In fact, we're seeing complete capitulation to the gas and coal industries. Accompanying spin by the government is attempting to hide reality behind a wall of miniscule "achievements" that are so inconsequential they are laughable ie. building back tiny sections of the Great Barrier Reef that will die in the next bleaching. I saw a gas advert on SBS last night that brazenly used the words "renewable gas", a statement that defies reality. When gas burns its gone, it's a physical impossibility for it to renew itself. How that advert got on SBS is all about money not physics While biodiversity loss is increasing at an alarming rate (eg. massively increased coral die off) our governments, with the support of many extractive industries, are ramping up propaganda about what they are doing for the environment and climate change. As an environmental lobbyist in a previous time I've seen how this works: it's called "rub my back and I'll rub yours"! In those days the costs were low and there was no social media. People Power was influential. But the stakes, and money, are much higher these days. The innocence has gone and the game has turned filthy. Huge corporations can pour vast amounts of money into advertising and lobbying that rubs the politicians backs and leaves us environmentalists stranded in the backwaters. The only way we can bring about change is by acting together, by calling out the lies over and over again, and not caving in. Everything you do to reverse this trend makes a difference. https://lnkd.in/gMjDCh6h

a sensitive issue that could strike some nerves with immediate neighbors. however, should the implementation help the region mitigate reliance on fossil fuels, thereby slashing co2 & ghg emissions by a good 30-50%... the resistance could be significantly softened. #nuclearenergy #sustainability #carbonreduction #sdg #ccpn #alvin10

It's global emission reduction, stupid! Clean gridless CANDU cities. If we want to reduce global emissions we need approaches like the use of gridless CANDU reactors in the world's most polluting cities, this would help reduce global emissions!

Its the politics of it all that is so frustrating. Moreover the world is looking for stable, sensible policy that progressively works toward the transition in a pragmatic and timely manner as fossil generation winds out by 2030ish..