Distinguished Lecture Series: Saul Griffith — Balancing the Energy and Climate Budget: Personally, Nationally, Globally

See video
July 13, 2010
Saul Griffith

The average American uses 11400 Watts of power continuously. This is the equivalent of burning 114 x100 Watt light bulbs, all the time. The average person globally uses 2255 Watts of power, or a little less than 23 x100 Watt light bulbs.

What are the consequences of us all using this much power?

What is the implied challenge of global warming in terms of how we produce power?

What are the things we do as individuals in terms of using power that we might change? What is the scale of the engineering task to build the infrastructure required to hit our climate goals?

By detailed self examination this talk gives us a realistic, data-driven to do list on how we might change our behaviors as individuals as well as our collective behavior as societies and global citizens, if we are to meet the great challenge of the 21st century—how to live in a world where we increasingly understand the resources to be finite, and the consequences of our actions complex and inter-twined.

What temperature do we set climate change at? What CO2 concentration does this imply we need to aim at? How much power can we get from fossil fuels while still meeting this goal? How much power do we need to install and produce from non-carbon technologies? What does this mean for countries, corporations, and individuals?

Search Videos

Format: 2017-03-27
Format: 2017-03-27