Video
Programme: Clean Energy Innovation
Discussion: How can we speed up innovation in energy technology to ensure a secure and sustainable energy future?
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Schedule:
Tuesday: 2
2:45*, 03:15
Wednesday: 11:15, 14:15, 18:45
Thursday: 05:15, 15:15, 17:45, 19:45
Friday: 11:45, 17:15, 04:15
Saturday: 09:15, 15:45, 18:45
Sunday: 09:15, 13:45, 23:15
Monday: 05:15, 07:45, 15:45
*Starts Tuesday 22:45, all times CET.
Broadcast for one week from Tuesday, 14 June.
Transcript
We will have to integrate new ideas and new technologies into our lives if we are going to make significant cuts in greenhouse gas emissions.
And doing that means innovating. This month commentvisions.com is filled with ideas on how to move quickly to a low carbon future.
And we are in Switzerland to meet some high profile speakers, among them Urs Hölzle, a leading figure at Google.
Deep inside the firm's Zürich office we talked energy, efficiency and innovation.
Firstly Google claims to be carbon neutral. How did they reach that goal and where are they going now?
Urs Hölzle, Senior Vice President of Operations, Google: "We're doing three things, the first is to reduce our energy usage by being very energy efficient in our data centres and through our buildings.
"The second one is to buy renewable energy, so we buy a lot of wind energy, and then as a third part we buy offsets in order to get to zero."
"And so we invest a lot of money actually in renewable energy projects in order to bring the industry along and finance the development of new energy sources."
So what can we do with what we have now?
Urs Hölzle, Senior Vice President of Operations, Google: "A lot I things. So for example we recently did a retrofit of an existing data centre that we inherited, and we brought down the overheads in that data centre from 140 percent to about 50 percent. And we spent $25,000 (17,400 euros) to do that, but the savings per year in energy is $ 65,000 (45,000 euros). So you don't need a justification to do that, it's really a no-brainer, and most people don't realise that these opportunities are out there. "
New ideas in clean energy can come from almost anywhere, but they do need a framework to develop and grow.
This month our poll asks about the role of governments in innovation.
And we put that question to one of the world's most famous entrepreneurs, Sir Richard Branson.
The non-profit organisation The Carbon War Room, which Branson set up, puts business and entrepreneurship at the heart of the drive to cut greenhouse gas emissions. But what about the role of governments?
Sir Richard, Chairman of Virgin Group: "Governments certainly do have a very important role, and I think industry wants them to get off their butt and come to an agreement so that there can be a global decision made, and I think all of us, or a lot of us, would like to see a carbon tax, which is fair and equal across the globe for all industries."
Does he think it is best to use carrots or sticks when you are trying to encourage businesses to invest in clean energy technology?
Sir Richard Branson: "Well I think it's far better in life to use carrots than sticks, and The Carbon War Room was set up to work with the 25 principle industries that pollute the globe and try to help them get a gigatonne of carbon out of their particular sectors, and hopefully saving them money rather than costing them money."
What are the game changing clean energy technologies around at the moment; is there anything in particular that has caught Branson's attention?
Sir Richard Branson: "Well first of all there's just energy efficiency, which saves companies money, and I think companies are getting much better at that."
"In the airline industry, there's a couple of forms of clean energy that we're excited about, one is isobutanol, which is a fuel that is a derivative of sugar that can work for airlines, that doesn't freeze at 35-40,000 feet, and a fuel that the US Air Force is already beginning to use, and so that has a lot of hope I think."
To dig deeper into the question of how new energy technologies are developing we headed to the World Economic Forum in Geneva to meet analyst Roberto Bocca.
He recently wrote a report on the roll-out of renewables and said that there was a need for more long-term planning and better dialogue with governments and regulators. Why is that?
Roberto Bocca, Head of Energy Industries, World Economic Forum: "Well, long-term planning is enabling long-term investment perspectives. We have seen for example when we talk about changing the feed-in tariffs, the investor would have to have clarity on what kind of return he can get on his investment. If the rules change during the game, it's very difficult for the players to adapt."
"So the good news is there is enough experience now, or there is a lot of experience on the ground, to enable the deployment at a faster pace, now less mistakes should be made, both by governments and business, to make this evolution towards a cleaner economy more effective."
Does he think that reaching our goals in terms of cutting the emission of greenhouse gases is more about innovative thinking, or innovative technology?
Roberto Bocca, Head of Energy Industries, World Economic Forum: "The answer is probably a mix. We need to, of course, keep innovating in terms of technology; we have to learn more of what is already available. But of course we can also innovate just in the way that we do business, in the business model.
"As we know the system of energy is changing, so the way we look at innovation should be changing as well."
Join the debate and find out more on the Comment Visions website.
And doing that means innovating. This month commentvisions.com is filled with ideas on how to move quickly to a low carbon future.
And we are in Switzerland to meet some high profile speakers, among them Urs Hölzle, a leading figure at Google.
Deep inside the firm's Zürich office we talked energy, efficiency and innovation.
Firstly Google claims to be carbon neutral. How did they reach that goal and where are they going now?
Urs Hölzle, Senior Vice President of Operations, Google: "We're doing three things, the first is to reduce our energy usage by being very energy efficient in our data centres and through our buildings.
"The second one is to buy renewable energy, so we buy a lot of wind energy, and then as a third part we buy offsets in order to get to zero."
"And so we invest a lot of money actually in renewable energy projects in order to bring the industry along and finance the development of new energy sources."
So what can we do with what we have now?
Urs Hölzle, Senior Vice President of Operations, Google: "A lot I things. So for example we recently did a retrofit of an existing data centre that we inherited, and we brought down the overheads in that data centre from 140 percent to about 50 percent. And we spent $25,000 (17,400 euros) to do that, but the savings per year in energy is $ 65,000 (45,000 euros). So you don't need a justification to do that, it's really a no-brainer, and most people don't realise that these opportunities are out there. "
New ideas in clean energy can come from almost anywhere, but they do need a framework to develop and grow.
This month our poll asks about the role of governments in innovation.
And we put that question to one of the world's most famous entrepreneurs, Sir Richard Branson.
The non-profit organisation The Carbon War Room, which Branson set up, puts business and entrepreneurship at the heart of the drive to cut greenhouse gas emissions. But what about the role of governments?
Sir Richard, Chairman of Virgin Group: "Governments certainly do have a very important role, and I think industry wants them to get off their butt and come to an agreement so that there can be a global decision made, and I think all of us, or a lot of us, would like to see a carbon tax, which is fair and equal across the globe for all industries."
Does he think it is best to use carrots or sticks when you are trying to encourage businesses to invest in clean energy technology?
Sir Richard Branson: "Well I think it's far better in life to use carrots than sticks, and The Carbon War Room was set up to work with the 25 principle industries that pollute the globe and try to help them get a gigatonne of carbon out of their particular sectors, and hopefully saving them money rather than costing them money."
What are the game changing clean energy technologies around at the moment; is there anything in particular that has caught Branson's attention?
Sir Richard Branson: "Well first of all there's just energy efficiency, which saves companies money, and I think companies are getting much better at that."
"In the airline industry, there's a couple of forms of clean energy that we're excited about, one is isobutanol, which is a fuel that is a derivative of sugar that can work for airlines, that doesn't freeze at 35-40,000 feet, and a fuel that the US Air Force is already beginning to use, and so that has a lot of hope I think."
To dig deeper into the question of how new energy technologies are developing we headed to the World Economic Forum in Geneva to meet analyst Roberto Bocca.
He recently wrote a report on the roll-out of renewables and said that there was a need for more long-term planning and better dialogue with governments and regulators. Why is that?
Roberto Bocca, Head of Energy Industries, World Economic Forum: "Well, long-term planning is enabling long-term investment perspectives. We have seen for example when we talk about changing the feed-in tariffs, the investor would have to have clarity on what kind of return he can get on his investment. If the rules change during the game, it's very difficult for the players to adapt."
"So the good news is there is enough experience now, or there is a lot of experience on the ground, to enable the deployment at a faster pace, now less mistakes should be made, both by governments and business, to make this evolution towards a cleaner economy more effective."
Does he think that reaching our goals in terms of cutting the emission of greenhouse gases is more about innovative thinking, or innovative technology?
Roberto Bocca, Head of Energy Industries, World Economic Forum: "The answer is probably a mix. We need to, of course, keep innovating in terms of technology; we have to learn more of what is already available. But of course we can also innovate just in the way that we do business, in the business model.
"As we know the system of energy is changing, so the way we look at innovation should be changing as well."
Join the debate and find out more on the Comment Visions website.