I appreciated the episode and I’m interested in getting some more discussion on this, so I’m curating the post (despite the fact that it’s 3 weeks old and a link-post).
I also shared the episode in the latest EA Newsletter — I’m copying the relevant bit here in case someone is interested and/or wants to correct me if I got something wrong (in which case I’ll try to add a correction in the May edition).
Why unconventional approaches to climate change can be more effective
On the 80,000 Hours podcast, Johannes Ackva discusses promising climate strategies and how effective approaches can diverge from popular ones. Two highlights:
Interventions can look a lot more — or less — effective when you evaluate them on a global scale. For example, some groups in Switzerland are advocating for thorough insulation of all homes to make them more energy-efficient. This would reduce emissions in Switzerland, but it would have a small impact globally because most emission growth is in countries where insulation isn’t the problem. Conversely, Germany’s investments in solar power in the 2000s might have seemed ineffective — solar panels were very expensive and Germany isn’t particularly sunny — but in part because of this push and the resulting innovation, solar power today is much cheaper and is deployable on a global scale.
We should accelerate the development of new clean energy technologies. It’s very important to have backup solutions in case today’s promising clean energy solutions fall short. A diverse portfolio of approaches, like carbon capture and storage or modular nuclear reactors, would provide crucial insurance if that happens.
The episode covers many other considerations. (Ackva’s team is hiring.)
I appreciated the episode and I’m interested in getting some more discussion on this, so I’m curating the post (despite the fact that it’s 3 weeks old and a link-post).
I also shared the episode in the latest EA Newsletter — I’m copying the relevant bit here in case someone is interested and/or wants to correct me if I got something wrong (in which case I’ll try to add a correction in the May edition).