Juan Enriquez: Why can't we grow new energy?

[7Slatts]

mirin

[intelnzboi]

The rainbow colours on oil are from thin film interference of light. Makes me question his motives considering he probably knows that. I know that he's a venture capitalist and would be looking to increase investment through his talks. Is his heart in the right place?

[panzercommandier]

its funny how ridiculously outdated what he is saying is just 5 years after he said it. we live in exponential times

[TheSmoonge]

Great video, but the guy needs to learn how to iron his shirt.

[danfromabove]

Green revolution; a method of raising yields by pumping more fossil fuels into the food on your table. Works well (if you only care about your monocrops and not, say, bees) while oil production is rising, causes food riots and revolutions once it has peaked... Having said that, using biological methods rather than brute force is valuable, it's just that we need to learn the biological patterns of nature rather than arrogantly trying to better them i.e. using permaculture methods not GMO.

[DaTartanSpartan]

Awww cute, a biologist trying to justify his discipline :)

[cmk353]

give it an other year maybe 2 and oil will be $200 pb and food will go up 5 fold in the next 5 years

[rpm297]

The last few sentences won't happen. Oil cartels own this and many other nations today. And their own self preservation is their focus.

Unless of course they already own the best alternative energy ideas already and are simply keeping them on the shelves until such a time oil ceases to be profitable.

Humankind is still dealing with a value system disorder, which we should be working on as well. Eliminating scarcity for everyone through technology would be a great start.

[otivaeey]

His point is don't be fooled by the word bioenergy, because coal, natural gas and petroleum are biological products, same as plant. The motif is to move from brute force energy production to biological-based power extraction that can be accelerated still, so we can revert easier when things get messy. The point is that any legislative thinking should start from not tapping a readily available solar energy underground us, but to move to bioengineering mechanisms which I think is rather infantile.

[otivaeey]

Who those who can't hear the Nobel laureate name, he is Norman Ernest Borlaug 1914-2009, was an American agronomist engineer, humanitarian, and Nobel laureate who has been called "the father of the Green Revolution". Borlaug was one of only six people to have won the Nobel Peace Prize, the Presidential Medal of Freedom and the Congressional Gold Medal. He was also a recipient of the Padma Vibhushan, India's second highest civilian honor. Thumbs this up!!

[mickw2000]

very good

[nickorization]

This man is talking too much about bio-fuel and not enough about Solar, Wind, and Geothermal Energy.

The solution he presents still causes harm to the environment as oppose to the solution written above.

[intermedia1000]

Thanks for presentation I love to watch and listening to expertise the ideaology

[Ramshobraja]

RIP Borlag.

[tinosnit]

An interesting talk until his final suggestion. If OPEC wants to give me cheap oil, let them!

[Johnnyart2000]

"Excellent points!" Opec is keeping renewable enegry from us!

[jackli144]

i love that idea in the end ..sooo true

[kannako]

Genes are more like the toolbox routines on a computer, rather than a program.

A Genome is like a program, it repeatedly calls Genes(Like Toolbox Routines) in different contexts and at different times.

[bezvezeceda]

At 12:30. These people really use terms they don't know ... hardware and software are so so so non related to this. This is molecular physics at best. A sequence. Large sequence of binary lottery. Hardware and software, best comparison for common people would be to brain and mind. And it is interconnected to munch extreme amounts of data, can not be compared to sequencing. Hardware and software can be used to aid any sequencing, but just can't be compared to it. Sorry, just not possible.

[silycaon]

i think he means it metaphorically

[agaleano]

well, i think firstly anything can be compared... but specifically why can't you compare a gene to software? both of them produce outputs through the needed mechanisms provided by hardware and proteins. also if you alter genes you get a different output same with altering a program.

[HHamanyy]

THE SUN

[davewah3]

YES

[confirmdeath]

Solar power.

Plants are quick solar power.

Oil is extremely slow solar power.

Solar cells give instant power.

Solar is cheap, readily available, easy to implement and safe. It is a quicker form of harvesting energy from the sun than growing plants and much quicker than waiting for those plants to be compressed and turn into oil.

The amount of energy lost is also an important factor to consider.

Oil needs to be located, extracted, transported and burnt before the energy can be utilised.

SOLAR

[soylentgreenb]

Solar sucks.

It costs some per ~$5 000/kW installed capacity.

At 10-25% capacity factor this is equivalent to $18 000 - $45 000 per kW nuclear.

Then there's interest(curiously omited by solar pushers) now you're up to some $36 000 - $90 000 per kW.

In a post-carbon grid you have to overbuild by a factor of several times to deal with winter and throw away the surplus in summer. Now you're talking closer to $100 000 to $500 000 per kW of nuclear equivalent, a factor 100 to large to compete.

[aprilfoolaries]

Exactly what I was saying

[laurasIs2c]

Wait a minute folks. If he considers the work of forcing energy through cultivation only increases the cost of the fuel and still not getting rid of the concentrated hydrocarbons. Carbon being the problem with Global warming. This guy is praposing more costs for the world. The process That Mike Strizki has a working process that uses solar stored in the form of Hydrogen which can be used to power his car, heat his home along with providing electricity for other stuff.

[confirmdeath]

WATER ELECTROLYSIS produces Hydrogen and Oxygen, which can be put into a combustion engine.

There is a lot of water on Earth

Burning hydrogen and oxygen produces water.

Re-Cycle.

[tillo2008]

the energy ratio is not 1:1. You first need electricity to split the H20, and the car will not produce enough energy to recycle the (exhaust) water it produces. much of the energy we need is not for vehicles, it's for everything else that doesn't have a gas tank but is still powered by a power plant that uses fossil fuels

I agree that hydrogen is cleaner, but it's not a final solution, which is why this guy wants a gas price cap so opec doesn't lower prices when their business is threatened

[confirmdeath]

THE SUN.

[tillo2008]

um.... exactly what i was saying, except "THE SUN" isn't a good enough answer to explain to confirmdeath

[confirmdeath]

I'm confused, what exactly is it that you were saying - that another energy source such as the sun is required?

What did you mean by "except "THE SUN" isn't a good enough answer to explain to confirmdeath"

Are you trying to talk to me or did you think you were talking to someone else? My own explanation isn't good enough to explain to myself? Insane oxymoron paradigm..

I was trying to say use solar panels, then use that for hydrogen production, I guess direct harvesting of solar would be better.

[Chavalierdeon]

i think biofuels are out of question, they compete with food and with forests, it would kill the land

[tillo2008]

i agree, but i think you may have missed the details. he is saying "use bio-fuels", but he's also saying "use them smarter" and regulate the consumer cost so that oil companies can't play with the market to reduce threat to their industry. This will allow solar or other tech to be financially viable.

It would only take 3-5 tech generations (>20yrs) to develop and impliment mainstream renewable energy sources if it was financially viable, but big oil won't have that.

[Animalll2003lll]

omg great (especially the ending 16:52 set a stable oil price to encourage energy innovation), but I didn't really get the point with agriculture. what's the link between the evolution of agriculture and the search for new energies? and how is he going to improve coal and gaz and oil extraction/ efficiency? he talks with this kind of "enigmatic style". it's semi mystical and not direct enough for me, and it prevent me from understanding everything well. but still, good talk.

[tillo2008]

"what's the link between..."

-we are using the same brute force on the planet to cut up sections and squares and harvest the planet, but we are hurting it and wasting alot as well. If the wasted farm produce can be dedicated to energy instead of whole farm fields of perfectly good food, it would have a huge impact.

"extraction/efficiency..."

-he's proposing that new science is needed to better understand how to maximize the juice we get from the energy sources

He has a new talk on TED channel

[DontTouchMyTea]

When he took of his jacket, I thought this would turn into a very slow strip tease.

I'm sorry, I can't help random thoughts!

[NewDescartes]

Genius!  Thank god some people have brains.

[jwil2570]

Yeah, thank natural selection.

[Mrmoc7]

This guy makes me feel good about being a biology major, and if only for the first time, feel superior to chemical engineers. :)!

[FlailingJunk]

$35 a barrel lol

[omnivore43]

We're at $40 again. It only took 8 months. Unfortunately energy enthusiasm died with $100/barrel oil.

[FlailingJunk]

Doh! If Peter Schiff continues to be right though the price will be going back up due to inflation if nothing else.

[boydism08]

Really inspiring. Major influence in my artwork.

Thanks so much.

[VeritasEtLibertas82]

He had me up until the last part.

We don't need a tax on oil to make the cost stable, we need to remove the subsidies that are on oil already and let the market do what markets do...

[jefboyardee]

Fixing the price of oil with a floating tax -- thereby clamping inflation -- would make Wall Street come to resemble Bangla Desh. Perhaps that's the hidden goal behind all this.

[VeritasEtLibertas82]

Nonsense.

[Seiku]

I think he suggested a tax that would give incentive to create solutions.

[VeritasEtLibertas82]

If we had to pay for all the billions in direct and indirect subsidies to the oil industry at the pump, it would be an outrageous price. The natural incentives would be more then enough if the market was aloud to reflect the actual cost.

[Seiku]

Oh I agree Im for free market as well, im just trying to figure out what his suggestion means in the end.

[jeffhaitch]

Interesting technology, but it's sad to label fossil fuels as bio-energy just because they are fossilized biomass. Some sort of greenwash concept for the petrochemical industry?

Fossil fuel extraction -> increased carbon dioxide content of atmosphere -> rapid global warming (starting now) -> species extinction (set to accelerate as many species and habitats fail to adapt to change in local climatic conditions).

Best we wise-up and work on leaving the gunk in the ground where it belongs...

[EverettsVLOG]

nah, well figure out how to reverse global warming.

[MaZe741]

"Some sort of greenwash concept for the petrochemical industry?"

wtf are you talking about? do you know how many plants and time it takes to produce 1 barrel of oil? hes not "greenwashing" anything! he tried to tell you how STUPID it is to use oil. actually he's presenting an idea for a shortcut to this process, a biological way to process sunlight energy and not by letting the plants rot under pressure. watch the movie again!

[Claan22]

Amazing video.

I definitely agree with taxing the oil like he mentioned at the end.

[apexdna]

The DNA stuff is amazing ...

[amerika000sux]

the filthy, greedy, well-connected oil cartels will surely stop at nothing to keep the world addicted and enslaved to their vulgar commodity.

mr. enriquez's tax oil idea will be shot down in flames because the soulless, corrupt u.s. politicians are bought and paid for by big oil corporations.

the world is not governed by logic, it's governed by greed!

[Embikay]

@amerika000sux You are over-obsessed with cartels and their vulgar commodity as you name their product. Now I want to ask if you will be prepared by bullock cart from your city to its neighboring one? You will want at least a used car, and then demand gas. If those 'cartels' cannot 'supply' to your 'demand', you will vote out Pres X and vote Y who promises to invade some oil producing country which controls oil indy.and dictates prices. War follows and you raise protest flags.

[Embikay]

>>>(amerika000sux) (b) If you dont want to waste your lifetime in such sad ways, you must understand that today's great brains of biochemistry/ biotechnology are working precisely to avoid your kind of double behaviour and recreate a world of peace despite increased millions. Open and grow up, friend.

[evirus]

rather ironic, bacteria the pests of today which tons of people try to staralize their homes from, can become the providers of tomarrow.

[mindwis3]

"bacteria the pests of today".

I thought we wouldn't even exist if it wasn't for bacteria? as far as i understand it, without bacteria we would not survive today.

Am i wrong evirus? i hold your opinion high, i am a fan of many of your vids, so the most likely is that i misinterpreted your comment ;) (or i'm just wrong, in which case, sorry!)

[evirus]

i probably should have worded it differently, the layman seems so concerned with bacteria today that they would probably define them as pests, going for antibacterial everything to get rid of them. but yes you are right, in fact we are crawling with bacteria, some of which we absoultly need.

[tanton1]

i like the idea of a bridge to get out of fossil fuels, and a stable price to help the innovation process, but i am afraid of a problem solved attitude if and when something good were to come out of what he presented.

[BNevs16]

is this guy even credible?!  how many times did he say stuff????

[vlasevmovement]

He's probably smarter than all of us commenters taken together

[zippythewildone]

he's paid to figure things out, not to talk intelligently. Some people are very intelligent and don't appear intelligent because the way they communicate, just because he doesn't have the most fluent speech doesn't mean he's not credible.

[mindwis3]

"Some people are very intelligent and don't appear intelligent because the way they communicate," the name Hawkins comes to mind.

[zippythewildone]

is that a good thing? *hopes*

[mindwis3]

-reply to Zippy:

Well, hawkins would have been a good example were it not for my unforgivable 'mixup' between the names Dawkins and (what i meant)

Stephen HawkinG ;)

Thankfully the context in which i said it seems to have distracted most readers, Fortunatly, your reply made me see my error.

(I will say 20 Hail-Hitchens to ensure my forgiveness, or read another HawkinG book)

[laurasIs2c]

Mr. Enrique is wonderful, but he just doesn't offer any real enthusiasm for using Solar, wind, water, now. Look up Mike Strizki's process. He uses complete non carbon fuel for spacious cars, homes, etc. His idea about fixing prices is completely off the charts not going to happen. Just consider who is at the heads of these companies. We can't afford a red herring like that or any of the rest of his ideas.

Another case of brilliance being entertainment .

[tillo2008]

Mike Strizki's process is good for individuals who are seeking to invest their own home.

Many countries already have a similar style of tax on gas. This allows them to hold the excess revenue of gas and subsidize using this excess when the price goes over the cap. It's not rediculous and I don't understand your definition of red herring.

Your solution is no less unsuitable for the average user. Most people can't afford the equipment, let alone the install and keep-up labor.

[DK0526]

Great Idea use bio-enginered bacteria, or funguses to break down oil and coal into cleaner more easily extraced and cheaper energy! Very do able stuff. especially in conjuntion with cleaner burning, nuclear, and better solar. Farming ethonal is ridiculious..Its like going back to the stone age..fertilizers, pesticides, land waste, labor waste...I'm no tree hugger but ethonal is just stupid!

[arabidopsissb]

This talk is a bit misleading. Oil/coal/gas are fossil energy and they are all originated from plant/micro ages ago. But they all came from the sunlight. So it is alright to say they are bio-energy.

Our world faces 2 problems:

A: fossil energy regens very slowly, almost non-renewalbe. (aka energy crises)

B: so much energy were used that the end product (heat and CO2) can't be removed. (aka globle warming)

Biofuel cannot solve either of the problems.

[jpbalkenende]

The problem with fossil energy is that the CO2 is not captured at a rate that we release it into the atmosphere. "Bio-energy" does not have this problem because plants regenerate and as they do they trap in the CO2 they lost.

[cromicus]

Very interesting but definitely needs more detail.

[anotherelvis]

It sounds like he has a story to tell, but the problem is that he is far too vague. I think that he wants to create bacteria and/or enzymes that can help proces oil or coal in a more efficient way, perhaps by turning it into some kind of gas. The problem is that he does not tell how. Perhaps TED should start helping the speakers to make slides, to make slides so they can ensure that the talks are not void.

[marrs487]

good luck getting a measure passed in congress to set the oil price at a stable price, the oil companies have enough money to buy out any politician. we can't even lower the cost of medication because of pharmaceutical companies.

[ParapaDrifter]

Does Ron Paul know a thing about economics?

[johntheunique]

He's only written several books on the subject.

[ParapaDrifter]

Some critiques of Austrian economics label it naive. But, I know better that an economy is more resilient than not.

--I personally support him because I only see him reducing the intrusive attacks on our civil liberties and restoring our government to its constitutional checks and balances.

love ya RON PAUL!

-JOIN the American teaparty07.c0om

[johntheunique]

I'm no expert in economics, but I've learned enough in college to know that this guy's idea is sound.

[twoheel]

If your teacher at collage understood economics, then why on earth was he working as a teacher? He would have been out in the real world making a fortune.

[johntheunique]

Good question. I'm not sure what his reasoning was. Maybe he just really liked to teach.

[twoheel]

"Maybe he just really liked to teach"

You don't really believe that do you?

[johntheunique]

I believe it to be a possibility, yes.

[twoheel]

"I believe it to be a possibility, yes." Change your name to John the gullible.

Also, here is a tip, stay away from Nigerians who want your credit card details.

[blsfalcao]

Actually the comment is right and it's quite obvious for any economist.

The talk was not bad but this idea was kind of stupid.

[blsfalcao]

Economics is a science, it doesn't teach you how to make money.

[theillusivemind]

He's not a very warm or engaging speaker is he?

[johntheunique]

Does nice packaging make something good? This guy is spot on. So what if his presentation is a little dry. The gravity of the topic kept me glued the whole time. I certainly hope politicians are paying attention to the statement he made at the end.

[theillusivemind]

I agree, 100%. What he's talking about is very important, if not skimming the surface a little too much. His style puts me off is all.

[bitRAKE]

My empathy tells me this is a very emotional topic for him, and he is resisting expressing his emotions. He does well to stay on topic and get his point across. It is dis-heartening when ignorant people are in control and let good ideas die.

[GlassCalx]

I agree. Interesting topic, but he's not very engaging at all. Also he's not specific, probably because he doesn't have confidence in his audience's background knowledge. He said something like "... won the Nobel Prize for the discovery of restriction enzymes." I think most people learn about restriction enzymes in HS biology.

[lordmetroid]

You keep government out and you will see the problem solve itself. Government intervention has caused the problem, more of the same is stupidity defined!

[aurelia314159]

lordmetroid, Please read the Wikipedia article "Tragedy of the commons" to see why laissez-fare policies lead to over-exploitation of finite resources and future economic harm. Socialism and communism are both horrible ideas, but the free market alone is not omnipotent.

[lordmetroid]

Tragedy of the commons is a result of government. What is your point?

[aurelia314159]

TOC has be written about by many philosophers and is talked about in more than one context.

(1) If the costs of a problem are widely distributed and do not seriously inconvenience anyone, people tend to ignore the problem. However, if somebody has an investment in what happens and feels personally threatened or inconvenienced by the problem, that person is likely to see to it that the problem is solved.

[aurelia314159]

"If land is not owned by anybody, although legal formalism may call it public property, it is used without any regard to the disadvantages resulting." -- Lugwig von Mises

This is why private property is necessary when dealing with problems like land and water pollution. Unfortunately, our atmosphere is hard to "privatize". Our atmosphere is inherently a collective resource, and that is why government regulation seems necessary for action on ozone depletion and global climate change.

[aurelia314159]

(2) Another context of TOC is the use of nonrenewable resources like oil.

To quote Wikipedia,"The [TOC] metaphor illustrates how free access and unrestricted demand for a finite resource ultimately structurally dooms the resource through over-exploitation." This is why I referred to TOC.

[aurelia314159]

People tend to keep the status quo if it is profitable. As long as oil is cheap, there will likely be no action on the peak oil problem in the free market until it is too late (when we encounter serious price hikes resulting from supply shortages in a high-demand world). Government policies have the potential to introduce forethought by funding R&D and helping renewable sources.

[aurelia314159]

lordmetroid,

Unless you are a true anarchist, you must believe that government has some valid role to play in your life. Government enables society to accomplish things that no single person could (Good things like universal electrification, food and drug safety laws, road construction, etc). It is our job as citizens to choose our leaders, set the agenda, and supervise - and get rid of leaders who aren't doing their jobs. See profile of wondringmind42 for more.

[reivilo]

stuff

[lordmetroid]

No not all brute force, also creating better plants!

[1Brockster15]

Stuff.

[JohnDeBunkTest]

Bio energy ..

We need to switch to sustainable energy ...

and the missing ingredient in energy use equations ? O2 ... The oxygen comes from somewhere and that somewhere is what we breathe.