“It’s not because of renewable dependency,” Gates told Cooper. “It’s mainly natural gas plants that were not weathered. It could have been. It costs money, and the compromise was made, and it does not work, and it is tragic that it leads to people dying.”
“It’s ironic to blame renewable energy and not realize we’re going to have to deal with this unless we get the whole world to reduce omissions,” Gates said.
He also spoke to Cooper about Covid-19, climate change and the need for innovation to reduce carbon emissions.
That’s why Gates wants to double this research and development funding to $ 35 billion. He said that many people are not aware of the emissions that are produced and farmed, and that we need to commit to finding unique approaches to meet the market demand for these industries.
“2050 is literally the fastest thing that can be done, given the scale and amount of things you need to change,” Gates said.
How to solve the climate crisis
“20% success rate if you limit yourself to things that have dramatic climate benefits – that would be very impressive,” Gates said. “I think we will achieve it, but it is very difficult.”
Gates sees a future where 80% of the world’s energy comes from wind and solar power and the remaining 20% comes from nuclear energy. He uses Texas as an example. Freezing reduces the ability to use wind energy, so the state will have to sharpen nuclear energy or draw from storage.
“Climate is very similar, except unhappy with climate, once you have a problem – the coral reefs that are dead while the Arctic ice is gone, you can not turn things around, you can only invent one thing,” Gates said. .