Ex-Microsoft CEO and philanthropist Bill Gates on Tuesday said the world needs a “green industrial revolution” to encourage development of technologies to halt climate change.
In his new book, “How to Avoid a Climate Disaster,” Mr Gates shares five basic concepts that have helped to frame his understanding of the pending climate crisis. Gates says they can also help others grasp what’s happening to the Earth.
“When I started learning about climate change, I kept encountering facts that were hard to get my head around,” Gates writes in the book. “For one thing, the numbers were so large they were hard to picture....Another problem was that the data I was seeing often appeared devoid of any context.”
Gates began to develop “a mental framework” organized around five concepts. “These are complex subjects that can be confusing,” Gates writes. “This framework will help you cut through the clutter.”
Here are the buckets of information Gates says can help you get your head around the importance of mitigating climate change.
◦ 51 billion tons of greenhouse gasses are added to the atmosphere each year
◦ Making things, like cement and steel, is more of a culprit than cars or jets
◦ It takes 5,000 gigawatts to power the world
◦ Some power sources take up more space that they are allowed to
◦ It all comes back to money
“The reason the world emits so much greenhouse gas is that — as long as you ignore the long-term damage they do — our current energy technologies are by and large the cheapest ones available,” Gates says.