Tech's green wave hits choppy waters

quote: calls from activists and experts simply to use less energy.

That won't work. Activists are a small and increasingly unpopular slice of society. Even China started to lose control with 'Covid Zero' and had to abolish it. Elected regimes have no chance. Even using war to justify rationing and hiking energy costs is costing regimes too many votes. If two opposing regimes are both toppled for their policies, populists and extremists would then replace them.

quote: the search for new power sources should even be an aim for humanity.

Unless you want an increasing proportion of the population to die of heat in the summer and cold in the winter, yes, we do need more power.

Governments will always take what they need for themselves and their military - the rest of us will have to survive on what is left.

Most of these projects don't need typical VC-level money. The start up process is a bit fake. It is unwise to just throw money at stuff as VC. Wiser people will undertake due diligence, understand what is happening, and release investment funds in stages as they see stuff work. VC is 'money in, money out' to scale up after proof of concept. Most green tech needs money at a much earlier stage and investors need to monitor what is happening. Green tech is different to computing tech.

Universities are good places to start, even in Brexit Britain where govt. policies are crippling them. Unis tend to be quite slow, but external support can speed them up. For example...

Solar energy breakthrough could reduce need for solar farms https://www.ox.ac.uk/news/2024-08-09-solar-energy-breakthrough-could-reduce-need-solar-farms-0

Breakthrough green tech is out there, but it's really important to be able to determine what is a political scam and what is actually a new tech.

Another issue is the need to not replicate the weaponising of patents to control, monopolise and limit use. Green tech only works if everyone has access to it, even if they cannot afford it. So it can't operate like computing technology patents, where patent rings are used to control access while banking cash. The 1970s Indian Patents Act permitted reverse engineering to offer cheap generic drugs to the Indian people. This has not survived due to global marketplace restrictions. But we need green tech to be universal, so it would require generic use to be permitted or for patent holders to offer free use to those who cannot afford technologies. Or poor countries will stick with fossil fuels so their people can afford to heat their homes and eat.