EnergyMIT energy conference speakers say transformation can happen fast
The pace of advances in key clean energy technologies has been growing faster than many experts have predicted, to the point that solar and wind power, combined with systems for storing their output, can often be the least expensive options for new types of power-generating capacity. In fact, a radical transformation of the world’s energy landscape is well-underway, experts say.
The pace of advances in key clean energy technologies has been growing faster than many experts have predicted, to the point that solar and wind power, combined with systems for storing their output, can often be the least expensive options for new types of power-generating capacity. In fact, a radical transformation of the world’s energy landscape is well-underway, said several speakers at the annual MIT Energy Conference, held on 2 and 3 March in Kendall Square, in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
In the opening keynote talk Tony Seba, co-founder of ReThink X and author of the book, “Clean Disruption of Energy and Transformation,” kicked off the event on an upbeat note that carried through many of the event’s keynote talks and panel discussions. He reflected on the increasingly rapid adoptions of transformative technologies over time, from cars replacing horses on the streets a century ago to the explosion of smartphones in the last decade.
Seba listed several promising trends in low-emissions technologies for power production and storage, as well as in economic and regulatory models. For example, when a Colorado utility recently put out bids to replace the generating capacity of two large coal plants, they got bids for far more capacity than they needed — with the vast majority of prices for wind or solar power plus storage actually lower than those of coal power in the state.
“It’s over, people!” Seba said. “Solar and wind power plus storage is already the cheapest by far.” As a result, he said, these greenhouse-gas-free options will inevitably take over the energy market, for purely economic reasons. Some other experts, including some of the conference’s other speakers, foresee a slower and more difficult path away from fossil fuels. But when truly disruptive new technologies come along, Seba said, “It’s usually the experts and the insiders and the mainstream analysts who dismiss it.” As an example, he showed how, year after year, the International Energy Agency’s projections of the future growth of installed solar capacity have lagged far behind the actual results.
Now in its 13th year, the conference is run by the MIT Energy Club, a student-run organization that is the largest such club in the world, with about 5,000 members, MIT Energy Initiative Director Robert Armstrong said in his introduction to the conference.
The world is facing two great interconnected challenges in energy, Armstrong said: the
