Printable Liability Release: Fill & Download for Free

In 1956, during the General Motors Motorama exhibit, a short film aired suggesting that the world would have driverless cars by 1976. Inexplicably, everyone also sings. Those of us who are still waiting to get our hands on these hands off cars might scoff at the video, which teaches us all about the dangers of making unfounded predictions about the future.But, hey, let’s do it anyway! Here are the best technologies that maybe/possibly/hopefully will be arriving in 2017.Robot chefsIf we ignore the part about robots dooming us all by forcing us into unemployment, the idea of a robot kitchen assistant is a dream come true. A year and a half ago, Moley Robotics said their robot hands would launch in 2017, claiming they would be able to cook 2000 meals at the push of a button. Whilst the undoubtedly expensive equipment won’t be one for all of us next year, the robot hands pave the way for a future where you might never have to stir your boyfriend’s beans again.Google’s modular phoneProject Ara is Google’s attempt to stop us all buying a new iPhone every six months. The modular phone will allow users to slot in and out different parts of the device (such as cameras and speakers), meaning when phone technology improves you can simply swap in a new module rather than buy a whole new phone. The Ara phone has been delayed before, but Google hope it will be on the market in 2017.Virtual touchElectrovibration technology is seen as the way forward in allowing us to really “touch” the stuff on our touch screens. The tech will hopefully allow us to feel different textures, which could potentially help amputees and the blind, whilst also improving everything from gaming to online shopping.Instant chargingThe technology to improve batteries has been around for a while, with StoreDot unveiling their prototype fast-charging battery way back in 2014. Whilst battery life has been threatened by ever-slimming phones, there’s no reason that instantly-chargeable batteries shouldn’t be on the market soon. Get the hint, yeah, Apple?The male “pill”Research into male contraception is still ongoing 55 years after the pill was introduced in the UK (for the reason why, see: patriarchy). Nonetheless, there have been significant breakthroughs in the last few years, with RISUG and Vasalgel – both contraceptive injections – currently undergoing clinical trials.The Moon ExpressWhilst commercial trips to the moon may be another few years off, the first private company has permission to land on the moon in 2017. The Moon Express will launch its lunar landing next year, with permission from the US Government.Fully waterproof iPhonesThough the iPhone 7 is partially waterproof (and for that we sacrificed our beloved headphone jack), fully waterproof iPhones are not yet widely available. With both the technology and the consumer demand available, 2017 will hopefully become the year that you can start keeping your phone in your back pocket again. (Bonus: Samsung also might release a phone you can fold.)The e-showerSpeaking of water, the Hamwell’s e-shower could potentially help alleviate the world’s water crisis. The shower will recycle the water you’re using in real time, meaning you use a much smaller amount, and is commercially available next year. The water is caught in a tray, filtered with UV light, and then poured back over your head. Trust us, your great grandchildren will thank you.Fake news detectorsWith “fake news” being the hottest two words of the moment, it seems unlikely that the furore around the stuff won’t lead to practical solutions. Facebook are already said to be developing solutions, whilst various organisations are attempting to roll out real-time fact-checking. Could we live in a future where it’s impossible for politicians to lie? Well, no, but at least we'll get better at telling when they're doing it.We asked our 2015 intake of Technology Pioneers for their views on how technology will change the world. From printable organs to the “internet of everywhere”, here are their predictions for our near-term future.The ‘humanized’ internetThe evolution of modern connectivity is often summarized as: the internet – the world wide web – mobile devices – big data/the cloud – the internet of things. For the next stage, it seems inevitable that even more personalization will be an important component. What we refer to as the internet of things will be central. However, more than simply connecting humans with devices, the next stage in connectivity will include “humanized” interfaces that constantly evolve to understand the user’s patterns and needs and, in a sense, self-optimize. This would include the functions and features on our devices, as well as the selection/curation of information we receive. It may not be the kind of artificial intelligence found in science fiction, but I expect this injection of personalization will bring monumental changes as our level of connectivity continues to grow. Sirgoo Lee, co-CEO of KakaoThe end of the 19th-century gridOne of the biggest changes we will see (or at least have made substantial progress towards) by 2020 is global electrification. In the US and Europe, most people take electricity for granted. But that is not the case in many parts of Latin America, Africa and Asia. More than 1.3 billion people still aren’t connected to the grid. More than 1.5 billion still don’t have regular access to electric light: they use oil lamps, which are a safety hazard. Even where the grid exists, it’s fragile: power blackouts are a major problem in many megacities. Power theft also plagues Brazil, India and South Africa. Safe, reliable power will have a transformative effect on these countries. Not only will there be near-term benefits such as greater productivity, but we will see long-term quantum leaps in educational achievement, healthcare and quality of life. These communities don’t have power now because our 19th-century grid is too expensive. The advent of new technologies is changing both the business models and use-case scenarios to make it possible. In a few years, the world will finally, truly, be wired. Amit Narayan, CEO of AutoGridThe end of scarcityThe world said humans were not meant to fly. Hundreds of years of human invention had been unable to make it work. But in a small bicycle-repair shop, two brothers with no government funding and only a basic education had a vision, and a will to invent. And in 1903, thanks to the determination of these two unsuspecting inventors, humans flew. The distance of the first human flight was 120 ft. Years later, one of the inventors of that breakthrough would marvel that the wingspan of modern airplanes was longer than the entire distance his first plane had flown. The potential of technology is limited only by our imagination, and our will. Abundance of water, food, clean air … peace: the end of scarcity in the supply of our basic needs is possible. Perhaps not by 2020, but it starts with the dream, the determination to turn dreams into reality, and the understanding of this truth, so well embodied in the invention and rapid evolution of human flight: that all things are possible. Mark Herrema, CEO of Newlight TechnologiesFewer fancy phones, more fulfilmentThe world many of us live in is changing at an exciting pace. Innovations are generating new gadgets, more convenient services and greater opportunities. But many of these changes target a small percentage of the globe’s population. In the villages I’ve worked in, nobody has seen an iPhone or can download an app. However, there is tremendous room for entrepreneurs to adapt innovations intended for the wealthy to serve the world’s poor. Solar panels and LED lights, designed for sale in rich nations, are stimulating growth in commercial off-grid electrification in India and Africa. Mobile telecommunication is being used to facilitate financial inclusion in developing countries across the world. Once-expensive medical procedures can be done amazingly cheaply. Even the financial sector is innovating in order to reach the world’s poor; as well as investors looking for opportunities that not only help them increase their net worth but also improve the world. Better financing opportunities are opening up for social entrepreneurs who build businesses to serve the poor profitably. I see a slight but significant shift in innovation, that instead of producing fancier phones, we will create more fulfilling lives for people who have been mostly ignored to date. Nikhil Jaisinghani, co-founder, Mera Gao PowerCheaper, more widespread solar powerBy 2020, solar technologies could account for a significant portion of global power generation, helping economies and businesses guard against rising energy costs and the impact of climate change. However, finding opportunities to further reduce the cost of solar technologies will be key to unlocking this potential. Because polysilicon, the primary raw material used by solar module manufacturers, is the single largest cost in the solar supply chain, it represents the most significant opportunity for cost reduction. Over the next several years, new lower-cost methods of polysilicon production will commercialize, providing the solar industry with a more affordable source of raw material. In turn, these cost improvements will trickle down throughout the solar supply chain, accelerating the adoption of solar energy around the world and helping the industry realize its global potential. Terry Jester, CEO of SilicorInternet of things no longer about thingsJust about every business will become an internet of things (IoT) business. The convergence of the digital and physical worlds makes this inevitable. When the products companies sell are connected 24/7/365, dynamic and ever-improving value can be delivered to customers throughout the product’s life cycle. This will become the norm. Therefore, launching a successful IoT business requires a fundamental shift, a transition from product-centric to service-centric business models. Companies looking to capitalize on IoT will become IoT service businesses. Operations dependent on one-time product sales will become obsolete as business value moves from products to the experiences they enable. This transformation will fundamentally change how businesses operate, interact with customers and make money. Those who recognize that the internet of things isn’t about things but about service will be positioned to meet these new customer demands, unlock new sources of revenue and thrive in this connected world. Jahangir Mohammed, CEO of Jasper Technologies, IncNew cures from the bacteria that live in the human bodyIn life sciences, we’ll have greater understanding of the dynamics of how our microbiome – the tiny organisms, including bacteria, that live in the human body – influences multiple systems in our body, including our immune systems, metabolic processes and other areas. This will result in seminal discoveries related to a variety of conditions, including autoimmune diseases, pre-term birth and how our metabolism is regulated. Regenerative medicine approaches to creating new tissues and organs from progenitor cells will expand significantly. Finally, the long-awaited ability to employ precision medicine, providing specific treatments to a specific patients, will become much more common. Mark Fischer-Colbrie, CEO of Labcyte IncThe beginning of the end for cancerThe emergence of real-time diagnostics for complex diseases will mark the beginning of the end of their debilitating reign by 2020. The ability to monitor cancer, the dynamic immune system, intestinal flora and pre-diabetes in real-time will change the nature of medicine and usher in a new era of human health where wellness is protected versus illness treated. As a result, fundamental shifts in healthcare will occur, causing it to become largely preventative rather than fire-fighting. It’s far more productive and economical to stop a fire from happening in the first place than to rebuild something after the fire has taken its course. Helmy Eltoukhy, CEO of Guardant HealthData-driven healthcareThe amount of data available in the world is growing exponentially, and analyzing large data sets (so-called big data) is becoming key for market analysis and competition. Analytics will dramatically shift away from reporting and towards predictive and prescriptive practices, dramatically improving the ability of healthcare providers to help the ill and injured. Even more importantly, it will create the possibility for truly personalized healthcare by allowing providers to impact the biggest determinants of health, including behaviours, genetics and environmental factors. John L Haughom, MD, senior advisor, Health CatalystPrintable organsToday, we are already at a turning point in our ability to 3D “bioprint” organ tissues, a process that involves depositing a “bio-ink” made of cells precisely in layers, resulting in a functional living human tissue for use in the lab. These tissues should be better predictors of drug function than animal models in many cases. In the long-term, this has the potential to pave the way to “printing” human organs, such as kidneys, livers and hearts. By 2020, our goal is to have the technology be broadly used by pharmaceutical companies, resulting in the identification of safer and better drug candidates and fewer failures in clinical trials. Keith Murphy, CEO of OrganovoThe ‘internet of everywhere’We are on the verge of the “internet of everywhere”. It will be far more democratic: accessible to everyone, rich and poor. The excitement of the internet of things will be a small footnote in history as the internet of everywhere becomes our reality. Do you remember the old movie, Minority Report, with Tom Cruise? Ultra cheap, internet-enabled solar-powered screens that display in HDTV resolution will be on bus stops, in shopping centres, at tables in restaurants – all operating on a centralized advertising model. Gone are the days of the static acetate poster on the wall of a shopping mall. And finally, since these HD monitors have beacons, they will dynamically change content as your phone passes by, telling the monitor all your preferences. Yobie Benjamin, COO of AvegantRenewables will power mobile networksWe have become dependent on mobile communications in our daily lives, but the dirty secret is that mobile networks around the globe are notoriously energy inefficient. In fact, we are stuck with outdated mobile network technology that basically performs as poorly as incandescent lightbulbs, with the result that 70% of the energy used is wasted as heat. By 2020, we predict that pioneering innovations in radio engineering will have a positive impact on the world’s economy, environment and quality of life. We even foresee a time when advances allow renewable energy to power the mobile industry, helping bridge the digital divide and extend communications to the 1.7 billion people living off-grid. Mattias Astrom, CEO, Eta DevicesLearning on the job will never stopThe skills gap is actually an information gap. The problem is not that workers are unskilled; it’s that workers don’t know what skills employers need. Technology is already disrupting existing jobs, and creating new jobs that never existed before. In fact, the top 10 in-demand jobs in 2010 did not even exist in 2004. Change is happening so rapidly that 65 percent of today’s grade school kids in the U.S. will end up at jobs that haven’t even been invented yet.How will our education institutions keep up? Today, there is a disconnect between education providers and employers.In the future, however, technology will enable education and training to respond dynamically to real-time labor market changes. With widespread access to training and courses online and available on-demand, workers can be informed of skill updates while they work, and will regularly top up their education with the skills they need to remain relevant in the workforce. Alexis Ringwald, Cofounder and CEO, LearnUpWastewater is an asset, not a liabilityWater is one of our most precious resources, yet our infrastructure is failing. Driven by global population growth and rising water scarcity, the UN reports that 75 percent of the world’s available freshwater is already polluted. Under-investment in water management is exacerbating the problem, causing serious impacts on human health and the environment. A key challenge is the high capital cost, and high energy requirements, of current wastewater treatment and management systems.By 2020 I predict that a new class of distributed systems, powered by advances in our ability to use biotechnology to extract resources, such as energy, from waste, and the dropping cost of industrial automation, will begin to change our approach to managing water globally. Rather than a liability, wastewater will be viewed as an environmental resource, providing energy and clean water to communities and industry, and ushering in a truly sustainable and economical approach to managing our water resources. Matthew Silver, CEO of Cambrian Innovation

14 tech predictions for our world in 2020The ‘humanized’ internetThe evolution of modern connectivity is often summarized as: the internet – the world wide web – mobile devices – big data/the cloud – the internet of things. For the next stage, it seems inevitable that even more personalization will be an important component. What we refer to as the internet of things will be central. However, more than simply connecting humans with devices, the next stage in connectivity will include “humanized” interfaces that constantly evolve to understand the user’s patterns and needs and, in a sense, self-optimize. This would include the functions and features on our devices, as well as the selection/curation of information we receive. It may not be the kind of artificial intelligence found in science fiction, but I expect this injection of personalization will bring monumental changes as our level of connectivity continues to grow. Sirgoo Lee, co-CEO of KakaoThe end of the 19th-century gridOne of the biggest changes we will see (or at least have made substantial progress towards) by 2020 is global electrification. In the US and Europe, most people take electricity for granted. But that is not the case in many parts of Latin America, Africa and Asia. More than 1.3 billion people still aren’t connected to the grid. More than 1.5 billion still don’t have regular access to electric light: they use oil lamps, which are a safety hazard. Even where the grid exists, it’s fragile: power blackouts are a major problem in many megacities. Power theft also plagues Brazil, India and South Africa. Safe, reliable power will have a transformative effect on these countries. Not only will there be near-term benefits such as greater productivity, but we will see long-term quantum leaps in educational achievement, healthcare and quality of life. These communities don’t have power now because our 19th-century grid is too expensive. The advent of new technologies is changing both the business models and use-case scenarios to make it possible. In a few years, the world will finally, truly, be wired. Amit Narayan, CEO of AutoGridThe end of scarcityThe world said humans were not meant to fly. Hundreds of years of human invention had been unable to make it work. But in a small bicycle-repair shop, two brothers with no government funding and only a basic education had a vision, and a will to invent. And in 1903, thanks to the determination of these two unsuspecting inventors, humans flew. The distance of the first human flight was 120 ft. Years later, one of the inventors of that breakthrough would marvel that the wingspan of modern airplanes was longer than the entire distance his first plane had flown. The potential of technology is limited only by our imagination, and our will. Abundance of water, food, clean air … peace: the end of scarcity in the supply of our basic needs is possible. Perhaps not by 2020, but it starts with the dream, the determination to turn dreams into reality, and the understanding of this truth, so well embodied in the invention and rapid evolution of human flight: that all things are possible. Mark Herrema, CEO of Newlight TechnologiesFewer fancy phones, more fulfilmentThe world many of us live in is changing at an exciting pace. Innovations are generating new gadgets, more convenient services and greater opportunities. But many of these changes target a small percentage of the globe’s population. In the villages I’ve worked in, nobody has seen an iPhone or can download an app. However, there is tremendous room for entrepreneurs to adapt innovations intended for the wealthy to serve the world’s poor. Solar panels and LED lights, designed for sale in rich nations, are stimulating growth in commercial off-grid electrification in India and Africa. Mobile telecommunication is being used to facilitate financial inclusion in developing countries across the world. Once-expensive medical procedures can be done amazingly cheaply. Even the financial sector is innovating in order to reach the world’s poor; as well as investors looking for opportunities that not only help them increase their net worth but also improve the world. Better financing opportunities are opening up for social entrepreneurs who build businesses to serve the poor profitably. I see a slight but significant shift in innovation, that instead of producing fancier phones, we will create more fulfilling lives for people who have been mostly ignored to date. Nikhil Jaisinghani, co-founder, Mera Gao PowerCheaper, more widespread solar powerBy 2020, solar technologies could account for a significant portion of global power generation, helping economies and businesses guard against rising energy costs and the impact of climate change. However, finding opportunities to further reduce the cost of solar technologies will be key to unlocking this potential. Because polysilicon, the primary raw material used by solar module manufacturers, is the single largest cost in the solar supply chain, it represents the most significant opportunity for cost reduction. Over the next several years, new lower-cost methods of polysilicon production will commercialize, providing the solar industry with a more affordable source of raw material. In turn, these cost improvements will trickle down throughout the solar supply chain, accelerating the adoption of solar energy around the world and helping the industry realize its global potential. Terry Jester, CEO of SilicorInternet of things no longer about thingsJust about every business will become an internet of things (IoT) business. The convergence of the digital and physical worlds makes this inevitable. When the products companies sell are connected 24/7/365, dynamic and ever-improving value can be delivered to customers throughout the product’s life cycle. This will become the norm. Therefore, launching a successful IoT business requires a fundamental shift, a transition from product-centric to service-centric business models. Companies looking to capitalize on IoT will become IoT service businesses. Operations dependent on one-time product sales will become obsolete as business value moves from products to the experiences they enable. This transformation will fundamentally change how businesses operate, interact with customers and make money. Those who recognize that the internet of things isn’t about things but about service will be positioned to meet these new customer demands, unlock new sources of revenue and thrive in this connected world. Jahangir Mohammed, CEO of Jasper Technologies, IncNew cures from the bacteria that live in the human bodyIn life sciences, we’ll have greater understanding of the dynamics of how our microbiome – the tiny organisms, including bacteria, that live in the human body – influences multiple systems in our body, including our immune systems, metabolic processes and other areas. This will result in seminal discoveries related to a variety of conditions, including autoimmune diseases, pre-term birth and how our metabolism is regulated. Regenerative medicine approaches to creating new tissues and organs from progenitor cells will expand significantly. Finally, the long-awaited ability to employ precision medicine, providing specific treatments to a specific patients, will become much more common. Mark Fischer-Colbrie, CEO of Labcyte IncThe beginning of the end for cancerThe emergence of real-time diagnostics for complex diseases will mark the beginning of the end of their debilitating reign by 2020. The ability to monitor cancer, the dynamic immune system, intestinal flora and pre-diabetes in real-time will change the nature of medicine and usher in a new era of human health where wellness is protected versus illness treated. As a result, fundamental shifts in healthcare will occur, causing it to become largely preventative rather than fire-fighting. It’s far more productive and economical to stop a fire from happening in the first place than to rebuild something after the fire has taken its course. Helmy Eltoukhy, CEO of Guardant HealthData-driven healthcareThe amount of data available in the world is growing exponentially, and analyzing large data sets (so-called big data) is becoming key for market analysis and competition. Analytics will dramatically shift away from reporting and towards predictive and prescriptive practices, dramatically improving the ability of healthcare providers to help the ill and injured. Even more importantly, it will create the possibility for truly personalized healthcare by allowing providers to impact the biggest determinants of health, including behaviours, genetics and environmental factors. John L Haughom, MD, senior advisor, Health CatalystPrintable organsToday, we are already at a turning point in our ability to 3D “bioprint” organ tissues, a process that involves depositing a “bio-ink” made of cells precisely in layers, resulting in a functional living human tissue for use in the lab. These tissues should be better predictors of drug function than animal models in many cases. In the long-term, this has the potential to pave the way to “printing” human organs, such as kidneys, livers and hearts. By 2020, our goal is to have the technology be broadly used by pharmaceutical companies, resulting in the identification of safer and better drug candidates and fewer failures in clinical trials. Keith Murphy, CEO of OrganovoThe ‘internet of everywhere’We are on the verge of the “internet of everywhere”. It will be far more democratic: accessible to everyone, rich and poor. The excitement of the internet of things will be a small footnote in history as the internet of everywhere becomes our reality. Do you remember the old movie, Minority Report, with Tom Cruise? Ultra cheap, internet-enabled solar-powered screens that display in HDTV resolution will be on bus stops, in shopping centres, at tables in restaurants – all operating on a centralized advertising model. Gone are the days of the static acetate poster on the wall of a shopping mall. And finally, since these HD monitors have beacons, they will dynamically change content as your phone passes by, telling the monitor all your preferences. Yobie Benjamin, COO of AvegantRenewables will power mobile networksWe have become dependent on mobile communications in our daily lives, but the dirty secret is that mobile networks around the globe are notoriously energy inefficient. In fact, we are stuck with outdated mobile network technology that basically performs as poorly as incandescent lightbulbs, with the result that 70% of the energy used is wasted as heat. By 2020, we predict that pioneering innovations in radio engineering will have a positive impact on the world’s economy, environment and quality of life. We even foresee a time when advances allow renewable energy to power the mobile industry, helping bridge the digital divide and extend communications to the 1.7 billion people living off-grid. Mattias Astrom, CEO, Eta DevicesLearning on the job will never stopThe skills gap is actually an information gap. The problem is not that workers are unskilled; it’s that workers don’t know what skills employers need. Technology is already disrupting existing jobs, and creating new jobs that never existed before. In fact, the top 10 in-demand jobs in 2010 did not even exist in 2004. Change is happening so rapidly that 65 percent of today’s grade school kids in the U.S. will end up at jobs that haven’t even been invented yet.How will our education institutions keep up? Today, there is a disconnect between education providers and employers.In the future, however, technology will enable education and training to respond dynamically to real-time labor market changes. With widespread access to training and courses online and available on-demand, workers can be informed of skill updates while they work, and will regularly top up their education with the skills they need to remain relevant in the workforce. Alexis Ringwald, Cofounder and CEO, LearnUpWastewater is an asset, not a liabilityWater is one of our most precious resources, yet our infrastructure is failing. Driven by global population growth and rising water scarcity, the UN reports that 75 percent of the world’s available freshwater is already polluted. Under-investment in water management is exacerbating the problem, causing serious impacts on human health and the environment. A key challenge is the high capital cost, and high energy requirements, of current wastewater treatment and management systems.By 2020 I predict that a new class of distributed systems, powered by advances in our ability to use biotechnology to extract resources, such as energy, from waste, and the dropping cost of industrial automation, will begin to change our approach to managing water globally. Rather than a liability, wastewater will be viewed as an environmental resource, providing energy and clean water to communities and industry, and ushering in a truly sustainable and economical approach to managing our water resources. Matthew Silver, CEO of Cambrian Innovation

Many conservatives/Republicans, as well as many leftists/Democrats do not promote nuclear energy because they are ignorant of the newer technologies which have and will make nuclear power plants significantly safer, smaller and less expensive. That is how entrepreneurial free-market economics work.Anti-nuclear opponents make exaggerated claims about nuclear energy in terms of government subsidies and danger to the public in an effort to make nuclear less attractive. Of course, both the fossil fuel industry and the renewables industry love this. But much of this propaganda intentionally obfuscates similar problems with non-nuclear energy.According to the Environmental Working Group (a left-of-center DC organization), the US government has provided the following energy subsidies as of 2019:Fossil fuel subsidies total more than $600 billion, since World War II.Nuclear energy subsidies (including research and development) total over $200 billion since the 1940s.Renewables subsidies total $75 billion over the past 10 years alone, and that does not include the $billions spent every year on “climate research and development”!Federal Energy Subsidies: What Are We Getting for Our Money?Key Issues: Climate Change Funding and ManagementAs the GAO has documented, the taxpayer funds used for climate change research and development increases nearly every year. From 1993 to 2014 it totaled approx $126 billion.Thus, if the $75 billion subsidy per decade continued for the same amount of time that has occurred with fossil fuels and nuclear (about 7 decades), the subsidies would exceed $525 billion, far more than subsidies for nuclear and almost as much as for fossil fuels (see more about fossil fuel subsidies below). But add in the growing government funds for research and development of approx $126 billion (just to 2014, but estimate another $45 billion to 2019) and the total exceeds $696 billion, exceeding fossil fuel taxpayer expense.But even more astonishing, democrat politicians like AOC and Bernie Sanders state that switching to renewables will cost taxpayers as much as $16 trillion or more!!! Bernie Sanders talks about ‘silver linings’ and his climate change plan in fire-devastated town And for that we get to shut down our free-market capitalist economy, allowing global socialists to run everything. Welcome to the Hunger Games.How convenient (and deceptive) to ignore the actual costs and hazards of renewables!“Apparently, if you take money from the private sector to fund research, your work is inherently biased, but if you get multimillion-dollar grants from Uncle Sam, you are as pure as the freshly fallen snow.“How big is the Climate Change Industrial Complex today? Surprisingly, no one seems to be keeping track of all the channels of funding. A few years ago Forbes magazine went through the federal budget and estimated about $150 billion in spending on climate change and green energy subsidies during President Obama’s first term.“That didn’t include the tax subsidies that provide a 30 percent tax credit for wind and solar power — so add to those numbers about $8 billion to $10 billion a year. Then add billions more in costs attributable to the 29 states with renewable energy mandates that require utilities to buy expensive “green” energy.“Worldwide the numbers are gargantuan. Five years ago, a leftist group called the Climate Policy Initiative (CPI) issued a study which found that “Global investment in climate change” reached $359 billion that year. Then to give you a sense of how money-hungry these planet-saviors are, the CPI moaned that this spending ‘falls far short of what’s needed’ a number estimated at $5 trillion.“For $5 trillion we could feed everyone on the planet, end malaria, and provide clean water and reliable electricity to every remote village in Africa. And we would probably have enough money left over to find a cure for cancer and Alzheimers.”Follow the (Climate Change) MoneyAs expected, the EWG report promotes renewables and their advantages while ignoring their problems and environmental hazards (and the fact that they require lots of fossil fuels to manufacture), and while ignoring the advantages of the other energy sources. For instance, rents, royalties and taxes from fossil fuels far exceed government subsidies. John Walker's answer to If it meant your city could be 100% reliant on renewable energy, and everyone agreed to do the same, would you consent to having a 1/4 size wind turbine in your backyard? Why or why not?Renewables are unreliable due to long periods without sunshine and wind, requiring back-up energy sources (either fossil fuel or nuclear- or huge numbers of extremely expensive and environmentally damaging lithium batteries), which nearly doubles the cost over that reported. For instance, in Germany, there are insufficient back-up facilities so electricity must be purchased from France and other countries with excess electricity produced from nuclear power plants!The reality is that the more a nation switches to renewables, the higher its citizens pay for electricity:So, when all factors are considered, obviously, the claim that renewables provide “cheaper” energy is a lie, either intentional or through ignorance of the facts.As I mentioned, renewables require prodigious amounts of fossil fuels to manufacture, particularly large windmills:Why do proponents of renewables never mention this rather significant fact??? And how about the significant environmental hazards that are now creating considerable concern among many environmentalists?YouTube: Why renewables can’t save the planet | Michael Shellenberger “Environmentalists have long promoted renewable energy sources like solar panels and wind farms to save the climate. But what about when those technologies destroy the environment? In this provocative talk, Time Magazine ‘Hero of the Environment’ and energy expert, Michael Shellenberger, explains why solar and wind farms require so much land for mining and energy production, and an alternative path to saving both the climate and the natural environment.”https://www.forbes.com/sites/michaelshellenberger/2019/05/06/the-reason-renewables-cant-power-modern-civilization-is-because-they-were-never-meant-to/#75ad40d2ea2bGermany's Green Transition has Hit a Brick WallThe "New Energy Economy": An Exercise in Magical Thinking | Manhattan InstituteWill Wind Turbines Ever Be Safe For Birds?“Wind farms do well if they can average about 35% of their rated capacity with low predictability, while solar panels average just 25% of their capacity, produced intermittently. To generate zero emissions energy for Australia, we would need hills covered with turbines, flats covered with solar panels, the countryside spider-webbed with access roads and transmission lines, and much more hydro. To stabilise a green energy system without using hydrocarbons will require an eye-watering quantity of batteries, costing as much as 200 times the cost of any wind/solar facility needing backup. Every home will need a battery in the basement (and sensible ones will also have a diesel in the shed).” https://saltbushclub.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/australian-green-fantasies.pdf 2020And now we are starting to see another big problem with some renewables- senescence and disposal, producing more landfill waste:Fragments of wind turbine blades await burial at the Casper Regional Landfill in Wyoming. Photographer: Benjamin Rasmussen for Bloomberg Green- Wind Turbine Blades Can’t Be Recycled, So They’re Piling Up in LandfillsDon’t like CO2? Advanced nuclear power is the answer: Renewable wind, solar, hydro and biofuels cannot fill the gap 1/25/2020 Don’t like CO2? Advanced nuclear power is the answerGermany’s overdose of renewable energy: Anti-nuclear hysteria is destroying the environment 1/28/2020 Germany’s overdose of renewable energyOf course, socialists despise nuclear because, unlike renewables, nuclear could provide sufficient reliable energy to power a highly productive capitalist economy without CO2 emissions, thus eliminating the need for their demand that we replace democratic free-market capitalism with authoritarian global socialism. Renewables could provide only enough energy to power a less productive socialist economy where the government determines how much or how little energy everyone can use. Of course, if you are Al Gore or some other leftist elitist politburo member, you can use as much as you like.Here is what some leftists think:"Complex technology of any sort is an assault on human dignity. It would be little short of disastrous for us to discover a source of clean, cheap, abundant energy, because of what we might do with it."- Dr. Amory Lovins, Rocky Mountain Institute, opposed to nuclear energy, global warming alarmist The Green Agenda“Giving society cheap, abundant energy would be the equivalent of giving an idiot child a machine gun.” and "We contend that the position of the nuclear promoters is preposterous beyond the wildest imaginings of most nuclear opponents, primarily because one of the purported 'benefits' of nuclear power, the availability of cheap and abundant energy, is in fact a liability."- Paul Ehrlich, de-population activist and global warming alarmistJeremy Rifkin, Greenhouse Crisis Foundation: “The prospect of cheap fusion energy is the worst thing that could happen to the planet.” Global Warming Quotes & Climate Change Quotes: Human-Caused Global Warming Advocates/SupportersThe IPCC, being part of the globalist UN wanting to destroy capitalism, is against nuclear energy, arousing contempt from top alarmist climate scientists: “’The anti-nuclear bias of this latest IPCC release is rather blatant,’ said Kerry Emanuel, a climate scientist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, ‘and reflects the ideology of the environmental movement. History may record that this was more of an impediment to decarbonization than climate denial.’” Top Climate Scientists say IPCC bias against nuclear power ‘impedes decarbonization more than climate denial’This tells you that the real agenda is socialism, not CO2, at least for socialist alarmists. And for them, the real danger with nuclear is not environmental, but political with the end game being global socialism. Thus, the IPCC’s stance makes perfect sense for a globalist and socialist organization.John Walker's answer to Could someone please provide a printable copy of the "global warming agenda” by “the globalists” who are said to push it?As for the safety of nuclear energy, apparently most opponents are ignorant (or simply deny) of the significant changes which have been made over the past decades. Newer generation reactors and newer designs are far and above much safer than extant reactors. Molten salt designs virtually eliminate the possibility of a meltdown. Thorium reactors produce much less dangerous radioactive by-products and can even “burn” existing radioactive waste for fuel. Some designs do not even require cooling towers and are not susceptible to catastrophic problems associated with accidents which would affect core cooling. Smaller reactors are being planned at a fraction of the cost and minimal footprint. Development of fusion reactors (the holy grail of energy production with no significant risk of radiation harm or radioactive waste) is proceeding at full speed by numerous private and government-sponsored groups around the world. Some groups are claiming commercialization by the 2030s.John Walker's answer to Do nuclear power plants have cooling towers?John Walker's answer to Are there any self-sustaining methods that can generate plasma energy?John Walker's answer to Are nuclear power plants climate-neutral?MIT Scientist Asserts That We Will Have Fusion Energy by 2030Two UK companies target nuclear fusion reactor by 2030Even the “godfather” of the unproven hypothesis of CAGW, Dr. James Hansen, admits that renewables will never be capable of providing enough energy to power capitalist industrialized civilization. He believes only large numbers of new generation nuclear power plants have that capacity. Nuclear power paves the only viable path forward on climate changeOf course, when his article was first published, he was vociferously attacked by leftists for his anti-socialist heresy. While his claim about CAGW may be misguided, at least he appears to be sincere about his climate science beliefs. So, it’s no wonder that leftists and democrats who support nuclear are hesitant to publicize their position.Obviously the fossil fuel industry is against further use of nuclear, so, ironically, many of the big oil companies have actually embraced renewables and even advertise their support, research and development of various renewables, including windmills, solar photovoltaics and biofuels. Of course, they know that the use of renewables will continue to require the use of fossil fuels for decades, especially if nuclear is halted, so they see renewables as a way to extend their fossil fuel profits.Why Renewables Advocates Protect Fossil Fuel Interests, Not The ClimateMany gullible supporters of renewables don’t see big oil’s ulterior motive: These three top oil companies are investing heavily in renewables in 2019Former Greenpeace Canada president Patrick Moore said this: "We do not have any scientific proof that we are the cause of the global warming that has occurred in the last 200 years...The alarmism is driving us through scare tactics to adopt energy policies that are going to create a huge amount of energy poverty among the poor people. It's not good for people and it’s not good for the environment." Humans not to blame for global warming, says Greenpeace co-founder"Indeed, nothing says 'environment friendly' as acres upon acres of natural land covered with stuff made of hydrochloric and nitric acid, hydrogen fluoride and acetone, or gallium arsenide and cadmium-telluride. And yes, all of those are as bad as they sound." - Luka Trkanjec, Quora contributorMugged By Reality: Green Energy Turns Into Nightmare In Georgetown, TexasCorn Ethanol: Bad for Farmers, Consumers and the EnvironmentDon't be fooled - Elon Musk's electric cars aren't about to save the planetElectric vehicles emit more CO2 than diesel ones, German study saysChild miners living a hell on Earth so YOU can drive an electric carWhat Is the Lifespan of a Solar Panel?How much solar would it take to power the U.S.?The Green New Deal’s Solar AbsurdityThe Appalling Delusion of 100 Percent Renewables, Exposed: https://www.nationalreview.com/2017/06John Walker's answer to What would the "hidden agenda" of the climate change movement be?John Walker's answer to Does the production of bioethanol affect atmospheric carbon dioxide emissions? How does this affect global warming?John Walker's answer to Nuclear Energy seems like a reasonable policy but can we trust the US national, state and local government to maintain those power plants when our infrastructure is aging? That said, could nuclear power be part of a larger infrastructure plan?Google engineers admit renewables cannot replace fossil fuels: "...our society requires something beyond today’s renewable energy technologies." https://spectrum.ieee.org/energy/renewables/what-it-would-really-take-to-reverse-climate-change (2014)“At the current rates of production, oil will run out in 53 years, natural gas in 54, and coal in 110. This is bearing in mind a 2015 World Energy Outlook study by the International Energy Agency, which predicted fossil fuels will constitute 59% of the total primary energy demand in 2040, even despite aggressive climate action policies.” How long before the world runs out of fossil fuels? And this will be very good for billions of poor people in third world countries.As for the US military, it is also moving ahead with nuclear energy, particularly small modular reactors and micro-reactors for field operations, aircraft, ships and other vehicles. The Pentagon Just Bought Tiny Nuclear Reactors These designs will make their way into public commercial use by the 2030s.So, despite those who are desperately trying to keep nuclear energy from being a significant source of global energy, it is going to come about unless the socialists gain control of governments.