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Renewable Energy
As the global economy moves beyond oil, the strategic importance of the world’s most critical hydrocarbon chokepoint is likely to decline rapidly.
Data centers consume enormous amounts of power, but their steady demand could make the grid more efficient — and lower costs for everyone.
A new generation of self-healing tools could make the U.S.'s aging power grid far more resilient against modern threats.
A firsthand look at China’s material progress and clean-tech revolution -- and what could happen if we let an authoritarian state steer AI's future.
The idea that it’s “too late” to reduce emissions fuels cynicism and despair, putting us on an even worse trajectory.
There are plenty of engineering obstacles, and those can be overcome. But you cannot change the laws of physics, and those matter too.
New biotech tools could clean up everything from construction to agriculture.
The case that a bipartisan movement structured around progress and reform may be reaching critical mass.
Barriers to energy abundance — and how to overcome them — were front and center at Progress Conference 2025.
Solar power has the disadvantage that there's no Sun at night. Satellite startup Reflect Orbital wants to change that, but at what cost?
Nuclear chemist Tim Gregory joins Big Think to make the case that nuclear energy can still transform the world for the better.
10mins
“Invention matters, but implementation matters more.”
5mins
“I think the key point is that doesn't mean game over. That doesn't mean we're flipped into a world, and to a point of no return.”
One of the most original and optimistic thinkers in America sketches some big ideas about what's possible with AI in the next 25 years.
Tech expert Peter Leyden argues that we have a historic opportunity to harness AI and other transformative technologies in order to make a much better world over the next 25 years.
1hr 17mins
"It's not that I don't think these problems are big or that they're urgent, but I can start to see that these problems are solvable."
We've wasted our time and resources ideologically policing and punishing each other for far too long. Here's a better route to prosperity.
Retrofitting America's aging dams for hydropower — while removing ecologically harmful ones — may be a productive path forward.
And can we run the grid of the future without AI?
Electric vehicle sales are rising but public charging in cities is still lacking.
The US needs 28 million EV chargers by 2030. Here’s how it can get there.
Australia's AAPowerLink boasts three global superlatives: largest solar farm, largest battery, and longest power cable.
We need more data centers for AI. Developers are getting creative about where to build them.
12mins
“You can find examples of really big environmental problems that we've already solved.” Climate change is solvable, argues Hannah Ritchie.
The lithium-ion alternatives could help create a safer, greener future.
The evolution of quantum technology is far from over.
A look back at the rise of solar power in the US and what's next.
For well over a century, engineers have proposed harnessing the ocean’s tides for energy. But the idea hasn’t seemed to register in many places.
A radical proposal reimagines Europe as a carbon-neutral continent where national boundaries are replaced by regions defined by renewable energy capabilities.
Explore data on electric car sales and stocks worldwide.