Solar energy, once a niche application for a limited market, has become the cheapest and fastest-growing power source on earth. What’s more, its potential is nearly limitless - every hour the sun beams down more energy than the world uses in a year. But Dr Varun Sivaram, Fellow for science and technology at the Council on Foreign Relations, former Oxford researcher, and author of a new book, Taming the Sun, warns that the world is not yet equipped to harness erratic sunshine to meet most of its energy needs. And if solar’s current surge peters out, prospects for replacing fossil fuels and averting catastrophic climate change will dim.
In this short clip, Dr Varun Sivaram discusses the potential challenges that solar energy may face and the actions, that he recommends, we take.
See the lecture in full at : https://www.oxfordmartin.ox.ac.uk/videos/view/686