TED-Ed
TED-Ed: Why don't we cover the desert with solar panels? | Dan Kwartler
Stretching over roughly nine million square kilometers and with sands reaching temperatures of up to 80° Celsius, the Sahara Desert receives about 22 million terawatt hours of energy from the Sun every year. That's well over 100 times...
TED-Ed
How much electricity does it take to power the world? | TED-Ed
All around the world, millions of people are flipping a switch, plugging in, and pressing an 'on' button every second. So how much electricity does humanity use? And how much will we need in the future? Discover how much energy it takes...
TED-Ed
How do wind turbines work? | Rebecca J. Barthelmie and Sara C. Pryor
Every 24 hours, wind generates enough kinetic energy to produce roughly 35 times more electricity than humanity uses each day. And unlike coal or oil, this resource is totally renewed each day. So how can we harness this incredible...
TED Talks
TED: How to make radical climate action the new normal | Al Gore
A net-zero future is possible, but first we need to flip a mental switch to truly understand that we can stop the climate crisis if we try, says Nobel laureate Al Gore. In this inspiring and essential talk, Gore shares examples of...
TED Talks
TED: A small country with big ideas to get rid of fossil fuels | Monica Araya
How do we build a society without fossil fuels? using her native Costa Rica as an example of positive action on environmental protection and renewables, climate advocate Monica Araya outlines a bold vision for a world committed to clean...
TED Talks
TED: How wind energy could power Earth ... 18 times over | Dan Jørgensen
Over the last two decades, the wind power industry has grown at a dizzying pace. (Fun fact: a single rotation from one of the world's most powerful wind turbines can generate enough electricity to charge more than 1,400 cell phones.)...
TED Talks
TED: How much clean electricity do we really need? | Solomon Goldstein-Rose
To fight climate change, we need to clean up the global electricity system by replacing fossil fuel power plants with clean generation -- right? Climate author Solomon Goldstein-Rose thinks we need to do much more than that. Replacement...
TED Talks
TED: Let's save the last pristine continent | Robert Swan
2041 will be a pivotal year for our planet. That year will mark the end of a 50-year agreement to keep Antarctica, the Earth's last pristine continent, free of exploitation. Explorer Robert Swan — the first person to walk both the North...
TED Talks
TED: Dear world leaders, these are our climate demands | Xiye Bastida, Shiv Soin and Latif Nasser
Investing in green energy, holding large corporations accountable for their pollution, stopping pipeline and oil extraction initiatives -- these are non-negotiable actions to protect the planet, but they are still just the bare minimum,...
TED Talks
TED: Africa's great carbon valley -- and how to end energy poverty | James Irungu Mwangi
Our lives depend on curbing climate change, but so many priorities seem to be in competition. What's the most urgent thing humanity can do right now? Social entrepreneur James Irungu Mwangi tells us why Africa could be the ideal home for...
TED Talks
TED: 5 promising factors propelling climate action | Gabriel Kra
Given the scale of the challenge, the conversation around climate change is often tinged with doom and gloom. But climate tech investor Gabriel Kra thinks we need to reframe the crisis as a source of tremendous opportunity. He offers...
TED Talks
Ray Anderson: The business logic of sustainability
At his carpet company, Ray Anderson has increased sales and doubled profits while turning the traditional "take / make / waste" industrial system on its head. In a gentle, understated way, he shares a powerful vision for sustainable...
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: What does the world's largest machine do? | Henry Richardson
In 1967, Homer Loutzenheuser flipped a switch and connected the power grids of the United States, forming one interconnected machine. Today, the US power grid is the world's largest machine, containing more than 7,300...
TED Talks
TED: Why climate change is a threat to human rights | Mary Robinson
Climate change is unfair. While rich countries can fight against rising oceans and dying farm fields, poor people around the world are already having their lives upended -- and their human rights threatened -- by killer storms,...
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: Can you outsmart a troll (by thinking like one)? | Claire Wardle
Your town is holding a mayoral election and the stakes have never been higher. You suspect one of the candidates will begin pushing false information to swing the election. As the cybersecurity expert, your job is to inoculate the...
Bozeman Science
Energy Consumption
In this video Paul Andersen explains how humans have consumed energy through history and may consume energy in the future. Sources of energy have included food, animals, wood, wind, coal, oil, and natural gas. However non-renewable...
SciShow
Is the Power Grid Ready for Green Energy?
Despite the rise of renewable energy, the backbone of the power grid is fossil fuels. Adapting the grid to green energy sources is more complicated than flipping a switch.
TED Talks
TED: How India could pull off the world's most ambitious energy transition | Varun Sivaram
India has a historic opportunity to power its industrialization with clean energy -- and its energy choices will make or break the world's fight against climate change, says clean energy executive, physicist and author Varun Sivaram....
SciShow
Why Haven't We Built a Better Battery?
Improving batteries is a tough problem, but it’s also an important one because in many ways the future of our planet also depends on the future of batteries. Luckily, scientists are on the case, figuring out ways to give this essential...
TED-Ed
TED-ED: Can 100% renewable energy power the world? - Federico Rosei and Renzo Rosei
Every year, the world uses 35 billion barrels of oil. This massive scale of fossil fuel dependence pollutes the earth, and it won't last forever. On the other hand, we have abundant sun, water and wind, which are all renewable energy...
Crash Course
Heat Engines, Refrigerators, & Cycles: Crash Course Engineering #11
Cycles are a big deal in engineering. Today we’ll explain what they are and how they’re used in heat engines, refrigerators, and heat pumps. We’ll also discuss phase diagrams and the power of using renewable energy resources
Crash Course
The Engineering Challenges of Renewable Energy: Crash Course Engineering #30
This week we are looking at renewable energy sources and why we need them. We’ll explore hydropower, wind, geothermal, and solar power, as well as some of the challenges, and how engineers are working to make their use more widespread.
TED-Ed
Building the world's largest (and most controversial) power plant | Alex Gendler
In 2018, a single power plant produced more energy than the world's largest coal-powered and gas-powered plants combined. China's Three Gorges Dam relies on running water, and is capable of producing more energy than any other power...
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: Iceland's superpowered underground volcanoes | Jean-Baptiste P. Koehl
While the weather in Iceland is often cold, wet, and windy, a nearly endless supply of heat bubbles away below the surface. In fact, almost every building in the country is heated by geothermal energy in a process with virtually no...