Another Self-Important Middle-Aged White Guy’s Pragmatic Climate Reset - CleanTechnica

The article presents a pragmatic climate reset emphasizing realistic, actionable steps rather than grand, speculative innovations. The author advocates for widespread electrification of transportation, heating, and industry, highlighting electricity as the most efficient and clean energy vector, especially as power grids decarbonize. To support this shift, the article stresses the need to overbuild renewable energy capacity—solar and wind—by about 25% as insurance against variability, ensuring energy abundance and political viability. Additionally, it calls for continent-scale interconnected grids using high-voltage direct-current lines to balance supply and demand across regions, enhancing reliability and reducing costs. Energy storage is identified as a critical component, with existing technologies like pumped hydro, batteries, and thermal storage positioned as practical solutions rather than waiting for breakthrough innovations. The article also addresses industrial emissions, pointing to current technologies such as electric arc furnaces, alternative cement binders, biomethane iron reduction, and renewable ammonia production as ready-to-scale options that require investment and focus rather than futuristic