Nearly everything built by humans in the modern era,
was designed around fossil fuels.
From our planes to our Hello Kitty
Bubblegum Flavored mouthwash dispensers.
I know what you're wondering, and the answer is yes,
my breath does smell adorable.
If we want a livable future,
we need to decarbonize everything in our economy,
and I mean everything.
We need to decarbonize the world energy system.
Decarbonize the shipping sector.
Decarbonizing agriculture and manufacturing.
Decarbonizing our entire public housing stock.
Decarbonizing the fuel that goes into air travel.
Okay, that's a lot.
If we think about all that at once, it's overwhelming.
So let's start small, electrical grids.
Okay, not that small.
A lot of us don't really think
about where electricity comes from, right?
It's just out there in the ether like Pokermons.
But electricity needs massive amounts
of transmission infrastructure,
and it will all need to change for two reasons.
One, the places with the most wind and sun,
often don't have a lot of people
so we need to build more long-distance transmission lines,
with super high voltage,
and two, renewable energy fluctuates.
If one place is a bit sunnier
or windier than another place on a particular day,
we need to be able to quickly send excess energy
to wherever it's needed.
To do that, we'll need enormous connected super grids
that span states and even countries.
Obviously, that's politically complicated.
Energy flow across borders
is kind of a touchy topic these days,
but even energy transmission within America is tough.
A single line carrying wind power
from Wyoming to Las Vegas, the TransWest Express
has been in development for 17 years!
It had to secure permission from over 400 landowners,
due to a patchwork of federal, state, and local laws.
Now, under that system,
one holdout can delay a project for years.
I don't know if I have all the answers here,
so let's turn to something less complicated.
The entire global network of air travel,
okay, slightly less complicated.
Aviation currently accounts for over 2% of global emissions,
and demand is expected to quintuple by 2050.
So it's really important to clean this up.
And while in the distant future,
we could see fleets of electric planes
or aircraft running on hydrogen,
those technologies don't really exist yet.
I mean, we did have an aircraft that ran on hydrogen,
but the rollout was kind of a PR disaster.
So in the meantime, we need to work with what we have,
and that means switching the planes we already use,
from fossil fuels to sustainable aviation fuels.
These are made from things like algae, wheat chaff, nuts,
used cooking oil, basically, DeLorean fuel, right?
We're going "Back to the Future."
Sustainable aviation fuels
currently make only about 0.1% of the global supply,
mostly because it's really expensive,
but tax breaks or other government incentives,
could make these fuels cheaper.
Finally, I wanna touch on a sector of the economy
that's closer to home, your home.
Most homes run on fossil fuels,
and there are lots of ways
to reduce your carbon house print,
rooftop solar panels, heat pumps,
induction stoves, a lot more.
Now, there's a good chance
that like nearly 1/2 the homes in the US,
yours needs an electrical panel upgrade
before making any of those other upgrades.
Thankfully, the 2022 Inflation Reduction Bill,
includes several measures
that'll make all of this much cheaper for Americans.
Residential properties are only part of the picture.
Commercial buildings, like offices and retailers,
make up about a quarter of the total floor space in America,
and a big chunk of that is right here in New York.
In 2019, the city passed a major emissions reduction policy
for its largest buildings.
It's so ambitious,
that buildings on the cutting-edge of green architecture
a few years ago
are suddenly at risk of racking up millions in fines.
So I decided to be a tourist in my own backyard for a day,
and learn more about the challenges of making
New York City carbon neutral.