Power Surge
Are we finally on the brink of a clean energy revolution? Airs April 20, 2011 on PBS
- Posted 02.24.11
- NOVA
Program Description
Can emerging technology defeat global warming? The United States has invested tens of billions of dollars in clean energy projects as our leaders try to save our crumbling economy and our poisoned planet in one bold, green stroke. Are we finally on the brink of a green-energy "power surge," or is it all a case of too little, too late?
From solar panel factories in China to a carbon capture-and-storage facility in the Sahara desert to massive wind and solar installations in the United States, NOVA travels the globe to reveal the surprising technologies that just might turn back the clock on climate change. NOVA will focus on the latest and greatest innovations, including everything from artificial trees to green reboots of familiar technologies like coal and nuclear energy. Can our technology, which helped create this problem, now solve it?
Participants
- Sir Richard Branson
- Virgin Group
- Steven Chu
- U.S. Secretary of Energy www.osti.gov/accomplishments/chu.html
- Al Gore
- Judge, Earth Challenge
- John Holdren
- President Obama’s Science Advisor
- Daniel Kammen
- Jay Keasling
- Klaus Lackner
- Columbia University
- John Midgley
- BP Alternative Energy
- Huang Ming
- Himin Solar Energy Group
- Stephen Pacala
- Princeton University
- Jim Rogers
- Duke Energy
- Orville Schell
- Asia Society
- Zhengrong Shi
- Suntech Power
- Stuart Wenham
- U. of New South Wales
Editors' Picks
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Smart Grid
Our electric grid is a marvel of 20th-century engineering, but it's showing signs of strain. Can a "smart grid" help?
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Capturing Carbon
An 8th-grader's science project prompts her scientist dad to develop a new way to pull excess CO2 out of the atmosphere.
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Making Stuff: Cleaner
Can innovative materials help solve the energy crisis and lead to a sustainable future? David Pogue investigates.