This article was taken from the February 2015 issue of WIRED magazine. Be the first to read WIRED's articles in print before they're posted online, and get your hands on loads of additional content by subscribing online.
Steve Cowley
CEO, UK Atomic Energy Authority "The way we produce energy will be smarter and cleaner than burning coal, oil and gas. Solar has massive potential and we have to figure out how to make it a base-load energy supply for the world. Nuclear fission is a sure-fire way to generate carbon-free electricity, but we need better reactor designs. They should be our two main energy sources in 20 years, until fusion power is ready later in the century -- but we'll only get there if we invest in the technology."
Fiona Rayment
Director, Fuel Cycle Solutions, National Nuclear Laboratory "Twenty years isn't long in energy terms; many power stations operating today will still be running. We will be at the start of a new generation of nuclear plants, in particular small modular reactors, which produce a quarter of the energy of a larger plant but can be interconnected to produce the same supply -- and their size means faster construction times per module."
Dale Vince
Founder, Ecotricity "If our energy comes from the wind, Sun and sea, decentralisation -- that's people making their own energy -- will flow from that. Electric cars have a big role to play. The total power of all car engines on the road today is greater than that of all power stations. Electric cars can be plugged into the grid and will provide energy as well as transport. That's the sustainable future we want: renewable energy and people power."
Frank Armijo
Vice president of energy solutions, Lockheed Martin "We will see many more diverse sources of renewable energy.
Lockheed Martin is exploring technologies to generate energy from ocean thermal energy, tides and compact fusion. Renewable sources can be uneven, so energy storage is vital. And as the infrastructure improves and the smart grid is more widely used, alternative energy generation will be more easily managed."
David Martin
Chief executive, Alvin Weinberg Foundation "It will come from coal, gas, oil and a minority of renewables if we carry on as we are, which of course would spell catastrophe for life on Earth. Nuclear is large-scale, reliable, energy-dense and zero-emissions, so we must back next-gen nuclear energy in a big way. We don't lack options: we just need the political willpower to make next-gen nuclear a reality."
Leila madrone
CEO, sunfolding and solar energy roboticist "All of us will produce energy. It will come from solar on our roofs and in our locality instead of faraway power plants, with grids of the scale of communities instead of countries. When we create our own power we'll naturally want to conserve it. When the power plant is in our homes with us at the helm, we will develop intuition on how to protect and consume energy."
This article was originally published by WIRED UK
