![]() ![]() To measure how much space will be taken up to generate a given amount of power, scientists use a metric called power density, which is measured in watts per square meter. "Space is by far from the only consideration, of course, but it's an important one that we should be talking about more often than we do." This matters for the obvious reason that there is only so much land and water to go around," Gates writes. "Some power sources take up more room than others. "That's roughly one percent of global emissions." Making things, like cement and steel, is more of a culprit than cars or jets "At Breakthrough Energy, we fund only technologies that could remove at least 500 million tons a year if they are successful and fully implemented," Gates writes, referring to the energy innovation investment fund in which he has money, along with other like Jeff Bezos. ![]() Gates writes that when considers any green technology or policy, he assesses its impact based on what percentage of 51 billion tons of GHG it can remove from the atmosphere. ![]() aircraft carriers, according to NASA (multiplied 51 times). ![]() That is equivalent to 10,000 fully-loaded U.S. To help put that into perspective, each of those 51 gigatons (a gigaton is 1 billion tons) equals 2.2 trillion pounds. Though emissions for 2020 were a bit less than usual due to the coronavirus pandemic slowing travel and economic output, in a typical year, the world adds 51 billion tons of greenhouse houses (GHG) to the atmosphere, according to the book. ![]()
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