Babbage: The urgency to green the electric grid

<p>The vast majority of the energy used on Earth comes from fossil fuels. But as governments enact climate-friendly policies, <a href="https://www.economist.com/technology-quarterly/2023/04/05/the-electric-grid-is-about-to-be-transformed?utm_campaign=a.io&amp;utm_medium=audio.podcast.np&amp;utm_source=babbage&amp;utm_content=discovery.content.anonymous.tr_shownotes_na-na_article&amp;utm_term=sa.listeners" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">electric grids need to be decarbonised</a>, by using <a href="https://www.economist.com/technology-quarterly/2023/04/05/it-is-harder-for-new-electric-grids-to-balance-supply-and-demand?utm_campaign=a.io&amp;utm_medium=audio.podcast.np&amp;utm_source=babbage&amp;utm_content=discovery.content.anonymous.tr_shownotes_na-na_article&amp;utm_term=sa.listeners" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">renewable-energy sources</a>. And much more electricity needs to be generated too—to power transport, homes and heavy industry. Despite its urgency, redesigning electric grids is both a <a href="https://www.economist.com/technology-quarterly/2023/04/05/adding-capacity-to-the-electricity-grid-is-not-a-simple-task?utm_campaign=a.io&amp;utm_medium=audio.podcast.np&amp;utm_source=babbage&amp;utm_content=discovery.content.anonymous.tr_shownotes_na-na_article&amp;utm_term=sa.listeners" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">political and technological challenge</a>. How can such a revolution happen?</p><br><p>Host Kenneth Cukier explores the mechanics of how electric grids work and how to upgrade them with <em>The Economist</em>’s Hal Hodson. Hal travels to Drax, a power station in the north of England, to visualise this supersized circuit with Bruce Heppenstall, the plant’s director. Plus, Hal asks Gerhard Salge, the chief technology officer of Hitachi Energy, how the latest generation of <a href="https://www.economist.com/technology-quarterly/2023/04/05/electric-grids-fed-by-renewables-need-a-different-kind-of-plumbing?utm_campaign=a.io&amp;utm_medium=audio.podcast.np&amp;utm_sourc