Net-Zero America by 2050: Jesse Jenkins and Eric Larson

In his ambitious climate plan, President-elect Biden promises that by 2050 the United States will reach net-zero carbon emissions.

A groundbreaking new study from energy experts at Princeton University outlines five different pathways for how to reach net-zero emissions of greenhouse gases, using existing technology, and at costs aligned with historical average spending on energy. The research is the first to quantify and map in specific detail the infrastructure that would be needed to achieve this goal.

Our guests are Jesse Jenkins and Eric Larson, two principal investigators on the study. Jesse is an engineering professor, and Eric is a senior research engineer. Both work at Princeton's Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment and have conducted extensive research on ways to produce clean energy.

"We wanted to paint several different pictures that are quite different from each other to illustrate there are many different ways to get to net-zero," Eric tells us. The study makes it clear that while reaching this goal is challenging, it also would bring many environmental, public health and economic benefits, including millions of new jobs and less pollution. 

Recommendation: Jim has enjoyed watching "Fantastic Fungi", an entertaining and highly inventive documentary on Amazon Prime about a world that lives beneath our feet.

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