How Far Can We Go With Solar? - with Martin Green

03/05/23 • 45 min

Has Martin Green done more than any other human to safeguard our future? For fifty years – yes fifty – he’s dedicated his life to pushing the boundaries of photovoltaics so they convert more sunlight to electricity and produce more electricity for less money. He and his team have held the world record for solar cell efficiencies for 30 of the past 39 years, and his technology is now imbedded in – wait for it – no less than 91 percent of worldwide solar cell production.
And he isn’t stopping!

So, how much more room for improvement is there? What happens if we can halve the price of solar again? Big questions for our future!

Welcome to FutureBites with Dr. Bruce McCabe, global futurist and keynote speaker, where we interview scientists and explore pathways to a better future. In this episode, I ask Professor Martin Green at the University of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia, who I’m now calling the God of Solar, “How far can we go?” and we spend a happy hour exploring the myriad ways we can extend the solar contribution to our future.
Enjoy the podcast!

And for further commentary and a full transcript of our conversation, see the accompanying FutureBites post on my website.

Learn more about my work as a futurist speaker.

See you in the future!

So, how much more room for improvement is there? What happens if we can halve the price of solar again? Big questions for our future!

And for further commentary and a full transcript of our conversation, see the accompanying FutureBites post on my website.

Learn more about my work as a futurist speaker.

See you in the future!

Previous Episode

Can We Keep CRISPR Responsible? - with Jennifer Kuzma

Designer babies, agricultural mishaps, extinction via gene-drive. Now CRISPR has placed into our hands the awesome power to "edit life" in all its forms, how to keep the good while preventing the bad? How to safeguard our future? Is this even possible?
Welcome to FutureBites with Dr. Bruce McCabe, futurist and keynote speaker, where we interview scientists and explore pathways to a better future. In this episode, I ask Jennifer Kuzma, global expert on biotech responsibility, to shed light on one of the most important governance challenges of our time: how to put guardrails around CRISPR.
Jennifer is Distinguished Professor in the Social Sciences and co-founder of the Genetic Engineering and Society Center at NC State University, and contributes frequent public commentary in the New York Times, Wired magazine and countless other magazines and journals. She cares, and she’s working hard to create a better future!
It’s such an important topic and our conversation covered a lot of ground, so I’ve put compiled a fulsome post on the website with links to the examples and case-studies we discussed, and tons of further reading to explore. You’ll also find the full interview transcript there.
Learn more about my work as a futurist speaker.
See you in the future!

Next Episode

Innovating For A Better Future - with Ken Dovey

Innovation is a deeply, deeply social phenomenon that requires many people to come along for the ride. It’s not easy! So, where to start? What are the principles? How to think about it? If you want to make the world a better place by building new products or services, or simply by creating better ways of doing things inside your organization, then this episode is for you!

Welcome to FutureBites with Dr. Bruce McCabe, futurist and keynote speaker, where I interview scientists and leading thinkers to explore pathways to a better future.
In this episode, we're talking to Dr Ken Dovey about how to make innovation happen. Ken is the deepest thinker on innovation I know. He led an elite Master of Business and Technology program and dedicated a career to researching, teaching and leading innovation. From leading multi-racial sporting teams in apartheid South Africa to working alongside CEOs attempting to turn around megafactories, he’s made the mistakes, celebrated the wins, and learned his innovation lessons the hard way – by being there!
Ken is also a great friend, and 100% committed to helping others and contributing positively to the world, which means he always ‘tells it like it is.’ There are so many gems in this wide-ranging conversation. Get ready for a treasure-trove of honesty and wisdom. Enjoy!

You’ll find the full interview transcript, together with a list of the sub-themes we covered and links to papers for further reading on the website here.
Learn more about my work as a futurist speaker.
See you in the future!