Dam clever: is world's biggest hydro scheme a good idea?

03/10/25 • 50 min

The proposed Grand Inga dam in the Democratic Republic of Congo would be the largest power station in the world - if its ever built. With twice the output of China's Three Gorges, the dam could potentially bring electricity to those 600 million in sub-Saharan Africa currently without.

But after decades of delay, investors withdrawing, environmental concerns, and its ballooning $80bn price tag, does the dream still hold water?

Joining Esau this time are Barnaby Dye, Lecturer in Development Policy and Practice; Mark Mulligan, Professor of Physical & Environmental Geography; and Clement Sefa-Nyarko, Lecturer in Security, Development and Leadership in Africa.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

But after decades of delay, investors withdrawing, environmental concerns, and its ballooning $80bn price tag, does the dream still hold water?

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Previous Episode

A Deep Dive into DeepSeek

What is the new app DeepSeek? How does it differ from other LLM providers? And why has it caused such a significant impact on the US AI industry?

In this episode, Esau is joined by Sean Starrs and Juan Grigera, from the Department of International Development, King's College London to discuss all things AI.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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Too hot to live

A recent assessment found that the area of Earth's landmass that will be too hot for even healthy adults to keep a safe core body temperature will approximately triple - to an area almost the size of the US – if global warming reaches 2°C above the preindustrial average. We've already reached 1.5°C.

This week Esau asks: what does 'too hot' actually mean? What will happen to the people who live in these areas? And what might be done to help combat the impacts?

Joining him are Dr Tom Matthews, lead author of the study and Senior Lecturer in Environmental Geography, and Aditya Pillai, who is a doctoral researcher in King’s India Institute, a Visiting Fellow at the Sustainable Futures Collaborative, New Delhi, and author of a recent report investigating India’s readiness for the extreme heat of a much, much hotter world.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.