When asked why he chose Tado, he said the main reason customers gave was, “I want to save money. The second reason is, I want to make the planet a better place. If we cannot accomplish the first,” he stressed, “the second becomes less relevant.”
China seems to offer many solutions. Although coal consumption is rising, it will peak in 2026 as renewable energy comes online, Qiying Zhang, president of Mingyang Smart Energy, explained how Temporary And stationary offshore wind turbines are replacing fossil fuels. In August the company installed the world's largest single-capacity offshore wind turbine, MySE18.X-20MW, in Hainan, which can generate 80 million kWh annually while offsetting 66,000 tons of CO.2,
Meanwhile, the country's road transport electrification is progressing rapidly, thanks to heavy government subsidies. “In China, 570,000 EVs were purchased in August, and if you're not driving an electric car in China, you're considered a very boring person,” Stella Li, vice president of Chinese EV giant BYD, told the room. The new Z9 GT offered “intelligent driving”, meaning the car could park itself – even sliding sideways into a tight space thanks to its flexible rear axle.
“The epicenter of the energy transition is China, which has a beautiful historical symmetry,” said Arthur Downing, director of strategy at Octopus Energy. “By the 18th century, China was the center of the world economically. This was the first energy transition of the Industrial Revolution in Britain which shifted that economic center of gravity to Europe. So we're going full circle at ridiculous speed.”
Ann Mettler, European vice president of Bill Gates' sustainable energy organization Breakthrough Energy, and Sabrina Schultz, a strategic expert in climate, energy and biodiversity, agreed that although Europe was making progress, it was lagging and needed a mix of public and private. was required. Finance is needed to connect and renew grids and to consider decentralized or even virtual power plants. Schultz argued, “Policy certainty and public guarantees on investment in green district heating are an absolute prerequisite for investors.”
Sana Khareghani, Professor of Practice in AI at King's College London, suggested that AI could help manage and optimize energy grids and help develop new batteries to store electricity when it is most needed. Could – helps reduce reliance on fossil fuel-powered generators of last resort.