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Elon Musk Interview at Oil/Gas Summit (ONS)

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Very ballsy. I liked his point about pushing a button to eliminate oil and gas. He said he wouldn't do it. It shows that he is not a fanatic. His point is about long term change and how the writing is on the wall when it comes to oil and gas. Alternatives are available and reposition your business to move into the future.
 
The bottom line to me was: we're going to run out of non-renewables at some point, so why not switch sooner than later? You'd only be getting into the market bottom of the technology that will eventually be "fueling" everything. Not to mention fossil fuel "externalities", such lead, mercury, aresnic, uranium, CO2...

The point being that we are using coal and oil at human time scales, but they are formed on geological times scales...

Fossil fuel - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Even if we start synthesizing hydrocarbons to simply burn for portable energy (as opposed to using them for recyclable chemicals and plastics), we'd still have to "fuel" the production process using Mr. Fusion (the one that is 150 million km away). Some could be geothermal, I guess.

I also liked his calculation of a normal sized nuke site being able to produce more power using the same land area for solar PV panels! It does depend on location though. Though not locating nukes within cities also comes to mind.
 
Yeah, it's a case of the interviewer being a little out of her depth in terms of her knowledge and grasp of the interviewee's area of expertise and compensating for that by being a bit aggressive. That's what sets apart the likes of a Christiane Amanpour from the rest.
 
Yeah, it's a case of the interviewer being a little out of her depth in terms of her knowledge and grasp of the interviewee's area of expertise and compensating for that by being a bit aggressive. That's what sets apart the likes of a Christiane Amanpour from the rest.

Agreed, I don't think she let him fully answer a single question. I like how she tried to argue that oil wouldn't run out, and they'd keep finding more. Whether it is 50 years or 500 years, doesn't matter,it's not going to last as long as the sun. Why put off fixing the problem?

The real problem is most people aren't thinking on the time scale that Elon is. Nobody else considers that we have a billion years to get life off of earth before we are consumed by the sun. Most don't consider that a problem they should worry about (I realize there are other more pressing risks that could cause human extinction).
 
Agreed, I don't think she let him fully answer a single question. I like how she tried to argue that oil wouldn't run out, and they'd keep finding more. Whether it is 50 years or 500 years, doesn't matter,it's not going to last as long as the sun. Why put off fixing the problem?

The real problem is most people aren't thinking on the time scale that Elon is. Nobody else considers that we have a billion years to get life off of earth before we are consumed by the sun. Most don't consider that a problem they should worry about (I realize there are other more pressing risks that could cause human extinction).


I think Elon tends to answer in a stream of consciousness and she tried to focus/corral him.

Like in the answer on how solar panels can replace a nuclear power plant using the same footprint. She says "ergo" so he finishes his thought and explains the logical conclusion.

She was also asking questions the audience submitted and wanted answers to. Oil & Gas people always talk about new finds and new sources. So she asked how new tight oil,oil sands etc affect the situation.

Obviously her son is a big fan of Elon Musk and by asking her son's question for him, what should he study at university if he wants to work making the cars of the future, she at least partially concurs with her son.