Amory Lovins’ Informative Speech on Sustainable Energy

Amory Lovins is an author, physicist, and one of the foremost authorities on renewable energy. Lovins has been campaigning for the United States to reinvent its energy industry for decades. In this quest, Lovins founded the Rocky Mountain Institute which works to achieve sustainable solutions to America’s growing energy needs. Furthermore, Lovins has helped to build a prototype for an efficient hybrid car that may help alleviate the world’s dependence on oil for transportation (“Speakers: Amory Lovins”). The purpose of Lovins’ TED Talk was to inform the audience about the pressing need to rethink how we generate electricity. Lovins claims that the United States’ dependence on oil and coal, for transportation and generating electricity, is outdated, unsafe, and needs to be changed. He also hypothesizes that the best way to facilitate a change, from dependency on fossil fuels to the creation of energy through sustainable sources, is to first decrease our energy usage. After our energy use as a country is reduced, the change to sustainable energy sources will be easier to accomplish. Lovins believes this change will come through private enterprise rather than from policy changes by the government or existing power companies. In lieu of reducing energy usage and creating more energy through sustainable sources, Lovins also argues that the United States needs to rebuild its current electrical grid because it is overly centralized and a danger to national security.

Lovins's suggestions for reducing the United States’ energy use are innovative and cost-efficient. “Smart windows” that let light pass through while reflecting heat, efficient hybrid cars made of durable, ultra-light, carbon fiber composites, and using IT logistics to cut down travel time for large companies who ship their products around the country, are three examples of great energy-saving innovations that will be valuable tools as our country tries to end its oil dependency (Lovins). Some of these ideas have already been shown to be effective because other countries have had success with similar ideas. Lovins reveals that, in Germany, researchers for Volkswagen have already created a hybrid car that gets 230 miles per gallon. The idea that a person who drives fifty miles per day can spend around five dollars per week on transportation costs is astounding and sounds like a feasible solution to creating sustainability. Lovins's argument that the United States’ electrical grid needs to be reconstructed is logical, and his design ideas for the new grid seem to be a good answer to the problems associated with the current grid. Currently, our interconnected grid is susceptible to sweeping blackouts caused by solar storms, natural disasters, or terrorist attacks. Lovins's idea to construct an electrical grid made up of many smaller individual grids is a good idea that needs to be implemented to bolster national security.

Overall, Lovins makes a compelling argument for achieving sustainable energy. The only negative aspect of his speech is that the numbers he provides to support his claims are neither cited nor explained. For example, Lovins claims that his plan to implement sustainable energy production in place of energy created from fossil fuels can be completed by 2050 and will save the United States five trillion dollars. However, Lovins does not tell the audience how he reached these exact numbers. His argument would be more concrete if he showed how he reached this numerical conclusion, or, at the very least, cited scientific studies to support his conclusion. Lovins has been immersed in sustainable energy research and technology for decades. His professionalism and experience suggest that he would not simply throw out arbitrary numbers to support a claim, so it can be inferred that his statistics have been thoroughly researched. However, rather than letting his reputation justify his claims, Lovins’ speech would be more convincing if he included the scientific data to back up his arguments.

I would recommend Lovins’ speech to a wide variety of people. His ideas for technological innovations regarding energy production would definitely appeal to those who are studying, or work in, the fields of physics, engineering, business, and even government. Even if you do not fall into one of the aforementioned categories, the speech is still worth a watch. Lovins’ argument, though it is tailored to an American audience, deals with a global problem. The fact that fossil fuels are finite coupled with the fact that, currently, the vast majority of the world’s energy production depends on these fossil fuels, makes the need for change evident. As such, Lovins’ speech offers novel and logical answers to problems that affect every person on Earth whether they are aware of it or not. Anyone who is concerned about the well-being of the planet, and future generations of people, should watch this speech to learn about viable alternatives to fossil fuels such as waste oil and microalgae that may be the saving grace of our planet.

Works Cited

Lovins, Amory. “A 40 Year Plan for Energy.” TED Talks. TED Office, New York City, NY. Web. 12 Oct. 2013. <http://ted.com/talks

“Speakers: Amory Lovins: Physicist, Energy Guru.” TED. TED Talks. n.d. Web. 12 Oct. 2013. <http://ted.com/speakers/Amory_Lovins.html