Energy transition

Sustainability must therefore be part of the design of digital infrastructure, rather than an afterthought once that infrastructure is already operating.

Can quantum intelligence support the energy transition? The relationship between technology and sustainability works in both directions.

Advanced computing requires energy.

At the same time, researchers are exploring whether quantum computing could eventually help analyze materials, battery chemistry, and industrial catalysts relevant to the energy transition.

These are promising fields of research, not guaranteed solutions.

Their impact will depend on scientific progress, practical deployment, and the resources required to operate them.

Are we sort of moving in a direction that... you know is already passed and there's better alternative do you hear that argument as well

oh for sure i think that's that's sort of a key argument among those who are skeptical of of the value of focusing on nuclear at the moment we are yeah there's been huge technological innovations in renewables that we actually haven't seen a commensurate sort of technological leap in nuclear um but the people who i spoke to who are proponents of nuclear point out that you know we're talking about we're talking about an energy transition that is going to take decades and ultimately we need technologies that will sort of meet that intermittency challenge with renewables and and we also just need lots of sources of power so it sort of makes sense from their perspective to invest in nuclear even though There's been lots of growth in renewables.

And then the other argument that I think is quite interesting is that nuclear is an industry in which we see sort of stationary, well-paying, highly unionized jobs where there's a possibility of a Canadian supply chain.

And we don't really have that for renewables at the

And welcome to the VSA Capital Tech and Transitional Energy podcast.

It's Thursday, November.

It's fireworks day.

Okay, that makes sense.

I guess, you know, given what you've said, I'm wondering the costs and benefits of AI and the energy transition.

Yes.

So on one hand, you have all this need for power, which basically can create economies for scale for clean energy.

True.

At the same time, it's also just, you know, it's anything that goes past, it's also fossil fuel.

So how do you, do you see this AI boom as accelerating the energy transition or does it have more cost than benefit?

Unfortunately, I see a mix.

I'm a researcher with a background in sociology and social anthropology.

And for some years now, I've been working on the Bulgarian energy sector, the green transition, its impacts on mining communities.

Yeah, that's more or less it.

And so this book is the result of fieldwork among mining communities in Stara Zagora, this is the largest coal mining region in the country and the beating heart, so-called, of the Bulgarian energy sector.

I must say it was something separate.

And so we did this in 24.

Then we had even exhibitions about the green transition and with the miners' voices throughout Bulgaria in 24 and 25.

And in 25, I sat down to write actually a report.

Ireland has big ambitions for renewable gas, but how is the country progressing towards making it a reality? To get a status update, I invited Nick Bennett, the acting CEO of Renewable Gas Forum Ireland, a member organisation committed to developing a viable biomethane industry.

In this episode, we talk about what's holding back biomethane production, what needs to change to get projects moving, and how renewable gas could contribute to Ireland's energy transition and energy security.

I'm Julia Kramer, standing in for your host Pamela Lark, and this is the Energy Transitions Podcast.

Nick, thank you very much for joining me today.

Earlier this month, Gas Networks Ireland opened a 32 million central grid injection facility at Mitchelstown, a town in the south of Ireland.

Thank you very much for that.

It's been good to have that conversation.

Thank you for listening to this episode of the Energy Transitions Podcast, brought to you by Enlite and Friends.