Re:Ask HN: IT jobs fighting against climate catastrophe?
by DennisP on Monday March 01, 2021 @08:00AM
(#26302343)
It's not like political organizations don't use IT. They have websites and databases.
More generally, political solutions are important but technical solutions are necessary too.
Bill Gates' new book goes into this in detail, with the concept of a "green premium," the percentage cost increase of going with a carbon-neutral solution in place of whatever we're using now. In some areas of the economy, the premium is quite large, and finding new tech to shrink it would help a lot.
Technical solutions won't make many green solutions cheaper than fossil in the foreseeable future, so we still need politics, but making the expensive stuff more reasonable makes the political task easier.
More generally, political solutions are important but technical solutions are necessary too.
Bill Gates' new book goes into this in detail, with the concept of a "green premium," the percentage cost increase of going with a carbon-neutral solution in place of whatever we're using now. In some areas of the economy, the premium is quite large, and finding new tech to shrink it would help a lot.
Technical solutions won't make many green solutions cheaper than fossil in the foreseeable future, so we still need politics, but making the expensive stuff more reasonable makes the political task easier.