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The geopolitics of the energy transition

Dr. Mathieu Blondeel

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Episode 14
1 hr 50 min / Published

For this first episode in English, I had a discussion with Dr Mathieu Blondeel about the geopolitics and energy. Among the many topics we covered, we discussed:

  • Is Coal the new black?
  • The narrative of the energy transition.
  • “Follow the money”!

After obtaining his PhD at UGent, Dr Mathieu Blondeel joined the Warwick Business School in 2020 as postdoctoral Research Fellow in the Strategy and International Business group. He is interested in a variety of topics at the intersection of global climate and energy politics. He recently started a fascinating podcast, "Turmoil", on the global energy transformation.

Link to the notes for this episode: https://www.podcastics.com/podcast/episode/dr-mathieu-blondeel-in-english-136969/

Leave a comment to let me know what you think about doing some episodes in English.

 

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Exergie
About Exergie
A podcast by UCLouvain
Regards croisés sur l'énergie sous toutes ses formes.
Episode comments

Thank you so much to both of you for this very interesting geo-podcast. The English language opens the door to scientists from other spheres. Go ahead. I like to highlight some points.
First of all, the importance of addressing any issue in a systemic way. For example the extraction of any resource (oil, gas, coal, mineral) should be assessed according to the following criteria: exergy, economics, environment, and "human cost" or human rights. Remember that working in the Belgian coal mines was an unhealthy and unsafe job and closing the mines was a big progress for the public health. Today we export those working conditions (and even worse) to Africa and South-America. 
Afterwards, the only way to reduce the carbon intensity is reducing the demand. This message will not sound sexy to most people but this is the truth. Let us sum up the electric power of all devices we have at home and let us compare it to the 100W a human being can develop on a bicycle  (and not during 24h a day). This conclusion has already be drawn in the Belgian Energy Outlook issued by the FABI in 2019. 
Finally, it is the duty of the scientists to share their knowledge and to explain what are the pros and the cons of  the different options which are in front of us for the future. 
Once again, congratulations and many thanks!

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