Fifteen years ago, Uruguay was experiencing an energy crisis brought on by its reliance on fossil fuels; today, the nation produces 98 percent of its electricity from renewable sources (and even exports extra energy to neighboring countries). How did they turn things around so quickly? Uruguay’s former secretary of energy, Ramón Méndez Galain, explains how they pulled off this unprecedented shift — and shares how any other country can do the same.
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Ana Laura Jara
October 2, 2023 at 8:30 am
Very inspiring video, muchas gracias! 👏
Mark Young
October 2, 2023 at 8:34 am
How we can expand the electrical grid and also protect it. I just went ev with my car.
TED I’m so disappointed in how you treated Coleman Hughes, caving in to appease the complainants 😢.
Moss
October 2, 2023 at 8:37 am
I find extremely embarrassing that the UK is kicking the can down the road on making our energy cleaner. They the elites used the excuses of how things will make the uk bankrupt and expensive. Yet the tory government has failed to embrace the opportunities of Green energy, jobs and tech./science.
Uk should be leading, like every other nation that is trying really hard to move away from fossil fuels. But instead the british elite has fallen right wing clown ideology.
Juan Dovat
October 2, 2023 at 9:03 am
DALE RAMONN
Chinthaka Liyana Arachchi
October 2, 2023 at 10:16 am
Really good one. Cheers!
Lonnie Craig
October 2, 2023 at 10:21 am
Solar & wind are no good if you don’t have both 24/7. What happens on windless days when the sun hides behind dark clouds???
Anandkuno
October 2, 2023 at 10:40 am
That is why they have multiple types of energy source. Having a good portfolio will help the transition.
Soya Suki
October 2, 2023 at 11:03 am
Did you even watch the video? Addressing exactly that is a mayor portion of the talk. Starting around 5:00
Anandkuno
October 2, 2023 at 11:14 am
@Soya Sukihi, I did watch it again, and may I know what did I say that is wrong? Having multiple energy sources is what allowed the country to not rely on the fossil fuel for electricity.
Of course the country still need fossil fuel for transportation.
P. B. Foote
October 2, 2023 at 8:27 pm
This is by far the most commonly asked question in the renewable resource vs. fossil fuel argument. It’s also the most ignorant.
But, for your edification the short answer is . . . drum roll please . . . batteries. What do think powers your car’s lights and fans when the motor’s not running? What powers the starter motor when you turn the key to ‘start’? Hint: It’s not magic.
BTW: If you’re still invested in fossil fuels: Ha-ha!
Thomas Martin
October 2, 2023 at 10:21 am
Its an awesome idea for gulf coast states. Montana gets periods of severe draught and winter.
Avi Richar
October 2, 2023 at 12:47 pm
oh so Montana has no wind, nor biomass of any kind, sad to hear it’s on Mars
johnny blade
October 2, 2023 at 10:22 am
False title. Do you think people are that stupid? Ted seems to be now days.
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October 2, 2023 at 10:34 am
Show proof or your words mean nothing.
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Misinformation Wars with Val Pardus
October 2, 2023 at 11:12 am
I guess I should be surprised by how many people in the comments are denigrating renewables, but it just goes to show how little they actually know about renewable energy.
Calista
October 2, 2023 at 12:21 pm
@misinformationwars,
Your name says it all…
It does show how little you know…
Avi Richar
October 2, 2023 at 12:49 pm
@Calista wow such an incisive comeback, shows your main point is you’ve achieved the astonishing brilliant brainpower level of a 1st grader who can read a single word….
P. B. Foote
October 2, 2023 at 7:26 pm
@Calista
Could it be an anti-misinformation statement, as in opposition to Alex Jones’ “Infowars’?
BTW: Getting the “truth” about gun violence from Colin Noire is like trusting Exxon Mobil’s hype on the global climate crisis, speaking of misinformation.
Calista
October 2, 2023 at 8:06 pm
@avirichar4981 🤣
Apparently, you overlooked my lengthy, detailed reply 🙄
Tim Truett
October 2, 2023 at 12:12 pm
This talk shows what can happen when there is no political influence from fossil fuel vested interests. Since Uruguay has no fossil fuels, they have no fossil fuel industry lobbying the government. This suggests that in the US a critical ingredient for success is to nullify the influence of fossil fuel vested interest.
How? Go to the dark side and use the same PR tools and propaganda tools against the fossil fuel industry that they have been using against us.
Paul A DAigle
October 2, 2023 at 12:54 pm
If it moves on its own, or is hot, it can be converted to usable energy. Water flowing, waves, air currents, sun. Everything. It’s just finding the right method and source.
Sirus Laia
October 2, 2023 at 12:56 pm
I wish the UK where I live had done more to explore the renewable possibilities as Uruguay has done. But with Sunak at the helm, I don’t have any hope.
djayjp
October 2, 2023 at 1:17 pm
He’s too busy eliminating imaginary taxes ha
ICE SKULL gaming
October 3, 2023 at 12:10 pm
You dont have much of Solar being in that hemisphere, wind energy can be utilized maybe. Thats all.
djayjp
October 3, 2023 at 3:59 pm
@ICE SKULL gaming Solar still works even during overcast days btw, just like how plants manage, but it’s lower efficiency of course. Also hydro works.
djayjp
October 2, 2023 at 1:09 pm
4:00 Wtf is a “traditional hydrothermal power mix”…?
Also burning that biomass releases tons of CO2.
dryzalizer
October 2, 2023 at 5:07 pm
I think he misspoke and meant to say a traditional hydropower and fossil fuel mix.
I agree with your second point, if they’re doing basic biomass burning to generate power that’s not carbon-friendly at all. If they can capture the CO2 that would be great, but he didn’t say a word about it.
Overall though, this is a big step in the right direction and in particular the need for political parties to come together to get it done is probably the biggest hurdle in many countries at this point.
P. B. Foote
October 2, 2023 at 7:47 pm
98% renewables and that’s your takeaway?
If you came expecting perfection, you came to the wrong place.
djayjp
October 2, 2023 at 9:07 pm
@P. B. Foote Idk I live in British Columbia where we’re already like 95% renewables. If he was being unbiased he would’ve stated the carbon released from burning biomass, but just presented it as though it’s perfectly fine. Btw you’re confusing burning biomass % vs fossil fuels–the latter was 2% and sometimes 7% annually in dry years. Point being that burning biomass shouldn’t be considered green or part of the solution.
Ismael Ramirez
October 2, 2023 at 1:25 pm
Climate change religion
Akira
October 2, 2023 at 1:58 pm
Climate change is real. It’s a natural process that humans are expediting.
Darin Herrick
October 2, 2023 at 8:28 pm
And your point is?
P. B. Foote
October 2, 2023 at 8:33 pm
Science requires no faith, only understanding. Is that you don’t get it?
Akira
October 2, 2023 at 1:55 pm
But oil is not a renewable resource, and it’s the main resource for our existence in modern industrial society. It’s predicted that we’re gonna run out of oil by 2070. What’s going to happen?
VICTOR LABAD
October 2, 2023 at 2:05 pm
😊please choose speaker with more understandable English or with a translator
Rob Lyn
October 3, 2023 at 1:02 am
Turn on the subtitles CC
VICTOR LABAD
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@Rob Lyn
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ronold cross
October 2, 2023 at 2:28 pm
Australia has great solar and wind potential.
US can utilize solar, wind, tidal and hydro if we can get out from under the coal/oil oligarky.
HexaRecter
October 2, 2023 at 3:29 pm
Renewable will not save us alone, just slow down our extinction.
We need low carbon, such as nuclear.
Adam Davies
October 2, 2023 at 6:23 pm
Yes! Nuclear is the way to go!
P. B. Foote
October 2, 2023 at 7:38 pm
I’d rather not live near a nuclear power plant, let alone work in one. But I have no problem living near a factory that builds wind generators and/or solar panels, especially if it offers good, high paying jobs to me and my neighbors.
BTW: How much does it cost to decommission a nuclear power plant compared to, oh, say, anything else?
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October 2, 2023 at 8:41 pm
Bot spam
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October 3, 2023 at 11:32 am
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Bernard George
October 6, 2023 at 8:29 am
SCAM ALERT!!!!
Bernard George
October 6, 2023 at 8:29 am
SCAM ALERT!!! @Jamie Kyle
lexogk1
October 2, 2023 at 6:42 pm
Only Electricity, not the whole energy sources are renewable. What about traffic and heat?
P. B. Foote
October 2, 2023 at 8:39 pm
Does it irk you to see a genuinely intelligent person get a standing ovation on YouTube when you can’t even get a single “like”?
lexogk1
October 3, 2023 at 6:06 am
@P. B. Foote huh? I liked his talk, this was just a critical question/notice regarding the misleading title of the video.
What’s the point?
Bernard George
October 6, 2023 at 8:31 am
But he makes a fair point…Even if they were getting 98% of their electricity from renewables (and they aren’t) that is only 20% of energy consumption.
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October 2, 2023 at 8:02 pm
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Crim
October 2, 2023 at 8:39 pm
lmao
Francisco Perez-Smith
October 2, 2023 at 8:45 pm
I love to death how Dr. Galain asserts that there is a fallback/insurance of fossil fuels, but that’s OK; it doesn’t invalidate the system.
Sag Norm
October 3, 2023 at 9:10 am
It does invalidate it. Its nonsense. First off, there is nothing good about “burning sustainable bio mass”. Second, why is there no nuclear energy? Nuclear energy is the inevitable future.
The fossil fuel fallback is just pure corruption. After a few elections, the “fallback” will become the main source lol. And why didn’t they use modern nuclear for the fallback?
And your fears of nuclear disaster is nonsense. Even with the 70 year old technology of the 1950s, it was very safe with a low probability of failure. If they ever decide to make modern 21st century nuclear reactors, there would be 0 risk.
Lion King
October 2, 2023 at 8:58 pm
For consistency TED should change their slogan to “Ideas worth censoring”.
jitojor87
October 2, 2023 at 9:04 pm
Laughs in Costa Rican 😉
K Forest
October 2, 2023 at 10:40 pm
“electricity at a fixed cost” and what about those who don’t want it don’t use it do you still charge them. Lol
Minh Nguyen
October 3, 2023 at 2:24 am
this video restores my hope
Bernard George
October 6, 2023 at 5:03 am
Mine too, until I checked the facts. Uruguay has to import massive amounts of dirty power from its neighbours, because renewables are intermittent. This is smoke and mirrors.
Minh Nguyen
October 7, 2023 at 7:10 am
@Bernard George the same thing was mentioned in the video, you need to include the source, that would give more perspective as to how much was imported compared to the overall energy use and when was the data collected
Faizan Babul
October 3, 2023 at 3:05 am
I love Cavani and Suarez. So I love Uruguay!
Harry Scott
October 3, 2023 at 3:10 am
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Zahidul Islam Pabel
October 3, 2023 at 5:00 am
nice
m kk
October 3, 2023 at 7:50 am
👏👏👏
ow
October 3, 2023 at 8:50 am
11:46
Joni Boulware
October 3, 2023 at 12:24 pm
Well, if Uruguay imported nothing from other countries this would be a true achievement. But other countries supply the materials to create the energy system.
Luigi Cacciapuoti
October 3, 2023 at 4:49 pm
People like him should run the world because they would make it simply a better place!
Bernard George
October 6, 2023 at 5:01 am
Shame he was not honest enough to admit that Uruguay is totally dependent on imports of dirty power.
Fred Bear
October 3, 2023 at 6:42 pm
Yeh, but they have regular blacks as the power is not consistent. About 3 million people in Uruguay experienced the blackout. The blackout forced some businesses to close and interrupted public transit; it also led to some water shortages, as some water systems were powered with electricity. “It looked like a zombie city,” a taxi driver in Buenos Aires told the New York Times.17 June 2019.
This guy is absolutely full of it. Imagine doing this to a big company. Uruguay is less than 3.5 million people.These people are mad and anyone who thinks they can do this in the UK, USA or any industrialised country.
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October 3, 2023 at 9:34 pm
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Bernard George
October 6, 2023 at 8:25 am
SCAM ALERT!!!
Agustín Figueroa
October 4, 2023 at 8:17 am
Uruguay un tremendo ejemplo para el mundo y todos los hermanos latinoamericanos. Saludos desde Chile 🇨🇱♥️🇺🇾
DrinkinItIn
October 4, 2023 at 10:04 am
I love this talk and the possibilities when a team can work toward a solution for a common goal. We (America) can learn a lot from this philosophy.
Bernard George
October 6, 2023 at 5:00 am
Sorry no. The US is not a tiny country that can rely on imports of dirty power when renewables are not producing. Nor can it have hydro power to the same extent as Uruguay. You have been taken in by slick marketing.
DrinkinItIn
October 7, 2023 at 3:54 pm
@Bernard George Appreciate your reply but I disagree with your assessment. My point was that nobody in the US works together. Who knows what could be accomplished if everyone stopped fighting and disagreeing. It is a pollyanna type thought because we are so far gone but maybe one day we can make some progress.
We hit extracellular idiom bite
October 4, 2023 at 6:38 pm
This is rather misleading. All cars and buses and trucks are actually mainly powered by fossil fuels, thus emitting colossal amounts of green house gases even in Uruguay. So don’t trust too much in this sweet reality {about electricity 🔌 generation being not generating a lot of CO2 in uruguay} as a reality which will really help achieve the goal of Paris agreements. It will not. ❤🎉🎉 we need to cut our GHG emissions and this will require sobriety/slashing economic growth.
Lilia Rodriguez
October 6, 2023 at 2:14 am
I am from Uruguay electricity is not cheap there at O.225 kw/ h in march it might be renewable but the benefit does not reach the citizens that have to go without airconditiining in summer or heat the house burning wood or use kerosene heaters becsuse of the high ekectriciy cost
Bernard George
October 6, 2023 at 4:52 am
Terribly misleading.
First, Uruguay is not self-reliant. It imports and exports huge amounts of electricity (sometimes importing half its consumption) to cope with the intermittency of renewables. It is a tiny country (3.5m people) dependent on dirty power from its neighbours.
Second, when he says wind and solar power are equal to demand, he means CAPACITY. The power produced by wind and solar averages at about 10% of capacity for solar and 20% for wind.
Third, it has massive hydro power, which is not possible at the same scale for most countries.
Lovely feel-good stuff, so long as you do not think about it.