London Futurists

The future of space-based solar power, with John Bucknell


Listen Later

In the future, energy will be too cheap to meter. That used to be a common vision of the future: abundant, clean energy, if not exactly free, then much cheaper than today's energy. But a funny thing happened en route to that future of energy abundance. High energy costs are still with us in 2023, and are part of what's called the cost-of-living crisis. Moreover, although there's some adoption of green, non-polluting energy, there seems to be as much carbon-based energy used as ever.

Regular listeners to this show will know, however, that one of our themes is that forecasts of the future often go wrong, not so much in their content, but in their timing. New technology and the associated products and services can take longer than expected to mature, but once a transition does start, it can accelerate. And that's a possible scenario for the area of technology we discuss in this episode, namely, space-based solar power.

Joining us to discuss the prospects for satellites in space gathering significant amounts of energy from the sun, and then beaming it wirelessly to receivers on the ground, is John Bucknell, the CEO of the marvellously named company Virtus Solis.

John has been with Virtus Solis, as CEO and Founder, since 2018. His career previously involved leading positions at Chrysler, SpaceX, General Motors, and the 3D printing company Divergent.

Selected follow-ups:
https://virtussolis.space/

Music: Spike Protein, by Koi Discovery, available under CC0 1.0 Public Domain Declaration

Real Talk About Marketing

An Acxiom podcast where we discuss marketing made better, bringing you real...

Listen on: Apple Podcasts   Spotify

...more
View all episodesView all episodes
Download on the App Store

London FuturistsBy London Futurists

  • 4.7
  • 4.7
  • 4.7
  • 4.7
  • 4.7

4.7

9 ratings


More shows like London Futurists

View all
In Our Time by BBC Radio 4

In Our Time

5,389 Listeners

BBC Inside Science by BBC Radio 4

BBC Inside Science

401 Listeners

Making Sense with Sam Harris by Sam Harris

Making Sense with Sam Harris

26,462 Listeners

a16z Podcast by Andreessen Horowitz

a16z Podcast

1,032 Listeners

The Gray Area with Sean Illing by Vox

The Gray Area with Sean Illing

10,694 Listeners

Azeem Azhar's Exponential View by Azeem Azhar

Azeem Azhar's Exponential View

613 Listeners

Google DeepMind: The Podcast by Hannah Fry

Google DeepMind: The Podcast

198 Listeners

Dwarkesh Podcast by Dwarkesh Patel

Dwarkesh Podcast

401 Listeners

Big Technology Podcast by Alex Kantrowitz

Big Technology Podcast

442 Listeners

The Rest Is Politics by Goalhanger

The Rest Is Politics

3,276 Listeners

The News Agents by Global

The News Agents

981 Listeners

Moonshots with Peter Diamandis by PHD Ventures

Moonshots with Peter Diamandis

477 Listeners

The Rest Is Politics: Leading by Goalhanger

The Rest Is Politics: Leading

987 Listeners

The Rest Is Money by Goalhanger

The Rest Is Money

220 Listeners

The Rest Is Politics: US by Goalhanger

The Rest Is Politics: US

2,285 Listeners