#3-16 - Energy System in the Near Future - Part 2 - ft. Prof. Dr. Ferdi Schüth

Today, Xiaoran and Bea continue their conversation with Prof. Dr. Ferdi Schüth, a director at the MPI für Kohlenforschung, about the future of energy production and storage.

Ferdi talks about ammonia, what we need (or think we need) it for, how we produce it, ways that ammonia synthesis can be improved, and what an ideal ammonia decomposing plant would look like.

He expands more about on the topic of hydrogen in the future of energy and discusses the ways we currently store hydrogen as well as how the seasonal storage problem can ultimately be solved. Ferdi also discusses the most efficient energy sources for different technologies, from cars to aviation, and explains the major downsides of nuclear energy: cost, waste, and proliferation of nuclear weapons.

He also talks about consulting the government in the questions of science policy and his opinion on where science should stay in relation to politics.

Learn more about Prof. Dr. Schüth’s lab and research here: https://www.kofo.mpg.de/en/research/heterogeneous-catalysis

Episode Art: Photo by Mika Baumeister (@mbaumi) on Unsplash (https://unsplash.com/)

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Intro - Outro music composed by Srinath Ramkumar: https://twitter.com/srinathramkumar

Pre-Intro jingle composed by Gustavo Carrizo: https://www.instagram.com/carrizo.gus

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