What I'm Thinking
Every January, Bill writes an Annual Letter, which includes his thoughts on the work of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and progress it is making toward achieving its goals. Interest in the 2009 Annual Letter was one reason Bill decided to create the Gates Notes website.
Posted 02/01/2010
Conservation and behavior change alone will not get us to the dramatically lower levels of CO2 emissions needed to make a real difference. We also need to focus on developing innovative technologies that produce energy without generating any CO2 emissions at all.
Posted 01/24/2010
Helping poor farmers improve productivity is a critical step in reducing global hunger. But there is an ideological divide over how best to help them. The truth is that both sides have something important to offer.
Posted 01/20/2010
What I'm Learning
Vaclav Smil, a distinguished professor at the University of Manitoba, takes a broad interdisciplinary approach that combines a deep understanding of the environment, energy, food, population, economic and public policy studies, and more. He is the author of more than 25 books.
Posted 02/09/2010
Entertaining, well-written, and full of surprises and insights, SuperFreakonomics is Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner’s follow up to Freakonomics.
Posted 02/01/2010
For all that has been written lately about energy conservation, where energy comes from, how we use it, and how much CO2 gas it generates, it’s hard to gain a clear picture of the situation. A new book by David MacKay provides the framework people need to really understand this critical subject.
Posted 01/15/2010
Conversations
Energy sources that provide power without producing CO2 are critical to addressing the challenge of global warming. The book Sustainable Energy – without the hot air prompted Bill to ask climate researcher Ken Caldeira what the prospects are for generating power from wind in the upper atmosphere.
Posted 01/23/2010
Speaking with Time managing editor Rick Stengel at the Microsoft CEO Summit in May, Bill explained why he believes it will take large R&D investments by hundreds of companies to develop innovative solutions that will pave the way for new approaches to generating energy.
Posted 01/14/2010
