“The energy system is changing faster than people realise”, declares Ramez Naam, a computer scientist specialising in energy. And he cites Portugal as an example, a country that obtains almost half its energy from renewable sources, and where wind and solar energy were confirmed as being cheaper than coal and gas for the first time last year, without any subsidies whatsoever. The government needs to realise that this is happening, in order to provide more opportunities for unsubsidised wind and solar energy and to let the market compete… as a means of reducing prices”.
Naam worked at Microsoft for 13 years, heading teams of programmers that developed the initial versions of Microsoft Outlook and Internet Explorer. He´s an inventor with more than 20 registered patents, and he believes in the potential of new technologies to transform business. As such, he invests in start-ups, particularly those with a focus on disruptive technologies. Furthermore, he also writes science fiction books. This is the profile of the 12th interviewee on “Inspiring the Future — SingularityU Portugal”, who adds that “there is a race between the rate at which we damage the climate and the rate at which we manage to innovate, creating new technologies. I don´t know if we´re winning, but I have hope”.
