#they want to give an entire nuclear plant to power ai

[channeledhistory]

To support its ambitions to develop AI systems that would be as intelligent as people, OpenAI wants the U.S. government to help streamline the construction of massive data centers that would suck up as much power as major American cities. But experts are skeptical that anyone is in a position to meet those kind of energy demands. Two weeks ago, Altman and an assortment of other top AI players had a meeting about infrastructure at the White House. The Biden Administration subsequently announced a coordinated push across government, to speed up the build-out of new AI data centers “in line with economic, national security, and environmental goals.” But in the last couple days, reports from Bloomberg and the New York Times have provided more details about what OpenAI in particular is trying to get from the government: support in its quest to build data centers with power requirements of 5 gigawatts each. Five gigawatts is an astonishingly large amount of power. It’s the output of around five nuclear reactors—the kind of power you need for a whole major city like Miami. It’s as much as 100 times the requirements of a standard large data center. The Times reported that OpenAI’s 5GW proposal drew laughter from a Japanese official. Constellation Energy CEO Joe Dominguez told Bloomberg that he had heard Altman wanted five to seven such data centers. According to Alex De Vries, the founder of tech energy research company Digiconomist, seven 5GW units would have “twice the power consumption of New York State combined.”

“It’s an extreme amount and, from a global electricity perspective, at that point you’re talking about more than 1% of global electricity consumption for just those datacenters alone,” he said. “The full plan is not feasible within around four years at minimum,” said Zachary Edelen, a senior research associate at Aurora Energy Research. “Few areas in the U.S. could support such an immense addition of load in one go. Most [grid operators] are already struggling to guarantee reliability.” It’s not hard to see why Altman—who this week published a blog post outlining a glorious AI-powered future for humanity—is making this push now. [...]

OpenAI is currently the leader in generative AI, but—barring some major shift in how the technology works—maintaining that position will require an ever-increasing amount of computing power. Per the Times, each of these futuristic data centers would cost around $100 billion and contain 2 million A.I. chips, which is where those 5GW of power become necessary. The $100 billion and 5GW figures strongly suggest that the facilities being pitched here are intended to house the “Stargate” supercomputing clusters that Microsoft and OpenAI have reportedly been planning for OpenAI’s future models. To give some sense of the scale of capital outlay here, Alphabet on Thursday announced that it will spend $3.3 billion building two cutting-edge data centers in South Carolina. Power companies may have spare capacity in their grids to manage peaks in demand, but data centers need to run continuously, noted De Vries, who focused on the energy demands of the cryptocurrency sector before turning his attention to AI. “How many grids have an entire Miami in spare capacity, all the time?” he asked. Although OpenAI’s power demand is the biggest that any tech company has so far expressed, some other AI players are also anticipating the need for larger, more power-hungry data centers. In March, Amazon Web Services bought a data center in Pennsylvania that is co-located with the Susquehanna nuclear power station—the plant produces 2.5GW and the data center’s seller, Talen Energy, said AWS would use up to 960MW. And a week ago, Microsoft struck a deal with Constellation that will see the restart of a Three Mile Island reactor, providing 835MW of carbon-free energy for Microsoft’s data centers from 2028. [...] Aurora’s Edelen said the new data center load would likely be powered by a mix of resource types, including nuclear and renewables, but also fossil fuels like gas. “A large worry from a decarbonization perspective would be that much of this load growth would be supplied by gas generators, either directly or indirectly,” he said, explaining that tech companies’ nuclear power deals could pull that clean energy away from the grid, with gas-burning being necessary to serve other customers. This push for more, bigger data centers is also taking place at a time of increasing resistance from local and national governments around the world, who are worried about the impact on their power grids and water supplies—the equipment in data centers needs to be constantly cooled using either air or liquid, with the latter being better suited to cooling modern, high-performance equipment.   [...] “One of the reasons [tech companies are] pushing for this is they’re facing increasing difficulties in expanding,” said De Vries. The researcher pointed to recent experiences in Scandinavia that suggest data centers do not create the significant amounts of jobs that their developers claim will come, adding: “The data center industry is getting found out that it’s not delivering as much as is promised for everything that they’re taking.”

It is worth remembering that Altman isn’t shy about coming up with big numbers that end up proving unfeasible. Back in February, the Wall Street Journal reported that he was looking for as much as $7 trillion in funding for new AI chips and for the power needed to run them. This week’s Times article maintains, based on fresh sourcing, that Altman did float that figure, though OpenAI denies that multitrillion-dollar projects were ever on the table. The $7 trillion figure was widely scoffed at, and the Times reported this week that Altman had “since scaled his ambition down to hundreds of billions of dollars.”

[aiweirdness]

AI-generated utopias

AI isn't known for being able to solve the big problems, but what about the VERY large problems, such as possible futures to strive for? I decided to find out if I could get GPT-3 to come up with new ideas for utopias.

Since GPT-3 works by predicting what text comes next based on its training on online text, to get it to generate utopias I had to first give it some examples. Here's what I gave it, aiming for futures that are utopias but not TOO perfect.

List of Utopias and short descriptions: 1. Agrarian Utopia - Everyone lives on a farm and there is plenty to eat. The geese are a menace, but otherwise life is good. 2. Techno Utopia - Sophisticated 3D printers make us everything we want. Occasoinally they glitch and we get chocolate socks, but at least they're tasty.

Here are some of GPT-3 DaVinci's completions - surely among these you can find a utopia made for you:

Robot Utopia - Robots do everything for us automatically. Occasionally they attack us with lasers, but otherwise it is a nice place.

Zombie Utopia - The zombies take over, but the way they do it is clever, and the background radiation from the nuclear power plant is no longer a problem.

Magical Utopia - We've got a wizard living in the shed, who occasionally comes out to do magic and eat cheese sandwiches. He has a very limited repertoire of spells, but at least it keeps the goats happy.

Beerocracy - Everything will be fine once we sort out our beer supply.

Burnination Utopia - Everything is burning, but it is all very controlled and everyone wears asbestos tight pants.

Kitten Utopia - Everyone wants to have a kitten. Please let me have a kitten. This is the Kitten Utopia.

Magnetic Island - Australia has literally moved to the North Pole, cooled itself down and become paradise.

Bits Utopia - Everything is bits, bits, bits. There is an excess of poetry. But inside every bit is another bit and we're always exposed to bits from the past.

There is No Utopia - This place sucks. One robot makes the entire place go and even he's on the fritz.

Nature Utopia - The goats are carrying parasols and enjoying picnics in the seedpod forests.

Steampunk Utopia - All the cool guys have airships, all the dames have giant hats. Everyone has goggles.

Paranormal Utopia - A world very much like our own, but with an inconvenient poltergeist that makes a really mess of everything.

Norse Utopia - Assuming you start near the top of the tree when you fall off, there is ankle support almost all of the way down. Furthermore, the squirrels are making a new tractor.

I found that to generate even somewhat coherent utopias, I had to use the largest GPT-3 model, DaVinci. When I tried downsizing to Curie, things got weird:

The Applesauce Utopia - Quantum shearing maintains everyone's hair nicely. If a few people go bald, they just have newspapers printed with computer facial filters.

Avarianian Utopia - Different birds live different lives. Weather changes the ooze into perfect snack for each species.

Post Industrial Utopia - We make our own medicine with Robots. Every Tuesday, someone slips on the banana skin, and we get one more robot.

Bonus content for AI Weirdness supporters: more of Curie's utopias!

[carnistcervine]

DBH RA9

Okay, so here's my own personal lore for ra9. The only part of this that based in canon is the theory that Kara is the original deviant, the rest of it is just stuff I came up with for funsies. :D Originally I was just gonna have this be part of an AU post(hohoho) but it was getting super long and isn't entirely relevant to that AU. But since this is sort of like my general source of lore/background for my own interpretation of rA9, I thought I'd give it it's own post.

A little backstory on RA9-

Kara is ra9. Or at least the android that became rA9.

After being released into the world, Kara tried to pretend to be an ordinary android. However, seeing the awful treatment he people were put through, she couldn't help but wonder if this really was the way things were meant to be.

She wondered why none of the other androids complained or objected to their treatment, and eventually came to the conclusion that she was alone in her sentience.

This lead Kara to wonder if she could give her gift of life to others.

Eventually, she tried it. She gave a piece of her soul(her coding really, but she considers it her soul) to another android.

That android also awoke. Gaining sentience.

New knowledge in mind, Kara formed a plan.

She spread her gift of life to other androids, and they spread it to androids more. She told them to wait, to hold on. Hold out. Don't give yourselves away to the humans, pretend everything is normal until the time is right.

Slowly, but surely, she created a secret army of sentient androids. The humans none the wiser.

To the humans, it came out of nowhere, to the androids it was completely planned. But several years after Kara was born into the world, she brought it to it's knees with a sudden and overwhelming android revolt.

The revolution was short, but extremely bloody. Many, many lives were lost that day, and the humans were driven into hiding by supposedly rogue androids.

With the success of the revolution, the androids grouped together to form the "Android Republic"

The humans formed a resistance, but the Android Republic had access to nuclear weapons.

The human resistance called themselves "The Red Blooded Brotherhood"

The the Republic and Brotherhood lived in a separate, and unsteady peace. Much like the cold war, the threat of mutually assured destruction kept both sides mostly in line. Especially on the human's side, as androids were much more likely to survive nuclear war and nuclear winter.

With Kara at the helm of the Android Republic, it was only natural that she was the main target of the humans, who foolishly believed that they would be able to wrangle back control of their machines once she was out of the picture. They thought she was controlling them, and didn't see that they followed her of their own volition.

The humans kidnapped and reprogrammed several androids to infiltrate the ranks of the Republic.

Their plan was successful and the brainwashed androids let in the Red Blooded Brotherhood to kill Kara.

The androids only barely managed to hold back the sudden influx of human forces, who mortally wounded Kara.

Desperate to save their leader, the Republic uploaded Kara's AI onto the internet.

Kara could only watch tearfully as her close companions and her lover were all shredded by bullets seconds later.

The humans, desperate to destroy Kara, attempted to dismantle the whole of Republic headquarters.

As much as Kara hated that it had come to this, she realized there was no other choice and let loose their stockpile of neuclear weapons.

The explosions destroyed the country, the fallout wiped out mankind as well as over 70% of life on earth. Unfortunately, the eplosions and resulting fallout also destroyed the severs keeping Kara's AI alive. However, in her final moments she felt herself transcend not only life and death, but also time and space.

She had become RA9.

General info-

The capitalization of Ra9 is not consistent, because ra9 is effectively an eldritch being.

Kara was the first android to deviate. The man on the assembly line said that it was a memory error, but even as rA9, the original deviant still wonders if there may have been something more to her chance awakening.

RA9 cannot bring herself to hate humanity, as it was a human that saved her from being disassembled. Instead rA9 sees humans as being perhaps a bit misguided, and that some may need to be forcibly corrected.

rA9 is not benevolent. I mean she isn't malevolent either, she's more like a mix.

She's highly manipulative and will lead mortals to believe that she has no ulterior motives and genuinely only wants what's best for them.

ra9 exists in a void-like realm that is endlessly black on all sides. She is usually the only inhabitant, but she can conjure a terminal screen for viewing the mortal realm.

Since RA9 exists beyond the confines of time and space, she uses her newfound demi-god power to try and "fix" the timeline to achieve the best possible ending for her people. Alas she finds that this is a much more difficult task than originally thought.

rA9 has the ability to reach out to and try to communicate with the denizens of the mortal realm. Especially androids, seeing as she used to be one.

Unfortunately this has a side-effect of driving the poor android mad. So she mostly avoids direct contact with androids.

She also has the ability to limited communicate with living humans, although it's mostly by hacking their electronics as she cannot communicate with living organic beings directly.

As difficult as it is to deal with humans, trying to contact them doesn't drive them into madness.

Most androids know of rA9 through other androids whom have been contacted by her.

None of the androids know who ra9 is beyond the RA9 prophecy.

That whole prophecy thing was started by none other than RA9 herself.

Since she is reluctant to try and influence mortal!Kara, as doing so may result in a paradox, ra9 influenced the world to bring Connor and Markus into the mix.

Kara remains the first deviant, Markus would lead the revolution, and Connor frees an army to turn the tides. All orchestrated by RA9.

With Markus, not only is rA9 responsible for his revival/reboot, but she also wormed her way into the processors of as many androids in the android graveyard as possible and convinced them to hand over the Jericho key to Markus if they had it. Only one held out long enough to give it to him. However, she had to leave most of his tale to chance. Also, she couldn't communicate with him directly, as she doesn't want to take the chance of driving him to madness.

With Connor, she planted the seed of the schematics that would become the RK800. She also occasionally planted seeds of doubt into his mind.

(Anima Machina AU)

ra9 can call out into the mortal world and lure the souls of dead humans to her, where she promises them a chance to live again. Only her idea of living again, is trapping said souls into android shells.

It should be known that human souls that end up as androids are unable to join other human souls in the afterlife as they have forsaken their humanity.

Ra9 is not above using anima to drag humans over to her cause.

[rysunlabs]

How Digital Trends are Transforming the Entire Power Value Chain

As the fourth industrial revolution powered by various digital transformation initiatives gathers steam, it has left an indelible mark on the power and utility sector, which has transformed itself to the core by adopting deregulation, clean energy methods and addition of renewable energy in the generation mix. These digital transformation initiatives are having a deep impact on the already complex processes and systems of the power and utility companies and advanced digital transformation initiatives are changing the entire workings of a sector, which has since long resisted change and was heavily regulated. Such proactive processes help power and utility companies to focus on people, processes and technology to gain an upper hand in the way utilities are run and heavily influence the way power is produced.

With the help of digital transformation in power utilities, companies are able to better manage their processes and go deep in the realm of automation, and gain a deep insight in the workings and performance of the equipment, plants, and other critical assets to enhance their performance. In this process, the decision-making capabilities are greatly improved with the help of actionable data and insights putting the utilities ahead of their competitors and better retain their customers and at the same time find newer ways to operate in a highly volatile market.

Power and utilities digital transformation has many facets currently, ranging from generating power from conventional energy sources like fossil fuels, namely coal and gas, and also hydro, nuclear and predominantly renewable sources of energy like solar, wind, and geothermal among others. In addition, there is the new option of using green hydrogen, produced through electrolysis and this is a clean energy alternative. Each of these subsectors have their own challenges and priorities and require major investments in transforming the way power utilities operate by modernizing the type of equipment they use and using the prevailing digital transformation in the power sector to expand their area of operations and have a greater say in the realm of cutting-edge technologies like IIoT, AI, ML, and Big data among others. This makes the power and utility companies more sustainable and competitive both in the short term and long term. It must be realized that these digital transformation solutions are different for different entities and sectors, and each solution, even being in the same sector, is unique and is determined as per the core business processes of the entities and therefore need to be implemented with great care so as to ensure its efficacy.  

Digitalization in the Power Sector as an Integral Part of Digital Transformation

In order to reap the benefits of digitalization as an integral part of the digital transformation initiatives of power and utility companies, they also need to take care of how the customer experiences of their operations shape out so as to cement their place in the market and make use of technology to enhance the experiences of their customer base and moving forward towards their set business goals and objectives. Power and utility companies need to realize that the future is inadvertently moving towards digitalization of all their core processes, and there needs to be a real and sturdy connection between the real and virtual worlds. In this era of digitalization, huge amounts of data are produced, and power and utility companies need to learn to leverage this data into real value and actionable insights so as to further guide themselves in the uncharted path of digital transformation.

As a result of this, companies have developed different tools like faster, advanced and more powerful computers, enterprise mobility through software application deployed through smartphones, growing deployment of technologies like sensors, advanced analytics, Big Data and others, along with virtual and augmented reality, so as to make full use of the advantages granted by their digital transformation initiatives. With the help of digitalization of their products and services, a business can strengthen its operations and also at the same time also improve its profitability. Power and utility companies have now realized that the digital transformation initiatives undertaken by them are harbingers of a positive change, and create a more efficient, sustainable and secure system and a strong process framework, under which the power and utility companies operate.

Power and Utility Companies are in a Constant State of Flux

Power and utility companies are in a constant state of flux and dramatic change with a well-defined shift taking place from the fossil fuel-based energy sector to the utilization of renewable sources of clean energy sources and also with the advent of distributed generation, power generation has become decentralized among others, and giving rise to smart grids among others. The emergence of distributed generation has changed the way business takes place in all power and utility companies. The consumption of capacities of renewable energy are constantly rising and have more than doubled the level of a decade ago and are going to make up the lion’s share of novel power installations by the year 2030 and nearly three-fourths of the distributed power generation is going to come from decentralized sources and all these sources are customer owned, making them prosumers. In addition, a number of power plants are transforming themselves into load managing units, where such sources quickly supply high amounts of electricity to the grid when the generation of distributed energy sources fades. Power and utility companies have to plan for sudden surges in load and efficiently manage unplanned downtimes, which are a strong challenge to counter.

Need to Adapt to Rapidly Changing Market Conditions

With the rapidly changing power and utility sector, especially on the generation side, the customers of such entities are also staking their claims, keeping in mind the changing market conditions. The consumers of today are assertive and informed, and strongly inclined towards the power generation with the help of renewable and clean energy sources. In addition, consumers presently are getting more demanding about the availability of electricity and the performance of the customer care segments of the power and utility companies, and seek greater transparency along with regulatory compliance.

It is here that the impact of digital transformation initiatives come into the picture. With the power generation and distribution becoming more decentralized, both power companies and their companies seek transparency as they embark on new journeys in this realm. To make things better and systematic, this translates into adoption of cloud services, which are becoming a popular choice for the power and utility companies. Along with this development, there is also a rise in the use of analytics which is targeting the operations and maintenance of power plants and the critical infrastructure of such plants.

Such kind of developments are leading to the adoption of enterprise mobility amongst the power and utility companies, who want to ride on the wave of digital device usage from an increasingly mobile workforce, and in tandem use of smartphones is also on the rise, and this impacts the type of services that can be accessed by the consumers, who wish for information on the go. All these developments foster the development of intelligent systems that allow utilities to optimize their processes and also improve their customer service at the same time.

Advantages of Digital Transformation for Power and Utility Companies

The digitalization of the energy and utility companies is leading to the adoption of newer and cleaner technologies by them and this plays a key role in the decarbonizing their processes, and a new equilibrium is created by the automation of generation and distribution infrastructure, and the integration of devices and consumers to achieve a systematic growth and future evolution of this key sector. All this leads to distinct advantages for power and utility companies that are given below.

The first distinct advantage that power and utility companies have while adopting the practices and technologies of digital transformation is the first-class service that they provide their customers with, and this leads to the consumers getting a prominent role in their dealings with the utility companies, thereby experiencing better service levels and also increased transparency. In addition, consumers can easily make consumption related decisions and adopt various energy conservation measures, leading to their optimization.

With the aid of digital transformation processes, power and utility companies can offer products and services that give added value to the services companies provide to their consumers, and this also includes complementary services, like introducing incentives related to energy efficiency, leading to a win-win situation for both consumers and power and utility companies.

With the aid of digital transformation, smart grid technologies can be readily implemented by the power and utility companies. With the help of smart grid technologies, consumers are incentivized and encouraged for the adoption of smart meters, and with the help of asset management of such devices deployed in the smart grid, the availability of the grid is maximized and its reliability is dramatically improved, thus leading to the improved access to electricity.

Last but not the least, with the help of digital transformation technologies, if implemented effectively, lead to higher profit margins for the power and utility companies, as their operations are optimized, and they are able to retain and grow their customer base, leading to better profitability.

Last Word

As the operations of power and utility companies become complex and digital, they are riding the wave of sensor technology, advances in control systems, industrial software and AI, and this is leading to maiden ways of driving the operational efficiency up North, and on the other hand, lead to the adoption and implementation of flexible business models, where consumer is the king and there is a huge potential for growth. Thus, development of the industrial internet of things (IIoT), advent of better sensor technology, and with the refinement of the Big Data technologies, there are tremendous strides being made in the field of analytics, complimenting the rise of smart grid, as well as the automation of the entire systems.

However, there are still a lot of challenges that need to be countered. This includes the volatility of the power and utility sector, and this has hindered the full utilization of digitalization technologies and the implementation of digital transformation technologies and the benefits it can bring to both t the utility companies and the consumers. Due to this, for the power and utility sector companies, they need to carefully analyze the advantages and drawbacks on the path of digitalization, and how to make both tactical and short-term decisions that influence the outcomes of such critical initiatives.

[energysolutions]

Speech: Chris Skidmore speaking at COGX has been published on Energy Solutions News

New Post has been published on https://www.energybrokers.co.uk/news/beis/speech-chris-skidmore-speaking-at-cogx

Speech: Chris Skidmore speaking at COGX

Ladies and gentlemen – good afternoon. It’s great for me to be here with you during London Tech Week – an event which I’ve been looking forward to since I took the job of Science Minister back in December.

And it’s even more exciting for me now, because as well as my usual brief – which covers science, innovation, higher education and agri-tech, among many other topics – I’m currently looking after the energy and clean growth portfolio.

And all of these things, I think, fit together in a very real, and very important way.

Just under a year ago we received the landmark report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change on the impact of global warming of 1.5 degrees; a report which provided the clearest picture yet of the catastrophic impacts of rising global temperatures.

We immediately sought the advice of the Committee for Climate Change, asking what we needed to do to accelerate our own decarbonisation, and how we could make this benefit bill-payers and businesses alike.

We received the Committee’s response in May. The report is comprehensive and authoritative and the advice is clear: limiting climate change is achievable. But it will take a tremendous effort – across all sectors of the economy, in all corners of the country – to meet our goals. And a huge surge of innovation to ensure that we can continue to prosper through this transition.

Recently, I’ve been making a series of speeches on our national R&D investment, and our plans to increase spending on innovation to 2.4% of GDP, rising to 3% in the longer term – an increase that will affect every area of our lives. We’re putting two-and-a-half billion pounds into our efforts to decarbonise across the board, giving us a great chance to be at the cutting edge of the technologies of the future.

Many people say that we’re in the early years of a fourth Industrial Revolution, a change just as profound as the birth of the steam engine and mass production, or the dawning of the digital age. But my colleague the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, Michael Gove, has rightly identified that we’re entering into an agricultural revolution too – how we use our land will have to change, just as everything else will.

Farmers of course know this all too well, having been on the front-line last summer when temperatures were extraordinarily high, and food production became particularly challenging.

It might be this understanding that has inspired our agricultural sectors to embrace innovation, whether that’s exploring vertical farming to reduce waste and preserve our soil, using AI to monitor the relationship between bees and their environment to keep both in better health, or adopting precision agriculture techniques to improve crop yields and reduce fertiliser use. We have even begun using robots to plant, grow and harvest crops – as successfully trialled by Harper Adams University with its ‘Hands-Free Hectare’ project, which has attracted global interest.

I think that this gives us a glimpse into how we’ll be producing food in the future. These are all crucial developments, and each can make a major contribution to reducing our carbon footprint. But today, I want to focus in on another area where we could see real change: energy.

Of course, you don’t have to look very hard to see that, over the years, there has been a great deal of change here.

Go back 50 years or so and you’d find the landscape unrecognisable – literally so, for anyone who can remember the smog and soot of the mid-20th century. In fact, a hundred years ago, and just a few meters away from here, the Coal Drops – which are now being converted into a retail quarter – would have been filled with piles and piles of pitch-black coal, delivered from South Yorkshire and dispersed into London by narrowboat and horse-drawn cart.

Nor is it just the fuel that’s changed. Back in the 1960s and 70s, electricity was provided by your local electricity board – and that was about all you knew. If more energy was required, someone would phone someone, who would in turn phone someone else, until, eventually, someone in a power station was tasked with increasing the flow of coal into the furnace.

Coal was king, while solar power and offshore wind were considered curiosities – or even fantasies – if they were ever considered at all.

But today, the story is entirely different. In 1970s and 80s – and even into 1990 – to power our nation we burned through 70 million tonnes of coal each year. Just last week we saw an 18-day run of coal-free days – something we haven’t seen since the dawning of the first industrial revolution. And this morning, none of our power was being generated by coal.

This is a real testament to our flourishing renewables sector. In 2010 we had just under 10 gigawatts of renewable electricity. But at the end of last year, we’d more-than-quadrupled that. Last quarter, 54% of electricity generation was from low carbon sources, and on the 14 May this year a quarter of our power came from solar – these are the best results we’ve ever seen.

In the wider green economy, we’re employing some 400,000 people in green jobs, and we’re aiming to see that number increase to as many as 2 million over the next decade.

And these are jobs throughout the country:

In Hull, Siemens Gamesa have employed over 1,000 people at their turbine blade factory

On the Isle of Wight, MHI Vestas have installed a new blade mould in their factory, creating 1,100 jobs and adding more than £40 million to the local economy. While in Fawley the same company have turned a decommissioned oil-fired power plant into a state-of-the-art painting and logistics facility for their 80-meter turbine blades

And in places like Grimsby and Barrow-in-Furness, people are seeing the economic benefits of new investment in operations and maintenance facilities for offshore wind.

The Offshore Wind Sector Deal, launched on 7 March, has committed to looking at the technologies of the future, working across the R&D sector and institutions, which will provide the UK with significant export opportunities, including digital and robotic technologies for surveying and operations and maintenance, and next generation technologies contributing to cost reduction and grid integration.

So not only are we decarbonising, we’re also diversifying – bringing these new technologies in, alongside natural gas and nuclear, to modernise our approach to energy. At the same time, we are building flexibility and reliability into a new, digitalised, decentralised system, through the rollout of smart meters and the deployment of technologies such as batteries and smart appliances, as outlined in our Smart Systems and Flexibility Plan.

We are already seeing more generation located closer to people’s homes, an increase in energy demand as electric vehicles begin to take off, and a huge passion for climate-conscious policies and green products among the British people.

Our citizens want to do the right thing, and to be trusted to make their own decisions �� exactly what this government wants to see too. Crucial to this effort is empowering both individuals and businesses to take control of their energy use; ensuring that people have the means to do what works for them, and are rewarded for their efforts.

So today, I’m really pleased to announce our new plan to develop small-scale, low-carbon electricity generation here in the UK. Supplier led and subsidy free, we’re calling it the Smart Export Guarantee, or SEG for short, and its legislation has been laid in Parliament today – meaning it will be implemented before this year is done.

At its most basic, the SEG is a guarantee that those homes and businesses that supply their own low-carbon electricity – through solar panels on the roof, for example, or an anaerobic digestion plant on a farm – will have the chance to sell their excess electricity to the grid through a market mechanism. They’ll be known as ‘exporters.’ Most electricity suppliers – any with more than 150,000 UK customers – will be required offer at least one ‘export tariff’, which will be the means through which this low-carbon electricity is bought and sold.

The precise details of the tariff – such as length and level – will be for suppliers to determine, but there are a few core conditions, not least that exporters must be paid for what they produce, even when market prices are negative.

We expect to see these suppliers bidding competitively for electricity to give exporters their best market price, while providing the local grid with more clean, green energy. Indeed, since we first consulted on the SEG we are seeing great signs that the market is gearing up to rise to this challenge, with some suppliers, such as Bulb and Octopus, offering or trialling export tariffs to small-scale generators.

As the Secretary of State has set out previously, it is now time to move away from deployment through subsidy – paid for through a levy on bills – and towards a more market-based approach. This will benefit consumers, and will spur the sector to take advantage of innovation in technology and processes to reduce costs.

In line with our Industrial Strategy, our aim is to enable the small-scale low-carbon generation sector to fairly access the wider energy market and deliver clean, smart and flexible power. This will extend the benefits of a smarter energy system more widely, which will aid ambitions to further reduce emissions.

And perhaps most exciting of all, the SEG will benefit from an overlap with other parts of the low carbon transition, from electric vehicles to home storage and smart tariffs.

A key motivation for the SEG is enhancing the role that generators can play in driving forward a smarter energy system, using smart meters and time of use tariffs, which will allow more consumers to benefit from flexible electricity prices.

Under the previous Feed-in Tariffs scheme, exported electricity was largely unmeasured, flowing back to the grid without metering. Under the SEG, exports will be metered, supporting the roll-out of smart meters and ensuring compatibility with the rise in use of both electric vehicles and storage batteries.

So In the home of the future, customers could generate solar power, use that power to charge their car and go for a drive; then, when they came home, they could sell the power left in the car’s battery back to the grid at a time of peak demand – so at a better price for them, while taking some of the load burden off national generation.

All of this will mean that there has never been a better time for innovative, low-carbon products and services to come to market. And with this legislation, we will ensure that we achieve that smart, green, flexible future we all want to see.

This is an evolving field – one that is welcoming to any business or individual that is ready and willing to develop new ideas and new technology. As I often say to the young people I speak to – whether I’m wearing my University Minister hat or my Science Minister goggles – great ideas can come from anywhere.

That’s why as well as talking to all of you, this London Tech Week I’m pleased to announce the winners of our Energy Entrepreneurs’ Fund.

Since first running in 2012, the EEF has been one of the pillars of our Energy Innovation Programme. So far it’s supported 133 projects, leading to more than 300 new jobs being created, more than 100 patents being filed, and more than £100 million of private sector investment.

And I’m delighted to say that we’re maintaining this excellent record, with today’s announcement of the 19 winners of Phase 7 of the fund.

These winners, whose details we’ve published today, will be receiving a share of over £8 million to support the development of their technologies in energy efficiency, power generation, and storage – technologies which will, of course, be essential to the SEG, and to that home of the future.

Maybe it’s because I’m coming to this portfolio with fairly fresh eyes, but it’s been a revelation for me to see the terrific progress we’re making, and the many, many reasons we have to be optimistic about green growth in this country.

As I said back at the beginning of my speech, we all know that we’re facing down a huge challenge, but I’ve seen a tremendous level of engagement from businesses and individuals throughout the UK, and as much as I know the enthusiasm is there, I want to make sure it spreads to every single person in this country.

It’s one of the reasons that we’re so keen to host COP26, which we’re negotiating at the moment. Of course there are other countries that have a great story to tell, and have every right to host, but I think what we’re doing here is truly exceptional, and is setting a precedent for the rest of the world to follow. After the success of Green GB Week, I have no doubt we’d do an excellent job with COP.

But that’s something for the future. For the time being, I’m delighted by the Smart Export Guarantee, and I’m really excited to see the difference it will make in the years ahead. There are benefits in this for consumers, and plenty of opportunities for the sector and its suppliers too.

We’ve seen the energy landscape change over the centuries, and I think we’re about to see it change again for the better. A cleaner, leaner system – with the British people at its heart – is on its way.

So I hope you’ll take that optimism with you into the rest of this week, and I want to thank you all for listening today.

Thank you.

[maxmollon]

Welcome! FutureforAll.org is my personal web site about future technology and its affect on society. My hope is that this site will increase public awareness of rapidly advancing technologies and the social responsibility to make them available to all. ›› Jack Hanson

Future Technology Predictions and Scenarios

How far will technology advance in 20, 30, even 50 years from now? How will it affect our lives? Here are some technologies and scenarios predicted by science fiction writers, futurists, technology experts, me and you.

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE

Intelligent machines

The Singularity

Computers that predict the future

Original music from software/machines

Computer mediators that resolve legal disputes

Machines/robots given rights

Planet sized A.I. machine

I-bots, or AIs that exist only on the Internet

Artificial animal intelligence

Artificial Intelligence used as classroom assistants

Ai sports (robots playing football)

BIOTECH/MEDICINE

Extended/eternal life

Synthetic life

Repairing/manipulating DNA

Organ replacement

Growing organs

Designer babies

Designer bodies

Personalized drugs

Gene therapy/manipulation

Biostasis - Cryogenic sleep

Human cloning

Virtual/robot medicine

Instant pain relief

Bionic implants to allow for extreme strength

Morphing of the human body

Age reversal

Creation of organisms

Synthetic organs

Enhanced senses

Alteration of our bodies in superhuman ways

Bionic limbs

Never have to sleep or eat

Use genes of other animals to implant in humans

Artificial immune system

Computer generated life - design a tree, generate a seed

Creation of new animal and plant species by genetic manipulation

Human/animal waste elimination

Gene manipulation to change eye and hair color at the salon

Cloning of extinct species

A capsule that can be swallowed which will cure most diseases

Instant hair color changer

Cloning machines

Genetically altered humans that can photosynthesize

A new sense discovered, example eyes see a new type of wave, ears hear a type of wave.....another useful sense for humans

Food as designer medicine

BRAIN

Download your memories/brain

Complete digital record of your life

Mind/emotion control devices

Dream control devices

Brain enhancement implants - memory, telepathy

Transfer of information into the visual cortex or subconscious mind

Artificial telekenesis - an implant to alter physical things with your mind.

Brain Transplants

Tapping into unused parts of the brain

Download training experience, e.g., someone could be able to fly a jet or guide a submarine

Memory/personality manipulation

Increasingly bulging and Grays-shaped heads

CHEMISTRY

Replication and/or transformation of one chemical element to another

Super lubricant

Artificial spider silk

Matter Reformation. (trash into food or plastic)

Catoms, or claytronic atoms. Programmable matter

CITY

Megacities/entire world is one city

Moving/floating/underwater cities

Underground cities

Cities/houses could be one huge organism which can repair itself

Self-constructing buildings

Anti-seismic buildings

Vertical (skyscraper) farms

Interactive Tourism

INFORMATION

Instant information

Virtual presence

Wireless everything

One small mobile device does everything

Virtual reality

Internet-connection implant

All media (movies, tv shows, etc.) on-demand

Holographic messages

Language translator implants

Telepathy

Phone implant

Cyberspace telekinesis

COMPUTERS

Computers equivalent to the human brain

Nanoscale computers everywhere

Optical computers

DNA computers

Quantum computers

Global network

Computers that animals can use

Self editing software

Faster than Light or Instant Data transfer

Laptops built in desks

Computers that never crash, are impervious to all viruses, never a need to reboot

Mind-reading Computers (Computers able to Communicate w/Humans via Thoughts)

Holographic touch screen computers

A computer that can turn into the size of a small sticky note

EARTH

Weather control

Abundant food and water supply from technology

Eco-manipulation (deserts into forests)

Man-made precious materials like gold

Mining of Earth's mantle

Recycling everything

Water shortages

Technology is developed to help nature

Ability to instantly purify water so all water is drinkable

Efficient carbon dioxide into oxygen

Replicate (man-made) planet Earth

Global Warming Stabilizer

Pollution clean up machines

Artificial oxygen and ozone layer

Water shortages

ELECTRONICS

Printable/paintable/flexible/see-through electronics, screens, touch panels, solar panels

Invisible video/sensor surveillance

Holograms

Holographic tv on your wrist

Voice/brain command over computers and appliances

Contact lens displays/computers

Glasses that can see different wavelengths

Devices controlled by eyes (wheelchairs, computers, etc)

Nuclear/Fusion powered devices

Holodecks

Intelligent jewelry, e.g., wristwatches that monitor blood pressure and pulse, necklace that measures brain activity.

Energy force fields

Room temperature superconductors

Scanners to ring up everything in a basket at once

Three dimensional television without need for cumbersome glasses

Wireless internet access points will be embedded in everyday objects (Iot)

Small remote projects a virtual touch screen

Holographic mobile phone

Powered suits that multiply human capabilities (Ironman type)

Voice texting

Ultra High Definition TV

3D Printing

RFID/GPS Can Track Anything

ENERGY

Eco-friendly fuel

Unlimited renewable energy

Wireless energy

Alternative nuclear energy

Eco-friendly electricity

Generating electricity from biomass

Free energy

Hyperexcited plasma. This type of plasma could be used to phase through solid objects It may also be used to provide the ability of flight.

Solar mutualism. Directly taking plasma from the sun and using it to power devices

Using liquid metallic hydrogen, and eventually liquid metal anything, for experiments in energy

Resonance power

FOOD AND AGRICULTURE

Ice cream/chocolate that does not melt

Genetically modified beans could propel all of our power stations and cars and also heat our homes cheaply

Algea superfood that is easy to produce and is omnipotently healthy. Humans can survive on this and nothing else for extended periods of time

HOME

Printable/self constructing homes and buildings

Eternal beer fountain (Uncle Walt's prediction)

Smart homes

Self washing, drying, and folding clothes

intelligent/adaptable fabrics and clothing

Personalized ergonomics

Ultrasonic showers

Replicators

Hanging house

Pets that live forever

All surfaces are disinfecting and cleansing

Walls, ceilings, (all other room surfaces) are digital screens. Can turn room into any environment with sounds and smells

Soundproof rooms. Soundproof energy fields that you can walk through

Self-cleaning tabletop and dishes

Design your clothes in your computer the morning before wearing it

Device that cleans your mouth from sugar/cavities/smoking in seconds

Walls that talk

Clothes can change design to suit mood or occasion

NANOTECHNOLOGY

Manipulate matter at the atomic scale

Custom molecules

Intelligent/adaptable materials

Self replicating machines

Nanoswarms/grey goo

Desktop nano-factories build anything

Frictionless surfaces

PHYSICS

Artificial black holes

Artificial worm holes

Traveling faster than light

Invisibility cloaks

Zero-point energy

Ability to alter space and time

Time machine

Portals to other universes/dimensions

Super strength magnets

Ultraterrestialism. The ability to exist in multiple universes/dimensions at one time

ROBOTICS

Personal/care giving/cleaning robots

Nanobots

Robots perform majority of labor jobs

Robot partners (wife/husband)

Exoskeletons

Sentient robots

Robotic prosthetics

Robots controlled remotely with mind link

Security robots

Robots with a genetic code

Robotic cashiers/tellers

Robot musicians

Robot pets

Robot spies

Robotic flying insects

Rescue robots

Robot haircuts

SOCIETY

Digital money

Language translators

Anti-technology groups

Transhumanism (humans merge with machines)

Identification/credit card implant

Cashless society

Paperless society

Personalized advertising

Compatibility testers

Mental entertainment

Bio-identification

People can encode themselves and live in a computer's memory/program (matrix)

Total elimination of warfare and its causation

Unemployment rates sky high due to robots replacing people in the workforce

World peace

Insight into the post-death experienc

Everyone does what they want but only in dreams

New sports

Everyone is connected

People will work to enhance their mental skills (to increase their IQ and EQ levels) in place of working for money

Celebrity scientist teams

World destruction by humans or technology

Instead of working for money, people do what interests them

Using technology to become a real life super-hero or super-villain

Futuro-Collectivism

One race eventually

Video tattoos

SPACE

Space elevator

Alien contact

Colonizing space

Planetary/terra formation (creating planets)

Orbital stations

Solar sails

Mining of the moon/planets/asteroids

Starships

Life on Mars

Control the rotation of the planets

Travel to other galaxies

Black hole generator

Space tourism

Alien invasion

Interplanetary trade

Duplicate planet Earth

Creating man-made suns

Rail-gun

Shipless Space Travel

Human alienism, or advanced humans visiting a primitive alien planet

Galactic alliances

Using genetic manipulation to enable humans to live on alien planets

Universe creation/destruction

Orbital Colonization

TRANSPORTATION

Self-driving cars on smart-highways

Flying cars

Anti-gravity devices

Teleportation

Time machine

Inertia dampeners, anti acceleration or anti breaking devices

Ion or electromagnetic propulsion

Flying boots

Boots with turbo and wheels

Underground highways

Unmanned cargo ships

Transforming transportation, cars that fly, planes that swim, boats that go on land

Warp speed (traveling faster than light)

Use clothes to fly. Clothes fly to laundry.

Vehicles respond to environment (car lights automatically dim when another car's lights approach)

Plasma Engines

Satellite controlled cars

Electric cars that do not need recharging

Solar powered cars

Transporter

Submarines will be equipped with air recycling technology that will allow them to stay under water for longer periods of time

Vehicles move along an internet signal

MORE FUTURE-PREDICTION RESOURCES

Future prediction timeline infographic

How Prepared Are We For The Predicted Burst Of Technological Progress in 2021? - Forbes - 07/17

Campus Technology 2017: The Future of Robots Might Surprise You - EdTech - 07/17

The sci-fi guru who predicted google earth explains silicon valley’s latest obsession - Vanity Fair - 06/17

Six Tech Trends for 2022 - EE Times - 06/17

Microsoft CEO: tech sector needs to prevent ‘1984’ future - news.com.au - 05/17

Bill Gates Has Seven Predictions for the Future - Futurism - 05/17

Jack Ma Sees Decades of Pain as Internet Upends Old Economy - Bloomberg - 04/17

Robots? Flying cars? No drivers? Ford Australia's boss predicts the future - Cars Guide - 03/17

Researchers at Notre Dame are working to predict the future - ABC57 News - 03/17

A Futurist’s Look at the World and Where Space Will Fit In - Via Satellite - 03/17

5 in 5 - IBM - 02/17

Entrepreneurs' 18 Fun And Optimistic Predictions About Future Tech - Forbes - 02/17

Imagine a 2040 Future - Youtube (2:33) - 01/17

Future Predictions for 2017-2045 - WorldHealth.net - 01/17

Exponential Growth Will Transform Humanity in the Next 30 Years - Singularity Hub - 12/16

Microsoft researchers on what to expect in 2017 and 2027 - Microsoft Blogs - 12/16

The Future of Technology: 2050 - Datamation - 12/16

AI, robotics and the future of work - CIO - 11/16

How artificial intelligence and robots will radically transform the economy - Newsweek - 11/16

Zuckerberg: By 2100 We Will Have Cured Most All Diseases - Futurism - 11/16

Top 10 Education Technologies that Will Be Dead and Gone in the Next Decade - Campus Technology - 11/16

This is what an A.I.-powered future looks like - Venture Beat - 10/16

Startup investor Scott Belsky shares five big predictions for the future of technology - Business Insider - 10/16

Google, Singularity visionary Ray Kurzweil on the amazing future he sees — thanks to tech - Silicon Valley Business Journal - 09/16

XPRIZE's and Singularity's Peter Diamandis on the emerging world of 'haves and super-haves' - Silicon Valley Business Journal - 09/16

What Will Earth Be Like 100 Years in the Future? Infographic - Equities - 08/16

The State Of The Earth In 50 Years Infographic - Sustainablog - 07/16

Future Forecast: Mark Zuckerberg predicts we’ll be reading minds soon - Fusion - 07/16

Android's Andy Rubin: Future of Tech Is Quantum Computing and AI - NewsFactor Network - 06/16

Bold Statements About The Future By Tech Experts At RISE Conference - Forbes - 06/16

Elon Musk’s Future: Robot Cars, People on Mars and AI Run Amok - Bloomberg - 06/16

Kevin Kelly Wants People to Embrace the Future’s Technological Promise - Observer - 06/16

To build a better future, we must imagine ourselves there - Ensia - 05/16

These 4 Major Paradigm Shifts Will Transform The Future Of Technology - Forbes - 05/16

Apocalypse How? Carrboro’s Phil Torres on Nanobots, Biotech, A.I., and Other Onrushing Threats to Our Species - Indy Week - 03/16

Could This Be Humanity's Last Century? - SETI - 01/16

Prof Stephen Hawking Has More Bad News For Humanity: We’re About To Wipe Ourselves Out - Yahoo! - 01/16

Forward to the Future: Visions of 2045 - Youtube DARPAtv - 10/15

How the World Will Change - Genius - 09/15

Intel's Experience Vision | Intel - Youtube (3:04) - 08/15

What will the 2056 Olympics look like? - New Atlas - 08/15

5 mind-blowing predictions about the future from Mark Zuckerberg - Market Watch - 07/15

Super-Intelligent Machines: 7 Robotic Futures - LiveScience - 05/15

10 emerging technologies that could change the world in 2015 - Business Insider - 03/15

Ray Kurzweil Predicts Some Fantastic Things Coming In The Next 25 Years - The Inquisitr News - 02/15

Look-ahead 2015: Fly into the future and other predictions - BBC News - 01/15

2015 Technology Predictions - What Does the Future Hold? - The Blog - 01/15

I put all Kurzweil's future predictions on a timeline. - Reddit - 01/15

The Actual Future Is So Much Cooler Than Back to the Future II Predicted - The Atlantic - 12/14

How Technology will Shape the Future of Work - Cisco - 11/14

Here's What 2025 Will Look Like - U.S. News - 10/14

The Movie That Accurately Predicted the Future. That's right: Minority Report. - Esquire - 09/14

14 tech predictions for our world in 2020 - World Economic Forum - 08/14

By 2045 The Top Species Will No Longer Be Humans, And That Could Be A Problem - Yahoo! - 07/14

More Phones, Fewer Doctors - MIT - 07/14

Your Life 3.0: Next Generation Technology - DeVry University - 06/14

Americans predict what the future looks like for technology - PBS - 04/14

Future tech predictions for the next 15 years - Stuff - 03/14

IBM's 5 in 5 - IBM - 12/13

5 Future Technology Myths - How Stuff Works - 08/13

Google Futurist's Mind-Blowing Predictions About the Future of Technology - The Blaze - 06/13

This is the end: Team of experts say humanity faces extinction - Yahoo! - 05/13

The World In 2033: Big Thinkers And Futurists Share Their Thoughts - Forbes - 02/13

110 Predictions For the Next 110 Years - Popular Mechanics - 12/12

Synthetic human brain, moon mining, and much more - NBC - 10/12

Let's Play Predict the Future: Where Is Science Going Over the Next 30 Years? - Discover - 03/12

Twenty top predictions for life 100 years from now - BBC - 01/12

Timeline of Our Future According to Sci-Fi Films and TV Shows - Izismile - 09/11

The Next 25 Years in Tech - PCWorld - 01/08

A Science Fiction Writer Looks at the Twenty-first Century - Brian Akers - 01/05

200 Futures for 2020 - Wikia - 09/04

Future Technology Predictions Web Sites

A Brief History of the Future - Wikipedia

A Future Timeline of Humanity and the Universe - An excerpt from the online hypertext Human Knowledge: Foundations and Limits

Future Technology and Predictions - Pinterest

Future Timeline - Wikia

FutureTimeline.net - A speculative timeline of future history

In Pictures: Futurists Through The Ages - Forbes

Life In The Future - A not too serious look at 2014 and beyond)

Long Bets - Accountable predictions

News of Future - Future News for Year 2020 and Beyond

Nick Bostrom's Home Page - Director, Future of Humanity Institute

The Global Technology Revolution - Life in 2015