How to Create a Future of Cheap Energy for All

When asked why they chose Tado, he said that customers’ main reason was, “I want to save money. The second reason is, I want to make the planet a better place. If we cannot fulfill the first one,” he stressed, “the second one becomes less relevant.”

China seems to offer many solutions. Although coal consumption is climbing, it will peak in 2026 as renewables come online, with MingYang Smart Energy president Qiying Zhang outlining how floating and fixed offshore wind turbines are replacing fossil fuels. In August the company installed the world’s largest single-capacity offshore wind turbine, the MySE18.X-20MW, in Hainan, which can generate 80 million kWh annually, offsetting 66,000 tons of CO₂.

Meanwhile, the country’s road transport electrification is moving at pace, thanks to heavy government subsidies. “In China, there were 570,000 EVs bought in August, and if you’re not driving an electric car in China, you’re considered a very boring person,” Stella Li, vice president of Chinese EV giant BYD, told the room. The new Z9 GT offered “intelligent driving,” meaning the car could park itself—even sliding sideways into a tight space, thanks to its flexible rear axle.

“The epicenter of the energy transition is China, which has a beautiful historical symmetry,” Arthur Downing, director of strategy at Octopus Energy explained. “Until the 18th century, the center of the world economically was China. It was the first energy transition of the industrial revolution in Britain that shifted that economic center of gravity to Europe. So we’re coming full circle at a ridiculous speed.”

Ann Mettler, European vice president of Bill Gates’ sustainable energy organization Breakthrough Energy, and Sabrina Schulz, strategic expert in climate, energy, and biodiversity, agreed that while Europe was making progress, it was falling behind and needed a blend of public and private finance to catch up by connecting and renewing grids and considering decentralized or even virtual power plants. “Policy certainty and public guarantees on investment in, say, green district heating is an absolute condition for investors,” Schulz argued.

Sana Khareghani, professor of practice in AI at King’s College London, suggested AI could help, managing and optimizing energy grids and helping develop new batteries to store power for when it’s most needed—helping reduce reliance on the fossil fuel powered generators of last resort.