FAQ & Mythbusting

Browse myths and questions about our topics below

Energy

Transportation

Food & Agriculture

Explore Rethinking Energy FAQs

Myth: A sustainable energy future will require us to embrace austerity and use less energy

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Myth: Switching to clean technologies will be expensive, and the cost of converting to an electrified civilization is more than the cost of maintaining the current system

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Myth: Cloudy days present a real challenge to solar, wind and battery meeting daily global energy demands as weather fluctuates

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Myth: The same amount of energy is needed for a combustion civilization as an electrified civilization

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Myth: Solar, wind and batteries cannot support the entire global population

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Myth: It is impossible to build enough battery storage to power our civilization with clean energy

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Are batteries too expensive to build to meet our global energy demands?

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What is the role of hydrogen in our energy future?

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Myth: It is impossible to have a 100% renewable grid, because it is too inefficient to build solar, wind or battery capacity that we only use for a small fraction of the time

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Will the cost of batteries rise because of supply shortages?

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What is the role of conventional nuclear power in our energy future?

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Can we build batteries fast enough to maintain exponential growth of renewables and EVs?

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Myth: Nickel is a less abundant resource. There is not enough of it to power an electric future

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Myth: There is not enough lithium on earth for a global electric economy reliant on lithium ion batteries

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Does the scarcity of raw materials needed to make lithium-ion batteries mean that we won’t be able to build enough batteries for our energy demands?

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Explore Rethinking Transportation FAQs

Myth: Electric vehicles are too expensive to produce to replace traditional vehicles globally

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Myth: “I could never give up my car!”

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Myth: There is not enough lithium to make all the electric cars we need

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Myth: Robotaxis cannot compete economically with human-driven taxis because of the cost of taxi licenses (‘medallions’)

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Myth: Robotaxis cannot take over the market quickly

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Myth: Robotaxis will never be safe enough

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Myth: Robotaxi technology does not work and will never work. Driving is too complicated. At best, so-called “Level 5”, fully self-driving cars are decades away

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Myth: Electric cars require cobalt, the mining of which uses child labor

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Myth: It is impossible to convert the entire global road transportation fleet to electric vehicles

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Myth: Autonomous vehicles are more dangerous than manual driving

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Myth: Roadtrips are impossible with electric vehicles because of the need to recharge. Charging an EV is lengthy and inconvenient

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How many autonomous electric vehicles will be needed?

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How will the roads be financed when there is no gas tax? Will there be an electronic distance-based toll system?

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Will automated vehicles really be safer?

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How will the disruption play out in India, Southeast Asia, Africa and other places where consumers are very price-sensitive?

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What will happen to the existing fleet of vehicles as a result of the transportation disruption? Can these vehicles be converted to EVs? AEVs?

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How many jobs will be created by the disruption of transportation? How many jobs will be destroyed?

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Explore Rethinking Food & Agriculture FAQs

What is the difference between Precision Fermentation and Cellular Agriculture?

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Myth: The disruption of food and agriculture means that in the future there will be no meat available from animals

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Myth: Precision Fermentation is only a production method for making proteins

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Myth: Modern foods are only able to replicate the animal products we already have

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Myth: Foods made with precision fermentation are GMOs

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How can we avoid a sudden transition to the modern food system that could threaten the livelihoods of subsistence and artisan farmers and others that work in food production?

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How can we avoid large-scale corporate control of these technologies?

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Myth: Technologies like Precision Fermentation and Cellular Agriculture will not be able to be scaled enough to feed our global population

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Myth: Modern foods are, and will forever be, too expensive to compete with animal products

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Myth: Cultivated meat is not real meat

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Myth: The companies and products we see today are the future of the food industry

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How can we trust meat, milk or other animal products grown in a lab?

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Myth: The new modern food system will be centralized and corporation owned, just like the pharmaceutical industry

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Myth: The disruption of food and agriculture means that in the future there will be no meat available from animals

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How much will the energy for Precision Fermentation and Cellular Agriculture cost?

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How much farmland acreage would be impacted by a transition to Precision Fermentation and Cellular Agriculture food systems?

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Where will Precision Fermentation and Cellular Agriculture technologies be most suited geographically?

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How will the modern food disruption work in poorer regions and nations around the world?

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What will happen to all the cows?

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What if I never want to give up my meat?

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How much waste material is produced by modern foods, and are there any associated environmental risks?

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Myth: Modern foods will not contain the same micro- and macro-nutrients as animal foods

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How much energy do Precision Fermentation and Cellular Agriculture require?

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Why aren’t other modern food technologies disruptive in the same way that Precision Fermentation is?

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Where will the energy for Precision Fermentation and Cellular Agriculture come from?

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How does Precision Fermentation and Cellular Agriculture water use compare to the animal agriculture it will replace?

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Myth: A modern food system will demand far too much energy to be viable

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Myth: Modern foods will have the same environmental impact and drawbacks as animal-based foods

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