Listen to this podcast where David Roberts interviews Johannes Ackva, Researcher at Founders Pledge, talking about why effective altruism focuses on climate and why this is so important. In his words, '...solving climate change is related to solving other really big problems, in particular air pollution and energy poverty. So if you think about clean energy abundance as one possible solution for climate change, that will actually solve those issues'. Founders Pledge has supported Terra Praxis since its beginning. In November 2021 Terra Praxis was listed among seven of the most high-impact, cost-effective, evidence-based organizations fighting climate change by recommendation of Founders Pledge.

The first ever Powered On Live shone a spotlight on the ever-changing electrical industry. On day 1, Kirsty Gogan participated on the fireside chat: Is there a need for nuclear power?. The UK currently leads the way in offshore wind capacity, but with the recent Energy Security Strategy, it seems that nuclear will be a key source of electricity for the country going forward. But with much opposition from environmental groups and even the Scottish Government, is committing to more nuclear power really the right strategy? Kirsty will share the event with Professor Gregg Butler, Head of Strategic Assessment at the Dalton Institute at the University of Manchester and Jonty Haynes, Senior Analyst, Regen. At the fireside Kirsty expressed: "We should consider what the risk to failing to decarbonize is..."

The priority for preventing irreversible climate change is decarbonization, not the creation of energy systems which are 100% dependent on renewables, according to a new report from LucidCatalyst. It says expanding the use of nuclear energy could enable faster progress towards a sustainable and prosperous future for all. Terra Praxis contributed to the dissemination of the report and presented it at international fora such as the Nordic Nuclear Forum where the report was launched.

Kirsty Gogan and Eric Ingersoll participated in the Nuclear Innovation Conference on June 8-9 in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. Kirsty was a keynote speaker at the opening session where she presented 'A future perspective for Nuclear Deep Decarbonization'. Kirsty was joined by Dr. Rita Baranwal - CTO at Westinghouse; Arnold Stokking - CEO at Brightsite and Bram Paul Jobse - CFO at EPZ. Eric, participated on the Advanced Session where he presented 'Regulations for advanced reactors'. Experts joining Eric include: Mike Christiansen - Copenhagen Atomics; Jim Reed - EDF-UK and will be moderated by Arjan Vreeling - NRG.

Kirsty Gogan participated on the third session of the Nordic Nuclear Forum, where she presented our latest report 'Beautiful Nuclear' authored by LucidCatalyst and endorsed by Terra Praxis, among several other organizations. The topics discussed were financing, wellbeing of society and, can competitiveness be improved by Supply Chain Optimization? The session was hosted by TVO. Speakers included: Christoper Eckerberg, Vice President Nuclear Decommissioning at Vattenfall; Jarmo Tanhua, CEO of Teollisuuden Voima Oy and Vakisasai Ramany, Senior VP, International Nuclear Development at EDF.

This article discusses the benefits of repowering coal power plants with advanced heat solutions. It is based on our Built Environment Matters podcast featuring Terra Praxis Co-founder Kirsty Gogan in conversation with Bryden Wood's Head of Global Systems, Jaimie Johnston MBE. To support Terra Praxis' REPOWER initiative, Bryden Wood is developing a standardized, scalable building system, configuring the design in such a way as to be able to meet any kind of site or plant requirements, while also accommodating a range of different heat sources. This is being achieved using a highly automated design, and a design for manufacture and assembly (DfMA) approach.

Bryden Wood has partnered with Terra Praxis for REPOWER, the largest single carbon abatement opportunity on the planet that could greatly accelerate the clean energy transition into being. Amanda Doyle spoke to Adrian La Porta, Technical Director of Process Engineering at design company Bryden Wood about replacing coal-fired boilers with nuclear reactors. In Adrian's words: ''Switching to nuclear reactors would provide a benefit to communities as the power plants remain operational'.

Eric Ingersoll, Co-Founder of Terra Praxis and James Lawless, Fianna Fáil TD, representing Kildare North shared an expert discussion about the need for decarbonization of Irish energy sectors other than electricity (industry, heat) and nuclear technologies which could be suitable for deep decarbonization of Irish energy. The online session was moderated by Sarah Cullen, Co-Founder of 18for0.

This article describes the ARPA-E Energy Innovation Summit 2022 panel “Beyond Baseload: Nuclear’s Role in the New Energy Landscape,” where Anthropocene’s partners and colleagues shed light on the applications and benefits of nuclear energy beyond baseload power. Moderator Dr. Jenifer Shafer (ARPA-E) was joined by Dr. Rita Baranwal (Westinghouse), Dr. Charles Forsberg (MIT), Dr. Jessica Lovering (Good Energy Collective), and Eric Ingersoll (Terra Praxis), who outlined the Terra Praxis “REPOWER” system, a fast, low-cost, and repeatable strategy to repower hundreds of existing coal plants that would otherwise continue to burn coal, and whose closure is likely to encounter fierce political resistance and cause economic harm to communities.

The ARPA-E summit convened in Denver, Colorado, from May 23 through 25. On Tuesday 24, Eric Ingersoll presented our REPOWER platform at the session 'Beyond Baseload: Nuclear’s Role in the New Energy Landscape'. Eric shared the panel with distinguished experts: Rita Baranwal, Chief Technology Officer at Westinghouse Electric Company; Dr. Charles Forsberg, Principal Research Scientist from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT); Dr. Jessica Lovering, Co-Founder & Executive Director at Good Energy Collective and Dr. Jenifer Shafer, Program Director at the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA‑E).

Kirsty appeared on the Sky News Daily Climate Show to support a windfall tax on oil companies' bumper profits and call on government to invest now in alleviating the cost-of-living crisis as well as new clean energy to protect consumers from future price volatility.

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Repowering of the existing global coal plant fleet with small modular reactors (SMRs) represents an immense carbon abatement opportunity suggests non-profit Terra Praxis. The key to rapid implementation is digital innovation in infrastructure, design, engineering, and construction. The Terra Praxis REPOWERl concept is a fast, low-cost, and repeatable strategy to repower hundreds of existing coal plants that would otherwise continue to burn coal, and whose closure is likely to encounter fierce political resistance and cause economic harm to communities. It will deliver a substantial portion of the clean electricity required to achieve net zero by 2050 by replacing coal-fired boilers at existing power plants with SMRs, which could be ready for deployment as soon as 2028.

Kirsty Gogan of Terra Praxis joined Umair Irfan, Senior science reporter from Vox and Shaun Burnie, Former senior nuclear specialist at Greenpeace East Asia at Al Jazeera's The Stream show, where the role of nuclear energy in the climate emergency was discussed in terms of its pros and cons. On this episode Kirsty said: 'Nuclear energy is delivering, has delivered and will continue to deliver'... 'Nuclear energy has proven time and again it is the fastest way to decarbonize... Nuclear energy has a very large output with a very small footprint. It's like a million more times dense in producing power than coal'.

How Much Would It Cost to Reduce Global Warming? $131 Trillion Is One Answer. Money is a sticking point in climate-change negotiations around the world. U.S. utilities and startup firms are trying to convince lawmakers, regulators and customers that they can convert aging coal power plants to house small nuclear reactors, a so-far unproven way to deliver electricity. The burgeoning idea would place fleets of small, modular nuclear reactors at or near former coal-fired power plants and is taking hold across the electricity industry. Utility companies see it as a way to repurpose coal plants they are set to retire and are joining with startups developing the reactors, looking to tap into billions of dollars in federal funding.

Kirsty Gogan is an internationally sought-after advisor to governments, industry, academic networks and NGOs. She is regularly invited as an expert speaker on science communication, climate change, competitiveness and innovation. In this interview, she explains the Repowering Coal initiative, Terra Praxis' goals and partners, the algorithmic design tools being created with Bryden Wood, the digital platform being developed, the pros and cons of SMRs and Advanced Modular Reactors, and provides some advice for energy utilities.

The authors of this article, experts in nuclear engineering, set the record straight and explain the risks of nuclear power plants in war zones, which is surprisingly small. "Nuclear reactors cannot 'explode' like a nuclear weapon, because of their fundamental differences in materials and designs." Furthermore, "nuclear power plants must, by law, be able to withstand a broad range of natural disasters, such as earthquakes, tornadoes, wildfires, and floods, as well as terrorist attacks. Ukraine’s nuclear power plants have multiple layers of protection." It is important to note that while "Civilian infrastructure isn’t built to withstand military assault. Nuclear power plants, however, are exceptionally hardened facilities, as we have seen. By comparison, other power plants, dams, ports, chemical plants, the food supply chain, long-span bridges, the electric grid, oil and gas pipelines, and the internet, just to mention a few, are much softer targets. An attack on these targets could inflict considerably greater suffering and disruption to the civilian population and the environment." Note that two of this article's authors are advisors to Terra Praxis: Jacopo Buongiorno (MIT, Director of Nuclear Engineering) and Andrew Whittaker (U Buffalo-expert in nuclear seismic isolation).

As the war in Ukraine continues to impact energy supplies, what's the future for nuclear power in Britain? Kirsty Gogan of Terra Praxis participated in the discussion of some of the most crucial questions we are facing today, such as—Where does this situation leave the international and UK's climate strategy and the race to Net Zero? And what are the risks facing nuclear power generation? She said, "We have to look at any of these risks in context and right now the reality is that we see 7 million premature deaths per year around the world from air pollution. So focusing on this and cleaning up all of our fossil fuel based energy infrastructure is really an incredible opportunity not only to address the climate challenges that we face but also the public health challenges that we face."

This NEA workshop explored recent experiences and the development of construction and manufacturing techniques—focusing on near-term advances in nuclear construction, while also providing some indication of more long-term improvements that could be made on the basis of design innovations. Finally, workshop participants examined the role of regulators as well as codes and standards organizations to facilitate a wider adoption of advanced construction and manufacturing methodologies. Day 2 of the workshop was opened by Kirsty Gogan, who urged the nuclear industry to lower costs substantially through programmatic learning—because nuclear energy is needed in order to reach Net Zero, and at present: "What we are looking at now is a 3-4º and we have no plan to avoid that outcome." Eric Ingersoll presented Terra Praxis' Repowering Coal project in the Session 3: Panel on improving constructability with small, modular and innovative nuclear designs.

This event showed how communities can be uplifted by advanced heat source technologies and breakthrough innovations. Learn the ways countries and organizations are working to bring the social, economic, and environmental benefits of nuclear energy to communities around the world as they make clean energy transitions. Moderator: Jon Carmack, Senior Technical Advisor, Office of Nuclear Energy, U.S. Department of Energy. Speakers: • Kirsty Gogan, Founder and Managing Director, Terra Praxis. • Christine King, Director, Gateway for Advanced Innovation in Nuclear (GAIN). • Chuck Tack, Vice President, Nuclear Operations, PacifiCorp. • Guy Lonechild, Chief Executive Officer, First Nations Power Authority, Canada. • Paweł Gładysz, Faculty of Energy and Fuels, AGH University of Science and Technology, Poland. • Princess Mthombeni, Founder, Africa4Nuclear.

Terra Praxis' partner, Bryden Wood, joined our team at CERAWeek in Houston, where we presented our work on Repowering Coal.

The world has more than 2TWe of coal-fired power plants, adding roughly 12 gigatons of CO₂ emissions per year, representing almost one-third of global total net emissions of 38.8 gigatons a year. But shutting coal plants down worldwide is not a solution when the majority are less than 14 years old, and energy demand is soaring, writes Eric Ingersoll and Kirsty Gogan of Terra Praxis, a non-profit organization focused on accelerating the energy transition through innovation.

Microsoft has joined the Terra Praxis-led team working on Repowering Coal. Microsoft is helping create Azure tools to enable automated analysis of the US (and ultimately global) coal power generation fleet for retrofit. Microsoft will build the analytics tools with Terra Praxis and help undertake strategic partnerships with #REPOWER consortium stakeholders. At the Microsoft booth during #CERAWeek, Terra Praxis will offer demonstrations of the Azure tools showcasing the opportunity for retrofitting coal power plants. If you're in Houston, please visit us at the Microsoft Agora House, in the George R. Brown Convention Center March 8-9.

CERAWeek brings together global leaders to advance new ideas, insight and solutions to the biggest challenges facing the future of energy, the environment, and climate. CERAWeek is widely considered to be the most prestigious annual gathering of CEOs and Ministers from global energy and utilities, as well as automotive, manufacturing, policy and financial communities, along with a growing presence of tech. It has been described by the Financial Times as the "the Davos of energy," and by Politico as the “industry’s Super Bowl.” CNBC called it “the world’s preeminent energy conference.” CERAWeek was rated one of the top five overall “corporate leader” conferences in the world.​

Microsoft continues to support its commitment to the energy industry by joining the CERAWeek 2022, March 7 to 11, in Houston. Darryl Willis, Microsoft Corporate Vice President Energy Industry, promises to tackle the challenges the energy industry faces together with various Microsoft’s energy and sustainability leaders.

SUNY Distinguished Professor Andrew Whittaker is part of a consortium led by Terra Praxis developing a digital platform to repower coal plants using advanced heat sources. The aim is to retrofit retired and operating coal-fired power plants with modular nuclear reactors while retaining the balance of the plant. Other members include the UK-based architectural and engineering consultancy—Bryden Wood, along with MIT, Microsoft, and a group of utilities. Whittaker and the multidisciplinary Terra Praxis team, which includes civil, mechanical and nuclear engineers and designers, are adapting proven seismic isolation and damping technologies to standardize equipment, drive down cost and accelerate construction. Researchers are targeting a five-fold reduction in capital cost.

Bryden Wood has joined Terra Praxis in working on the “REPOWER” initiative to help countries meet net-zero emissions targets by replacing coal-fired boilers at existing power plants with Generation IV advanced modular reactors (AMRs)—creating a new design and construction solution that would make such a program possible at scale and speed, in part by deploying a new digital platform.

Watch this presentation by Kirsty Gogan and Eric Ingersoll of Terra Praxis to the Effective Altruism community about why they founded Terra Praxis—to come up with Climate 2.0 strategies that address the actual risks to the energy transition—cost, speed, scale, space, and political support—these are the obstacles that are standing in the way of achieving the progress on decarbonization the world needs and expects. These risks include public opposition and legal constraints to the future development of renewable energy. For instance, two-thirds of the counties in the U.S. state of Iowa have added restrictions or prohibitions to future wind development; this is true for many states across the US. Based on analysis Terra Praxis and its partner LucidCatalyst performed with McKinsey, it is clear that there is very little potential for onshore wind development left in Germany. However, climate modelers do not take this into consideration and continue to model large additions to wind resources, allowing policy makers to believe we are on the right track when in fact the reality is very different. Along similar lines, Terra Praxis is leading a project to repower the world's 2TW of coal plants, which make up the single largest source of global carbon emissions.

International design company Bryden Wood is working alongside Terra Praxis to create a new digital platform to decarbonize electricity by 2050. The ‘Repowering Coal’ initiative will deliver a substantial portion of the clean electricity required to achieve net zero by 2050, by replacing coal-fired boilers at existing power plants with Generation IV Advanced Modular Reactors (AMRs) which will be ready for deployment by 2027.

Engineering and architecture firm Bryden Wood has revealed the digital platform for its ambitious Repowering coal project, which aims to retro-fit coal-fired power plants to accommodate modular nuclear reactors. The strategy, developed in collaboration with non-profit Terra Praxis, will see coal-fired boilers at existing power plants replaced with Generation IV Advanced Modular Reactors (AMRS), which will be ready for deployment by 2027. This initiative is seen as a way to make gains on worldwide decarbonization of the energy sector.

Terra Praxis is working with Bryden Wood to create a new digital platform for making the replacement of coal-fired boilers at existing power plants with advanced modular nuclear reactors possible at scale and speed. Terra Praxis co-founder Eric Ingersoll said: "This ambitious project will design a process to repower the world's coal fleets via a fast, repeatable system resulting in carbon negative power plants that are cheaper to operate than before and ensure continuity for communities reliant on these plants for energy and jobs."