I step outside into –1°C, grab the kettlebell by training, and press play on Bloomberg. Musk in my ears talking about scale and speed.
At Davos, Elon Musk framed solar energy as the inevitable backbone of the future global energy system. Solar, combined with storage, can be deployed faster than any other power source and has the physical capacity to meet rising demand from electrification and AI-driven growth.
He explained China’s dominance as a result of scale and execution rather than ideology. China invested early in manufacturing, built integrated supply chains, and deployed solar at massive speed, pushing costs down and creating a self-reinforcing advantage that others now struggle to catch up with.
Musk was critical of the U.S. and Europe, arguing that tariffs, fragmented regulation, and slow permitting are self-inflicted obstacles. These policies raise costs and delay rollout, weakening energy security and competitiveness at a time when electricity demand is accelerating.
His conclusion was pragmatic: if Europe and the U.S. want to close the gap, they must scale domestic manufacturing, simplify rules, and build solar at continental scale. The energy transition, he suggested, will be decided less by ambition and more by speed, scale, and execution.
https://podcasts.apple.com/se/podcast/bloomberg-tech/id1611767434?l=en-GB&i=1000746248886
