Growing world populationASSUMPTIONS: CURRENT WORLD ENERGY USE IS 153,000 TWH PER YEAR. WORLD ENERGY USE IS SCALED TO 10 BILLION POPULATION WITH A SINGAPORE-LEVEL ENERGY CONSUMPTION OF 564,000 TWH PER YEAR. WIND POWER ASSUMES AN AVERAGE YEARLY ENERGY PRODUCTION (NEXT GEN 10 MW TURBINES) OF
35 GWH PER SQ KM. SOLAR POWER ASSUMES AN AVERAGE YEARLY ENERGY PRODUCTION FOR PV SOLAR FARMS OF 100 GWH PER SQ KM. NUCLEAR-POWER MODELS FROM THE BRUCE NUCLEAR STATION ONTARIO OF 48,000 GWH PER YEAR WITH A LAND USE OF 9.3 SQ KM
Scaling up How BIG estimates total world energy demand could be
met by carbon-neutral sources, expressed as total global footprintIngels doesn’t like to associate
himself with any particular ideol-
ogy or political project. But he says
Scandinavian- style social democ-
racy has some clear advantages. He
and his family normally spend their
time in New York, but shortly after
the COVID-19 pandemic hit the city
in March, they moved back to Copen-
hagen for a while. “It seems like a wel-
fare state is maybe better equipped,”
he says with a smile. “You know, eq-
uity is a good thing in times of crisis:
public health care, social security and
free education—it works well!”
He does not look to the state to
play the largest role on climate, how-
ever. He says the climate- change
challenge must be met primarily by
private businesses. As an architect,
he says, he’s learned that “anything
that’s entirely relying on public
spending is dependent on funding.
And when the funding runs out, you
have to raise more. If you can make
things both environmentally and ec-
onomically profitable, they become
self- scaling.” The state’s primary role
in the climate-change fight, he says,
should be “to eliminate the barriers
that have been implemented over
time,” including “various kinds of
trade barriers” in sectors like en-
ergy. “The environment doesn’t care
about party politics or about out-
dated ideologies, for that matter.”
That brand of pragmatism often puts Ingels at odds with climate
activists, including those within his industry. Among architects,
the question of whether or not those who care about sustainability
should accept commissions for airports has become a major point of
debate. Would Ingels build an airport? “Definitely,” he says, adding
that BIG would then use the best available strategies to make opera-
tions more sustainable. “I mean, would you refuse to fly? Should the
whole world stop flying? So if we agree that sometimes it’s necessary
to jump on a plane, then let’s make it happen.”A few dAys before TIME spoke with Ingels, an education initia-
tive in Denmark asked him for some help creating classes for high
schoolers. The request made him think of his own student days,
and he pulled out the thesis that he, like all Danish teenagers, wrote
at the end of high school, at age 19: “Environmental Policy on
Global, Regional, National, Local and Individual Level: A Follow-
Up on the Rio Conference.” The title, which refers to a 1992 U.N.
summit, was, he admits, “not so catchy.” But he got the top grade.
The world into which BIG is releasing Masterplanet is unrec-
ognizable from the one where Ingels was writing in 1993, or even
the one where he began thinking about this idea in spring of last
year. For one thing, yearly global CO₂ emissions have risen by
more than 60% since 1990, and we are perilously close to reach-
ing a catastrophic average global temperature rise of more than
1.5°C over the preindustrial era. For another, the pandemic has
forced countries to shutter economies and inject unprecedented
sums of public money to keep society afloat. Like many, Ingels
sees a sign of hope there for climate action. “If we could apply a
similar decisiveness toward the climate crisis, I think we could
deal with it much more impactfully and much quicker than we
imagine possible today.”
Whether Masterplanet is the basis for that decisive action or not,
Ingels says his 19-year-old self would be pleased with the bold ac-
tion he is taking. Twenty-seven years later, preparing his next envi-
ronmental project, he’s definitely gotten better at titles. The grade is
still pending. —With reporting by madeline roache/london •FOR INGELS, THE
CLIMATE-CHANGE
CHALLENGE MUST
BE MET PRIMARILY
BY PRIVATE
BUSINESSES
109,000 sq km
Nuclear power
Dotted line includes safety
zones around plants
COVERAGE AREAS FOR SCALE ONLY16.1 million sq km
Wind power5.6 million sq km
Solar power10B
5B
1800 1900 2000 2100
Present dayProjected10 BILLION
by 2050