Woher kommt der Strom?

For years, Switzerland's energy narrative was simple: go green, use only windmills and solar. I sit on the board of an energy company. Here's why that failed and what happens next:

For a long time, the government assumed our devices would save us.

Laptops and cars would get more efficient, so we would need less energy over time.

But the opposite happened.

Data centers, electric vehicles, and a growing economy meant demand was rising faster than anyone had planned for.

Switzerland's geography makes this harder than it sounds.

In winter, there is not enough sun for solar to carry the load.

There are almost no viable locations for wind turbines, and when you ask people whether they want one in front of their garden, the answer is always no.

Hydropower is good but not always guaranteed.

That leaves buying electricity from somewhere else, and already a significant portion of what Switzerland uses comes from French nuclear power plants.

Gas is being phased out politically, and dependency on Russian supply is no longer an option.

So the question becomes: where does the energy actually come from?

Nuclear was politically dead here for a long time, after disasters everyone was scared of.

Pushing a nuclear project is still hard today.

But research institutions and startups are quietly returning to the field.

My own view is simple.

Push renewables as far as it makes economic sense. Solar and wind, keep going.

But we need a backup plan for the day there is a blackout in Europe or the power from France stops coming.

On our own right now, we would be pretty screwed.

What I think happens next is the development of technology that fits inside a building and produces enough energy for a village or a canton.

Safer, more distributed, more manageable than anything we associate with nuclear today.

One of the downsides of nuclear is also the waste.

But I believe there will be better concepts for safely handling it and limiting the long-term harm it can cause.