4 ms·

Oh, it's definitely amazing relative to where it was, just not to where it needs to be to compete. Solar and wind is less than 1% of world energy consumption a

Oh, it's definitely amazing relative to where it was, just not to where it needs to be to compete. Solar and wind is less than 1% of world energy consumption and is not expected to be more than 3-4% in 2040. Energy is not a product/market problem it's a physics problem and we haven't had any major breakthroughs in that space for a long long time. https://www.iea.org/weo/?fbclid=IwAR3eH1AFcRSPSEit8JINLCMvE_UmZAsNNdxRRpIepIGqCz_rILNEHHwLtNw https://www.iea.org/weo/?fbclid=IwAR3eH1AFcRSPSEit8JINLCMvE_...

lukev 7y ago
This... doesn't have to be the case. Some markets already have way higher renewable penetration. Solar and wind represented about 20% of all generation in California in 2018 (https://ww2.energy.ca.gov/almanac/electricity_data/total_system_power.html https://ww2.energy.ca.gov/almanac/electricity_data/total_sys...). In the UK this year, solar and wind are almost 25% of generated electricity (https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/811974/Renewables_June_2019.pdf https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/...) Incremental improvement and economic forces do matter. Solar is now cheaper than coal in many climates, and we are seeing the effects. Of course, there are still many problems to be solved. But we're also working on incrementally on solutions to those. For example, battery cost is falling precipitously. "grid scale battery" was not a thing a decade ago, now you see installations popping up regularly. I'd like to see cold fusion as much as the next guy, but dismissing incremental progress is foolish.
- cestith 7y ago
  Wind's about 20% in Texas, too, and growing. http://www.ercot.com/content/wcm/lists/181766/IntGenbyFuel2019.xlsx http://www.ercot.com/content/wcm/lists/181766/IntGenbyFuel20... The state produces by far the most electricity of any state, too. It's almost twice as much as Florida. https://www.eia.gov/state/?sid=TX https://www.eia.gov/state/?sid=TX Unfortunately it's also a huge petroleum and natural gas producer. About half of the energy used in the state is for industrial use, much of it for the oil and gas industries. On the bright side, natural gas is displacing coal in the meantime while solar and wind are not replacing it fast enough. It needs to get better, but things could be much worse.
- ThomPete 7y ago
  You are talking about electricity, not energy. Electricity is only ~20% of the entire energy usage as far as I remember.

lukev 7y ago

This... doesn't have to be the case. Some markets already have way higher renewable penetration. Solar and wind represented about 20% of all generation in California in 2018 (https://ww2.energy.ca.gov/almanac/electricity_data/total_system_power.html https://ww2.energy.ca.gov/almanac/electricity_data/total_sys...). In the UK this year, solar and wind are almost 25% of generated electricity (https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/811974/Renewables_June_2019.pdf https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/...) Incremental improvement and economic forces do matter. Solar is now cheaper than coal in many climates, and we are seeing the effects. Of course, there are still many problems to be solved. But we're also working on incrementally on solutions to those. For example, battery cost is falling precipitously. "grid scale battery" was not a thing a decade ago, now you see installations popping up regularly. I'd like to see cold fusion as much as the next guy, but dismissing incremental progress is foolish.

cestith 7y ago
Wind's about 20% in Texas, too, and growing. http://www.ercot.com/content/wcm/lists/181766/IntGenbyFuel2019.xlsx http://www.ercot.com/content/wcm/lists/181766/IntGenbyFuel20... The state produces by far the most electricity of any state, too. It's almost twice as much as Florida. https://www.eia.gov/state/?sid=TX https://www.eia.gov/state/?sid=TX Unfortunately it's also a huge petroleum and natural gas producer. About half of the energy used in the state is for industrial use, much of it for the oil and gas industries. On the bright side, natural gas is displacing coal in the meantime while solar and wind are not replacing it fast enough. It needs to get better, but things could be much worse.
ThomPete 7y ago
You are talking about electricity, not energy. Electricity is only ~20% of the entire energy usage as far as I remember.