3 ms·

Right now wind+solar account for less than 1% of global electric generation. I'm highly skeptical that prices can remain low as that scales out to 10-40% of el

Right now wind+solar account for less than 1% of global electric generation. I'm highly skeptical that prices can remain low as that scales out to 10-40% of electric generation, given constraints on things like rare earth metals. There is also the issue of equipment wearing out relatively quickly compared to conventional/nuclear plants. SMRs, built using mass production rather than one-off construction, and possessing safety qualities far beyond current reactors, will be necessary to provide safe, reliable, clean and cheap energy alongside "renewables", IMNSHO.

Robotbeat 7y ago
Less than 1%? Not true in the slightest. In the US alone, wind and solar (including rooftop) produce approximately 11% (about 53GW average) of electrical energy given the very latest data (last 12 months rolling) from: https://www.eia.gov/electricity/monthly/epm_table_grapher.php?t=epmt_1_01 https://www.eia.gov/electricity/monthly/epm_table_grapher.ph... (and this should be updated today) The US consumes about 485GW average electricity, compared to the world total of 2485GW average. So approximately 1/5th. So US solar + wind ALONE is at least 2% of global electric generation (50GW/2485GW > 2%), twice your claim (again, this is just the solar and wind in the US compared to world total electricity). I suspect your figures are far outdated (not uncommon in this field...). EDIT: This is still using old data (2018), but it shows that 7.5% of global electricity energy (again, energy, not mere nameplate power) comes from solar+wind: https://yearbook.enerdata.net/renewables/wind-solar-share-electricity-production.html https://yearbook.enerdata.net/renewables/wind-solar-share-el...