4 ms·

> The UK's use of wind is a good example Wind varies wildly between locations. England being an island probably helps a ton as coastal areas tend to generally

> The UK's use of wind is a good example Wind varies wildly between locations. England being an island probably helps a ton as coastal areas tend to generally be windy. If we look at a wiki entry [1] on the coastline of the UK: >the coastline as measured by the standard method at Mean High Water Mark rises to about 19,491 miles (31,368 km). With the general coasltine of the United States being 12,383 miles. The UK also has nearly 1/5 the population, has virtually no air conditioning while 16% of residential electricit consumption and 6% of total electrical consumption in the United States is from air conditioning [2]. So there is limited carryover here with something like wind. Same goes for solar, solar is great at certain latitudes and in certain regions (think weather) but other latitudes and regions is just not practical. The UK is also much smaller than something like the United States, that means a much more efficient grid can be constructed. You will also just have less transmission loss because you have much fewer units of measure of power lines. [1] - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coastline_of_the_United_Kingdom https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coastline_of_the_United_Kingdo... [2] - https://www.eia.gov/tools/faqs/faq.php?id=1174&t=1 https://www.eia.gov/tools/faqs/faq.php?id=1174&t=1

layoric 7y ago
Granted regarding wind, but there are a lot of coastal areas in the world and other windy non coastal regions as well. As for solar and latitudes, this is primarily an economic choice, so while yes some areas of the world will produce more watts/m^2 (see global maps of Global Horizontal Irradience), solar utility generation can still make economic sense |in or near a lot of populated places around the globe. Sure, high density islands would be a silly use of space for solar but being islands, wind would likely make more sense|. And yes, transmission of power is also a problem for places like Australia being so large, but even with this people are genuinely looking into building large _international_ electricity connections under sea between north of Australia and Singapore [0] backed by 10GW of solar generation capacity [1], a $20B investment that they are willing to bet will _make_ money, not heavily gov funded. A lot of people are also looking at hydrogen generation from excess renewable power as another way to recoup some profit when grid generation prices go to 0 or negative. Deciding _when_ to do these kinds of activities is largely where _climate tech_ can help out. Again, even relatively small improvements allow for larger shifts if what we do and can have a large impact of investment including how attractive the scaling of these technologies can be. Because energy generation and consumption are such fundamental parts of modern life, being clever with how you do both of these things can lead to whole different approaches. As clean energy generation costs drop there will be other carbon net negative (maybe negative) activities that become economical, creating a space where money can be mode is the fastest way to accelerate change in the modern world. Some of these choices will no doubt cause their own problems that will need to be solved, but at this stage world needs to look towards harm minimization, and quickly when it comes to the climate crises. With hindsight I'm sure we'll be able to look back and highlight ways it could have been done better, hell we can do that now but those with the power to make that change seem unwilling to show leadership. If you are a programmer/technical minded person, climate tech is still a positive contribution and I think is an industry that will be growing. If you are a politician, yes, you'll likely have the _chance_ to make a far larger impact and all power to you, but I'll be doing what I can with the skills and knowledge I have. [0] https://www.suncable.sg/ https://www.suncable.sg/ [1] https://reneweconomy.com.au/nt-government-backs-10gw-solar-and-storage-plant-biggest-in-world-71012/ https://reneweconomy.com.au/nt-government-backs-10gw-solar-a... | EDIT added for clarity

layoric 7y ago

Granted regarding wind, but there are a lot of coastal areas in the world and other windy non coastal regions as well. As for solar and latitudes, this is primarily an economic choice, so while yes some areas of the world will produce more watts/m^2 (see global maps of Global Horizontal Irradience), solar utility generation can still make economic sense |in or near a lot of populated places around the globe. Sure, high density islands would be a silly use of space for solar but being islands, wind would likely make more sense|. And yes, transmission of power is also a problem for places like Australia being so large, but even with this people are genuinely looking into building large _international_ electricity connections under sea between north of Australia and Singapore [0] backed by 10GW of solar generation capacity [1], a $20B investment that they are willing to bet will _make_ money, not heavily gov funded. A lot of people are also looking at hydrogen generation from excess renewable power as another way to recoup some profit when grid generation prices go to 0 or negative. Deciding _when_ to do these kinds of activities is largely where _climate tech_ can help out. Again, even relatively small improvements allow for larger shifts if what we do and can have a large impact of investment including how attractive the scaling of these technologies can be. Because energy generation and consumption are such fundamental parts of modern life, being clever with how you do both of these things can lead to whole different approaches. As clean energy generation costs drop there will be other carbon net negative (maybe negative) activities that become economical, creating a space where money can be mode is the fastest way to accelerate change in the modern world. Some of these choices will no doubt cause their own problems that will need to be solved, but at this stage world needs to look towards harm minimization, and quickly when it comes to the climate crises. With hindsight I'm sure we'll be able to look back and highlight ways it could have been done better, hell we can do that now but those with the power to make that change seem unwilling to show leadership. If you are a programmer/technical minded person, climate tech is still a positive contribution and I think is an industry that will be growing. If you are a politician, yes, you'll likely have the _chance_ to make a far larger impact and all power to you, but I'll be doing what I can with the skills and knowledge I have. [0] https://www.suncable.sg/ https://www.suncable.sg/ [1] https://reneweconomy.com.au/nt-government-backs-10gw-solar-and-storage-plant-biggest-in-world-71012/ https://reneweconomy.com.au/nt-government-backs-10gw-solar-a... | EDIT added for clarity