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Except this is falling exactly into the trap that ClumsyPilot points out: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26464707 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26
by jdmichal 6y ago
Except this is falling exactly into the trap that ClumsyPilot points out:
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26464707 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26464707
The USA can afford to emit less than it did 10 years ago precisely because it has emitted so much in the past and its economy is basically built. Any bemoaning about China or other currently-developing countries that doesn't also talk about how we should also be helping them bootstrap themselves with more advanced systems is just privilege at having gotten there first and pulling the ladder up behind us.
- dahfizz 6y agoIsn't renewable energy generally cheaper than coal at this point?[1]. You're right, that we have done the work to research, develop, and manufacture renewable energy sources. Now all the rest of the world just has to buy the thing that is cheaper. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cost_of_electricity_by_source https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cost_of_electricity_by_source
- jdmichal 6y agoYes, renewable is cheap, but also unreliable. And storage to manage that unreliability is, per your link, more expensive than the corresponding fossil fuel plants. It's either that or drastically over-provision the renewables, which then has to be factored into the cost. Right now, the cheapest approach from scratch could maybe consist of: 1. Over-provisioned renewables, 2. connected to a large-area grid to mitigate local-scale negative impacts to renewable productivity, 3. with enough fossil fuel capacity to basically serve as "storage" and bridge large-scale negative impacts to renewable productivity. But, of course, China is not building from scratch -- they've been at this for decades. And the inversion of prices between renewables and fossil fuels is a fairly recent one.