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Maybe at the hobby level that thinking works. At scale, though, it does not unless you're building a renewable power plant where it simply can't connect to the
by rebuilder 6y ago
Maybe at the hobby level that thinking works. At scale, though, it does not unless you're building a renewable power plant where it simply can't connect to the grid.
If you can get on the grid, then the power your plant produces and what you do with it are two separate things. Instead of e.g. mining crypto, you could sell the power generated. By using it instead of selling it, you're just pushing other users to use more fossil fuels.
The calculus IMO is power consumption * grid-wide average CO2 emissions. You can't just count using solar as 0 emissions, because using solar doesn't bring that average to 0. It reduces it slightly.
- gruez 6y ago>The calculus IMO is power consumption * grid-wide average CO2 emissions. This is also too simplified, because it doesn't factor in transmission costs and interconnection capacity. Electricty doesn't move frictionlessly throughout the grid, and this can be seen because north american electricity prices vary wildly by region[1]. [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26829186 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26829186
- caf 6y agoYes, and it also doesn't take into account the time of use. There are times when renewables have to be curtailed in some regions, so using renewable sources at that time has a marginal CO2 impact of near zero.