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What you are looking for is "levelized cost of energy". And, yes, renewables are cheaper even when you count in storage or gas turbine backup. As storage gets b
by moloch-hai 4y ago
What you are looking for is "levelized cost of energy". And, yes, renewables are cheaper even when you count in storage or gas turbine backup. As storage gets built out, the gas turbines will be fired up less frequently.
Land is utterly a non-issue. Not only is there plenty of spare land, solar and wind can be sited on dual-use pasture and cropland, as well as floated on reservoirs.
- willis936 4y agoI'm not talking about LCOE with a fossil fuel backup. I'm talking technologies that actually decarbonize the grid. If land is not an issue then I challenge you to sequester 156,000 square miles (~1.7% of the total land in the US). This is a relatively optimistic estimate with no overhead given for overproduction or growth. This goes without speaking of the carbon footprint of the carbonized industry necessary to grow solar production by 50x. https://www.nrel.gov/docs/fy13osti/56290.pdf https://www.nrel.gov/docs/fy13osti/56290.pdf https://www.eia.gov/energyexplained/us-energy-facts/ https://www.eia.gov/energyexplained/us-energy-facts/
- Gwypaas 4y agoMore dogmatic thinking. "If it's not perfect for my Alaskan hut north of the Arctic circle then......" If you care about land use and is not using it to simply sow discontent mandate solar above parking. The US is a complete wasteland when you consider land use. Or simply build it together with agricultural use. Wind is perfect for that, solar may lower some crops output while increasing others. https://www.strongtowns.org/journal/2019/11/27/parking-dominates-our-cities-but-do-we-really-see-it https://www.strongtowns.org/journal/2019/11/27/parking-domin...? Next, start eating vegetarian. https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/land-use-kcal-poore https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/land-use-kcal-poore > This goes without speaking of the carbon footprint of the carbonized industry necessary to grow solar production by 50x. Great that we're aiming to decarbonize the industry.
- DennisP 4y agoIf we're talking about OP's claim that "fusion will never happen," then OP is wrong if fusion is outcompeted by renewables in southern California but viable in Canada.
- Gwypaas 4y agoGreat that it's windier closer to the poles and windier during the winter. Unless you're talking about north of the arctic circle, then sure. You can fill that niche of a couple of hundred thousand people living in the global north and not within striking distance of massive hydro reserves. https://globalwindatlas.info/en https://globalwindatlas.info/en Or like this study a while back finding building SMRs in the Canadian north close to a laughable proposition given the power requirements, costs and tiny niche market. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S030142152030327X https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S03014...
- moloch-hai 4y agoFusion would be trying to compete with imported fuel, just as fission fails to achieve today except where massively subsidized. In the nearish future, that fuel will be synthetic, likely ammonia, produced at solar farms in the tropics, or at wind farms nearer by. Of course in places where transmission lines are practical, power will be imported that way instead. No one will ever be able to maintain a cartel on the synthetic fuel supply.
- moloch-hai 4y agoI have already addressed these topics in the message you replied to. Which see.