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> Renewables change the picture though - once you have significant renewable generation the carbon intensity of electricity starts dropping, which means that re
by MuffinFlavored 4y ago
> Renewables change the picture though - once you have significant renewable generation the carbon intensity of electricity starts dropping, which means that remote powerplant vs local powerplant argument falls apart. That is when the real power of electric vehicles kicks in - they can take their energy from anywhere.
How close/far would you say we are as a society on "having significant renewable generation"?
- philipkglass 4y agoI don't know where you live, but in the United States renewables have recently surpassed nuclear and coal power as sources of electricity: https://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.php?id=55960 https://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.php?id=55960 They're still pretty close to each other right now. Renewables are at 21%, coal 20%, nuclear 19%. However, nuclear is flat and coal is declining. Renewables are still growing rapidly and will widen their lead significantly in a few more years. See the first embedded chart in the article, showing output trends since 2010. Also see the short term forecast at the end of the article: "In our March Short-Term Energy Outlook, we forecast the wind share of the U.S. generation mix will increase from 11% last year to 12% this year. We forecast that the solar share will grow to 5% in 2023, up from 4% last year. The natural gas share of generation is forecast to remain unchanged from last year (39%); the coal share of generation is forecast to decline from 20% last year to 17% in 2023."
- 0cf8612b2e1e 4y agoI was curious, and Wikipedia lists 224 active coal plants in the USA. More amazing was that from 2010 to 2020, 240 coal plants were closed. [0] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_coal-fired_power_stations_in_the_United_States https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_coal-fired_power_sta...