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Energy is gonna be as cheap as it has ever been over the coming decades, there's no good reason to plan on less. Like on the whole, people simply won't let it
by maxerickson 3y ago
Energy is gonna be as cheap as it has ever been over the coming decades, there's no good reason to plan on less.
Like on the whole, people simply won't let it happen. Maybe in a few countries, but the young people in India and the various large countries of Africa aren't going to do with less just because you think it's a good idea.
- UncleOxidant 3y ago> Energy is gonna be as cheap as it has ever been over the coming decades Is this assuming some kind of breakthrough in fusion power? Or just cheaper solar, wind, tidal power?
- nine_k 3y agoCheap solar, cheaper storage. Battery technology is now a very hot area, with a lot of R&D and constant improvements, like silicon chips in 1990s when the demand for computers started to turn truly massive. Now we have massive demand for EVs, large-scale storage, and the usual mobile device power.
- tonyedgecombe 3y agoI doubt technology is going to solve our environmental issues. I see this assumption all the time, that the same thinking that got us into these problems is going to get us out of them. Technology rarely delivers on its promises.
- nine_k 3y agoOK, what would help, in your view? What has definitely helped in the past, that we could reuse or emulate?
- tonyedgecombe 3y agoAccepting the reality of the situation we have found ourselves in would be a good start.
- TheLoafOfBread 3y agoDenmark with its amount of renewables must have the cheapest power per kWh in EU.... it has one of the most expensive energy prices.
- MagnumOpus 3y agoDenmark is at the 56th latitude and has a cloudy/rainy climate. Very few places are worse suited to solar energy than they are. ROI on solar is double/triple/quadruple in Italy/Spain/California/Texas/India/Southern China/SE Asia...
- TheLoafOfBread 3y agoNo, they are more than 100% reliant on Wind energy, but nice misdirection.
- Syonyk 3y agoThe "cheap energy" metrics tend to look at the cost per kWh delivered when the intermittent generators are producing. I've seen the estimates on the cost of "solar/wind plus storage," and I remain somewhat pessimistic that those will actually be delivered, at those costs, in quantity. The easy answer here is to simply use energy when it's available. I do this in my office. It's a bright, sunny day, and I have a bunch of extra compute rigs doing assorted BOINCy tasks at the moment, though sometimes they do video transcode or other things. When it's a dark winter day, I use a lot less energy. And before getting too excited about the state of lithium energy storage, grab yourself a copy of Cobalt Red by Kara. It's an exceedingly disturbing read on the state of cobalt mining in DRC.
- maxerickson 3y agoFuel synthesis is a nice way to use lots of excess electricity. Easy to store, easy to transport, works with existing infrastructure. And then there are alternatives for in place battery storage. They just don't beat lithium-ion given the relative levels of development and current low cost of lithium-ion.
- r00fus 3y agoLithium storage doesn’t necessarily require Cobalt. LFP batteries don’t use Cobalt. Powerwalls don’t use LFP yet (they use NMC) but other battery vendors use LFP.