3 ms·

According to the article, this expectation is actually caused by "green" energy implementations and the shift to climate friendly infra. Mankind should be free

According to the article, this expectation is actually caused by "green" energy implementations and the shift to climate friendly infra. Mankind should be free to consume as much energy as it wants, but we need to focus on making that energy carbon neutral (or negative). A quick google suggests that 173,000 terawatts of solar energy hits the earth continuously. If my googling and maths are correct, we're using 22k TWhr total meaning more energy hits the earth in 1 hour than we use annually. Edit: plz do correct me on these maths if I'm off, i'm by no means an expert.

alpark3 3y ago
But that number means nothing because it's not even close to the magnitude of energy we can begin to capture.
- maerF0x0 3y ago
  Yes, and the point is that we don't need to be constraining our consumption as there's essentially no lack of energy. We need to be increasing our production/capture.
fragmede 3y ago
> According to the article Given the forces aligned against green energy, I don't want to say big oil, but well, big oil, I don't see why we should that that at face value. Sunshine is generally quite available during hot sunny days, so it seems like it should scale for providing energy to power AC units.
- nradov 3y ago
  Peak AC demand in most areas is well after peak solar power production times. During the summer months AC demand often extends well after sunset. To an extent we can use solar power generated in the western US to feed some of the later hours of AC demand in the east. But we can't do the reverse. And even the most optimistic estimates state that we are many years from having a useful amount of grid scale storage.
  - maerF0x0 3y ago
    To give an illustrative idea of your point -- I typically leave my AC at 75f during daylight (when it's 100f ambient), but turn it down to 70 to sleep (when it's 85-90f ambient). So it's possible I'm actually ACing more or as much at night.

alpark3 3y ago

But that number means nothing because it's not even close to the magnitude of energy we can begin to capture.

maerF0x0 3y ago
Yes, and the point is that we don't need to be constraining our consumption as there's essentially no lack of energy. We need to be increasing our production/capture.

fragmede 3y ago

> According to the article Given the forces aligned against green energy, I don't want to say big oil, but well, big oil, I don't see why we should that that at face value. Sunshine is generally quite available during hot sunny days, so it seems like it should scale for providing energy to power AC units.

nradov 3y ago
Peak AC demand in most areas is well after peak solar power production times. During the summer months AC demand often extends well after sunset. To an extent we can use solar power generated in the western US to feed some of the later hours of AC demand in the east. But we can't do the reverse. And even the most optimistic estimates state that we are many years from having a useful amount of grid scale storage.
- maerF0x0 3y ago
  To give an illustrative idea of your point -- I typically leave my AC at 75f during daylight (when it's 100f ambient), but turn it down to 70 to sleep (when it's 85-90f ambient). So it's possible I'm actually ACing more or as much at night.