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Speaking as a greasy capitalist; if I can invest in renewables and make money or resist renewables and make money, why resist? The issue historically has been

• ZeroGravitas 3y ago
  Energiewende, even with its various flaws, has been a good investment for Germany. If they'd been a bit more aggressive about EVs, home heating and offshore wind they'd probably be even better off but that all got derailed by complaints about costs fanned by climate change deniers and leveraged by opportunist politicians.
• blitzar 3y ago
  Without the cheap renewables subsidising their bills germans would be paying even more for their electricity. If they had maintained their nuclear generating capacity + their current (and ever increasing) renewable capacity - electricity in germany would be on the brink of being free and unlimited.
  • TheLoafOfBread 3y ago
    There is no such thing as a cheap renewable when you need to have coal plant running 24/7 as a backup.
    • blitzar 3y ago
      Its cheaper than running everything on coal.
      • TheLoafOfBread 3y ago
        Well that coal runs anyway even if you are not consuming electricity from it.
        • ben_w 3y ago
          The coal doesn't run anyway. Look at how UK coal burning fell off a cliff in recent years: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_active_coal-fired_power_stations_in_the_United_Kingdom#Phase-out_of_coal_in_the_United_Kingdom https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_active_coal-fired_powe... Conversely, the sun does shine even if you don't put up a solar panel.
          • TheLoafOfBread 3y ago
            It does run anyway. You think that you can switch coal plant on/off like it is a light bulb? It takes a week to heat up a coal plant and it takes a week to wind it down. Do it faster, and you will damage it.
            • ben_w 3y ago
              > Coal supplied 1.6% of UK electricity in 2020,[13] down from 30% in 2014.[14] In 2020, coal produced 4.4 TWh of electricity and Britain went 5,202 hours free from coal electricity generation, up from 3,665 hours in 2019 and 1,856 in 2018.[15] QED your claim is falsified. I don't care enough to figure out where exactly your mistake is, but the facts prove you wrong: the coal does, as a point of fact, get switched off.
              • TheLoafOfBread 3y ago
                You have completely missed the point. Sorry. I am talking about fact, that coal plant is running 24/7 because it can't be easily switched on/off, which is important for countries like Germany which are using fossil plants as a backup for intermittent renewables. Try to read whole thread.
                • 3y ago
• pydry 3y ago
  >Speaking as a greasy capitalist; if I can invest in renewables and make money or resist renewables and make money, why resist? Because, hypothetically speaking, as a greasy capitalist you already piled billions into coal fired power stations and oil companies years ago. The capitalists who aren't invested in those things won't resist of course.
• jfengel 3y ago
  If your sense of self as a greasy capitalist relies on a rejection of everything "socialist", then it's easy to choose to resist renewables just because it's something that progressives want. You may not be able to figure out precisely how they're going to establish one-world-government by replacing ICEs with electric cars, but if you take it as axiomatic, you don't have to worry about that.
  • roenxi 3y ago
    That sounds like an attitude that would lead to poverty. I recommend investing in things that make money.