4 ms·

and ~40% of electricity at this point is renewable

vlovich123 3y ago
It’s slightly less than that and about half of that is hydro. Wind/solar is growing too slowly
robocat 3y ago
That is irrelevant and a pernicious myth when buying an EV - that renewable power is already mostly all used. When adding load you need to consider where the extra power is generated from for your location. Also see sibling comment https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38536601 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38536601 and https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27317119 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27317119 and https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26255833 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26255833 Sorry: I'm probably answering a point that you are not making.
- thebruce87m 3y ago
  Many people in my country charge at night. We get a cheaper rate - 7.5p/kWh vs 30p as the grid has excess capacity at that point.
  - vlovich123 3y ago
    Hate to break it to you, but that's definitely not getting charged off solar then and possibly not wind either (depends on how the grid is being maintained).
    - adgjlsfhk1 3y ago
      It is probably largely nuclear. Nuclear plants pretty much never get turned off since they're roughly free to run, and there's much less power used at night.
    - thebruce87m 3y ago
      It’s mostly wind: https://electricityproduction.uk/in/scotland/ https://electricityproduction.uk/in/scotland/
      - robocat 3y ago
        Cool. It is misleading picking Scotland - power is fungible across borders. Otherwise I could claim I was green because my house is next to a hydroelectric dam and I could claim the guys house next to the coal fired plant is bad. the graphs shows interconnects but I couldn't see any power exports to Europe. I presume if there is extra wind generation at 5AM it gets exported to countries that are waking up.
        thebruce87m 3y ago
        I live in Scotland, where should I pick?
        robocat 3y ago
        The relevant figures are for the UK as a whole. If you add load then that marginal extra power comes from the UK network. The interconnects with Europe make it more difficult to know the marginal difference in CO2 production. I live in the South Island of New Zealand which has huge hydropower - power is sent to the North Island via the undersea DC link: https://www.transpower.co.nz/system-operator/live-system-and-market-data/hvdc-transfer https://www.transpower.co.nz/system-operator/live-system-and... So if I add load then what matters is where the marginal extra power demanded is generated from across the whole network (even if that is in the North Island).

It’s slightly less than that and about half of that is hydro. Wind/solar is growing too slowly

That is irrelevant and a pernicious myth when buying an EV - that renewable power is already mostly all used. When adding load you need to consider where the extra power is generated from for your location. Also see sibling comment https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38536601 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38536601 and https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27317119 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27317119 and https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26255833 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26255833 Sorry: I'm probably answering a point that you are not making.

thebruce87m 3y ago
Many people in my country charge at night. We get a cheaper rate - 7.5p/kWh vs 30p as the grid has excess capacity at that point.
- vlovich123 3y ago
  Hate to break it to you, but that's definitely not getting charged off solar then and possibly not wind either (depends on how the grid is being maintained).
  - adgjlsfhk1 3y ago
    It is probably largely nuclear. Nuclear plants pretty much never get turned off since they're roughly free to run, and there's much less power used at night.
  - thebruce87m 3y ago
    It’s mostly wind: https://electricityproduction.uk/in/scotland/ https://electricityproduction.uk/in/scotland/
    - robocat 3y ago
      Cool. It is misleading picking Scotland - power is fungible across borders. Otherwise I could claim I was green because my house is next to a hydroelectric dam and I could claim the guys house next to the coal fired plant is bad. the graphs shows interconnects but I couldn't see any power exports to Europe. I presume if there is extra wind generation at 5AM it gets exported to countries that are waking up.
      - thebruce87m 3y ago
        I live in Scotland, where should I pick?
        robocat 3y ago
        The relevant figures are for the UK as a whole. If you add load then that marginal extra power comes from the UK network. The interconnects with Europe make it more difficult to know the marginal difference in CO2 production. I live in the South Island of New Zealand which has huge hydropower - power is sent to the North Island via the undersea DC link: https://www.transpower.co.nz/system-operator/live-system-and-market-data/hvdc-transfer https://www.transpower.co.nz/system-operator/live-system-and... So if I add load then what matters is where the marginal extra power demanded is generated from across the whole network (even if that is in the North Island).