4 ms·
Capacity is not generation.
by kgabis 3y ago
Capacity is not generation.
- toomuchtodo 3y agoGeneration capacity * capacity factor = reasonable estimate of generation over a window of time.
- kgabis 3y agoMaybe it's better to use numbers based on generation estimate then? Comparing capacity of baseload and intermittent energy sources is very misleading.
- toomuchtodo 3y agoThe need for baseload generation is a myth. https://www.ceem.unsw.edu.au/sites/default/files/uploads/publications/MarkBaseloadFallacyANZSEE.pdf https://www.ceem.unsw.edu.au/sites/default/files/uploads/pub... https://energypost.eu/dispelling-nuclear-baseload-myth-nothing-renewables-cant-better/ https://energypost.eu/dispelling-nuclear-baseload-myth-nothi... https://theconversation.com/baseload-power-is-a-myth-even-intermittent-renewables-will-work-13210 https://theconversation.com/baseload-power-is-a-myth-even-in...
- kgabis 3y agoSure, renewables+gas can be considered a baseload source of electricity. Though it's not very cheap nor carbon neutral.
- toomuchtodo 3y agoOverproduction of renewables, transmission, and battery/pumped hydro storage negates the need for fossil gas for that last bit of power. Certainly, today, fossil gas is used to fill the gaps, but as the world begins deploying in excess of 1TW/year of renewables this year, that fossil gas will be rapidly pushed out of the mix. And it is arguably better to let those generation facilities become stranded and require decommissioning vs more nuclear (which is orders of magnitude more expensive to decomm due to the nature of nuclear fuel, spent, unspent, and anything it has exposed). Once the world is awash in clean, renewable energy, we can then scale up direct air carbon capture, paying back the carbon debt we incurred through industrialization burning fossil fuels. No nuclear required.
- kgabis 3y agoIt sounds great until you start doing the math. We can't decarbonise without nuclear, just look at Germany. It's a poster child for renewables yet it's barely doing better than Poland (where I live). Meanwhile France is (as of now) emitting 1/10th of Germany's CO2 per unit of energy generated.
- toomuchtodo 3y agohttps://www.cnbc.com/2021/12/21/us-can-get-to-100percent-clean-energy-without-nuclear-power-stanford-professor-says.html https://www.cnbc.com/2021/12/21/us-can-get-to-100percent-cle... https://www.euronews.com/green/2021/11/01/most-scenarios-today-show-you-don-t-need-nuclear-to-get-to-net-zero-jeffrey-sachs https://www.euronews.com/green/2021/11/01/most-scenarios-tod... There are lots of grids without any nuclear power already. Poland only has ~34GW of total fossil generation, very easy to replace without nuclear. https://app.electricitymaps.com/zone/PL?wind=false&solar=false https://app.electricitymaps.com/zone/PL?wind=false&solar=fal...
- kgabis 3y agoYou're focusing on electricity and omitting heating, transport, industry and farming.
- kleiba 3y agoBy which metric is Germany barely doing better than Poland? In 2023, Poland produced 26% of its electricity from renewable sources [1], while Germany produced 52%. And that is with more than twice the amount of people living (and using energy) in Germany as compared to Poland. [1] https://notesfrompoland.com/2024/01/03/poland-produced-record-26-of-electricity-from-renewables-in-2023/ https://notesfrompoland.com/2024/01/03/poland-produced-recor...
- kgabis 3y agoRenewable energy is not the target, carbon neutrality is. German CO2 emissions per capita were only marginally better than Poland's in 2022 (8.0t vs 8.1t).