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China installed more renewable energy in 2023 than the United States has installed in its entire history.
by melling 3y ago
China installed more renewable energy in 2023 than the United States has installed in its entire history.
- pstuart 3y agoYes, and that's great. But coal is still king and the enemy of coal is our friend: https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/energy-consumption-by-source-and-country?stackMode=absolute&country=~CHN https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/energy-consumption-by-sou... It shouldn't be an either or equation. It should be yes, and.
- melling 3y agoYes, globally we are using more coal now than ever. And fossil fuel usage is still increasing. https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/world-oil-gas-coal-demand-peak-by-2030-iea-says-2023-10-24/ https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/world-oil-gas-coal-d...
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- jansan 3y agoYou know, if parts of your country are as south as the Sahara desert, it just makes a lot of sense to install solar. Just like solar makes a lot more sense in the US than in Germany, which is more to the north than all parts of the US except Alaska and the most northern parts of WA/MT/ND/MN.
- pstuart 3y agoI am as pro-solar as can be, and am thrilled by the decreased costs and increased installation. I think every building where possible should have solar on it. Carports, agrivoltaics, etc. It's a no-brainer in addressing climate change, reducing energy costs, and more self-sufficiency. But not all the world has such solar profiles and there are also (addressable) issues with solar (storage, grid integration). This isn't a "pick one" problem. It's about feeding an energy hungry planet without cooking it, and every non carbon source should be embraced.
- jiggawatts 3y agoThe problem with this logic is that solar + storage is still cheaper than nuclear.
- jupp0r 3y agoI don't think that's generally true, especially if you build nuclear as cost effectively as China does.
- matthewdgreen 3y agoChina is building vastly more solar and wind than they are solar. And nuclear construction has slowed down noticeably as wind+PV has accelerated in the past few years.
- defrost 3y agoThe International Energy Agency (IEA) World Energy Outlook 2023 report outlines China has having an extensive expansion of both nuclear and renewables driving a decrease in China's coal use mid this decade. It also asserts that China is behind 30% of all new nuclear power builds (under construction). https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/uncertainty-is-key-ieas-hopes-chinas-energy-transition-russell-2023-10-24/ https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/uncertainty-is-key-i... https://www.iea.org/reports/world-energy-outlook-2023/executive-summary https://www.iea.org/reports/world-energy-outlook-2023/execut... (D/L full 355 page PDF) https://iea.blob.core.windows.net/assets/42b23c45-78bc-4482-b0f9-eb826ae2da3d/WorldEnergyOutlook2023.pdf https://iea.blob.core.windows.net/assets/42b23c45-78bc-4482-...
- matthewdgreen 3y agoThis gives a picture of the current rate of deployment, may not include the current year which was even more extreme. https://illuminem.b-cdn.net/articlebody/661dc49b524b0dd9f1ad1d746c43465741b069f6.png https://illuminem.b-cdn.net/articlebody/661dc49b524b0dd9f1ad...
- osigurdson 3y agoIt is also building more coal plants than anyone else. https://www.npr.org/2023/03/02/1160441919/china-is-building-six-times-more-new-coal-plants-than-other-countries-report-fin https://www.npr.org/2023/03/02/1160441919/china-is-building-...