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You keep using that word (exponential), but I do not think it means what you think it means.

• matthewdgreen 3y ago
  It means that growth in renewable deployment over the past several years can be fit to an exponential curve, and shows no signs of immediate slowdown. If what you think I’m saying is that growth will continue on that trajectory forever, then that’s a very foolish thought.
  • xedrac 3y ago
    I'm sorry my comment was a little snarky. What I meant to say is that is not an exponential curve. It may have tracked with a quadratic curve, or even a cubic curve, but not an exponential curve. In mathematics, a curve that grows exponentially is (loose definition) one where the exponent is increasing as you move along the x-axis. f(x)=2^x is an example of an exponential curve. f(x)=x^2 is an example of a quadratic curve that may better describe what you're referring to.
    • matthewdgreen 3y ago
      In this case we're talking about a situation where growth occurs by a (relatively) constant percentage over a period of time. Between 2000-2022 solar capacity has been increasing at about 37% per year, doubling every 2.2 years (per Wikipedia) and that trend appears to be on track to continue for at least a few more years, until (obviously) it levels out because the world is finite.