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This is not what the article is about. There is nothing in the article about exporting. The percentage of America's electricity generated by non-renewables is

by Clent 2y ago

This is not what the article is about. There is nothing in the article about exporting. The percentage of America's electricity generated by non-renewables is lagging behind others. The crux of the article is that American has replaced coal with natural gas.

RetroTechie 2y ago
Of course fossil fuel lobby had nothing to do with that..
tonetegeatinst 2y ago
Agreed. However I'd argue there is a few major factors. 1. I live in a state with nuclear power, I love radiation, but I also recognize that the US has basically been super avoidance of nuclear anything since the three mile incident. Even though no direct lives were lost, it created a lot of fear. And nuclear power also gets the PR of nuclear weapons unfortunately 2. Where I live solar might be feasible if the trees were not so dam tall....so we only get like 4 or many 5 hours of direct sunlight on the best days. I'm all for solar and love to see it becoming commonplace in my area over the past 5 years, but I also realize that its still not super affordable or efficient. 3. Regulation is a thing. Its not easy to start a power company that produces electricity. Even if you ignore the capital requirements, their are laws and regulations that need to be followed and these exist for a reason. In addition, you need to be able to generate enough profit so that you can repay the loans you probably took to get your company started, you also need to pay salary, and maintenance bills, and be planning for the future when your current equipment breaks or its lifespan has reached its end. You need to juggle this mess all without charging customers (the consumer and distribution company) to much otherwise they will straight up go out of their way to not do business with you. Sure solar dosnt need to buy physical stuff like a coal factory does or even how a nuclear plant needs to buy fuel....but you need to keep those panels or your wind turbines in running condition. You need to be able to have a battery backup method for the stormy cloudy days with no wind. This all costs money and its not something that can spring up out of nowhere. 3. Renewables are not a basic technology. Just like how a gas factory burn fuel or an engine needs to be made to certain tolerances to work. You have that problem but its 1000× worse. Your solar cells are not something that can easily be fabed. You need extremely specialized equipment similar to a semiconductor boundary or a EV battery maker. Wind turbine blades are massive and very few places can actually make them, what kinda wait time do you think a brand new turbine blade has? All of this to mention that while solar cells have become cheaper, they only last 20 to 25 years tops and we need more efficient cost effective improvements. Turbine blades are a nightmare to make and transport, and can easily break, and we currently don't recycle them. All of this points to a future that is grey and hazy. These are technical issues were facing, and its not something that gets fixed overnight. R&D isn't free and when coal and gas are much cheaper at the moment, well as much as I dislike the practice I can't blame company's for using what makes economic sense. Keep in mind, all of this, be it renewables or the most inefficient coal power plant is still impacting the environment. Those renewables like solar or nuclear are expensive, require high precision, and use expensive metals. Hell the power lines alone.....just imagine how much co2 was produced refining the metal cables and insulation. Now remember that energy transmission is inefficient and nowhere near close to lossless. I think were seeing a buildup of our current limits in technology given our current solution. Things like better solar or wind, or small breader reactors have potential, but it's going to take Time, money, and a lot of innovation to get to a better greener future where we can meet future energy needs while drasticly reducing our impact on earth.

by Clent 2y ago

RetroTechie 2y ago

Of course fossil fuel lobby had nothing to do with that..

tonetegeatinst 2y ago

Agreed. However I'd argue there is a few major factors. 1. I live in a state with nuclear power, I love radiation, but I also recognize that the US has basically been super avoidance of nuclear anything since the three mile incident. Even though no direct lives were lost, it created a lot of fear. And nuclear power also gets the PR of nuclear weapons unfortunately 2. Where I live solar might be feasible if the trees were not so dam tall....so we only get like 4 or many 5 hours of direct sunlight on the best days. I'm all for solar and love to see it becoming commonplace in my area over the past 5 years, but I also realize that its still not super affordable or efficient. 3. Regulation is a thing. Its not easy to start a power company that produces electricity. Even if you ignore the capital requirements, their are laws and regulations that need to be followed and these exist for a reason. In addition, you need to be able to generate enough profit so that you can repay the loans you probably took to get your company started, you also need to pay salary, and maintenance bills, and be planning for the future when your current equipment breaks or its lifespan has reached its end. You need to juggle this mess all without charging customers (the consumer and distribution company) to much otherwise they will straight up go out of their way to not do business with you. Sure solar dosnt need to buy physical stuff like a coal factory does or even how a nuclear plant needs to buy fuel....but you need to keep those panels or your wind turbines in running condition. You need to be able to have a battery backup method for the stormy cloudy days with no wind. This all costs money and its not something that can spring up out of nowhere. 3. Renewables are not a basic technology. Just like how a gas factory burn fuel or an engine needs to be made to certain tolerances to work. You have that problem but its 1000× worse. Your solar cells are not something that can easily be fabed. You need extremely specialized equipment similar to a semiconductor boundary or a EV battery maker. Wind turbine blades are massive and very few places can actually make them, what kinda wait time do you think a brand new turbine blade has? All of this to mention that while solar cells have become cheaper, they only last 20 to 25 years tops and we need more efficient cost effective improvements. Turbine blades are a nightmare to make and transport, and can easily break, and we currently don't recycle them. All of this points to a future that is grey and hazy. These are technical issues were facing, and its not something that gets fixed overnight. R&D isn't free and when coal and gas are much cheaper at the moment, well as much as I dislike the practice I can't blame company's for using what makes economic sense. Keep in mind, all of this, be it renewables or the most inefficient coal power plant is still impacting the environment. Those renewables like solar or nuclear are expensive, require high precision, and use expensive metals. Hell the power lines alone.....just imagine how much co2 was produced refining the metal cables and insulation. Now remember that energy transmission is inefficient and nowhere near close to lossless. I think were seeing a buildup of our current limits in technology given our current solution. Things like better solar or wind, or small breader reactors have potential, but it's going to take Time, money, and a lot of innovation to get to a better greener future where we can meet future energy needs while drasticly reducing our impact on earth.