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The price of renewables has plunged to be cheaper than fossil fuels, battery tech is improving while prices are dropping, new jobs are created, etc, etc. Makin

The price of renewables has plunged to be cheaper than fossil fuels, battery tech is improving while prices are dropping, new jobs are created, etc, etc. Making these changes are investments with real payoff in the near term. The real impediment is that fossil fuels have made some people incredibly rich, and they are actively fighting these changes to protect their income.

speakfreely 2y ago
> The price of renewables has plunged to be cheaper than fossil fuels Is there a source for this? If you're referencing LCOE, remember that does not account for storage costs for intermittent power sources (wind, solar) so it's an incredibly misleading number.
- pstuart 2y ago
  First hit on google: https://gasoutlook.com/analysis/u-s-renewable-energy-beats-fossil-fuels-on-cost-study/#:~:text=Lazard%20estimates%20that%20utility%2Dscale,at%20%2439%20to%20%24101%2FMWh https://gasoutlook.com/analysis/u-s-renewable-energy-beats-f.... Roughly parity for LCOE once storage is added. Battery prices continues to drop and in short order it will be flat out cheaper with storage included: https://rmi.org/the-rise-of-batteries-in-six-charts-and-not-too-many-numbers/ https://rmi.org/the-rise-of-batteries-in-six-charts-and-not-... Add to that investments in the national grid and general energy efficiency it's doable: https://www.nrel.gov/analysis/100-percent-clean-electricity-by-2035-study.html https://www.nrel.gov/analysis/100-percent-clean-electricity-... Again, the only reason to not pursue this is to keep the fossil fuel companies profits flowing, and that isn't very compelling.
  - deleted 2y ago
    [deleted]
  - speakfreely 2y ago
    From your link: > The Lazard study looked at the “cost of firming,” which consists of building extra capacity to back up solar and wind, for example, leading to an increase in total costs. When included, the economic advantage for solar and wind over gas narrows considerably, and in some cases gas at the low end of the cost curve beats out “firm” solar and wind projects, particularly in California where costs of firming are higher. > The headline LCOE costs look really striking for solar and wind, but when those firming costs are included, renewables “do not look as low-cost as the first LCOE figures imply,” Patiño-Echeverri said. There doesn't need to be a fossil fuel boogeyman behind every decision to continue the status quo. Sometimes the math is the math. Hopefully that will change in the future.

speakfreely 2y ago

> The price of renewables has plunged to be cheaper than fossil fuels Is there a source for this? If you're referencing LCOE, remember that does not account for storage costs for intermittent power sources (wind, solar) so it's an incredibly misleading number.

pstuart 2y ago
First hit on google: https://gasoutlook.com/analysis/u-s-renewable-energy-beats-fossil-fuels-on-cost-study/#:~:text=Lazard%20estimates%20that%20utility%2Dscale,at%20%2439%20to%20%24101%2FMWh https://gasoutlook.com/analysis/u-s-renewable-energy-beats-f.... Roughly parity for LCOE once storage is added. Battery prices continues to drop and in short order it will be flat out cheaper with storage included: https://rmi.org/the-rise-of-batteries-in-six-charts-and-not-too-many-numbers/ https://rmi.org/the-rise-of-batteries-in-six-charts-and-not-... Add to that investments in the national grid and general energy efficiency it's doable: https://www.nrel.gov/analysis/100-percent-clean-electricity-by-2035-study.html https://www.nrel.gov/analysis/100-percent-clean-electricity-... Again, the only reason to not pursue this is to keep the fossil fuel companies profits flowing, and that isn't very compelling.
- deleted 2y ago
  [deleted]
- speakfreely 2y ago
  From your link: > The Lazard study looked at the “cost of firming,” which consists of building extra capacity to back up solar and wind, for example, leading to an increase in total costs. When included, the economic advantage for solar and wind over gas narrows considerably, and in some cases gas at the low end of the cost curve beats out “firm” solar and wind projects, particularly in California where costs of firming are higher. > The headline LCOE costs look really striking for solar and wind, but when those firming costs are included, renewables “do not look as low-cost as the first LCOE figures imply,” Patiño-Echeverri said. There doesn't need to be a fossil fuel boogeyman behind every decision to continue the status quo. Sometimes the math is the math. Hopefully that will change in the future.