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conversely, china has installed more solar than the US has in total capacity - every year for the past several years https://www.technologyreview.com/2025/07/1

by ruined 1y ago

conversely, china has installed more solar than the US has in total capacity - every year for the past several years https://www.technologyreview.com/2025/07/10/1119941/china-energy-dominance-three-charts/ https://www.technologyreview.com/2025/07/10/1119941/china-en... https://apnews.com/article/china-climate-solar-wind-carbon-emissions-ab119c39f226cfbeb2f5c1449747cae9 https://apnews.com/article/china-climate-solar-wind-carbon-e... https://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.php?id=65064 https://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.php?id=65064

linotype 1y ago
Amazing what you can do when you don’t have elections. Edit: I’m 100% for renewables. Unfortunately half my country is against them and they won last time.
- softwaredoug 1y ago
  Solar and Wind are some of the most popular forms of energy generation https://www.pewresearch.org/science/2025/06/05/americans-views-on-energy-at-the-start-of-trumps-second-term/ https://www.pewresearch.org/science/2025/06/05/americans-vie...
  - Kye 1y ago
    Representative democracy in name only, for it is neither.
- ruined 1y ago
  the central committee is actually trying to slow it down https://www.pv-magazine.com/2025/07/07/china-moves-to-curb-solar-overcapacity-stabilize-pricing/ https://www.pv-magazine.com/2025/07/07/china-moves-to-curb-s...
- ZeroGravitas 1y ago
  Climate action and renewables has always been very popular with voters. Since political action has consistently lagged popular support I'd suggest that you'd need to look outside elections to see what is holding the west back on this.
  - nielsbot 1y ago
    Popular but I guess not a top concern with voters for one thing. Also the influence of money on US politics is anti-progress.
  - mastax 1y ago
    Popular in the abstract, unpopular if you ask how much voters are willing to spend or sacrifice for it.
    - ZeroGravitas 1y ago
      This is just a talking point put about by climate deniers since dealing with climate change is cheaper than the alternative. It's no different from Fox News headlines saying Medicare for all would cost X billion and not mentioning that business as usual would cost twice that. An attempt to turn a popular, cheaper option into a scary bogeyman with selective lies.
- bognition 1y ago
  Amazing what you can do when the ruling class hasn’t spent the last 40 years undermining education and gutting services.
  - linotype 1y ago
    gestures broadly at things I have no control over and things I wish didn’t happen
- 8note 1y ago
  i dont think that the US, without elections, would suddenly go on a renewables building spree. the same interests that prevent it today would still exist
- 93po 1y ago
  if you're going to list the strengths of china, one of the biggest ones is unironically having leadership that doesnt get interrupted in massive ways every 4 years. i'm not going to debate the negative parts of that, clearly it is also problematic, but despite the negative aspects it has factually largely contributed to their strength and prosperity
baud147258 1y ago
They're still massively using coal and using more and more of it. https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/electricity-prod-source-stacked?tab=chart&country=~CHN https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/electricity-prod-source-s...
- estimator7292 1y ago
  So they're evil and their progress is meaningless because it isn't immediately perfect? The US is far, far worse than China.
  - beej71 1y ago
    The numbers I've seen aren't currently far worse, with the US producing slightly more CO2 per capita than China. But the trend is there to make it eventually far worse as we maneuver to be bass-ackwards.
    - robocat 1y ago
      I liked this comment looking at CO2/kWh instead of per capita https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44990464 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44990464
- thunderbong 1y ago
  Well, they are making more stuff
- ViewTrick1002 1y ago
  The Chinese coal usage in absolute terms has recently started to decrease due to the massive renewable build out. In other words: China is building enough renewables to both cover the grid expansion and offset existing coal usage.
  - baud147258 1y ago
    > Chinese coal usage in absolute terms has recently started to decrease That's not what the data I had linked above seems to indicate (2023 to 2024 it went from 5.7 to 5.8 TWh) And it keeps building coal power plants: https://www.sustainabilitybynumbers.com/p/china-coal-plants https://www.sustainabilitybynumbers.com/p/china-coal-plants, though the article is also optimistic that China is at/about to reach peak coal. And it's also funding coal power plants abroad, thought the scale doesn't seem that big compared to their domestic production: https://oilprice.com/Latest-Energy-News/World-News/China-Continues-to-Build-Coal-Power-Plants-Abroad-Despite-Vow-to-Quit.html https://oilprice.com/Latest-Energy-News/World-News/China-Con...

by ruined 1y ago

linotype 1y ago

Amazing what you can do when you don’t have elections. Edit: I’m 100% for renewables. Unfortunately half my country is against them and they won last time.

softwaredoug 1y ago
Solar and Wind are some of the most popular forms of energy generation https://www.pewresearch.org/science/2025/06/05/americans-views-on-energy-at-the-start-of-trumps-second-term/ https://www.pewresearch.org/science/2025/06/05/americans-vie...
- Kye 1y ago
  Representative democracy in name only, for it is neither.
ruined 1y ago
the central committee is actually trying to slow it down https://www.pv-magazine.com/2025/07/07/china-moves-to-curb-solar-overcapacity-stabilize-pricing/ https://www.pv-magazine.com/2025/07/07/china-moves-to-curb-s...
ZeroGravitas 1y ago
Climate action and renewables has always been very popular with voters. Since political action has consistently lagged popular support I'd suggest that you'd need to look outside elections to see what is holding the west back on this.
- nielsbot 1y ago
  Popular but I guess not a top concern with voters for one thing. Also the influence of money on US politics is anti-progress.
- mastax 1y ago
  Popular in the abstract, unpopular if you ask how much voters are willing to spend or sacrifice for it.
  - ZeroGravitas 1y ago
    This is just a talking point put about by climate deniers since dealing with climate change is cheaper than the alternative. It's no different from Fox News headlines saying Medicare for all would cost X billion and not mentioning that business as usual would cost twice that. An attempt to turn a popular, cheaper option into a scary bogeyman with selective lies.
bognition 1y ago
Amazing what you can do when the ruling class hasn’t spent the last 40 years undermining education and gutting services.
- linotype 1y ago
  gestures broadly at things I have no control over and things I wish didn’t happen
8note 1y ago
i dont think that the US, without elections, would suddenly go on a renewables building spree. the same interests that prevent it today would still exist
93po 1y ago
if you're going to list the strengths of china, one of the biggest ones is unironically having leadership that doesnt get interrupted in massive ways every 4 years. i'm not going to debate the negative parts of that, clearly it is also problematic, but despite the negative aspects it has factually largely contributed to their strength and prosperity

baud147258 1y ago

They're still massively using coal and using more and more of it. https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/electricity-prod-source-stacked?tab=chart&country=~CHN https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/electricity-prod-source-s...

estimator7292 1y ago
So they're evil and their progress is meaningless because it isn't immediately perfect? The US is far, far worse than China.
- beej71 1y ago
  The numbers I've seen aren't currently far worse, with the US producing slightly more CO2 per capita than China. But the trend is there to make it eventually far worse as we maneuver to be bass-ackwards.
  - robocat 1y ago
    I liked this comment looking at CO2/kWh instead of per capita https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44990464 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44990464
thunderbong 1y ago
Well, they are making more stuff
ViewTrick1002 1y ago
The Chinese coal usage in absolute terms has recently started to decrease due to the massive renewable build out. In other words: China is building enough renewables to both cover the grid expansion and offset existing coal usage.
- baud147258 1y ago
  > Chinese coal usage in absolute terms has recently started to decrease That's not what the data I had linked above seems to indicate (2023 to 2024 it went from 5.7 to 5.8 TWh) And it keeps building coal power plants: https://www.sustainabilitybynumbers.com/p/china-coal-plants https://www.sustainabilitybynumbers.com/p/china-coal-plants, though the article is also optimistic that China is at/about to reach peak coal. And it's also funding coal power plants abroad, thought the scale doesn't seem that big compared to their domestic production: https://oilprice.com/Latest-Energy-News/World-News/China-Continues-to-Build-Coal-Power-Plants-Abroad-Despite-Vow-to-Quit.html https://oilprice.com/Latest-Energy-News/World-News/China-Con...