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"But the economy" is an out-of-date framing. The cost of renewables has been plummeting for well over a decade. New renewables are now cheaper than new fossil f
by jtr1 7mo ago
"But the economy" is an out-of-date framing. The cost of renewables has been plummeting for well over a decade. New renewables are now cheaper than new fossil fuel plants in most of the world, and in many regions they're already competitive with or cheaper than simply running existing fossil fuel infrastructure. As modern wars in Ukraine and now Iran are increasingly demonstrating, they are not only cost effective but rapidly a matter of energy sovereignty and national security.
That's not to say we won't need treaties and supranational entities for some aspects of decarbonization. Methane emissions outside of agriculture are notably a problem of enforcement.
We're badly in need of a collective update to our priors regarding renewables. In the US, a hostile policy toward renewables is not only shooting ourselves in the foot environmentally, we are now actively impoverishing ourselves due to entrenched economic interests across the fossil fuel industry and the cultural inertia they actively worked to develop.
- goatlover 7mo agoA new US administration and Congress need to be voted in. There is one party who backs fossil fuel interests and denies anthropogenic climate change. They're currently in charge. The American public didn't see that as an important enough issue in 2024.
- lokar 7mo agoThey are forcing power companies to run coal plants that they don’t want to run (at a loss).
- hdgvhicv 7mo agoAnd invading countries to take the oil which the oil companies don’t want
- FrinkleFrankle 7mo agoThey need a complete reworking of the government. The fact is that bum-fuck states with a handful of citizens can use their senate seats to hold the country hostage. Nothing will ever get better until that is resolved.
- breakpointalpha 7mo agoIn principle, you are right. Cheaper than coal renewables are winning. Don't forget though, that fighter jets can't operate on batteries.
- lokar 7mo agoThey don’t contribute enough to matter
- NewJazz 7mo agoAnd using more electrics powered transport in other sectors frees up fossil fuels for other sectors.
- UqWBcuFx6NV4r 7mo agoThat’s a red herring. It’s not worth mentioning.
- Supermancho 7mo agoExcept for the industries where it does matter. Trivializing the needs of complex and energy hungry supply chains, is bad faith. They are one of the many reasons fossil fuels are so widely used.
- 317070 7mo agoIn the end, the industries that cannot run on biofuels are rare to non-existant. It's not fuel which is the problem, but fossil fuel! You totally can fly on biofuel, but it is not cheap compared to fossil fuel without externalized costs.
- bryanlarsen 7mo agoIf we stop using fossil fuels for the >90% of usage where fossil fuels are easy to replace, it'll make it much easier & cheaper for the <10% where it's difficult.
- 7mo ago
- Aerroon 7mo ago>"But the economy" is an out-of-date framing. Then why is my electricity and gasoline both so much more expensive than they used to be?
- jtr1 7mo agoFor many possible reasons, depending on where you live.