4 ms·

> Enough sunlight falls on the Earth in 30 minutes to power humanity for a year Sure, the sun is incredible, but our capacity of actually using that power is t

> Enough sunlight falls on the Earth in 30 minutes to power humanity for a year Sure, the sun is incredible, but our capacity of actually using that power is the bottleneck. We still have to have energy to dig up the materials and manufacture the panels and batteries and deploy them and such.

toomuchtodo 3mo ago
China is the top user of energy globally, and they are electrifying everything while moving rapidly to renewables for generation. This is the blueprint the rest of the world will eventually follow. China's clean energy generation will be used to spin the clean tech manufacturing flywheel up faster (which will lead to more global clean tech exports to the world). The sun will power the end to end supply chain for making more solar and batteries. Ember Energy: From scale to system: navigating the next phase of China’s battery storage - https://ember-energy.org/latest-insights/from-scale-to-system-navigating-the-next-phase-of-chinas-battery-storage/ https://ember-energy.org/latest-insights/from-scale-to-syste... - July 16th, 2026 China Battery Storage Use Surges After Policy Shift, Ember Energy Says - https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-07-15/china-battery-storage-use-surges-after-policy-shift-ember-says https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-07-15/china-bat... | https://archive.today/QBXxV https://archive.today/QBXxV - July 15th, 2026 China Crosses Energy Milestone as Coal Falls Below 50% of Power - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49110187 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49110187 - July 2026 Nearly a third of new heavy truck sales in China Electric in 2025 - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48676673 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48676673 - June 2026 ("China targeting EVs to make up 40% of heavy truck sales by 2030 - EVs to make up 20% of heavy truck fleet by 2030 - Trade-in schemes will prioritise EV trucks to boost adoption") China Is The World’s First Electrostate - https://cleantechnica.com/2025/05/26/china-is-the-worlds-first-electrostate/ https://cleantechnica.com/2025/05/26/china-is-the-worlds-fir... - May 26th, 2025 China’s Oil & Gas Giant Sinopec Says Peak Oil Demand Already Happened In China - https://cleantechnica.com/2023/10/11/chinas-oil-gas-giant-sinopec-says-peak-oil-demand-already-happened-in-china/ https://cleantechnica.com/2023/10/11/chinas-oil-gas-giant-si... - October 11th, 2023
- bluefirebrand 3mo ago
  China is also building more nuclear than anyone else https://globalenergymonitor.org/research/china-building-half-worlds-new-nuclear-power-despite-inland-plants-pause https://globalenergymonitor.org/research/china-building-half... :)
  - toomuchtodo 3mo ago
    ~110GW of nuclear capacity targeted by 2030. I respect their attempt to diversify, iterate, and drive down the cost of nuclear, but it pales in comparison to renewables (~90-100GW of solar installed per month, on average). Lets see what 2030 looks like. China’s Nuclear Energy Priorities Under Its 15th Five-Year Plan - https://www.csis.org/analysis/chinas-nuclear-energy-priorities-under-its-15th-five-year-plan https://www.csis.org/analysis/chinas-nuclear-energy-prioriti... - May 11th, 2026 > China continues to view nuclear as an electricity source that advances its energy security while also reducing reliance on fossil fuels, as noted in the latest FYP (Part II, Chapter 7): “Promote the safe, reliable, and orderly replacement of fossil fuels with non-fossil energy sources; pursue a multi-pronged approach that combines wind, solar, hydro, and nuclear power; and implement the ten-year plan to double non-fossil energy capacity.” The remarkable growth of renewable energy sources and coal’s continuing preeminence have shaped nuclear energy’s role as a non-carbon-emitting baseload in China’s power generation portfolio (Table 1). Nuclear energy seems to serve as a versatile power source that supplements coal’s role as an energy security enforcer as well as the role of renewables as clean energy boosters. By 2030, China targets 110 gigawatts (GW) of installed nuclear power capacity. If realized, the installed capacity in China will surpass that of the United States unless U.S. capacity—currently the world’s largest—grows substantially from 102.5 GW (gross) in 2025.
    - bluefirebrand 3mo ago
      My point is that China realizes that their energy goals should include a nuclear plan too If you're going to point at them and say "we should be doing what they're doing" then part of that includes doing nuclear.

toomuchtodo 3mo ago

China is the top user of energy globally, and they are electrifying everything while moving rapidly to renewables for generation. This is the blueprint the rest of the world will eventually follow. China's clean energy generation will be used to spin the clean tech manufacturing flywheel up faster (which will lead to more global clean tech exports to the world). The sun will power the end to end supply chain for making more solar and batteries. Ember Energy: From scale to system: navigating the next phase of China’s battery storage - https://ember-energy.org/latest-insights/from-scale-to-system-navigating-the-next-phase-of-chinas-battery-storage/ https://ember-energy.org/latest-insights/from-scale-to-syste... - July 16th, 2026 China Battery Storage Use Surges After Policy Shift, Ember Energy Says - https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-07-15/china-battery-storage-use-surges-after-policy-shift-ember-says https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-07-15/china-bat... | https://archive.today/QBXxV https://archive.today/QBXxV - July 15th, 2026 China Crosses Energy Milestone as Coal Falls Below 50% of Power - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49110187 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49110187 - July 2026 Nearly a third of new heavy truck sales in China Electric in 2025 - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48676673 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48676673 - June 2026 ("China targeting EVs to make up 40% of heavy truck sales by 2030 - EVs to make up 20% of heavy truck fleet by 2030 - Trade-in schemes will prioritise EV trucks to boost adoption") China Is The World’s First Electrostate - https://cleantechnica.com/2025/05/26/china-is-the-worlds-first-electrostate/ https://cleantechnica.com/2025/05/26/china-is-the-worlds-fir... - May 26th, 2025 China’s Oil & Gas Giant Sinopec Says Peak Oil Demand Already Happened In China - https://cleantechnica.com/2023/10/11/chinas-oil-gas-giant-sinopec-says-peak-oil-demand-already-happened-in-china/ https://cleantechnica.com/2023/10/11/chinas-oil-gas-giant-si... - October 11th, 2023

bluefirebrand 3mo ago
China is also building more nuclear than anyone else https://globalenergymonitor.org/research/china-building-half-worlds-new-nuclear-power-despite-inland-plants-pause https://globalenergymonitor.org/research/china-building-half... :)
- toomuchtodo 3mo ago
  ~110GW of nuclear capacity targeted by 2030. I respect their attempt to diversify, iterate, and drive down the cost of nuclear, but it pales in comparison to renewables (~90-100GW of solar installed per month, on average). Lets see what 2030 looks like. China’s Nuclear Energy Priorities Under Its 15th Five-Year Plan - https://www.csis.org/analysis/chinas-nuclear-energy-priorities-under-its-15th-five-year-plan https://www.csis.org/analysis/chinas-nuclear-energy-prioriti... - May 11th, 2026 > China continues to view nuclear as an electricity source that advances its energy security while also reducing reliance on fossil fuels, as noted in the latest FYP (Part II, Chapter 7): “Promote the safe, reliable, and orderly replacement of fossil fuels with non-fossil energy sources; pursue a multi-pronged approach that combines wind, solar, hydro, and nuclear power; and implement the ten-year plan to double non-fossil energy capacity.” The remarkable growth of renewable energy sources and coal’s continuing preeminence have shaped nuclear energy’s role as a non-carbon-emitting baseload in China’s power generation portfolio (Table 1). Nuclear energy seems to serve as a versatile power source that supplements coal’s role as an energy security enforcer as well as the role of renewables as clean energy boosters. By 2030, China targets 110 gigawatts (GW) of installed nuclear power capacity. If realized, the installed capacity in China will surpass that of the United States unless U.S. capacity—currently the world’s largest—grows substantially from 102.5 GW (gross) in 2025.
  - bluefirebrand 3mo ago
    My point is that China realizes that their energy goals should include a nuclear plan too If you're going to point at them and say "we should be doing what they're doing" then part of that includes doing nuclear.