Bill Gates “How to Avoid a Climate Disaster: The Solutions We Have and the Breakthroughs We Need”.
I found a typo in one of his solar calculations, which seemed weird given how influential the book is going to be.
Ask HN: Book recommendations for renewable energy and climate change?
21–30 of 32 posts
Re: Ask HN: Book recommendations for renewable energy and climate change?
#22Bill Gates “How to Avoid a Climate Disaster: The Solutions We Have and the Breakthroughs We Need”.
https://m.dw.com/en/scientists-pour-cold-water-on-bill-gates... His huge investment in modular nuclear reactors may not be all it's cracked up to be.
He invests in a lot of things. The book is not about nuclear reactors.
Re: Ask HN: Book recommendations for renewable energy and climate change?
#23Earlier quoted context omitted.
https://m.dw.com/en/scientists-pour-cold-water-on-bill-gates... His huge investment in modular nuclear reactors may not be all it's cracked up to be.
He invests in a lot of things. The book is not about nuclear reactors.
The book advocates for more public investment in nuclear energy and advocates against using too much solar and wind.
He is personally has many billions sunk into the nuclear startup Terrapower, which is also taking a grant of roughly $4 billion in taxpayer cash while demonstrating... mixed results at best.
You dont see a potential for a slight conflict of interest with this book?
Re: Ask HN: Book recommendations for renewable energy and climate change?
#24Earlier quoted context omitted.
He invests in a lot of things. The book is not about nuclear reactors.
The book advocates for more public investment in nuclear energy and advocates against using too much solar and wind. He is personally has many billions sunk into the nuclear startup Terrapower, which is also taking a grant of roughly $4 billion in taxpayer cash while demonstrating... mixed results at best. You dont see a potential for a slight conflict of interest with this book?
Maybe 5% of the book is about nuclear power. He does not hide his positive attitude about it, or his ownership of Terrapower, but he does not sound at all gung ho. If anything he advocates more for offshore wind. But most of the book is about describing the problem, not prescribing solutions. I found it to be very informative. Personally, I was less pro-nuclear after reading the book than before.
Re: Ask HN: Book recommendations for renewable energy and climate change?
#25Re: Ask HN: Book recommendations for renewable energy and climate change?
#26Earlier quoted context omitted.
This is really outdated, so unless you want to marvel at how wrong even a smart and well-meaning person could be in the face of rapid technological change, probably not worth revisiting. There's been a few attempts to update it with modern numbers but they're so different it effectively nullifies the whole point of the book.
I've google a bit but couldn't find anything but universal appraisal for the book. Would you mind elaborating on which numbers changed and how did it nullify the whole point?
Re: Ask HN: Book recommendations for renewable energy and climate change?
#27Earlier quoted context omitted.
I've google a bit but couldn't find anything but universal appraisal for the book. Would you mind elaborating on which numbers changed and how did it nullify the whole point?
https://www.carboncommentary.com/blog/2017/3/30/l6qcqgoedse1...
Thanks for the link, interesting read
Re: Ask HN: Book recommendations for renewable energy and climate change?
#28Earlier quoted context omitted.
I found a typo in one of his solar calculations, which seemed weird given how influential the book is going to be.
What is the typo?
His solar calculations IIRC were off by a factor of 10 in terms of what amount of energy could be extracted from a given piece of land. I do not have the book now otherwise I could've pointed it out. I think he was calculating the footprint of different forms of energy. Thumb rule is that at 20% efficiency a PV panel can get 200 Wp energy per sq m which translates to 200 MW per sq km. Leaving aside space for equipment, gaps, roads etc one can easily have a thumb rule of 100 Mw peak per sq km. I believe his book had this calculation as 10-20 MW per sq km.
This assumes 1 KW peak irradiance. Off course things will change based on latitude, season etc and one has to adjust for these factors however Solar is a no brainer in tropical and temperate climates alike at this point in my opinion.
Re: Ask HN: Book recommendations for renewable energy and climate change?
#29Earlier quoted context omitted.
What is the typo?
His solar calculations IIRC were off by a factor of 10 in terms of what amount of energy could be extracted from a given piece of land. I do not have the book now otherwise I could've pointed it out. I think he was calculating the footprint of different forms of energy. Thumb rule is that at 20% efficiency a PV panel can get 200 Wp energy per sq m which translates to 200 MW per sq km. Leaving aside space for equipmen…
He states 5-20 w/m2 (same as MW/km2) with a footnote that the theoretical one is 100 w/m2 but noone has achieved that yet.
Re: Ask HN: Book recommendations for renewable energy and climate change?
#30Earlier quoted context omitted.
His solar calculations IIRC were off by a factor of 10 in terms of what amount of energy could be extracted from a given piece of land. I do not have the book now otherwise I could've pointed it out. I think he was calculating the footprint of different forms of energy. Thumb rule is that at 20% efficiency a PV panel can get 200 Wp energy per sq m which translates to 200 MW per sq km. Leaving aside space for equipmen…
He states 5-20 w/m2 (same as MW/km2) with a footnote that the theoretical one is 100 w/m2 but noone has achieved that yet.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bhadla_Solar_Park
This has a ~ 40 MW/ sq.km output with a lot of it still being open space for different reasons.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kamuthi_Solar_Power_Project
This one has ~ 64 MW/ sq km output
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copper_Mountain_Solar_Facility
This one in US seems to be about ~ 53 MW/ sq km
So definitely he is purposely understating the potential of solar. Because it does not include future growth of tandem solar cells (Si + perovskite) taking it to more than 25-30% efficiency, or the fall in costs if they continue (albeit at a slower pace). Co-located Wind & solar power plants at suitable sites can be even more efficient with their reliability and capacity factors increasing if batteries added to the mix.