‘Insanely cheap energy’: solar power continues to shock the world • Hacker News Board

Re: ‘Insanely cheap energy’: solar power continues to shock the world

#41

Post by cortesoft » Sat, Apr 24, 2021, 10:37 PM UTC

edhelas wrote: post #28

ggm wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> There is only a few decades of lithium left to be extracted by the way. Julian Simon's bet with Paul Ehrlich. You're not apparently aware of the amount of lithium worldwide, it's availability or its price trajectory. All minerals are significantly more abundant than people think, supply chain dynamics in mining do no equate to scarcity on earth, they relate to the economics of exploration and extraction and shippin…

Sure, we have plenty of minerals left ! But where and how much energy you need to extract them. In France we have lithium in Alsace, we could dig-it-up, but it's really not worth it energy wise and environmentally wise.

> But where and how much energy you need to extract them

Luckily I just read an article about how much energy solar is generating!

Re: ‘Insanely cheap energy’: solar power continues to shock the world

#42

Post by doggosphere » Sat, Apr 24, 2021, 10:37 PM UTC

1vuio0pswjnm7 wrote: post #38

[deleted. made mistake of commenting about cryptocurrency.]

You dont really need to propose that by law, solar is already cheaper. Just remove subsidies from coal, and add carbon tax.

Re: ‘Insanely cheap energy’: solar power continues to shock the world

#43

Post by epistasis » Sat, Apr 24, 2021, 10:38 PM UTC

edhelas wrote: post #9

All this energy ! Can't be stored (don't tell me about lithium, please do the math…), and it's not there at night.

How do you know how much lithium there is? Every year we discover more accessible lithium than the year before. Do the history!

Re: ‘Insanely cheap energy’: solar power continues to shock the world

#44

Post by [deleted] » Sat, Apr 24, 2021, 10:39 PM UTC

[deleted]

Re: ‘Insanely cheap energy’: solar power continues to shock the world

#45

Post by torgian » Sat, Apr 24, 2021, 10:39 PM UTC

“How Droll”: So-called ‘shocking’ titles actually pretty sensationalist.

Re: ‘Insanely cheap energy’: solar power continues to shock the world

#46

Post by mulmboy » Sat, Apr 24, 2021, 10:41 PM UTC

toomuchtodo wrote: post #39

makomk wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If they're crediting you for that energy at anything close to the retail electricity rate you're effectively getting a really generous subsidy. Because solar is so cheap but only produces electricity sometimes and at pretty much the same time everywhere in the region, the actual cost of electricity when your solar panels are producing heavily and feeding back into the grid is much, much lower than when they're not pr…

These fallacies against net metering have been disproven. See the linked citation for details. “Nevertheless, by the end of 2015, regulators in at least 10 states had conducted studies to develop methodologies to value distributed generation and net metering, while other states conducted less formal inquiries, ranging from direct rate design or net-metering policy changes to general education of decisionmakers and th…

The post didn't describe net metering

edit: actually I think it did :) ignore me

Re: ‘Insanely cheap energy’: solar power continues to shock the world

#47

Post by [deleted] » Sat, Apr 24, 2021, 10:42 PM UTC

mulmboy wrote: post #46

toomuchtodo wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

These fallacies against net metering have been disproven. See the linked citation for details. “Nevertheless, by the end of 2015, regulators in at least 10 states had conducted studies to develop methodologies to value distributed generation and net metering, while other states conducted less formal inquiries, ranging from direct rate design or net-metering policy changes to general education of decisionmakers and th…

The post didn't describe net metering edit: actually I think it did :) ignore me

[deleted]

Re: ‘Insanely cheap energy’: solar power continues to shock the world

#48

Post by philips » Sat, Apr 24, 2021, 10:44 PM UTC

makomk wrote: post #36

irrational wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You don't even need a decent climate. I live in Portland Oregon where it is cloudy for 9 months out of the year. In Portland, anything we generate beyond what we can use is fed back into the grid and given to us as a credit. We generate enough solar power credits that we don't pay anything for electricity year round other than a $12 monthly fee to be tied into the grid.

If they're crediting you for that energy at anything close to the retail electricity rate you're effectively getting a really generous subsidy. Because solar is so cheap but only produces electricity sometimes and at pretty much the same time everywhere in the region, the actual cost of electricity when your solar panels are producing heavily and feeding back into the grid is much, much lower than when they're not pr…

In oregon you can also sign up for community solar, get a state sponsored discount on your bill, and not put up the capital costs to install yourself.

https://www.energytrust.org/community-solar/

Re: ‘Insanely cheap energy’: solar power continues to shock the world

#49

Post by [deleted] » Sat, Apr 24, 2021, 10:44 PM UTC

Someone wrote: post #34

toomuchtodo wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I thought it was because Germany shut down its nuclear power plants and ramped its coal generation up? [1] Germany poorly managing its power grid doesn’t imply that renewables aren’t economically rational; it implies Germany makes irrational national policy. France is primarily nuclear powered, as you point out with their low CO2 emission footprint (compare the generation mixes of both countries in ElectricityMap, I’…

Wind turbine blade recycling is hard. I wouldn’t call it a proven technology. For example, all recycling options discussed in https://designedconscious.com/plastics-in-the-ocean/sustaina... are into inferior products (shorter glass fibers, ash, etc)

[deleted]

Re: ‘Insanely cheap energy’: solar power continues to shock the world

#50

Post by Spooky23 » Sat, Apr 24, 2021, 10:48 PM UTC

makomk wrote: post #36

irrational wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You don't even need a decent climate. I live in Portland Oregon where it is cloudy for 9 months out of the year. In Portland, anything we generate beyond what we can use is fed back into the grid and given to us as a credit. We generate enough solar power credits that we don't pay anything for electricity year round other than a $12 monthly fee to be tied into the grid.

If they're crediting you for that energy at anything close to the retail electricity rate you're effectively getting a really generous subsidy. Because solar is so cheap but only produces electricity sometimes and at pretty much the same time everywhere in the region, the actual cost of electricity when your solar panels are producing heavily and feeding back into the grid is much, much lower than when they're not pr…

Peak solar production is in the summer.

Peak electricity demand is driven by AC, primarily when it’s hot... in the summer.