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US can reach 100% clean power by 2035, DOE finds

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Re: US can reach 100% clean power by 2035, DOE finds

#181

OK, fine, but to what extent will it impoverish working people or reduce their wealth? It's more important to consider human happiness and wealth, rather than sacrificing the poor on the altar of carbon emissions.

> It's more important to consider human happiness Do you think that the people that are starving to death in Madagascar from climate-change induced drought are happy? When the problem comes further north, do you think we will be happy?

People driving cars in the Americas =/= a seasonal drought in Africa.

Re: US can reach 100% clean power by 2035, DOE finds

#182

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Does an average american live 4 times better than an average frenchman? I don't know about that "4 times better" (how do you measure that, diminishing returns, etc). But your average house in the US is for sure more comfortable than your average house in France.

>> But your average house in the US is for sure more comfortable than your average house in France. "For sure more comfortable"? Like you said though, by what measure? I'm visiting my sister in London right now. She lives in a 750 sqft two bedroom apartment. Sure, it's smaller than my 1700 ft house back in the US, but she seems fairly comfortable.

Google says <5% of homes in France have air conditioning.

Re: US can reach 100% clean power by 2035, DOE finds

#183
post #112

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I'm confused that they can put a time frame on a problem they have no idea how to solve yet. You are writing on a developer forum, they work in Agile and ruotinely provide estimates or work to deadlines when business does not even know the requirements of their system, let alone how to build most of it.

If a developer tells you they can deliver by x, and they also don't know how to do it, what is the level of confidence you have that will occur?

I'm not much less confident than if they do know how to do it.

Re: US can reach 100% clean power by 2035, DOE finds

#184
post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No it doesn't since nuclear waste is not clean and as the article says: renewables are cheaper already.

Oh, nice! Didn't know battery tech and PV panel production were clean now. That's a great leap.

Much cleaner than nuclear waste.

Predictable derailment though.

Re: US can reach 100% clean power by 2035, DOE finds

#185
post #37

We can have 100% clean energy by 2035 if we assume the US is China and the state can build whatever it wants despite any local objections. And assume we increase battery supply by 40x (even though lithium price is going up dramatically now). And assume that clean power is actually 100% clean. It's good to have a vision for clean energy though that is shared with the country that we start working towards. I can see th…

> local objections That's a big component of all this. NIMBYism in this country is becoming a big problem in a lot of ways. Want to build a dense, mixed use development that is less carbon-intensive than single family suburbia? NIMBYs oppose it. Build a transmission line from your green energy source? NIMBYs, again! Build a solar farm? NIMBYs will try and block it.

I can still think of reasons to think of local people.

What if transmission lines increase the risk of forest fires in specific areas? What if windmills mix with residential neighborhoods?

Additionally, what if local people are prevented from putting up solar panels, or prevented from selling their power?

Re: US can reach 100% clean power by 2035, DOE finds

#186
post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> local objections That's a big component of all this. NIMBYism in this country is becoming a big problem in a lot of ways. Want to build a dense, mixed use development that is less carbon-intensive than single family suburbia? NIMBYs oppose it. Build a transmission line from your green energy source? NIMBYs, again! Build a solar farm? NIMBYs will try and block it.

Our local library wanted to put in an automated drop-off bin that patrons could drive up to and return books into. It was bitterly contested because the adjacent home owners association was worried about the increased noise and traffic. Keep in mind they were already living next to this library and it already had a parking lot. The city paid to construct a high wall as a compromise. It wasn't terribly expensive, but…

>>I really do think there is such a thing as "over democratizing" our development process.

I 100% agree, though think a better way to term it is over localizing and over veto-abling governance over the development process. Democracy means collective control, with one vote per person. Not necessarily that the votes on each decision are held at a very local level, and certainly not each person/voting-block getting a veto.

Take Japan: it has a democratically elected national government, and that government controls all zoning, with local municipalities having no say. That's both democratic, and pro-development.

Re: US can reach 100% clean power by 2035, DOE finds

#188

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A clean power grid means cheaper power. And the faster we push towards that future, the more money we save. Every day of delay, every bit of FUD about renewables, only serves to keep our energy costs higher, and make our future CO2 cleanup problem harder. The future for energy is cheap and clean, and the major roadblock are the people who profit from expensive and dirty electricity.

> A clean power grid means cheaper power. That's a pretty wild assertion, given current events. Care to back it up with some evidence from a neutral source?

> given current events

The sun, the wind and gravity got really really expensive this year.

Thank god for variable priced fossil fuel inputs that saved us from having really expensive electricity bills.

Re: US can reach 100% clean power by 2035, DOE finds

#190
post #60

What is the plan for revamping all the residential units that have non-electrical heating in the parts of the country which have winter?

We switched to a heat pump a couple years ago. It soaks up all but the coldest (5-15°) days in winter (when the resistive heater kicks in as well) and uses only a little more energy than our old gas system’s fans did. It’s way more efficient in the summer than our old AC was so our annual usage actually went down and we have less maintenance. Over the course of the year, our entire HVAC load is roughly what our modes…

How much did that cost you?
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