For the first time, renewable energy generation beat out coal in the US • Hacker News Board

Re: For the first time, renewable energy generation beat out coal in the US

#311

Post by egberts1 » Fri, Apr 07, 2023, 12:01 AM UTC

rstuart4133 wrote: post #266

egberts1 wrote: post #264

Good for renewable energy. Now, make it a 24/7 steady supply of renewable energy. We’ll wait.

> We’ll wait. You can stop waiting now. https://reneweconomy.com.au/south-australia-hits-stunning-ne... OECD ecomony, averaging 80% renewables (wind, solar primarily). The other 20% is gas. They have enough generation now. To rid of that 20% (I'm not sure the economics makes sense) they need to build pumped storage. Oh, and now they've made the transition, electricity prices are cheaper than non-renewable generation…

No data center will ever be 100% renewable ... unless that ocean wave generator pans out successfully.

Re: For the first time, renewable energy generation beat out coal in the US

#312

Post by bialpio » Sat, Apr 08, 2023, 1:25 AM UTC

catiopatio wrote: post #220

bialpio wrote: post #210

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have experienced a culture shock after moving to the US and looking at prices for some items. The best summary I have is "in USA, the thing is worth as much as people are willing to pay for it", unlike the previous mindset I had, roughly "take the cost of producing something and add X% markup" where X is not too high.

Where did you come from? What you’ve described is specific to humanity, not the US — “the thing is worth as much as people are willing to pay for it” is a near universal truth.

Poland. I think folks there are more price-sensitive and it helps keep the prices at a more reasonable level. Coming from Poland, my price-setting approach would not take into account how much something is worth to the customer, just how much it cost me to produce + low double-digit percent markup.

Re: For the first time, renewable energy generation beat out coal in the US

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Post by throwaway2037 » Mon, Apr 10, 2023, 1:36 PM UTC

runarberg wrote: post #240

throwaway2037 wrote: post #104

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think it is helpful to celebrate countries that won the "geography birth lottery" and have huge rivers that are easy to dam. See: Laos, Paraguay, Norway, Austria, etc. Nothing is "amazing" that they are mostly green energy. Also, for other readers, Laos is a repressive "communist" dictatorship. It is no surprise that the gov't welcomed Belt & Road programme by China (with high interest loans!) to build a gian…

> Laos is a repressive "communist" dictatorship The same exact story can be said about Iceland, which is very far from being a communist dictatorship (and it bears mentioning that Laos government is not repressive compared to many capitalist democratic governments; I don’t know where you would get that from except preconceived biases). Iceland sells majority of its renewable energy to foreign aluminum companies. Alon…

I guess you are talking about Kárahnjúkar Hydropower Plant.

Did you read the book > or watch the documentary >? Me: Neither, but I am interested. I only learned about this project recently.

The most shocking fact about the whole project (from Wiki):

    The total affected area according to the environmental impact assessment, outlines that a total of 3,000 km2 or 741,316 acres were affected by the project's construction. That is approximately 3% of Iceland's total land mass.

Re: For the first time, renewable energy generation beat out coal in the US

#314

Post by runarberg » Wed, Apr 12, 2023, 3:52 AM UTC

throwaway2037 wrote: post #313

runarberg wrote: post #240

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Laos is a repressive "communist" dictatorship The same exact story can be said about Iceland, which is very far from being a communist dictatorship (and it bears mentioning that Laos government is not repressive compared to many capitalist democratic governments; I don’t know where you would get that from except preconceived biases). Iceland sells majority of its renewable energy to foreign aluminum companies. Alon…

I guess you are talking about Kárahnjúkar Hydropower Plant. Did you read the book > or watch the documentary >? Me: Neither, but I am interested. I only learned about this project recently. The most shocking fact about the whole project (from Wiki): The total affected area according to the environmental impact assessment, outlines that a total of 3,000 km2 or 741,316 acres were affected by the project's construction.…

Yup, I was indeed talking about Kárahnjúkar. I do recommend Draumalandið. I actually got a copy as a graduation present back in 2006. I’ve read it many times over, and even though I’ve moved continents, I still keep the copy prominently on my bookshelf.