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Photos capture the breathtaking scale of China's wind and solar buildout
201–210 of 612 posts
Re: Photos capture the breathtaking scale of China's wind and solar buildout
#202Also worth checking out some of the mega projects on Open Infrastructure Maps like this one in central China. https://openinframap.org/#9.12/36.0832/100.4215/A,B,L,P,S
This planet-scale map of the global electricity network is incredible.
I expect to see it on the front page of HN by the end of the day
Re: Photos capture the breathtaking scale of China's wind and solar buildout
#203Earlier quoted context omitted.
Even the people who understand the scale don't understand the purpose. The Chinese grid isn't renewable or non-renewable. It's built to keep the lights on for anything short of a thousand year catastrophe. Their 2060 plan has enough non intermittent base load that they can run the whole country off it for a decade. That half of your grid capacity is there 'just in case' is something no one in the west can wrap their…
People worship China for being "green focused". The reality is that they don't have a good source of fossil fuels, and energy independence is a core necessity.
The trend is clear that if we keep using fossil up, then soon nobody will have a good source for it. And it’s clear that for geopolitical reasons in addition to environmental reasons, energy independence will be a core necessity everywhere on earth. It’s handy that the sun is sending us enough energy, directly (solar) and indirectly (wind, hydro), that nobody has a good reason not to be “green focused” and phase out fossil fuels for energy. Any country that leads and shows the rest of the world that it can be done deserves applause.
Re: Photos capture the breathtaking scale of China's wind and solar buildout
#204Chinas policy around energy works and it has allowed them to become the world’s engine for renewable power. They get the benefit of energy efficiency and being a critical trade partner for every country in the world.
My experience is that the UK (for example) doesn’t really know why it is building offshore wind. Is it to reduce bills to consumers (OFGEMS remit), is it to create local jobs in manufacturing (Clean Industry Bonus Scheme), is it to stimulate national wealth by ownership of projects (British Energy). It’s a mess unclear picture for me.
It would be nice if politicians could spend some time trying to work together, cross parties a come up with some sensible resolutions and long term plans instead of trying to score points for soundbites and clips.
Re: Photos capture the breathtaking scale of China's wind and solar buildout
#205Earlier quoted context omitted.
I was just about to make precisely the same comment. The fear, uncertainty, and doubt about renewables here is ridiculous, and I expected better. I suppose everyone watched too much Landman . China is rocketing ahead in every domain possible, from resource and financial independence, to infrastructure in terms of high-speed rail, bridges, roads, advanced fission reactors and bleeding-edge fusion research. Heavy indus…
America is stuck in its past, specifically the 1950s-1960s.
That would be nice. It looks more like the early 1900s with naked imperialism and crony capitalism right now. Possibly staring down the barrel of a 1930s economic collapse.
Re: Photos capture the breathtaking scale of China's wind and solar buildout
#206Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Is "talking points" just a roundabout way to summarily dismiss the opposition's arguments and imply they're dumb/misguided? For me, yes it is. It wouldn't if policy discussions were purely technical and well informed. In the arena of public discourse they aren't. The majority of the population (including HN) is tribal, ideologically biased, emotionally driven and badly informed. Public discourse, particularly in Am…
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Why is that a failure of the green agenda as opposed to a failure of Germany?
Edit: I don't have the facts about reliability of green energy (though you didn't provide any evidence against it either), but it's clear the "not knowing where your energy comes from", "having messy grid" and "not investing in nuclear" are unrelated to renewable energy.
Re: Photos capture the breathtaking scale of China's wind and solar buildout
#207Meanwhile, in London, UK, local council doesn't allow you to put anything on your rooftop that doesn't gel with the Victorian look..
The UK is actually world leading in wind electricity generation (especially offshore). So it's not all bad.
I guess we are. But who are the plants owned by, who built the and where did the components come from, are we also switching them off because our grid cannot handle transmit huge volumes of renewable energy from Scotland to London, and turning on gas power plants to make up for it.
You also have situations, like today, where a German developer has handed back a seabed lease for 3GW of offshore power because they didn’t get a contract for power from government (CFD) and their lease fees are approx £400m/yr if they want to continue developing the windfarm. This is after spending £1B already on lease fees with nothing to show for it.
Re: Photos capture the breathtaking scale of China's wind and solar buildout
#208Re: Photos capture the breathtaking scale of China's wind and solar buildout
#209Earlier quoted context omitted.
I was just about to make precisely the same comment. The fear, uncertainty, and doubt about renewables here is ridiculous, and I expected better. I suppose everyone watched too much Landman . China is rocketing ahead in every domain possible, from resource and financial independence, to infrastructure in terms of high-speed rail, bridges, roads, advanced fission reactors and bleeding-edge fusion research. Heavy indus…
With China's huge resources both natural and human it's only expected that China will again reclaim its position as the leading country in science, technology, production and generally everything. If you assume that .5% of population are "einsteins" then China has 7.5m einsteins who are now able to access universities and advance sciences whether it's AI or solar power or self driving cars. There's no doubt about the…
> There's just no way to deny this.
Of course there is "way".
All the above above in itself sounds like propaganda. You forget other political (authoritarian system making massive mistakes), demographic (1.0, probably less in reality, birth per woman), psychological (disillusioned young population), and geographic (food and other imports) aspects, among other things.
Re: Photos capture the breathtaking scale of China's wind and solar buildout
#210Earlier quoted context omitted.
In 2025, > 90% of new energy capacity built in the US is from renewable [0]. So the US isn't building that much solar not because they're not building solar, but that the US has been generating and consuming so much energy per capita that there isn't that much incentive to increase energy capacity dramatically. [0]: https://www.canarymedia.com/articles/clean-energy/us-new-win...
These are new electric power plants. The US is still ramping up oil and gas production, and is now producing more than ever before. No signs of transitioning away from fossil fuels for transport, industry, export. https://www.canarymedia.com/articles/fossil-fuels/chart-the-...
That's production, not consumption. The US exports huge amounts of oil and gas now. The EU/Russia sanctions and the Red Sea blockade are a huge gravy train for American oil and gas companies.