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Iran Shock Jolts Asia and Europe to Speed Up Energy Transition

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101–110 of 124 posts

Re: Iran Shock Jolts Asia and Europe to Speed Up Energy Transition

#101
post #97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ember Energy: British power prices are increasingly independent from gas - https://ember-energy.org/latest-insights/british-power-price... - May 13th, 2026 * 15% of British power generation is already de-linked from the gas power price. This is from 10 GW of operational renewable capacity currently covered by the price-setting Contracts for Difference scheme. * A third (36%) of power generation in Britain will be pri…

Looking at peak wind isn't particularly helpful I'm afraid. The problem is what happens when there is no wind, like in early May ( https://gridwatch.co.uk/ ). Having more wind capacity isn't helping. Batteries are for smoothing minutes/hours not days. Solar obviously only a few hours a day and weak at this latitude.

Modern solar work nicely in UK in May-August when wind is weakest due to long hours and cooler weather. However one needs more expensive panels that also work on a cloudy days.

Then in UK somebody calculated that a house needs 1MWh battery to last over winter using only solar panels that a typical suburb house can install. In 5-10 years that would cost 40K USD making it rather realistic to have. This ignore availability of industrial-scale wind which is the strongest in winter.

Re: Iran Shock Jolts Asia and Europe to Speed Up Energy Transition

#102
post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can't think of any European government that is far left? I am not familiar with all of them of course, so happy to be proven wrong.

I can't think of any European party that is far right and have any chance in elections.

I see, thanks for confirming that you're just an ignorant troll. Your post history confirmed that once more. It does make me curious. Where do you drink your Kool-Aid that gives you these "opinions"?

Re: Iran Shock Jolts Asia and Europe to Speed Up Energy Transition

#103

Oceania too: Australia installed 442 MW of residential solar and 2.5 GWh of residential batteries in the month of April alone . Both numbers are partly juiced by changes to a rebate program from May, but the overall trend remains explosive growth. https://reneweconomy.com.au/households-still-going-big-on-so...

Yep, India installed 4 GWh of solar in just the month of April as well.

Solar installation capacity is measured in watts, not watt-hours. So the unit you should he using here is GW, not GWh.

Pushes glasses up nose well actually, we should use GWp, but that's not really a unit and good ol' watts should suffice.

Re: Iran Shock Jolts Asia and Europe to Speed Up Energy Transition

#104
post #103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yep, India installed 4 GWh of solar in just the month of April as well.

Solar installation capacity is measured in watts, not watt-hours. So the unit you should he using here is GW, not GWh. Pushes glasses up nose well actually, we should use GWp, but that's not really a unit and good ol' watts should suffice.

Yeah, you know actually, I know this because I have an EV. I guess I just looked at what the GP posted and posted the same unit.

Re: Iran Shock Jolts Asia and Europe to Speed Up Energy Transition

#105
post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Economists have this thing called "comparative advantage". E.g. the US specialises in software; China in PV and batteries; EU in industrial equipment; the Middle East, oil; Australia IIRC is minerals; each trades what they're optimised for in exchange for what the others are optimised for, and are better off for it. This works only so long as nobody is dominating a strategic sector, something that everyone needs but…

>China in PV and batteries; EU in industrial equipment; the Middle East, oil; Australia IIRC is minerals What about Africa and the rest of Asia? Surely they merit mention more than Australia? Also, Australia's number one export are Hollywood actors.

> What about Africa and the rest of Asia? Surely they merit mention more than Australia?

This isn't a term paper, I'm just giving illustrations from a handful of places to demonstrate how comparative advantage works.

And sure, other Asian nations are significant (India: Petroleum; Japan: Cars; South Korea: Integrated circuits; Taiwan's defence policy is making TSMC too important to be allowed to be invaded).

But Africa? No. The continent's exports are mostly dominated by South Africa, which is about one third of Australia's; even in aggregate, the entire continent's exports are only at about the level of Canada's.

> Also, Australia's number one export are Hollywood actors.

Australia's three largest exports are iron ore, coal, and education: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_exports_of_Australia

Re: Iran Shock Jolts Asia and Europe to Speed Up Energy Transition

#106
post #86

Hormuz being closed hurts Iran way more than it does the US. It's shocking that they're persisting on this strategy. That's the problem with authoritarians though: they'd rather rule over rubble than be an average citizen in a prosperous society.

Maybe as a percentage of their economy, but not in absolute dollars. Iran’s doing orders of magnitude more absolute economic damage to the west and its allies than vice versa. Even the drone strikes followed this math: The patriots were intercepting drones that cost 1% as much as the interceptor. As far as I can tell, Iran has won every tactical and strategic engagement so far in this war.

Of course, the percentage is all that matters. If you damage yourself 10% per month, you're dead in a year. And if you do in absolute value 10x the damage to another party but that's only 1% for them ... they're not dead, you are. And the problem gets solved.

Which is more or less what's happening here.

Re: Iran Shock Jolts Asia and Europe to Speed Up Energy Transition

#107

Hormuz being closed hurts Iran way more than it does the US. It's shocking that they're persisting on this strategy. That's the problem with authoritarians though: they'd rather rule over rubble than be an average citizen in a prosperous society.

It's not about the US vs Iran. It's Iran turning the strait into a wedge between US and the rest of their previous partners. The US has enough oil for themselves, but the hurt is felt everywhere else. And the cause of that hurt points in one direction (the US)

The argument that the US is the 'cause' of the hurt ignores the fact that Iran is essentially taking the global economy hostage to achieve a political goal. By blocking the strait, Iran isn't targeting the US ... as you noted, the US is energy independent. They are targeting the developing nations and allies of the West. To blame the US for the pain caused by an Iranian blockade is to ignore the agency of the actor actually causing the harm. You cannot blame the victim of a provocation for the destructive methods the assholes chooses to use. Oh, and Iran is committing a warcrime doing this. For months, constantly.

This is pure terrorist tactics, taking innocents hostage in the hope that makes the police go away.

What we need, sorry, is another round of sniper shots, making it clear to the IRGC what the correct response is to hostage taking.

Re: Iran Shock Jolts Asia and Europe to Speed Up Energy Transition

#108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Really? Europe looks primed to follow the US, just a few steps behind. They're electing their far right leaders and primed to start mass deportation, and are even ahead of us on cultural decline with respect to mass surveillance being used to actively police speech. What moves have they been making that you think indicate an upward trend? How are they going to recover from stagnation and demographic collapse?

Europe seems to be backtracking on some of their far-right flirtations after seeing the idiocracy in the US. Orban was voted out in Hungary after decades in power. Meloni in Italy is often described as far right but her party also strongly supports the EU, NATO and Ukraine.

https://www.france24.com/en/europe/20260602-eu-agrees-deal-f...

(they wouldn't do this unless they were desperate to stop extreme right. Obviously, for migrants, this means war with immigration services)

Re: Iran Shock Jolts Asia and Europe to Speed Up Energy Transition

#109
post #2

Remember, we didn't know how to pronounce hormuz until bombs started falling on people's head. The bombs and those who dropped them caused the problem. This isn't an energy issue.

You must be young. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tanker_war

Re: Iran Shock Jolts Asia and Europe to Speed Up Energy Transition

#110

What if? Trump is playing 5.7-D chess. He knows his base is full of idiots. He bombs Iran to create a crisis that wakes up his base to "wut, oil, need oil". This was only way to get them to use renewables and re-think that maybe electric vehicles are not just 'woke' but also can help 'national security'. Create Crises, to swing economy to electric and renewables faster than EV subsidies ever could.

I am surprised by the downvotes.

Am I being downvoted by Trump Fans? For making fun.

or

Am I being downvoted by Trump haters because even a satirically positive view of him, is too positive. Don't even make fun, if the fun is showing him in too positive a light?

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