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Solar and batteries can power the world

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Re: Solar and batteries can power the world

#141

Post by aidenn0 »

hnthrow0287345 wrote: post #7
ahhhhnoooo wrote: post #2

China understands this, parts of the EU understands this. The US is currently dead set on betting on the wrong technology, and it's going to put them so far behind. Imagine a world where people didn't care about labeling new things "woke", and instead could all sit down and say, "we're going to make major investments in next generation infrastructure to ensure our capacity and independence."

Apart from the current administration's absolutely hilariously bad governing, the US economy really only cares about profit. The same is going to happen to any country with outsized income inequality.

This argument would make more sense if Chinese companies were all going out of business due to their governments heavy investments in solar and batteries.

Re: Solar and batteries can power the world

#142

Post by jacquesm »

ronb1964 wrote: post #130

I build off-grid camper vans for a living and install solar + lithium battery systems regularly. The technology has matured a lot in the last few years. What used to take a massive roof array and a bank of heavy lead-acid or AGM batteries to run basic appliances now fits in a fraction of the space with lithium. The limiting factor in real-world installs isn't the panels or the batteries anymore, it's getting customer…

Very nice. I have my eyes on Lithium-Titanate cells for my house, I can't wait until they go down in price enough. Weight and energy density are not an issue, but safety is and those cells are very good in that sense.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lithium-titanate_battery

Re: Solar and batteries can power the world

#143

Post by hvb2 »

ronb1964 wrote: post #130

I build off-grid camper vans for a living and install solar + lithium battery systems regularly. The technology has matured a lot in the last few years. What used to take a massive roof array and a bank of heavy lead-acid or AGM batteries to run basic appliances now fits in a fraction of the space with lithium. The limiting factor in real-world installs isn't the panels or the batteries anymore, it's getting customer…

> Scale that mindset problem up to a national grid and I imagine the challenge is the same.

Except that we have raw data there? The only question is how fast it grows, but since we're transitioning that's mostly a question of how fast you decommission fossil plants.

Re: Solar and batteries can power the world

#144

Post by PyWoody »

detourdog wrote: post #120
PyWoody wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I live in a northern climate and I know multiple people who are net zero with solar+basic battery. Proper insulation and good windows go a very long way. For instance, I set my heat to 66F during the day and 60F at night. When I wake up in the morning, the register is usually still above 60F.

In the northwest corner of Massachusetts I converted an old school into an apartment building. I installed 2" of polystyrene on the outside and about a foot of cellulose in the ceilings. We relay on heatpumps for HVAC. I also installed a 50kW solar array. We don't start paying for heating until Nov/Dec and stop paying in Apr/May. Our Electric usage goes through the roof in Jan/Feb/Mar. Our weak point is that the exte…

Thermal curtains are a godsend. I remember reading about your journey and I hope it works out! I think it'd be money well spent.

In my last house, I replaced single pane windows with properly installed, sealed, and insulated double-hungs and it practically cut my heat bill in half. I agree that modern window to modern window replacement probably won't get you much, though.

Re: Solar and batteries can power the world

#145

Post by gus_massa »

kogasa240p wrote: post #82
mbesto wrote: post #41

Fun fact, 12 million hectares of land of used to produce corn used for ethanol which is used to produce gas. I'll let you draw the conclusion. https://news.cornell.edu/stories/2025/04/trading-some-corn-e...

Damn I didn't know it was that bad. Ideally you'd grow algae from sewer waste and make fuel from that, but this is the US we're talking about.

Algae needs solar light, so you will have to flood a lot of land to get enough.

Also, in case of a war or blockade you can switch the corn use from etanol to food. You will have to eat tortilla and polenta for a year [1] but it's better than algae from seawater or famine.

Here we use sugar cane to produce etanol, it's more efficient because it's a C4 plant. I guess it's possible in the south of the US.

[1] It's not so bad in my opinion if you can mix some meat in the sauce.

Re: Solar and batteries can power the world

#146

Post by jacquesm »

FEELmyAGI wrote: post #140
mbesto wrote: post #41

Fun fact, 12 million hectares of land of used to produce corn used for ethanol which is used to produce gas. I'll let you draw the conclusion. https://news.cornell.edu/stories/2025/04/trading-some-corn-e...

What does the 1% of land used to grow corn have to do specifically with solar and batteries? Solar doesn't need to be on the 15% arable land at all. The corn doesn't just produce ethanol, which just utilizes the starch/sugar. The protein, fat, fiber is eaten by livestock in some form like distillers grains. And governments like to have food security , and having secondary uses for an abundance of food in the good tim…

My conclusion is that you didn't even try to understand the GP.

Re: Solar and batteries can power the world

#147

Post by palata »

RandomLensman wrote: post #29
panick21_ wrote: post #16

Nuclear could have powered the world easily and we could have done it with 1960s technology. And we could easily do electricity and heating with nuclear quite easily. The only thing that's actually tricky is synfuels and solar/battery doesn't solve that. High temperature reactors using heat to create hydrogen is arguable the better path to synfuels then electrolysis. And we can go to 100% of electricity from nuclear,…

Nuclear reactors make awful targets in a conflict, not sure having many around is generally a good idea if conflict is a risk and there are alternatives.

> and there are alternatives

That's a big if, though. Solar and batteries require globalisation, based on fossil fuels.

I feel like nuclear reactors are a better choice.

> in a conflict, not sure having many around is generally a good idea

On the other hand, blowing nuclear reactors could be considered a big escalation. We see with Iran and Ukraine that it's not exactly the first thing one wants to target.

Re: Solar and batteries can power the world

#148

Post by Ajedi32 »

brianwawok wrote: post #65
toasty228 wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

People still build houses like energy is cheap and abundant. A properly insulated house in any temperate climate require very little heating or cooling. Spend 50k on insulation that will last the life of the building instead of 50k on heating and cooling devices which will need constant maintenance and replacement + fuel and end up costing 10x more over the life of the building. A modern house with modern insulation…

In the short term the math is usually bad. Can be a 20, 30, 40 year payback on insulation. For the builder? It’s almost for sure a loss unless he can play the green card. For any individual owner? They are likely to leave before they recoup a project like this. Appraisals on houses are price per square foot with a bedroom and bathroom modifier. Until people start pricing in energy efficiency in homes, say a price mul…

Maybe a law forcing disclosure of average heating/cooling bills in the listing would do the trick?

Re: Solar and batteries can power the world

#149

Post by applied_heat »

blackcatsec wrote: post #66
PyWoody wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What? They store the surplus in their batteries during the day and use it at night. I genuinely do not understand why people are so afraid of solar. It's baffling.

They've fallen victim to a catastrophically easy scare tactic, unfortunately. "The sun only shines during the day therefore solar is bad!" Dumb, but easy.

In Toronto there is only daylight for 9 hours in winter

Yes surely some days are cloudy

So some days you get 5% capacity factor, and need some other energy source as well

So it harms the economics of the venture

Look at the profitability of companies building utility scale solar farms, they cost 100 million and the company hopes to get a 10% return and pay a 3% dividend.

They still have to contend with moving parts for tracking the angle of the sun, fans on inverters, contactors, clearing snow, mowing grass, site drainage, tornadoes etc, so sometimes it is not as easy as it sounds

All for a 7%? Why shouldn’t they just buy the s&p 500 and call it a day

Re: Solar and batteries can power the world

#150

Post by torpfactory »

balderdash wrote: post #91
mbesto wrote: post #41

Fun fact, 12 million hectares of land of used to produce corn used for ethanol which is used to produce gas. I'll let you draw the conclusion. https://news.cornell.edu/stories/2025/04/trading-some-corn-e...

I’d rather people went rooftop solar, and put that land to producing food.

That land is producing food for cars. If we covered half in solar panels we’d have almost enough energy to power the country. Turn the other half over to food production and you’d come out ahead on both energy and food.
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