Why aren't we doing it in the rest of the world as well?
Basically everyone is except the USA
Photos capture the breathtaking scale of China's wind and solar buildout
241–250 of 612 posts
Re: Photos capture the breathtaking scale of China's wind and solar buildout
#242Earlier quoted context omitted.
China draws mainly on the talents of the best of its billion+ population. But America has had its pick of the best of the world's 8 billion people. We are taking a break now, but starting 2029 America will resume having its pick of the best.
And in 2032 everyone just crosses their fingers this doesn't happen again? Unless 2029 includes a structural overhaul of the entire government I really don't see how the US regains it's status as the capital of the world. We are doing everything in our power to permenantly isolate ourselves from the rest of the world at the moment. Attacking a nato state, even threatening to attack a nato state really, is not somethi…
My optimistic take is that we will learn from the mistakes we are making now to make sure it does not get repeated ever again. Trump will be gone and will be too old to have any influence. But Elon Musk and people like Marc Andreessen will continue to be a problem we need to find a solution for.
Re: Photos capture the breathtaking scale of China's wind and solar buildout
#243Earlier quoted context omitted.
Yes let us wait for an optimal aesthetic solution for another 50 years while we choke on our own fumes. Plenty of time to rearrange the deck chairs.
China already has one (if we're insisting on solar power generation) - 700,000 sq. mi of desert. It's also not just aesthetic - flat terrain is just so much more practical.
I love how they’re just building and building, adding more and more capacity and people here are arguing whether it’s in the right location. It’s laughable.
Re: Photos capture the breathtaking scale of China's wind and solar buildout
#244Earlier quoted context omitted.
No it doesn't make sense. Every photon that hits the Earth is eventually either absorbed as heat, reflected back into space or both (eg. partially absorbed and partially re-emitted as lower energy photons.) There is no net global increase in heat from a wind turbine or solar panel. (There might be slight local shifts.) The only way this could change net heat if it significantly altered the reflectivity of the surface…
This is actually quite a sizeable chunk. If in the future needs grow 10 times the area needed might become big problem.
Might.
Re: Photos capture the breathtaking scale of China's wind and solar buildout
#245Earlier 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.
They have a large coal mining industry.
Re: Photos capture the breathtaking scale of China's wind and solar buildout
#246Earlier quoted context omitted.
Oil and gas have used, between drilling and refining, over 7 million acres of land in just the US. Yes, it provides more electricity, but at the cost of destroying the entire planet's biosphere, global warming, etc. Current US estimates for solar land usage are 500,000 acres. The land use arguments are bunk. Anyone who complains is repeating oil and gas propaganda.
Around me, conservatives started a grassroots "save the whales" campaign to block wind. Conservatives, protesting on the street to save the whales. Talk about a sight to see.
I call them True Bird Lovers. You only see them in numbers when windmills come up. They've never seen any pictures of oil-covered birds from the Exxon Valdez or Deepwater Horizon disasters.
Re: Photos capture the breathtaking scale of China's wind and solar buildout
#247Earlier quoted context omitted.
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…
Who is going to pay for it? Even when it was cheap, solar uptake was low except in Texas. EV adoption is still poor outside of California. Then there’s the issue of a K Shaped economy. Outside of our bubble in Silicon Valley, a lot of people can barely afford necessities let alone go green.
China isn't "going green" to go green. They're doing it because it's cheaper.
The elites are pinning us to fossil fuels and driving up the cost of necessities.
Re: Photos capture the breathtaking scale of China's wind and solar buildout
#248Meanwhile POTUS has his head stuck in the sand [0]: > “All you have to do is say to China, how many windmill areas do you have in China? So far, they are not able to find any. They use coal, and they use oil and gas and some nuclear, not much. But they don’t have windmills, they make them and sell them to suckers like Europe, and suckers like the United States before.” One of the most factually BS statements ever. [0…
And that's despite the breathtaking scale of BS from a single source!
Enough biomass to power half the country sustainably.
Re: Photos capture the breathtaking scale of China's wind and solar buildout
#249> Heidu Mountain Scenic Area Not so scenic any more... I get it, electricity good, but man are we destroying places just to get this stuff. In the UK I reckon within my lifetime it won't be possible to go to the sea any more. I mean, the sea how it used to be, without wind turbines in it. Fossil fuels gave us too much. If only we could figure out how to want less.
> I reckon within my lifetime it won't be possible to go to the sea any more. I mean, the sea how it used to be, without wind turbines in it
I didn't know they were so big that you can't fit in the sea anymore. /s
Re: Photos capture the breathtaking scale of China's wind and solar buildout
#250Earlier 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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Germany's grid is an absolute mess because their nat gas pipelines have been cut off. Renewables are preventing a worse disaster, saving their limited LNG storage capacity to cover for dankelflautes.