Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

US electricity demand surged in 2025 – solar handled 61% of it

electrek.co

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

261–270 of 346 posts

Re: US electricity demand surged in 2025 – solar handled 61% of it

#261

Post by Zigurd »

vlovich123 wrote: post #215
seanmcdirmid wrote: post #153

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What is NG good for? Induction cook tops perform better than gas ones, heat pumps do better than gas heaters. The only gap I can think of are just in time hot water heaters.

Perform better as in more efficient electrically, not necessarily more pleasant or efficient in the cooking process. For example, when cooking an omelette, a recommended technique is to angle the pan so the liquid part flows towards the hot part of the pan touching the flame as you slowly scrape the curds up to rest at the cooler part of the pan. AFAIK an induction cooktop is unable to simulate this technique. Now ma…

I have an old but still perfectly functional high-end gas cooktop. I have no plans to replace it. Sturdy cast-iron trivets are bulletproof. You get visual feedback about heat intensity. I use enough heavy Dutch ovens and stainless and cast-iron pans that a glass cooktop under them seems like an added risk.

Re: US electricity demand surged in 2025 – solar handled 61% of it

#262

Post by laurencerowe »

guerby wrote: post #245
laurencerowe wrote: post #228

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Figures based on coroners reports are somewhat suspect. > In September 2022, a vicious heat wave enveloped much of the western U.S., placing tens of millions of people under heat advisories. Temperatures across California soared into the triple digits. Sacramento broke its heat record by more than 6 degrees Fahrenheit when the temperature hit 116 degrees. > California death certificates showed that 20 people died as…

Thanks for the paper link, very different figures from the random USA newspaper article :) I'd love to see an age adjusted figure as well as it's likely Europe has likely more very old people and my guess is that heat/cold mortality is concentrated in the very old people.

I suspect age distributions are part of the story. Also the Eastern US (where most of the population lives) experiences much larger swings in temperature between winter and summer so maybe people are just more prepared for it.

Re: US electricity demand surged in 2025 – solar handled 61% of it

#263

Post by diego_moita »

moregrist wrote: post #203
diego_moita wrote: post #164

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> What is NG good for? Mostly a myth by cooks that think it "heats faster" or "heats with a better distribution of heat". It is foolish, but many still think so. I personally believe that the only kind of cooking that benefits from NG are round-bottom woks. But they can be substituted by flat-bottom pans without problems.

> Mostly a myth by cooks that think it "heats faster" It’s almost entirely about heat _control_, especially when you turn the heat down or off. Non-induction electric stoves can take minutes or longer for a burner to cool down. When you cut the heat on a NG stove, it’s essentially immediate. This matters quite a bit for heat-sensitive dishes like omelettes. Induction doesn’t have this problem, but also hasn’t been wi…

They are mostly Nouvelle & Haute Cuisine french dishes: omelettes, holandaise/bernaise sauces, custards (Crème Anglaise, Pots de Crème), melted chocolate, caramel, generally poached stuff, etc.

For the lower temperatures, a lot of that temperature control can be made with bain marie (warm water).

And the remaining ones aren't made in aluminum cookware, anyway. And people that cook such sophisticated food probably will have a lot of non-aluminum cookware, already.

Re: US electricity demand surged in 2025 – solar handled 61% of it

#264

Post by Zigurd »

guerby wrote: post #245
laurencerowe wrote: post #228

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Figures based on coroners reports are somewhat suspect. > In September 2022, a vicious heat wave enveloped much of the western U.S., placing tens of millions of people under heat advisories. Temperatures across California soared into the triple digits. Sacramento broke its heat record by more than 6 degrees Fahrenheit when the temperature hit 116 degrees. > California death certificates showed that 20 people died as…

Thanks for the paper link, very different figures from the random USA newspaper article :) I'd love to see an age adjusted figure as well as it's likely Europe has likely more very old people and my guess is that heat/cold mortality is concentrated in the very old people.

It's not the most convenient format because of their idea of what constitutes a region, but yeah, the US has a pyramid shaped population pyramid, while European regions have a big bulge of old people: https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/references/population...

Re: US electricity demand surged in 2025 – solar handled 61% of it

#265

Post by tzs »

SoftTalker wrote: post #241
laurencerowe wrote: post #226

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think it is simply because in most of Europe air conditioning is unnecessary for comfort 95% of the year. Here in San Francisco most homes don't have air conditioning either, but there might be a week or two where it gets very hot and we just put up with the barbaric technological primitiveness. Much of the US is extremely unpleasant without air-conditioning for a substantial portion of the year so of course everyo…

Yes in many parts of the US it's not just the heat but the humidity. One summer I tried going without AC as much as possible to see how much it would change my electric bill. I could handle the temperature most of the time but the humidity especially at night started giving me mold problems in the house. Cleaned that up and went back to using the AC and no more mold. Not sure how people controlled this back in the pr…

If you are OK with the heat maybe a dehumidifier would be able to address the humidity problem while still saving electricity compare to the AC.

Re: US electricity demand surged in 2025 – solar handled 61% of it

#266

Post by darkr »

chongli wrote: post #187
seanmcdirmid wrote: post #153

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What is NG good for? Induction cook tops perform better than gas ones, heat pumps do better than gas heaters. The only gap I can think of are just in time hot water heaters.

Heat pumps do not do well when it's -40 outside. You can say "fine, but how often does it get that cold?" but consumers are not going to be happy with a heat pump if their pipes freeze during an extended cold snap. I live in Southern Ontario and I have a heat pump with an auxiliary natural gas furnace for emergency heating. The heat pump shoulders most of the heating load but the thermostat does kick on the furnace w…

air source heat pumps, though they're improving won't do well in extreme cold; even if they can operate they'll still be running at much lower efficiency.

For temperatures significantly into negative territory a ground source heat pump would perform far better, where it can draw on a source of heat that will always be at least above freezing.

A hybrid system doesn't seem like a bad trade-off though..

Re: US electricity demand surged in 2025 – solar handled 61% of it

#267

Post by njarboe »

jordanb wrote: post #91

While I'm concerned about the environmental challenges of reversing the trend and increasing energy consumption, I'm happy that people are living in more comfortable homes, that the Amercian industrial base is being restored, that more and better services are being provided (better healthcare, inexpensive and healthy food, comfortable, efficient and inexpensive transportation). That is what we're using this electrici…

Why are you against increasing energy consumption? Increasing energy consumption is what pulled the world out of the feudal, warlord misery of the past. Maybe switch the focus of this feeling towards being against pollution or something that is a negative. Just being against energy consumption is quite regressive and anti-human.

Re: US electricity demand surged in 2025 – solar handled 61% of it

#268

Post by CorrectHorseBat »

irishcoffee wrote: post #260
CorrectHorseBat wrote: post #207

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I do think we'll need to change our view on airconditioning, every home should have airconditioning just like it has heating. But I'm very sceptical of those numbers. They are apparently even worse for cold, and you can't attribute that to lack of airconditioning. I still think the huge difference can only be attributed to a difference in reporting.

Which way? For all we know the numbers are much worse and under-reported by Europe. China made the playbook for that a long time ago. Cuts both ways.

What has China to do with this?

Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence doesn't cut both ways.

Re: US electricity demand surged in 2025 – solar handled 61% of it

#269

Post by seydor »

njarboe wrote: post #267
jordanb wrote: post #91

While I'm concerned about the environmental challenges of reversing the trend and increasing energy consumption, I'm happy that people are living in more comfortable homes, that the Amercian industrial base is being restored, that more and better services are being provided (better healthcare, inexpensive and healthy food, comfortable, efficient and inexpensive transportation). That is what we're using this electrici…

Why are you against increasing energy consumption? Increasing energy consumption is what pulled the world out of the feudal, warlord misery of the past. Maybe switch the focus of this feeling towards being against pollution or something that is a negative. Just being against energy consumption is quite regressive and anti-human.

And slavery is what pushed certain empires and colonies to riches, that doesn't mean we keep doing it forever expecting positive returns

Re: US electricity demand surged in 2025 – solar handled 61% of it

#270

Post by hylaride »

nightski wrote: post #184
seanmcdirmid wrote: post #153

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What is NG good for? Induction cook tops perform better than gas ones, heat pumps do better than gas heaters. The only gap I can think of are just in time hot water heaters.

I own an induction stove, and overall really enjoy it. But there are certain types of cooking it's not nearly as well suited to (still possible, but not as good). One of those is cooking on a wok. But really it comes down to heating. Heat pumps are not universally better. We are currently sitting at -25C or so which is pretty common in the winter (it can even get a fair bit colder at times). Hardly any of the contrac…

I also own an induction range and love it, but I keep a portable butane stove around for random things gas is better for like woks or cooking that involves a lot of lifting the frying pan. Just make sure things are well ventilated (which should be the case with gas stoves, too).
Post reply on HN