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Wind and solar generated more power than gas globally in April 2026

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Re: Wind and solar generated more power than gas globally in April 2026

#331

Post by cornstalks »

thrownthatway wrote: post #287
cornstalks wrote: post #268

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, you also need to calculate the voltage drop over your distance to show to minimum wire sizing, and the voltage and power levels at the ASHRAE minimum temperature, the current level at 156.25% over the wiring at the ASHRAE max temperature to compute the temperature adjusted resistance and show that your wiring meets minimum spec, etc. It’s not too hard to actually do the computations. But there is a ton to learn.…

So the most difficult part is using domain specific online calculators to determine the wiring requirements and charge controller capacity.

The most difficult part is acquiring the necessary domain specific knowledge, including what your AHJ changed from the national codes. But yes, once you know everything it’s all pretty straightforward stuff.

Re: Wind and solar generated more power than gas globally in April 2026

#332

Post by PaulDavisThe1st »

tonymet wrote: post #286
PaulDavisThe1st wrote: post #202

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not going to do that. Electrical heat using heat pumps is cheaper than in-situ heating with any fossil fuel because (a) the base price per unit of energy is (or certainly can be) lower (b) the coefficient of performance is higher. There are obviously costs to changing heating systems. But that doesn't mean that a gas heating system cannot be replaced by an electrical one.

to me, it sounds unreasonable. Let’s say this project was your responsibility, would this argument be enough for your supervisor to approve it?

I'm not aware of anyone saying "we must replace all uses of non-electrical heat pump-based heating with an electrical version".

My point, in response to the GGP (?) was the while e.g. gas heating may be in use now, it is not irreplaceable. This is quite different (right now, at least) for something like air transportation, where there is no feasible electrical solution.

There is no "project" under discussion.

Re: Wind and solar generated more power than gas globally in April 2026

#333

Post by tootie »

tonymet wrote: post #330
tootie wrote: post #319

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I just said. To reduce environmental impacts. A fully electric factory drawing power from a grid of renewables is cleaner, safer and more stable.

so it sounds like "bear infinite prosperity / comfort / security costs for dubious environmental benefits" . Have you thought about how to weight the costs vs the benefits? Are you proposing being poorer, hungrier, more miserable, less comfortable in the hot & cold season for "clean energy". so how much are you willing to sacrifice for it?

Nothing and we don't have to and idk what you're talking about. I literally have an all-electric home and it's perfectly comfortable. Heat pump works great on the hottest and coldest days (outside temp has been as low 2F as high as 99F). And security benefits are also very much in favor of renewables. There is no global supply chain for wind and sun in the hands of a cartel. You have been suckered by a lot of industry propaganda.

Re: Wind and solar generated more power than gas globally in April 2026

#335

Post by tonymet »

PaulDavisThe1st wrote: post #332
tonymet wrote: post #286

Earlier quoted context omitted.

to me, it sounds unreasonable. Let’s say this project was your responsibility, would this argument be enough for your supervisor to approve it?

I'm not aware of anyone saying "we must replace all uses of non-electrical heat pump-based heating with an electrical version". My point, in response to the GGP (?) was the while e.g. gas heating may be in use now, it is not irreplaceable. This is quite different (right now, at least) for something like air transportation, where there is no feasible electrical solution. There is no "project" under discussion.

you questioned "critical". It sounds like you mean that something is not critical if you can imagine replacing it.

To me, "critical" means that it is critical to providing the service it provides. i.e. gas is critical to providing food, if the gas stops, the food stops.

having a plan doesn't change that.

I guess we differ on "critical".

Re: Wind and solar generated more power than gas globally in April 2026

#336

Post by tonymet »

tootie wrote: post #333
tonymet wrote: post #330

Earlier quoted context omitted.

so it sounds like "bear infinite prosperity / comfort / security costs for dubious environmental benefits" . Have you thought about how to weight the costs vs the benefits? Are you proposing being poorer, hungrier, more miserable, less comfortable in the hot & cold season for "clean energy". so how much are you willing to sacrifice for it?

Nothing and we don't have to and idk what you're talking about. I literally have an all-electric home and it's perfectly comfortable. Heat pump works great on the hottest and coldest days (outside temp has been as low 2F as high as 99F). And security benefits are also very much in favor of renewables. There is no global supply chain for wind and sun in the hands of a cartel. You have been suckered by a lot of industr…

residential is a small piece of the pie

Re: Wind and solar generated more power than gas globally in April 2026

#337

Post by rasz »

ZeroGravitas wrote: post #133
erelong wrote: post #9

I know some people who are adamantly against solar and wind (personally I like both but I can see some shortcomings - for example I have heard that ai datacenters are using gas at times because of its flexibility) So what are some of the best talking points to "sell" solar and wind to the unconvinced? Or will they just adopt it once it's seen everywhere?

In Australia conservatives with solar on their own roof continue to complain about renewables generally. It's just a weird cultural thing for some people.

In Poland main opposition candidate for the next prime minister Przemysław Czarnek declared he has solar panels, but he will be removing it because solar is bad (1). He also announced new election slogan "Renewables, shite-wables" (loosly translated oze sroze).

https://wiadomosci.onet.pl/kraj/przemyslaw-czarnek-tlumaczy-...

1 Solar was pretty good until PIS party lost elections and became Trump bitch, now they toe the coal/oil good solar/wind bad line.

PIS already has one of their men poorly performing function of Poland president. His main election slogan was lowering energy prices, you can guess how that went :-) His latest trick was vetoing super cheap EU military loan because it was conditioned on buying European/Polish equipment meaning none of the money could be funneled to USA.

Re: Wind and solar generated more power than gas globally in April 2026

#338

Post by DonsDiscountGas »

zahlman wrote: post #184
DonsDiscountGas wrote: post #158

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nobody, anywhere, is building new coal power plants. Approximately all new power is wind and solar. Which is good. But there is still a lot of installed capacity. And until new solar is cheaper than existing coal (which will be awhile, maybe never) then coal only decreases as plants shut down.

> And until new solar is cheaper than existing coal (which will be awhile, maybe never) then coal only decreases as plants shut down. Why wouldn't "existing solar is cheaper than existing coal, and existing coal is not required to meet demand" result in coal plants shutting down?

Demand for electricity is growing massively. Existing coal is required to meet demand.

Re: Wind and solar generated more power than gas globally in April 2026

#339

Post by reustle »

porphyra wrote: post #299
scope2093 wrote: post #246

We installed roof solar (10kW panels + 8kW hybrid inverter + 32kWh battery + planning/execution) last October for 11k euro. After all the math, our "investment" would pay off in approx 8-10 years (at current electricity prices). That's without an electric car, which we plan to buy sometime in the next two years. All in all, pretty happy. Especially that we have frequent grid faults. Even my ISP has some beefy batteri…

Nice. In the US, it cost us $35k to install 7.6 kW panels + 13 kWh battery. But our PG&E electricity prices in the Bay Area are also several times more expensive than in Europe ($0.50 per kWh) so it will also pay off in 8-10 years.

Curious, when you calculate 8-10yr payoff, are you taking into account the last 10-20 year kwh cost inflation trend as well?

Re: Wind and solar generated more power than gas globally in April 2026

#340

Post by kalleboo »

fp64 wrote: post #59
Aurornis wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don’t know how you can be against solar unless you’ve been given some uninformed talking points. Are they against solar subsidies or other policy provisions? It’s hard to understand someone who is against passive energy collection.

I'm not against solar, my primary issue is that in northern Europe there's not much sun at some times. Energy storage and "smart grid" are not there yet, in my view, but maybe should have come first. Hydrogen (electrolysis) sounds a bit wild and impractical to me.

The places that don't have much sun instead tend to have much wind and hydro.
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