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

Solar power has begun to transform the world’s energy system

newyorker.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

421–430 of 607 posts

Re: Solar power has begun to transform the world’s energy system

#421

Post by Lightkey »

conradev wrote: post #403
rel_ic wrote: post #347

Renewable energy is great, but we're not replacing fossil fuels with it, we're just adding more energy usage. And our energy usage is destroying the environment. Don't let these advancements in solar make you think things are getting better. We need to reduce fossil fuel usage, not just increase solar usage. https://pocketcasts.com/podcasts/b3b696c0-226d-0137-f265-1d2...

If by "we" you mean California, then "we" are going to pass the following milestones with solar + batteries fairly soon: - Solar and storage is cheaper than building a new natural gas peaker plant in most locales (current majority of generation) - Dispatching battery plants becomes cheaper than turning on existing peaker plants. Fuel is free, dispatch is instant, they can add inertia. If by "we" you mean the rest of…

You are a bit behind on China. This was just published a week ago, showing renewable energy build-out has finally surpassed increased demand for this year, meaning peak coal was probably last year: https://ember-energy.org/latest-insights/solar-brics-emergin... (at end of the article).

Re: Solar power has begun to transform the world’s energy system

#422

Post by marcosdumay »

wanderingstan wrote: post #316
ErigmolCt wrote: post #132

While the US is busy trying to revive the oil-soaked 20th century, places like Namibia are leapfrogging straight into a distributed, solar-powered future with YouTube tutorials... It's like watching the fossil era get out-hustled in real time.

“The Innovator's Dilemma” by Clayton M. Christensen described how big companies fail when against new startups because they can’t let go of their fat margins for a new technology that (at first) appears to be inferior, even a toy. (His examples are Japanese motorbikes and hard disks) Seems the United States is now trapped in the same dilemma. It can’t let go of those fat oil profits to embrace the new —but rapidly im…

Hum... The profits from oil aren't as fat as they used to be. In fact, if you subtract the giant amount of subsides, there may be almost to nothing there.

That's to say that no, countries and governments do not behave like companies.

Re: Solar power has begun to transform the world’s energy system

#423

Post by dublinben »

agumonkey wrote: post #380
erghjunk wrote: post #370

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not going to dispute your over-arching point (because I know the data very well), but as a lifelong resident of Appalachia, I can assure you there has been some real and significant reduction in the negative environmental impact of fossil fuels. It's a small comfort and mostly just for those of us who live here, but it's real and visible.

What kind of changes happened there ? just curious

Just to hazard a guess, you could start reading here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Health_and_environmental_impac...

Re: Solar power has begun to transform the world’s energy system

#424

Post by conradev »

Lightkey wrote: post #421
conradev wrote: post #403

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If by "we" you mean California, then "we" are going to pass the following milestones with solar + batteries fairly soon: - Solar and storage is cheaper than building a new natural gas peaker plant in most locales (current majority of generation) - Dispatching battery plants becomes cheaper than turning on existing peaker plants. Fuel is free, dispatch is instant, they can add inertia. If by "we" you mean the rest of…

You are a bit behind on China. This was just published a week ago, showing renewable energy build-out has finally surpassed increased demand for this year, meaning peak coal was probably last year: https://ember-energy.org/latest-insights/solar-brics-emergin... (at end of the article).

That’s great news! Does that include the coal plants they’re funding in Indonesia and other places?

Re: Solar power has begun to transform the world’s energy system

#425

Post by zenkat »

wanderingstan wrote: post #316
ErigmolCt wrote: post #132

While the US is busy trying to revive the oil-soaked 20th century, places like Namibia are leapfrogging straight into a distributed, solar-powered future with YouTube tutorials... It's like watching the fossil era get out-hustled in real time.

“The Innovator's Dilemma” by Clayton M. Christensen described how big companies fail when against new startups because they can’t let go of their fat margins for a new technology that (at first) appears to be inferior, even a toy. (His examples are Japanese motorbikes and hard disks) Seems the United States is now trapped in the same dilemma. It can’t let go of those fat oil profits to embrace the new —but rapidly im…

Check out Paul Kennedy's "The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers" for an interesting take on this dynamic for nation-states and political economies. His core thesis is that dominant powers rise as new players leverage new technologies (especially energy technologies), build complex interdependent economies centered around those technologies, but then wither and fall as they spend increasingly more on military power to monopolize and defend the chokepoints of those technologies. When a new more efficient technology comes along, they are doomed to irrelevance as they fail to capitalize on those technologies, and new players swoop in for dominance.

He gives examples of the Dutch and wind power (sailing); Great Britain and coal; and America and petroleum. He also predicted China's ascendency as the next player willing to leverage new technologies.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Rise_and_Fall_of_the_Great...

Re: Solar power has begun to transform the world’s energy system

#426

Post by hnaccount_rng »

VBprogrammer wrote: post #123
fpoling wrote: post #111

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If electricity is sufficiently cheap it can be cheaper to capture carbon from the atmosphere for chemical industry than to use oil or coal there.

Do you have any source for this extraordinary claim? It's practically a claim of perpetual motion. Carbon dioxide a tiny fraction of the atmosphere, even in concentrations which are immediately harmful to human life. At the moment it's 400 parts per million. So in order to extract 1kg of Carbon Dioxide from the atmosphere you have to pump 2500kg of air through the system. This alone makes it unlikely we can do this p…

It may never be “worth” it in economic sense, but it offers a way to separate the time of “energy is used” and “energy is available”. Assuming sufficient captureable volume you could capture the emissions of a fossil power plant during the ~two weeks per year where weather is sufficiently bad. And then take the other 50 weeks to capture that carbon again. It can be completely inefficient (like sub 5% round trip efficiency) if a) we pay for it via a capacity market and b) have sufficient excess (clean) energy to run it

Re: Solar power has begun to transform the world’s energy system

#427

Post by marcosdumay »

lnsru wrote: post #312
adrianN wrote: post #276

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are old solar panels available at scale? They last for decades.

First 15-20 years old Siemens panels come off the roofs right now in Germany. Still having 2/3 of the rated power generation capability. Absolutely fascinating thing. And since they cost more or less nothing it would make absolutely sense to install them in some lower cost of living area in southern Europe. I can get the panels in Germany, who wants to take over the southern Europe part?

Yep. Those will still not be available for recycling.

Re: Solar power has begun to transform the world’s energy system

#428

Post by wanderingstan »

marcosdumay wrote: post #422
wanderingstan wrote: post #316

Earlier quoted context omitted.

“The Innovator's Dilemma” by Clayton M. Christensen described how big companies fail when against new startups because they can’t let go of their fat margins for a new technology that (at first) appears to be inferior, even a toy. (His examples are Japanese motorbikes and hard disks) Seems the United States is now trapped in the same dilemma. It can’t let go of those fat oil profits to embrace the new —but rapidly im…

Hum... The profits from oil aren't as fat as they used to be. In fact, if you subtract the giant amount of subsides, there may be almost to nothing there. That's to say that no, countries and governments do not behave like companies.

I think you might be in agreement with me in the main, just quibbling on the timing?

The US's addiction to "fat oil profits" goes back over a hundred years, and that's what the NYTimes author argues is driving the current administration's push to keep those profits going. Whether there actually are such profits is a different question.

This is exactly the behavior of the big companies in "The Innovators Dilemma": continuing to try and squeeze profits out of the dying old paradigm. (IBM clinging to hardware and mainframes, US motorcycle manufacturers not embracing small sport bikes, etc.) That's to say that, yes, countries and governments can indeed behave like companies.

Re: Solar power has begun to transform the world’s energy system

#429

Post by antonvs »

bokkies wrote: post #166
pzo wrote: post #139

good article I just don't know why author prefer to spell all numbers using words rather than digits. It's very mentally taxing for me to read, e.g: >> of twenty-one thousand respondents in twenty-one countries, found that sixty-eight per cent favored solar energy, “five times more [...] could be just: >> of 21,000 responders in 21 countries, found that 68% favored solar energy, "5x more [...]

Also Cape Town is a city in South Africa..no idea where Capetown is

It's near Stellen Bosch

Re: Solar power has begun to transform the world’s energy system

#430

Post by jpk2f2 »

markus_zhang wrote: post #260
matwood wrote: post #210

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I recently bought a heat pump dryer and it's pretty cool. No exhaust vent, just water drain. It also doesn't need the heavy duty power plug since it pulls so much less electricity than a typical heated air dryer.

I don’t know this thing exists. I need to take a look and maybe buy one when the current one breaks down. What brand did you purchase? Thanks.

I used to have a Bloomberg heat pump dryer when I lived in a historical apartment. I was fairly happy with it, only real downsides was that it did take longer to dry compared to my prior electric and gas dryers, it tended to pickup a musty smell, and it was relatively complex and difficult to repair compared to a simpler dryer (had some minor failures over the years). Upside was the efficiency and not needing an exterior exhaust.

Been a number of years since then, so I'm sure they've improved even more and are hopefully somewhat cheaper.

Post reply on HN