Depressing to look at.
I mean, somewhat less depressing to look at that hospital wards full of people with COPD, which is the realistic alternative, IMO.
Photos capture the breathtaking scale of China's wind and solar buildout
531–540 of 612 posts
Re: Photos capture the breathtaking scale of China's wind and solar buildout
#532Earlier quoted context omitted.
I recently read, and recommend a book titled "Here Comes the Sun" by Bill McKibben. There's a passage where a calculation is made of the amount of minerals that have to be mined in order to build renewable energy to cover all current energy needs. This quantity is huge. However it is equivalent in mass to the amount of fossil fuels that are extracted every year. The major difference is that the equipment for renewabl…
One point that gets very little coverage is that fossil fuels are a limited resource. Once they used they are gone. The materials for renewable energy are still in a usable form.
I don't think you realize how much OIL we still have. The warnings about running out of oil is long long gone.
You're right, it's not infinite, but we are in no crisis now or in the foreseeable future.
Re: Photos capture the breathtaking scale of China's wind and solar buildout
#533> 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'm sure there will still be places where people with your particular phobia will be able to go to the beach and not see a scary wind turbine.
Re: Photos capture the breathtaking scale of China's wind and solar buildout
#534Earlier quoted context omitted.
Australia has the highest per capita solar capacity in the world : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_power_by_country#Global_... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_power_in_Australia
Also ridiculously far ahead on grid connected battery storage. https://elements.visualcapitalist.com/top-20-countries-by-ba... Australia > all of Europe (yes all of Europe, not just EU) combined on that one.
To be fair Australia also has approximately infinitely more sun than most of Europe does. But true, we could be doing a lot better in the EU regardless
Re: Photos capture the breathtaking scale of China's wind and solar buildout
#535Earlier quoted context omitted.
> The single most important thing we want to achieve is for President Obama to be a one-term president. I remember that day vividly. It was the middle of the Great Recession, it was the worst our economy was doing in a long time. Millions were out of work. People were looking to the government to see what the plan was to get the country back on track. A reporter asks McConnell what the senate’s number one priority wa…
have democrats not made similar statements about Trump, him being a danger to democracy and such?
In 2008-9 Republicans did not even make the pretense of Obama being a threat to democracy. (Which would have been absurd in a way it isn't for Trump, who tried to overthrow an election he lost.)
Re: Photos capture the breathtaking scale of China's wind and solar buildout
#536Earlier quoted context omitted.
Up to the 2008 election the Republican party platform called for reducing fossil fuel use, establishing a Climate Prize for scientists who solve the challenges of climate change, a long term tax credit for renewable energy (with specific mentions of solar and wind), more recycling, and making consumer products more energy efficient. They wanted to aggressively support technological advances to reduce the dependence o…
Obama was elected, which made some people very angry: > Here’s John Boehner, the likely speaker if Republicans take the House, offering his plans for Obama’s agenda: “We’re going to do everything — and I mean everything we can do — to kill it, stop it, slow it down, whatever we can.” > Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell summed up his plan to National Journal: “The single most important thing we want to achieve is…
I'd have to be full on, 100% retarded to have voted for Donald Trump.
Re: Photos capture the breathtaking scale of China's wind and solar buildout
#537Earlier 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.
> We are taking a break now, but starting 2029 America will resume having its pick of the best. Don't count on it. Some people may be willing to uproot their lives and move continent in the hope that 4 years later you won't re-elect another one like Trump, but it won't be as many as before. Heck, there was a brief window where I had the opportunity to migrate to the USA, but just the US electing Trump the first time…
I think people generally vastly underestimate the negative effect of "nativism"/anti-immigration rethoric on desirable foreign workers. Even if those desirable foreigners are completely unaffected by actual policy.
I personally know at least two highly qualified STEM workers that went back to Europe after Brexit/Trump2 and from what I can tell this was at least 70% pure "spite" (instead of being affected by actual anti-foreign regulation or somesuch).
Re: Photos capture the breathtaking scale of China's wind and solar buildout
#538Earlier quoted context omitted.
> bird killing turbines If you think wind turbines are a significant cause of bird deaths it shows that you have no clue what you're talking about. Please don't bother commenting on this topic again.
Not as many as cats I certainly know that, it obiovusly was an hyperbole used to underline that all we need is just a nuclear power plant to replace all that wind turbines
Our study, covering 45 species across 91 countries, reveals that human-induced factors—predominantly electrocution, illegal killing, and poisoning—constitute the major threats to bird mortality, highlighting a critical issue in global biodiversity conservation.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S000632072...
and from last year, US specific, endangered species:
A comparative assessment with data from the 2010 Red List reveals an increase in the proportion of threatened species recorded as being impacted by certain threats. Notably, the incidence of hunting and trapping as a documented threat has increased from 34% to 41% of threatened species. Similarly, the proportion of species assessments with fire/fire suppression, climate change, pollution, invasive alien species and energy production have each increased by 3-5 percentage points.
https://datazone.birdlife.org/articles/state-of-the-worlds-b...
Wind turbines are a significantly lower threat than windows, look it up!
Re: Photos capture the breathtaking scale of China's wind and solar buildout
#539Looks quite ugly, actually. However had, there is one thing working for China: decision-making steps. I don't have any illusion about the sinomarxist party and I don't suggest that their model - which is a dictatorship, just like the USA has transitioned into now too under an orange-painted TechBro minion - replaces democractic processes. But you do have to ask yourself what the EU is doing here, other than failing i…
I have installed photovoltaic panels + battery etc on my house. My energy costs have effectively decreased by ~30%.
Re: Photos capture the breathtaking scale of China's wind and solar buildout
#540Earlier quoted context omitted.
If nuclear plants were as inexpensive as renewables, that would make a ton of sense.
France decarbonized way before the rest of Europe with nuclear and it wasn't expensive. 50 reactors for $200 billion. Gernamy has spent twice that on intermittents and still relies on coal
Such a tired point. It’s not the 1970s anymore, and the west can build any large projects cheap. Go look at the projected costs for France’s new fleet, and that’s before the inevitable cost overruns