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

electrek.co

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

#91

Post by kstenerud »

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?

You can't "sell" the opposite to someone who is expressing a loyalty belief. If their tribe believes in the opposite, then no amount of logic will change their minds - only a change of their or their group's allegiance will change their minds.

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

#92

Post by Ray20 »

mrhottakes wrote: post #14
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?

If people have strong opinions about renewable energy, just don't waste your breath. You can't reason someone out of an opinion they arrived at unreasonably.

In fact, it's very easy to reason them to change their minds:

1. Take statistics from any of these excellent solar power plants for, say, five years time span

2. Find the worst week in terms of energy production in these statistics

3. Explain to the renewable energy skeptic how this 20+ times drop in productivity will be compensated for users

4. The skeptic is successfully convinced and becomes a renewable energy proponent

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

#93

Post by Wacari »

mtmickush wrote: post #74

This is exciting news but the term power here should really be replaced with electricity which is clarified early on in the article. Electricity only accounts for roughly 20-25% of all power / energy used and the vast majority of the remaining 75% is fueled by gas (cars, ships, heating, construction, ect.)

no. if you work in the industry you'll know power/electricity are used interchangeably, and energy is treated as the superset. in the physics sense, you're right.

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

#94

Post by ZeroGravitas »

mtmickush wrote: post #74

This is exciting news but the term power here should really be replaced with electricity which is clarified early on in the article. Electricity only accounts for roughly 20-25% of all power / energy used and the vast majority of the remaining 75% is fueled by gas (cars, ships, heating, construction, ect.)

And roughly 2/3rds of that is lost as waste heat, so really only another 25% is actually useful.

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

#95

Post by ozim »

Aurornis wrote: post #46
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?

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.

You can be when you are living in an apartment building and you hear how people who have a house get 0 electric bill or get negative electric bill.

Some people just want the world to burn…

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

#96

Post by _whiteCaps_ »

I just upgraded the solar system at my family's off-grid cabin. It's incredible how much battery technology has improved over the last 10 years.

Everyone is getting tired of me checking the panel to see how many watts we're bringing in.

Next project, install a shunt and get a Raspberry Pi talking to it over USB. And then I'll be able to build a Grafana dashboard. :)

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

#97

Post by snehk »

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?

> So what are some of the best talking points to "sell" solar and wind to the unconvinced?

Ensure that the prices decrease for people with existing contracts. The hatred comes from people being told that it's better and cheaper now while the price is significantly higher than before.

If I didn't have solar panels on my roof that basically cover all my energy needs, I'd be absolutely furious seeing politicians pat themselves on the back for shutting down nuclear power plants and talking about how energy is now cheaper at some foreign exchange where I can not buy while I pay more and more every month.

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

#99

Post by hstaab »

tejohnso wrote: post #32
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?

Why would you be adamantly against solar? That sounds like someone who is of the opinion that solar is NEVER a good idea. Nonsense.

I’ve talked to some local people who are convinced that panels slowly leach heavy metals into the surrounding ground.

They mainly argue against it on residential & farm land (Midwest USA) for this reason.

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

#100

Post by toomuchtodo »

mtmickush wrote: post #74

This is exciting news but the term power here should really be replaced with electricity which is clarified early on in the article. Electricity only accounts for roughly 20-25% of all power / energy used and the vast majority of the remaining 75% is fueled by gas (cars, ships, heating, construction, ect.)

Global solar PV deployment is approaching 1TW/year. All energy will be clean energy in the next 1-2 decades. Vehicles will electrify, as will heating. Roughly half of marine traffic disappears if you're not shipping fossil fuels around.

The exponential growth of solar power will change the world - https://www.economist.com/leaders/2024/06/20/the-exponential... | https://archive.today/lp9pZ - June 20th, 2024

https://ember-energy.org/data/china-cleantech-export-data/

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