this post was submitted on 08 Sep 2024
142 points (96.1% liked)
Asklemmy
43821 readers
871 users here now
A loosely moderated place to ask open-ended questions
Search asklemmy ๐
If your post meets the following criteria, it's welcome here!
- Open-ended question
- Not offensive: at this point, we do not have the bandwidth to moderate overtly political discussions. Assume best intent and be excellent to each other.
- Not regarding using or support for Lemmy: context, see the list of support communities and tools for finding communities below
- Not ad nauseam inducing: please make sure it is a question that would be new to most members
- An actual topic of discussion
Looking for support?
Looking for a community?
- Lemmyverse: community search
- sub.rehab: maps old subreddits to fediverse options, marks official as such
- !lemmy411@lemmy.ca: a community for finding communities
~Icon~ ~by~ ~@Double_A@discuss.tchncs.de~
founded 5 years ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
Whilst it's true solar is growing, it is not likely to be the silver bullet you make out.
Another way to look at the source you linked is that despite the ongoing climate catastrophe the US is still planning to add 4% more fossil fuel sources to their grid next year.
It also leaves out the fact that 84% of the current US power is generated by fossil fuels and that figure is not being reduced.
The source is also very US-centric. If we take the IEA's projections, only 25% of the world's new energy will be from renewable sources in 2024.
Then there's the weird choice of counting battery storage as energy generation. At the end of 2022 half of the battery storage was being powered by fossil fuels so should probably be left out of any statistics.
We need people to understand the true scale of the problem rather than generating more hopium. The energy companies have teams of people for that.
Check out how much solar china's put up this year.
Solar is absolutely the future
As of 2023, solar energy accounted for about 4.5% of China's total energy consumption.
In 2024 solar energy could account for around 5-6% of China's total energy consumption.
If they add another 170GW in 2025, the percentage could rise to approximately 6-7%.
They hope by 2026 solar will make up 8-9% of the total energy consumption.
If solar is the future then we are screwed because that isn't fast enough growth... and that is without factoring in the rest of the world who will hit nowhere near those numbers.
And they are adding, fast. Far faster than we are. That goal of nearly ten percent solar in less than two years?
That's not only fucking amazing, that's achievable, and they're on target for it.
As cheap as panels and controllers and batteries have gotten? It's only getting better.
Free electricity. From the fucking sky. Magic is real. You can play xbox with it
Yes they are the leaders in solar which is they are a good example... If the rest of the world was going at thier pace (it's not) it still wouldn't be fast enough.
Then we've got the degradation to worry about so the panels will all need regularly replacing whilst silver, gold and rare earth metals run out.
Rolling out that infrastructure is not likely to be smooth whilst most countries will be busy footing bills for the ongoing extreme weather. Not to mention the other potential blockers like wars, pandemics and lack of political will.
That last line sounds boundlessly optimistic and condescending in equal measures. Magic is real lol please. Of course I know sunlight comes from the sky and electricity can be used to play games consoles.
Ah, typical human problems that disrupt regular power generation is somehow specific to solar?
Nah, wars and climate change fuck with the grid already, just ask texas. Or north carolina. Or palestine.
And panel degradation is wildly over exaggerated.
My old as fuck mono crystalline panels (I have owned for ten years, and they were outdated when I got them) still kick literally 99% of their sticker rated juice. Even when dirty. They're dirty right now. I'm not bothering to clean them, cuz they still kick every volt they say they will.
They also literally produce all of the electricity my entire household needs.
SOLAR IS BETTER THAN YOU ARE WILLING TO ADMIT
And yeah, I probably pwned your ass at fortnite or rocket league or something
On solar power
Bitch
My battery powered router is smarter than your bullshit
Oh dear someone has had a tantrum and resorted to shouting and ad hominiums.
I know solar is good and sounds like it works well for you in your part of the world. My only point is that it's not going to solve climate change like you make out.
I don't play Fortnite or Rocket League lmao.