What's the opposite of doom scrolling?
-
@xerz @disorderlyf @bradr The infamous "sun tax" applied to residential PV only - and industrial PV farms were perfectly happy with it, as it meant less PV production from residential customers, thus higher demand and higher prices in peak PV production hours. The boom in PV is just business. Lower investment, lower TCO (compared to wind etc).
PV and wind installed power reached parity in 2024. Installed PV is growing at 25-30% annually, installed wind power is growing at 2-4%.
@mbpaz @disorderlyf @bradr Okay I might not be reading well the old law, but I understood the old tax ("peaje") applied to everyone, and they were just specifiying "autoconsumo" even for those who are not connected to the grid
the PV boom is net business indeed tho, I just understood that the Rajoy administration was hostile enough with the aforementioned tax (which killed the previous, Zapatero-era policy of solar panel roofs in new lots) that the numbers stopped making sense until it got all lifted -
@thegarbagebird I lived long enough to believe that it takes quite a while. Give it some thought. I'm sure you will realize that adoption takes quite a long time for big shifts. Just look at railroads.
-
-
@thegarbagebird I would say so. I could only wish the US were half as fast. I live in Arizona. There is very little solar despite unrelenting sunshine. Every parking lot could have shaded parking that contributes to the grid. Can we do that? In 2026 the answer is still "no."
-
What's the opposite of doom scrolling?
Spain just pulled off one of the fastest energy transformations in Europe.
@bradr The headquarters of the Instituto Cervantes in Utrecht, seized by Spain's debts towards renewables
-
@bradr and that is why the EU wants to destroy this process
@KimeraGupta @bradr That makes zero sense: When you can no longer buy solar panels you keep producing electricity with the current ones, for many years; while the moment you can't buy fossil fuels you stop generating energy because they're single use. You burn it and it's gone. And as the skyrocketing fuel prices have shown us, that's a critical dependency.
-
@gim @gekko3k @bradr Coal usage for electricity generation in Spain is exactly zero now - no coal power stations remain.
Roughly 40-50% actual (not installed) generation is wind+solar, depending on the weather, ~15% nuclear, 10-20% hydro.
The major remaining polluting source is gas (in combined cycle stations), hard to replace for technical reasons. Also about 1% total energy comes from diesel generators in islands.
-
@gim @gekko3k @bradr Coal usage for electricity generation in Spain is exactly zero now - no coal power stations remain.
Roughly 40-50% actual (not installed) generation is wind+solar, depending on the weather, ~15% nuclear, 10-20% hydro.
The major remaining polluting source is gas (in combined cycle stations), hard to replace for technical reasons. Also about 1% total energy comes from diesel generators in islands.
-
@bradr The headquarters of the Instituto Cervantes in Utrecht, seized by Spain's debts towards renewables
[for the peanut gallery:] That's part of a big mess, something like €1.5 billion in civil judgements, that Spain is contesting, dating back to the 2011-2013 EU Sovereign Debt Crisis (when Rajoy retroactively canceled the 2007 green energy payment guarantee).
-
@disorderlyf @xerz @bradr to be honest, it's in large part a coincidence. It takes over 5 years (sometimes much longer) since a wind farm is proposed until it comes online.
Renewables are becoming the main source of electricity simply because of economics. Governments do not need to push renewables: they simply have to avoid punishing them.@mbpaz a feat Germany has yet to achieve @disorderlyf @xerz @bradr
-
@bradr wenn wir diese Entwicklung auf Deutschland übertragen könnten.... dann wären wir in 15 Jahren fossilfrei.
Aber das können wir nicht. Denn unsere Politik wurde von den fossilen Industrien gekauft.@energisch_ WIR können Politik machen @bradr
-
@thegarbagebird I would say so. I could only wish the US were half as fast. I live in Arizona. There is very little solar despite unrelenting sunshine. Every parking lot could have shaded parking that contributes to the grid. Can we do that? In 2026 the answer is still "no."
@Axomamma what is hindering it? @thegarbagebird
-
@bradr Great news, but this is _only_ aboute electricity production. Is there a graph with _all_ energy and fossil use? I.e. including motor traffic (which still runs on oil), heavy industries and chemical processes?
@pietervdvn This was the comment I was about to make. We're doing ourselves a disservice every time there's progress on electricity generation and it is announced as all energy being transitioned from fossil to green. Electricity is the easier task of the two energy challenges - the hard one is fuel @bradr
