Technology Connections with one of the best videos I've ever seen making the case for renewable energy.
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Land use is a tricky balance and the USA has a very different mix from, say, Scotland but even here we could be doing a LOT more with rooftop solar, brownfield sites and marginal land to power Scotland with wind, solar and batteries before we have to touch prime agricultural land (and, again, even that neglects the potential benefits of co-use via agrivoltaics)
While I absolutely encourage everyone to watch the full thing, the core takeaway is this:
Solar and batteries have changed everything. Anyone who says we shouldn't be maxxing out that capacity pretty much to the exclusion of non-renewables either hasn't grasped that reality or is lying to you.
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Technology Connections with one of the best videos I've ever seen making the case for renewable energy.
The really striking bit pointed out that if the land in the US currently being used for biofuels for cars was converted to solar panels and batteries and even if we neglected even more efficient land use like agrivoltaics, the USA could more than power itself (including EV cars) without impacting food production.
@thecommongreen 32 panels for $5600? Sold.
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While I absolutely encourage everyone to watch the full thing, the core takeaway is this:
Solar and batteries have changed everything. Anyone who says we shouldn't be maxxing out that capacity pretty much to the exclusion of non-renewables either hasn't grasped that reality or is lying to you.
I would worry about the environmental damage caused by rapidly scaling up mining activity to support this.
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I would worry about the environmental damage caused by rapidly scaling up mining activity to support this.
@benh This is addressed in the video. Essentially, the mining to support the fossil fuel sector is orders of magnitude larger and is ongoing (each barrel of oil can only be burned once). Drawing this down would be a net reduction in mining and the harm from mining.
The materials for renewables, if designed properly, are extremely recyclable to the point that it won't take long for the primary source of materials for solar PVs and batteries to become the previous generation of PVs and batteries.
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@thecommongreen 32 panels for $5600? Sold.
@Gustodon The price drop in solar has exceeded all possible predictions. It's really getting to point of "if you can hang a solar panel from it, do it".
I've seen people replace their boundary fences with racks of PVs because even though the panels aren't optimally angled, they still generate /some/ power and they're cheaper than the wood they would have used which generates none.
Tempted to do the same myself...
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Technology Connections with one of the best videos I've ever seen making the case for renewable energy.
The really striking bit pointed out that if the land in the US currently being used for biofuels for cars was converted to solar panels and batteries and even if we neglected even more efficient land use like agrivoltaics, the USA could more than power itself (including EV cars) without impacting food production.
@thecommongreen
What I love about this video is that it focuses entirely on the economic case for solar, with a “you’re an idiot if you don’t save money this way” angle. It is hard for even the most dyed-in-the-wool pro-oil capitalists to resist such arguments! -
I would worry about the environmental damage caused by rapidly scaling up mining activity to support this.
@thecommongreen not much scaling up of mining to make PV (mostly glass, aluminium and quartz) and in no case would it be worse than coal mining, hydraulic fracking and we needn't discuss GHG emissions at all. @benh
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I would worry about the environmental damage caused by rapidly scaling up mining activity to support this.
@thecommongreen @benh did you watch the video....???
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@thecommongreen
What I love about this video is that it focuses entirely on the economic case for solar, with a “you’re an idiot if you don’t save money this way” angle. It is hard for even the most dyed-in-the-wool pro-oil capitalists to resist such arguments!@KimSJ @thecommongreen when giving talks on climate change I used to say you don't need to care about the climate or even believe it's changing, but if you care about saving money then you should still install insulation...
Solar panels have dropped in price and improved like most mass-produced electronics. And we can expect them to continue to for a while yet, especially as their production volumes increase.
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Technology Connections with one of the best videos I've ever seen making the case for renewable energy.
The really striking bit pointed out that if the land in the US currently being used for biofuels for cars was converted to solar panels and batteries and even if we neglected even more efficient land use like agrivoltaics, the USA could more than power itself (including EV cars) without impacting food production.
@thecommongreen As an erstwhile Greenpeace'er & radicalized anti-fossil dude, I should point out that while yes, this guy is on our side, most of his case in this video is VERY over-simplified (in a way GP activists unfortunately also do it) - if you're going to use his points in debate, please read up a little first or they're too easily muddled/refuted, even just by skeptics, no bad faith required.
The rant at the end, however? Chef's Kiss
