We are currently undergoing the greatest transformation in energy infrastructure since the start of the industrial revolution. Solar power and batteries are not only growing, but absolutely exploding.
Solar has become so cheap so fast that it’s going to fundamentally change the very way we use power and energy as a civilization. Seriously, look at new power generation by source. It’s almost all solar and wind, with a bit of nuclear and natural gas as a rounding error. And really, new power generation is majority solar.
The key thing is that solar is a technology that can be mass produced in absurd quantities. And the more we produce, the cheaper we can produce it. It appears now that solar is this epochal leviathan, a glacier sweeping across the energy landscape that will grind everything else to powder before it.
We have a very clear path to a grid that is almost entirely solar and wind. There’s nothing wrong with nuclear, but it cannot even begin to compete economically against the tsunami that is the solar revolution. Hell, I expect the grid to be almost entirely solar in the future.
Obviously the Sun doesn’t shine all the time, but panels have gotten so cheap, so fast, that a lot of these problems are just being carried away by the solar tsunami. For swings over the course of a day, batteries are getting so stupid cheap that we’re going to have no problem making enough power during the day to meet our needs at night. But the bigger concern was always seasonal variation. How can we possibly store enough energy to last through a winter? In years prior, this was seen as the Achilles’ heel of a largely solar grid. To store that much energy in batteries would seem completely impossible.
But it seems the seasonal problem is going to solve itself. You see, if solar power gets cheap enough, you can start doing really wild things with it. Even on a snowy day in winter, solar panels still generate some electricity. They may only generate 10-20% of what they do on a clear summer day, but they still generate power. And if solar is cheap enough, you can simply size your system so stupidly large that you can meet even your winter’s need without any seasonal energy storage. If you spam enough solar panels, you can meet your needs in the winter and then have dirt cheap, essentially free power the rest of the year. And it really looks like this is where we’re headed.
I foresee that many of our most energy-intensive industries will adopt a seasonal or semi-seasonal schedule to take advantage of the dirt cheap power in the warmer months of the year. We have a crop growing season, why not an aluminum smelting season or an AI-model training season? Or that free summertime power could be used to desalinate vast quantities of seawater affordably. Or, such a low-cost energy source is exactly what we need to make bulk atmospheric carbon removal a real possibility.
We used to live in tune with the cycle of the seasons. We lived according to the cycle of the Sun. So important was the Sun to our ancestors that we named our greatest deities after it. Amun. Aten. Ra. Huītzilōpōchtli. Ba’al. Aryaman. Mithra. Apollo. Helios. Sol Invictus. These were but a handful of the thousand names we gave to the mighty Sun upon which we so depended. We rose to its light and slept in its absence. We worked when it shone brightest and in the winter, invented elaborate holidays and rituals to encourage its return. We built our entire calendars and organized our entire civilizations around its cycles.
With the Industrial Revolution, we abandoned this close relationship with the Sun. We learned to draw upon bottled remnants of old rotted sunlight, and for a time learned to live apart from the mighty Sun. And those energies in fossil fuels improved our lives so greatly; they raised us up from the mud. We improved our standard of living so much, that we would rather burn the world to ashes than give up the lifestyle we have grown accustomed to. And so, the great challenge of our age is to find a way to keep our lives and comforts going, without destroying the Earth in the process. Millions of people have dedicated their lives to this one central challenge of our age. All our efforts. All our sciences. All of our industry. Our brightest minds and every tool of finance and government at our disposal. All of it searching, seeking, trying to desperately to find a way out of this horrible trap that we have built for ourselves.
And now, after all this yearning. After all this wondering. After all this wandering. The solution was in front of us this entire time. A ray of Sunlight has been cast down into the cave that we are so lost in. And it is leading us back to the light. We will cast off these shackles and leave the fossil fuels in the dust where we found them. We will once organize our entire civilization around the infinite bounty that the Sun freely gives in such abundance. And we will continue to enjoy the fruits that science has given us, but in a way that not only does not damage the Earth, but allows it to heal. That is the future ahead of us. That is the light in the darkness. As our ancestors did from time immemorial, we will once again live in the endless generosity of the star that birthed us. And we will rejoice. And we will sing.
Sol Invictus. We are coming home.
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.
So is this how the Sundom in Horizon starts?
Sundom in Horizon
I mean, I’m not expecting anyone to actually start rebuilding temples to Helios any time soon. But if you want to, I’m not going to stop you. Live your dreams!
Don’t forget that solar power is exploding thanks to China
I’ve actually been shocked by how little production drops during winter. For example, we Feb & March, our coldest months this year, we produced 1.75 MWh/month, which actually beats every summer month before it, and is only beaten by this August, which was our highest producing month ever at 2.04MWh. Most summer months before that were closer to 1.5. Only thing I need to do is clear the panels after it snows.
What is likely the cause of this is one thing that people miss about solar panels. Their efficiency is a function of temperature. In the summer, you get more sunlight, but the panels themselves are hotter and thus lose efficiency. In the winter there is less light, but the panels make the most of every photon.
Well sonofabitch.
That explains why my setup starts cranking early in the morning, but is kinda piddly in the afternoon, when, by my eyes, there’s even more direct light on them.
Had honestly never heard temp mattered at all
Violence has been going down for centuries. We’re hearing about it more, but it’s declining. It peaked around 1993, and it’s been trending downward ever since.
If you zoom out and look at super long term trends, it’s been declining for centuries.
that sure doesn’t look like it’s been going down for centuries. What about per capita?
Here’s homicides per capita in Western Europe. I highly recommend reading The Better Angels of Our Nature by Steven Pinker. It goes into this in depth.
COVID research made generic sequencing for viruses and bacteria incredibly cheap. You can run a PCR test for most things now for $10 (USD) or less. This opens a whole world of highly specific diagnostics and cheap, hyper-personalized treatments.
Also, MRNA vaccines are being tested for several other diseases and it seems very promising.
Negativity bias is real! I was reminding myself just today that for every act of hatred, there are ten thousand acts of love or kindness happening unreported all over the world. In homes, on the streets at the store…
Don’t let the news get you down. Things aren’t as bad as all that.
Kids are so much nicer than when I was in school. Not perfect, obviously, but really just so much nicer to each other.
I’ve noticed this with my kids’ schools. Many kids are open about who they are - LGBT+, neurodivergent, mental illnesses, etc. - and people are generally accepting of that. When I was a kid, people were bullied relentlessly for showing any form of difference from “normal”. It makes me happy to hear them talk about things like that like its no big deal…because it shouldn’t be.
Back when I was using reddit, I found Uplifting News to be a helpful source of positive information. Some of it can be reminders of our boring dystopia, like students helping another by starting a laundry program at the school, but it’s something. Here is the lemmy version.
I’m a masochist, do you have a c/downliftingnews?
Yes, it’s !news@lemmy.world
The USA is collapsing
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Is this sarcasm?
This site usually has some good stories worth checking out.
Fwiw, this title would apply to any point in time in human history. We just have the internet now to exchange information about it with higher bandwidth and lower latency than ever. Just think about the cost of exchanging information with random individuals around the world even 30 years ago.
100 years ago you just said “Yeah, I’m sure all that’s happening. So what? The world is big, I just stick to my little corner.” Today we have an interconnected population of people who now recognize these things not only as problems, but as things that could/should be resolved.
China’s economic boom
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Means.tv has a weekly good news thing. Check it out!
I had never heard of that, but I love how part of their sales pitch is the negative review from Fox News.
Fusion reactors are roughly 10 years away.
Fusion reactors are to modernity what communism was to “actually existing socialism”.
Phantasy Star Online 2 (the original) was successfully archived by Team Clementine and they are waiting to release their own private server. They also have their Phantasy Star Universe servers running smoothly. I love Phantasy Star.
millions of people in the third world are growing out of poverty thanks to the advance of technology.
Can you be a bit more specific? Which technologies defeat poverty where?
everything. There isn’t one particular technology driving this. My hometown of İstanbul has been transformed. Modern buildings are replacing horrible slums, there are new subway lines opening every year and almost everything is improving over time.
