But it’s one of those things, I forget the word, that is so obvious as to not need explanation.
See, the sun and wind and waves exist anyway and are free, right? So harnessing then gives us cheap energy, cos the sun and wind and waves are free.
Non renewables are expensive because we have to give money to evil capitalist companies to dig them out of the ground.
There is a combination of “wind and sun are free”, a lack of understanding of the technology plus there is a general view of business people as deliberately malicious, wanting to pollute, that comes from movie versions of business people.
My take on renewables is that we’re going to do a lot more of it, but you need things like better batteries first. There is no point erecting a ton of wind and solar until that problem gets cracked. And this is happening. Car makers, laptop makers are all trying to improve batteries in various ways. There’s already a powerbank that is semi-solid state. The advantage is that you can make a smaller powerbank. Or a laptop needs less space for the battery. Or a car has longer range. There’s a few people with deep pockets who care about this sort of thing, so let them pay for all the R&D. When it’s good enough, do the solar power.
Or, stick cells in the desert where the sun shines reliably all day, and convert it to kerosene that gets stored and shipped. Already happening a bit. Swiss air are buying some. The sort of people rich enough to fly Swiss can feel smug, and they also fund the R&D for more of it.
All government has to do is that Pigou stuff. Charge a pollution tax, let the market figure it out, find solutions. The biggest green things in the past few decades are remote work and Amazon.
Addolff
2 hours ago
I wonder what colour the sky is on the planet Spud (and every other proponent of ‘renewables’ and Net Zero) lives?
Esteban
56 minutes ago
That’s why they have to be mandated, see?
Ironman
42 minutes ago
The answer to Tim’s question is, yes, loads. Renewables are indeed cheaper, for the grafter accessing the subsidy. In other news Motability is amazing value for money. It’s stressing me out just thinking about it, which by pure chance qualifies me to benefit. Result!!!!!
andyf
56 seconds ago
Location matters. Solar in sunny places where the prime energy user is for aircon during the sunny days is cheap . In the UK though we need energy most in the cold dark winter months where daly solar panel output is roughly only 6% of the peak summer output. If you build enough solar for the winter it’s going to cost 17 times more even before the cost of batteries.
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If you can spare a few pounds you can donate to our fundraising campaign below. All donations are greatly appreciated and go towards our server, security and software costs. 25,000 people per day read our site and every penny goes towards our fight for free and fair journalism. We don’t take a wage and do what we do because we enjoy it and hope our readers enjoy it too.
But it’s one of those things, I forget the word, that is so obvious as to not need explanation.
See, the sun and wind and waves exist anyway and are free, right? So harnessing then gives us cheap energy, cos the sun and wind and waves are free.
Non renewables are expensive because we have to give money to evil capitalist companies to dig them out of the ground.
Axiom?
There is a combination of “wind and sun are free”, a lack of understanding of the technology plus there is a general view of business people as deliberately malicious, wanting to pollute, that comes from movie versions of business people.
My take on renewables is that we’re going to do a lot more of it, but you need things like better batteries first. There is no point erecting a ton of wind and solar until that problem gets cracked. And this is happening. Car makers, laptop makers are all trying to improve batteries in various ways. There’s already a powerbank that is semi-solid state. The advantage is that you can make a smaller powerbank. Or a laptop needs less space for the battery. Or a car has longer range. There’s a few people with deep pockets who care about this sort of thing, so let them pay for all the R&D. When it’s good enough, do the solar power.
Or, stick cells in the desert where the sun shines reliably all day, and convert it to kerosene that gets stored and shipped. Already happening a bit. Swiss air are buying some. The sort of people rich enough to fly Swiss can feel smug, and they also fund the R&D for more of it.
All government has to do is that Pigou stuff. Charge a pollution tax, let the market figure it out, find solutions. The biggest green things in the past few decades are remote work and Amazon.
I wonder what colour the sky is on the planet Spud (and every other proponent of ‘renewables’ and Net Zero) lives?
That’s why they have to be mandated, see?
The answer to Tim’s question is, yes, loads. Renewables are indeed cheaper, for the grafter accessing the subsidy. In other news Motability is amazing value for money. It’s stressing me out just thinking about it, which by pure chance qualifies me to benefit. Result!!!!!
Location matters. Solar in sunny places where the prime energy user is for aircon during the sunny days is cheap . In the UK though we need energy most in the cold dark winter months where daly solar panel output is roughly only 6% of the peak summer output. If you build enough solar for the winter it’s going to cost 17 times more even before the cost of batteries.