No, the grid won’t get greener if Trump is elected because he WILL go full dictator. And he will revert everything that is being done currently.
Comment on 40% of US electricity is now emissions-free
jabjoe@feddit.uk 9 months ago
This is economics now, not politics. US can go full crazy Trump, but the grid will just keep getting greener as greener is cheapest. He can rant and rave about global warming being a conspiracy or anything else, but it’s unstoppable now.
Darkhoof@lemmy.world 9 months ago
jabjoe@feddit.uk 9 months ago
He’ll struggle to make states to buy more expensive energy. If he managed, he’d put the state at a global disadvantage. Even then, he’d have to outlaw solar to stop people installing it at home.
zbyte64@lemmy.blahaj.zone 8 months ago
That’s what tanking the EPA is for. Without any oversight of externalities, dirty energy becomes cheaper.
jabjoe@feddit.uk 8 months ago
Environmental Protection Agency?
Sorry, I don’t follow.
random65837@lemmy.world 8 months ago
but the grid will just keep getting greener as greener is cheapest.
Really? As somebody that works in the power space, how exactly do you figure that? Nuke aside, which people constantly complain about, the NRC doesn’t like to renew licenses, doesn’t want to grant new ones, that leaves wind and solar, both are money pits, waste more than they generate, and have a horrible environmental impact both from lost land, spent panels that can’t be recycled or thrown out as they’re toxic as hell, wind farms need never ending maintenance and again, cost more to run than they give back.
Until modular nuke become the norm and coal plants are retro’d, standard nuke plants are the absolute best bet. There’s no consiracy to keep older coal plants alive, sorry, that’s political stupidity. Every power company on the planet would dump them if they could. They’re a nightmare to operate and keep going.
jabjoe@feddit.uk 8 months ago
Easier to recycle solar pannels and wind turbines than burnt coal or gas…
Solar and wind are now the cheapest power. www.eia.gov/outlooks/aeo/electricity_generation/ Both can be mixed with other land use. Both are still undergoing material use evolution.
Fission is always going to be an issue because humans aren’t grown up enough to handle the waste. scientificamerican.com/…/nuclear-waste-is-piling-…
Let alone running them safely. …wikipedia.org/…/List_of_nuclear_power_accidents_… So I’m pretty uncomfortable with standardized nuclear modules (sub reactors) being distributed far and wide.
Maybe fusion will be different, but it always seams decades away.
wikibot@lemmy.world [bot] 8 months ago
Here’s the summary for the wikipedia article you mentioned in your comment:
Worldwide, many nuclear accidents and serious incidents have occurred before and since the Chernobyl disaster in 1986. Two thirds of these mishaps occurred in the US. The French Atomic Energy Commission (CEA) has concluded that technical innovation cannot eliminate the risk of human errors in nuclear plant operation.
Zaderade@lemmy.world 8 months ago
Quick everyone, downvote to oblivion because this guy actually is educated in the subject
SlopppyEngineer@lemmy.world 8 months ago
That guy sounds more like that pilot I know bitching how noise and pollution regulations make their job now difficult or even take their wings. It’s not because they’re in the biz they’re not biased.
Meanwhile where I live, solar panels and wind turbines are happily recycled.
Zaderade@lemmy.world 8 months ago
That sounds pretty different actually. On one hand you have someone talking about being inconvenienced.
On the other hand you have someone in the industry talking about practicality. Biased or not, people that work in their respective areas generally know the most about that same area, as opposed to random people online.
EncryptKeeper@lemmy.world 8 months ago
I actually work in the industry and am definitely educated in the subject and I can say with 100% certainty that guy is not in the industry and is full of shit.
Overshoot2648@lemm.ee 8 months ago
What is toxic in solar panels? While I’d love it if they would actually recycle the silver, copper, and 99.99% pure silicon, most of the time it ends up the same place the fiberglass turbines do: ground into industrial sand for concrete. Also the aluminum is already recycled anyway. There are several recyclers for solar panels popping up as the scale of solar increases to better take advantage of the materials, but they are already fully recycled Also coal plants are shutting down and being edged out by natural gas anyway. I don’t know what sources you are using, but they are either out of date or wrong.
random65837@lemmy.world 8 months ago
What is toxic in solar panels?
Mainly lead and cadmium, and they can be recycled, that’s not the problem, the problem is the cost of doing it vs sticking them in a landfill. Nobody wants to spend 5x to recycle something that’s dead to them and can’t generate income anymore, vs dumping it.
Spaceballstheusername@lemmy.world 8 months ago
Still plenty that can be done to stop it. Preventing transmission lines, giving even bigger subsidies to fossil fuels, putting large tarrifs on imported solar panels and wind turbines. Just look at California the power monopoly is in with Gavin Newsom and they created rules that protect their profits above all else and now solar installs is at 20% what it was before.
jabjoe@feddit.uk 8 months ago
You mean 120% of what it was? 20% of what it was means way cheaper, and I’m sure you mean more expensive.
Sure but it’s self defeating, making things more expensive. Putting that whole state/country at a disadvantage against those who use cheap clean power instead of fighting it.
Spaceballstheusername@lemmy.world 8 months ago
I think you’re unfamiliar with California’s new policy it doesn’t change the cost to install but how much you pay and make for electricity. Basically now you sell electricity to the grid for 3-5 cents and buy it for like 10-15 but then they tack on like 20 cents in transmission fees. So it has made solar not cost effective anymore in most residential cases. So the total number of yearly installs has decreased to 20% compared to last year.
jabjoe@feddit.uk 8 months ago
Don’t sell to the grid if you can avoid it. Charge a house battery, charge a EV, run all your stuff for the day. Always better to use than sell back to the grid anyway.
But my larger point was that by harming green energy, you harm energy costs and harm the economy. It becomes less competitive to economies who ride reality instead of fight it.
And yes, I don’t know California policies. Hand up, I’m a Brit who just champions green energy transitions. I watch grid.iamkate.com with glee.
I_LOVE_VEKOMA_SLC@lemmy.world 8 months ago
I think they were referring to installations, not cost.
Chakravanti@sh.itjust.works 9 months ago
No. No it’s not. EOTW in a decade tops. If it ain’t hell incarnate then it’ll be a virus, bio-, tech-, software, etc., maybe that comet, whatever. Unless you FOSS everything NOW…Goodbye…forever.
OrteilGenou@lemmy.world 9 months ago
This guy frets
Xeknos@lemmy.world 8 months ago
This guy should do the needful and calm the fuck down.
Chakravanti@sh.itjust.works 8 months ago
I don’t do that. Stop reading emotions in texts. Your not psychic here.
OrteilGenou@lemmy.world 8 months ago
I think I’ll ignore this
UristMcHolland@lemmy.world 9 months ago
Can I get that in English?
etlaser@lemmy.world 9 months ago
They can correct me if I’m wrong, but I think what they’re saying is there are numerous reasons that the world can and will be over in the next decade. The only solution to this, as they see it, is to make everything free and open source. If we don’t, we’ll all be doomed.
Chakravanti@sh.itjust.works 8 months ago
The planet will live. We won’t.
Chakravanti@sh.itjust.works 8 months ago
Mo. I only speak in psychedelic and psychic drugs. Inhale some cognitive dimensioner perception accelerator already. Your last chance before…
Katana314@lemmy.world 8 months ago
The infuriating thing to me is, renewable energy is often extremely independent. It means no reliance on foreign oil. That SHOULD be the most American thing, especially for those in the GOP who claim to be anti-government.
Goes to remind you their main product is hypocrisy.