gift link

[www.nytimes.com]

The Clean Energy Future Is Arriving Faster Than You Think


The United States is pivoting away from fossil fuels and toward wind, solar and other renewable energy, even in areas dominated by the oil and gas industries.


Delivery vans in Pittsburgh. Buses in Milwaukee. Cranes loading freight at the Port of Los Angeles. Every municipal building in Houston. All are powered by electricity derived from the sun, wind or other sources of clean energy.

Across the country, a profound shift is taking place that is nearly invisible to most Americans. The nation that burned coal, oil and gas for more than a century to become the richest economy on the planet, as well as historically the most polluting, is rapidly shifting away from fossil fuels.

A similar energy transition is already well underway in Europe and elsewhere. But the United States is catching up, and globally, change is happening at a pace that is surprising even the experts who track it closely.

Wind and solar power are breaking records, and renewables are now expected to overtake coal by 2025 as the world’s largest source of electricity. Automakers have made electric vehicles central to their business strategies and are openly talking about an expiration date on the internal combustion engine. Heating, cooling, cooking and some manufacturing are going electric.

How is the sun and wind "renewable" when it's constant?

Everything come from the Sun. Even the fossil fuels.

The sun makes more heat and radiation every day; it renews its delivery of same to us every 24 hours. Just because it’s pretty reliable doesn’t negate that this continuous renewal is happening.

Renewables are now the cheapest form of energy (…that your energy provider still lets you pay more for.)

The only problems are

…intermittency (which could be largely offset by storage options, and/or renewable production throughout our country, to be carried by a not-yet-existent “smart grid”)

…the lack of that smart grid or storage options, and

…the resistance thrown up by other-source providers who are doing everything they can to save their own particular cheese.

Quote
vision63
How is the sun and wind "renewable" when it's constant?

I think since once we run out of oil, that's it. Even though technically the Sun will burn out some day, that's so far off, you can say pretty much forever when we run out, we can grab some more. Just a way to classify for ease, but not perfectly logical.

First I heard renewable used as a term was with trees. You cut them down and they grow back, hence renew. Not quite like the sun, but similar I guess.

whoop, too slow.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/13/2023 11:17PM by kj.

Quote
vision63
How is the sun and wind "renewable" when it's constant?

Its not constant. Nor is it renewable. In the long run, the sun dies.

---

Quote
mattkime

Quote
vision63
How is the sun and wind "renewable" when it's constant?

Its not constant. Nor is it renewable. In the long run, the sun dies.

I guess it's constant in that the flow of energy is pretty much constant (blocked at night, or clouds, but it does radiate energy constantly). We can store it and when it empties we can renew our store of it by capturing it with batteries, trees, in water, whatever. "Renewables" is a category label, and they're never perfect.

The sun will work for us for about 5 billion more years, but that doesn't really have anything to do with solar or wind being renewable. I guess the point is that it will last a lot longer than oil reserves.

The sun will also last a lot longer than any of us.

---

Saint Cloud, Minnesota, where the weather is wonderful even when it isn't.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/14/2023 10:59AM by Speedy.

Quote
Speedy
The sun with also last a lot longer than any of us.

Speak for yourself. I've decided that I'm renewable too.

---

“No persons are more frequently wrong, than those who will not admit they are wrong.” -- François de La Rochefoucauld

"Those who cannot accept the past are condemned to revise it." -- Geo. Mathias

The German word for contraceptive is “Schwangerschaftsverhütungsmittel”. By the time you finished saying that, it’s too late

Quote
Ombligo

Quote
Speedy
The sun with also last a lot longer than any of us.

Speak for yourself. I've decided that I'm renewable too.

Namaste.

How about this: As the electricity from the batteries is removed/consumed, wind and sun replace/renew it.

---

Ed (modelamac)

Trying to figure out some people is like trying to smell the number 9.

Quote
mattkime

Quote
vision63
How is the sun and wind "renewable" when it's constant?

Its not constant. Nor is it renewable. In the long run, the sun dies.

We definitely need to cut down on our use of the sun so that it will last longer.
The sun's hydrogen is a finite resource after all.

Quote
TheTominator

Quote
mattkime

Quote
vision63
How is the sun and wind "renewable" when it's constant?

Its not constant. Nor is it renewable. In the long run, the sun dies.

We definitely need to cut down on our use of the sun so that it will last longer.
The sun's hydrogen is a finite resource after all.

heeheehee!

Quote
TheTominator

Quote
mattkime

Quote
vision63
How is the sun and wind "renewable" when it's constant?

Its not constant. Nor is it renewable. In the long run, the sun dies.

We definitely need to cut down on our use of the sun so that it will last longer.
The sun's hydrogen is a finite resource after all.

Not to mention all the wasted sunshine! We need to put barrels out ALL AROUND THE WORLD to capture all that sunshine that would otherwise go to waste!

---

It is what it is.

To keep from wasting sunshine we should be able to use a Dyson Sphere.

Once we get the perpetual motion machines going, we won’t need anymore energy.

Quote
PeterW
Once we get the perpetual motion machines going, we won’t need anymore energy.

Hey! That just might work!!

Quote
Lux Interior

Quote
PeterW
Once we get the perpetual motion machines going, we won’t need anymore energy.

---

Mr. Lahey: A lot of people, don’t know how to drink. They drink against the grain of the liquor. And when you drink against the grain of the liquor? You lose.

Randy: What the @#$%& are you talking about?

Quote
Lux Interior

Quote
PeterW
Once we get the perpetual motion machines going, we won’t need anymore energy.

I hereby designate you as the CJU. The official Cat Joiner Upper. May God have mercy on your soul.