• Edgelord_Of_Tomorrow@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    Everything you said tracks except 5. Renewables are already cheaper than fossil fuels, and that’s with the subsidies for fossil fuels.

    From a purely economic perspective fossil fuels don’t make sense anymore, they’re being kept around because fossil fuel companies are using immense amounts of money to fight against renewables.

    People seem to forget renewable energy is essentially free. Sure there’s maintenance and upfront cost but that’s true for all energy generation. Fossil fuels simply can’t compete and it’s only going to get worse as we get better at collecting renewable energy.

    • fatalError@lemmy.sdf.org
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      1 year ago

      Price doesn’t matter if it’s cloudy like most winters with barely any sun and the wind is not blowing. Solar also won’t work at night and energy storage is crap, batteries are very much not renewable. Of course there is reversible hydro plants but these can’t be used everywhere and are a disaster for local ecosystems.

      Everyone is acting like renewables will fix everything… They won’t. The only thing that can replace fossil fuels right now is nuclear, which is also not renewable, but at least we have plenty of fuel for it.

      • tryptaminev 🇵🇸 🇺🇦 🇪🇺@feddit.de
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        1 year ago

        if we were to replace current fossil plants with nuclear, the fuel runs out in 70-100. years and will get much more expensive. Think about paying ten times your electricity bill in 20 years.

        It is possible to run a 100% renewable grid, using technology like hydrogen or other chemical storage system.

        Solar wont have the output in winter. Nuclear plants will have to shut down in summer, because the water supply will get unstable. France nuclear heavy energy production could collapse within the next two decades if the current trend of lower river water continues. And there is no reason to believe otherwise.

        But the biggest issue is that the grid is thought the wrong way around. Currently the supply is adjusted to the demand. But for many applications the demand can be adjusted to the supply. On the household level that means your fridge and washing machine to run, when there is a lot of energy available. On the industrial level that means to automate productions and adjust their intensity to available energy.

        • fatalError@lemmy.sdf.org
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          1 year ago

          Not all nuclear plants are the same. Some can use nuclear waste as fuel. Others are small and modular which allows them be turned on and off as needed and also be deployed easier and cheaper. We need solutions sooner, rather than later. Nuclear tech is here now, storage for renewables still needs more time to refine and streamline.