Toddsterpatriot
Diamond Member
How much of our energy usage is supplied by solar energy today?
Solar and wind combined make up 10% of US electricity, which is up from less than 1% in 2010.
The U.S. set a new renewable energy milestone in March, in data released Wednesday. For the first time, wind and solar accounted for 10 percent of all electricity generation, with wind comprising 8 percent and solar coming in at 2 percent.
While fossil fuels still dominate energy production overall in the U.S., solar and wind production are on a growth trajectory (especially in China, India, and some other developing countries, as well as parts of Europe). 2015 was the first record-setting year that more new infrastructure for renewable energy was installed than new infrastructure for nonrenewable energy.
You say solar supplies 2% but takes more workers than all fossil fuels.
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What is U.S. electricity generation by energy source? - FAQ - U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA)
According to the EIA, larger scale solar is 0.9% of 4.08 trillion kWh, about 37 billion KhW.
Small-scale solar, another 19 billion kWh.
Call it 56 billion kWh, or about 1.4%.
Natural gas and coal, 64.2%.
Fossil fuels provide more than 45 times the power, with fewer workers.
That's why I can honestly say solar power jobs have low productivity.
I have a black garden hose (actually three of them). Leaving the hose off but with water in them creates water in a short time to hot to handle. Decades ago my neighbor added black PC pipe along his fence in a loop to loop which he added to the out part of his water filter, diverted to the pipe, and when it emptied into the pool, was too hot to touch.
Solar power is very simple.
That's awesome!
In Chicago, during winter, I'll continue to heat my home with natural gas, despite your discovery.