kiwiman127
Comfortably Moderate
Well, Andy, ever read about the wheat grains and the chessboard? Perhaps you should look into that. Solar doubled it's capacity last year, and now accounts for about 1% of our electricity. A decade of that kind of growth, and there will be no coal mines in the US.
Yeah, Solar doubled it's capacity. No, it's not 1%
What is U.S. electricity generation by energy source - FAQ - U.S. Energy Information Administration EIA
Solar is 0.4%.
No, there will always be coal mines in the US. We are already exporting coal, and the demand will only increase, driving up price, making coal mining profitable.
Capacity is irrelevant. We could cover the artic poll with trillions of gigawatts in solar panels, and produce barely 1% of that in actual power.
This is why in Germany, despite having tons of wind power capacity, produces a tiny fraction of that.
Capacity is irrelevant. What matters is actual production.
So solar capacity doubled, and it now *produces* 0.4% of our national power consumption.
Whooo hooo...
"well if the expansion of capacity continues"
Theoretically.... yes. I lost 10 lbs over the past 6 months. In theory in about 10 years, I should be lighter than air. My sister gained 20 lbs in the past 6 months. In 30 years, she'll be heavier than Shamu. (she's pregnant)
What's my point? You are making a fairly large assumption that a short term pattern will continue indefinitely. That's never the case. Global temperatures have been falling since 2002. If that keeps up, we're on the verge of an ice age.
Not only is the current trends not automatically going to continue, but it is entirely likely that they will not.
The massive cost of government spending on renewable energy, is very likely to be ended. When it happens, is completely unknown, but we do know that on a state level, it's already started.
Ohio recently 'paused' green energy subsidies. The cost was getting high, and thus to maintain a solid budget, the green-energy push was paused.
If the renewable energy field was truly viable, then it wouldn't need subsidies from the government.
Spain recently had to cut renewable energy subsidies, simply because they could no longer afford them.
Spain s solar industry to collapse as govt introduces draconian profit caps RT Business
Without government taxing the poor, to pay the rich solar corporations, they go broke. Solar, and wind both, are simply not economically viable without government dishing out tax money to rich corporations.
"If the renewable energy field was truly viable, then it wouldn't need subsidies from the government."-Andylusion
The oil and coal industries received over $20 billion in government subsides in 2013.
Thoughts?