There’s a global boom in solar—except in the United States
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I guess they just put “farmer destroying” in front of anything they dislike no mattter how nonsensical it is.
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"Farmer destroying" tariffs causing trading partners to retaliate by buying elsewhere. Doesn't seem nonsensical in that context.
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Which is ironic, considering his moronic policies are hurting farmers a lot more than renewable energy.
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That's how the USA will beat China! We will use coal smog to block out the sun and make all of those woke, farmer-killing solar panels useless. Another masterful 10D chess move from Trump!
This will also fix global warming (in the low chance that it turns out not to be a Chinese hoax).
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Solar is kind of useless in the winter in northerly states, getting maybe 15-20% of summer peak power. Fortunately wind produces more than twice the power in winter due to denser, heavier air and more violent and frequent wind. So I think a mix of the two is really important the farther north you get.
Also China invested heavily into upgrading their electricity infrastructure so they could have super high voltage DC lines criss crossing the country to transport energy where it needed to go. The US invested in… tax cuts for the wealthy.
Also China invested heavily into upgrading their electricity infrastructure so they could have super high voltage DC lines criss crossing the country to transport energy where it needed to go. The US invested in… tax cuts for the wealthy.
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Everyone knows you need the sun to grow plants. If you build too many solar panels they will just absorb all the sun making it it harder for farmers to grow their crops.
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RickRoyLeonPrisZhoraRacha
Ars Scholae Palatinae
OMG! That is SO Trumpian logic! "But don't they make transparent panels?" "Shhhh! We don't support Trans Parents!"
Actually, bi-facial panels work well over light roofs and northern climate with reflective snow or grounds.
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This seems at odds with the news that China's CO2 emissions FELL last year? China's emissions may be falling - here's what you should know (BBC news)
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Gotta think of Owen and Beru Lars. Those hard-scrabble moisture farmers have it tough enough out there.
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Add it to the list of ways the American voters (and non voters) screwed themselves.
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I’m pretty sure USA will further fall into the most backwater country on earth after these next 3+ years of fascism.
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Europe has a shitload more solar than the US, despite being generally north of the most northerly US states (other than Alaska).
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It’s almost as if Trump was not only bought by the fossil fuel industry, but also by the Chinese.
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The US has been acting increasingly like a middle-income country since the W era, and that's where the Trump policies are trying to go.
Fascism alone doesn't get you to the bottom; you need civil war fuelled by colonial powers to compete with e.g. DR Congo or Haiti.
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China's CO2 emissions increased in 2024 versus 2023, and were a new record.
They seem to be falling in 2025 for reasons that seem durable, but 2025 isn't over yet so you can't really say yet that they have fallen.
We use calendar years for this because that's what the experts who publish and verify the data use. Otherwise we have to use less-reliable estimates (published, but not necessarily as carefully verified).
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I'll still gladly take my ~500 kWh generated in winter months given I get ~ 2mWh during summer months. Our panels still generate more net energy than we use, year to year.
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The total is down. It just isn't the end of the year yet.
You're bolding that one sector went up, while other sectors went down. You aren't pointing to the total.
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The question was how can it both be true that their emissions have seen a dip, but they are still seeing an increase in fossil fuel usage. The part I bolded was to show that there are energy sectors where fossil fuel usage are still in growth, while the overall picture is a reduction in emissions.
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From what I've read:
Tesla China has gone full solar, saving around 7000 tons of emissions (per year)
Tesla China has gone full solar, saving around 7000 tons of emissions (per year)
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I had plans to get a solar setup started at my place, but instead I ended up paying medical bills.
#ThanksObama /s
#ThanksObama /s
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I look forward to the victory announcement held in the middle of the Iowa desert. That will own he libs!That's how the USA will beat China! We will use coal smog to block out the sun and make all of those woke, farmer-killing solar panels useless. Another masterful 10D chess move from Trump!
This will also fix global warming (in the low chance that it turns out not to be a Chinese hoax).
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Do not let that put you off if you feel need to do some bribery of your own. Cash is cash, and greed is infinite.
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We got home solar installed about 2 months ago. It's a smaller system and doesn't offset out entire usage and doesn't include a battery but so far we are happy. Our first bill was noticeably cheaper and the pay back period is looking very reasonable.
To be fair the savings aren't entirely from the solar because we also got a newer EV with better range so we can charge overnight and switched to a TOU plan which probably wouldn't have worked nearly as well without the solar in the mix due to us being home a lot during the day.
The end of the incentives motivated me to get around to doing something and the state incentives were only up to 6kWh which is why we got that and ended up with a smaller system. It was also nice that the cost was small enough we felt comfortable doing it out of pocket and not having to get into some sort of financing if we went big enough to offset our total usage year round.
I plan to track things and once we've paid off our current install we'll see how things look and may try expanding our system. Covering more of our mid peak and peak power costs would be good but I don't think trying to offset all of our off peak usage will make sense. Off peak is fairly cheap and with two EVs it's a pretty big chunk of our power usage.
To be fair the savings aren't entirely from the solar because we also got a newer EV with better range so we can charge overnight and switched to a TOU plan which probably wouldn't have worked nearly as well without the solar in the mix due to us being home a lot during the day.
The end of the incentives motivated me to get around to doing something and the state incentives were only up to 6kWh which is why we got that and ended up with a smaller system. It was also nice that the cost was small enough we felt comfortable doing it out of pocket and not having to get into some sort of financing if we went big enough to offset our total usage year round.
I plan to track things and once we've paid off our current install we'll see how things look and may try expanding our system. Covering more of our mid peak and peak power costs would be good but I don't think trying to offset all of our off peak usage will make sense. Off peak is fairly cheap and with two EVs it's a pretty big chunk of our power usage.
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One of the world's leading oil exporters is heavily sanctioned and having its energy infrastructure systematically destroyed... and the price of oil is falling.
Peak oil demand is here, and the other producers are pumping as much as they can because they don't know how long their oil reserves will be worth anything at all. If you have money in petro companies, get it out. If you have idiots in your government (like I do) talking about pipelines now, don't let them waste your taxpayer money.
Peak oil demand is here, and the other producers are pumping as much as they can because they don't know how long their oil reserves will be worth anything at all. If you have money in petro companies, get it out. If you have idiots in your government (like I do) talking about pipelines now, don't let them waste your taxpayer money.
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Funny how they don't refer to their soybean tariffs as farmer destroying.
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“Even as the cost of producing electricity from renewables falls, consumers may not see immediate or proportional reductions in their bills"
WHAT???? Surely not here, under capitalism!!!!
Here in California we need to get installation costs down and reduce permitting delays. Solar needs to be on every rooftop here, and not built out into massive arrays by PG&E so they can overcharge us for the electricity and fail to maintain the grid.
Are any towns getting started with solar installation cooperatives?
WHAT???? Surely not here, under capitalism!!!!
Here in California we need to get installation costs down and reduce permitting delays. Solar needs to be on every rooftop here, and not built out into massive arrays by PG&E so they can overcharge us for the electricity and fail to maintain the grid.
Are any towns getting started with solar installation cooperatives?
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They can't call everything woke, or else the word loses all sense of meaning. /s
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I'm sure the wealth will finally trickle down now! It's been checks notes 42 years since trickle down economics of reagan's presidency.
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Also, overbuilding is a thing, esp. with the current price of solar hardware outside of the US. But it requires well considered government policies in terms of export and storage to scale, and also net metering to make the most sense at the individual level during the summer.
Spain already regularly sees negative wholesale prices in the summer. This will happen more and more often and export is likely a great solution, esp. with France having an aging nuclear portfolio often affected by maintenance, extreme heat, etc. right when solar is peaking. Storage will layer on top of that nicely too.
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It is not simultaneously true that emissions have seen a dip while fossil fuel usage has increased.
In subsets of 2025, and in 12-month rolling averages, emissions and fossil fuel usage are both down relative to the same period a year ago.
In 2024, emissions and fossil fuel usage were both up relative to 2023.
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Natural gas produces 48.82% less lbs of CO2 per BTU than coal. China has increased usage of natural gas while decreasing its usage of coal. Hence the decrease in CO2 emissions while increasing fossil fuel usage.
"In China, record-high growth in generation from low-emission sources and a moderate increase in demand led to coal-fired power falling by an estimated 2.6% y-o-y in H1 2025, reversing trends of the previous two years."
"Gas-fired generation in China will remain robust and is forecast to rise by an average 3.6% over the period 2025-2026."
Source:
IEA (2025), Electricity Mid-Year Update 2025, IEA, Paris https://www.iea.org/reports/electricity-mid-year-update-2025, Licence: CC BY 4.0
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Burying our heads in the sand and using the power of government to stop Solar and Wind projects won't do anything to stop the global transformation.
It's just going to make America the Biggest Loser.
And that is the Trump maladministration in a nutshell - nearly all of his policies are making America the Biggest Loser Country in nearly all categories (not that we weren't in bad shape before him, but he's making it so much worse, instead of better).
It's just going to make America the Biggest Loser.
And that is the Trump maladministration in a nutshell - nearly all of his policies are making America the Biggest Loser Country in nearly all categories (not that we weren't in bad shape before him, but he's making it so much worse, instead of better).
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One of many indicators of the decline of the US on the global stage. The rest of the world sees the writing on the wall and is racing toward a green future while the US government actively fights against it despite the opportunities for job growth.
Also, wtf is going on with the text input on this website? When I delete the first letter of my next word, it double-deletes the letter and the space preceding it... It is also trying to auto-fill every single word I type. Not happening elsewhere.
Also, wtf is going on with the text input on this website? When I delete the first letter of my next word, it double-deletes the letter and the space preceding it... It is also trying to auto-fill every single word I type. Not happening elsewhere.
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