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+--- Thread: “ A zero-emissions US is now pretty cheap “ (/showthread.php?tid=252394)
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“ A zero-emissions US is now pretty cheap “ - btfc - 01-31-2021
“ In many areas of the United States, installing a wind or solar farm is now cheaper than simply buying fuel for an existing fossil fuel-based generator. And that's dramatically changing the electricity market in the US and requiring a lot of people to update prior predictions. That has motivated a group of researchers to take a new look at the costs and challenges of getting the entire US to carbon neutrality.
By building a model of the energy market for the entire US, the researchers explored what it will take to get the country to the point where its energy use has no net emissions in 2050—and they even looked at a scenario where emissions are negative. They found that, as you'd expect, the costs drop dramatically—to less than 1 percent of the GDP, even before counting the costs avoided by preventing the worst impacts of climate change. And, as an added bonus, we would pay less for our power. “
https://arstechnica.com/science/2021/01/new-study-a-zero-emissions-us-is-now-pretty-cheap/
Re: “ A zero-emissions US is now pretty cheap “ - mattkime - 01-31-2021
Feels like we're at a tipping point.
Re: “ A zero-emissions US is now pretty cheap “ - sekker - 01-31-2021
mattkime wrote:
Feels like we're at a tipping point.
It does indeed. Was important progress when electricity from solar was cheaper than coal in America.
Needs to be better than natural gas, etc.
Seems like we are at this point.
Re: “ A zero-emissions US is now pretty cheap “ - Sarcany - 01-31-2021
mattkime wrote:
Feels like we're at a tipping point.
Feels like the oil industry is going to push some more legislation and press some agencies to slow this down.
Re: “ A zero-emissions US is now pretty cheap “ - sekker - 01-31-2021
Sarcany wrote:
[quote=mattkime]
Feels like we're at a tipping point.
Feels like the oil industry is going to push some more legislation and press some agencies to slow this down.
Yes, and the consequences to those areas where the jobs may disappear in the next 5-10 years are real.
Watching the boom-bust cycle in the upper midwest is just terrible, and this is going to happen to OK and TX.
So even those that do not want to feel compassion, please set that aside and understand this is a major transition.
Re: “ A zero-emissions US is now pretty cheap “ - Diana - 02-01-2021
sekker wrote:
[quote=Sarcany]
[quote=mattkime]
Feels like we're at a tipping point.
Feels like the oil industry is going to push some more legislation and press some agencies to slow this down.
Yes, and the consequences to those areas where the jobs may disappear in the next 5-10 years are real.
Watching the boom-bust cycle in the upper midwest is just terrible, and this is going to happen to OK and TX.
So even those that do not want to feel compassion, please set that aside and understand this is a major transition.
In the 1980’s the energy sector in Oklahoma suffered a major disruption and a lot of people were out of work, me among them. What few jobs there were were difficult to find and competition was fierce. The effects of that disruption have been felt for many years afterwards. It was bad.
Since then the state has diversified even more from energy and agriculture, the two traditional mainstays of our economy. We are seeing (once again) turbulence in our economy due to just this effect, just not quite as bad as before (I hope).
Re: “ A zero-emissions US is now pretty cheap “ - RgrF - 02-01-2021
Sarcany wrote:
[quote=mattkime]
Feels like we're at a tipping point.
Feels like the oil industry is going to push some more legislation and press some agencies to slow this down.
Western Canadian Provinces are in a state of shock over the Keystone decision. Provincial leaders apparently thought they were just dealing with political rhetoric from Biden and caught by surprise. They're pressing Trudeau for a larger platform to speak from.
Re: “ A zero-emissions US is now pretty cheap “ - C(-)ris - 02-01-2021
The people working in oil related industries as boots on the ground workers, for the most part, are not going to be able to adapt to the jobs needed for wind farms and solar type careers. The skill set is completely different.
Re: “ A zero-emissions US is now pretty cheap “ - mattkime - 02-01-2021
I wish we did a better job retraining people.
C(-)ris wrote:
The people working in oil related industries as boots on the ground workers, for the most part, are not going to be able to adapt to the jobs needed for wind farms and solar type careers. The skill set is completely different.
Re: “ A zero-emissions US is now pretty cheap “ - gabester - 02-01-2021
I just want to point out that as our grid becomes increasingly renewable-powered, zero emissions will slip away from our grasp thanks to upcoming energy-consumption increases from the likes of EVs (currently our gas/diesel/ethanol vehicles aren't accounted on the power grid) as well as blockchain-derived virtual currencies and training/utilization of increasingly pervasive AI. And let's not forget the tech bonanza fueled for the last half century by Moore's Law is essentially at an end, diminishing returns for the next decade and likely zero improvement past that, unless computing goes optical or quantum, the latter of which again has significant power draw for its currently limited implementions and applications.
If humanity can evade these limitations then there's a chance we might stop warming at 3-4 degrees C...
Sorry folks I'm feeling a mite pessimistic tonight. And none of this means we shouldn't pursue a renewable/zero emission grid globally.