cross-posted from: https://lemmy.zip/post/1175189
Archived version: https://archive.ph/BHN1n
Archived version: https://web.archive.org/web/20230807191826/https://www.euronews.com/green/2023/08/07/heatwave-energy-shortages-would-have-been-much-worse-without-solar-power-experts-say
Bit of a tangent, but I strongly suspect a lot of the anti-nuclear and anti-solar/wind energy propaganda has been financed by the likes of Russia and Saudi Arabia. Not just in Europe, where at this point it’s frankly blatant, but in the US too.
The US may be autarkic when it comes to energy, but given oil and gas is traded on international markets, lowered demand (and energy prices) benefits everyone.
I know everyone likes to shit on German for their over reliance on Russian gas, rightly so, but last time I checked over 60% of US electricity is generated from fossil fuels. Meanwhile, Germany something like 50% of their electricity comes from renewables.
Any western politician who argues against investing heavily in renewables and/or nuclear, is essentially betraying their countries and voters’ interests. If they’re not corrupt, they’re dumber than a microwaved turd. And spare me the pro-business/pro-jobs argument, if in practice you’re forcing domestic companies to subsidise Saudi Arabia and Russia through increased oil prices.
It’s hard to say “the US” when it’s made of three distinct grids and each grid has differing suppliers. This is a slightly worse generalization than calling Europe a single country. The grid makeup is very regional and varies widely from operator to operator.
https://app.electricitymaps.com/map
If you click around you’ll see that most of the renewables that show up on the map are hydro. Solar and wind are making a bigger percentage as time goes on but the entrenched investments in fossil fuels do not exactly get replaced overnight.
entrenched investments in fossil fuels do not exactly get replaced overnight.
Germany reunified in 1991. Until then a large proportion of the country was an impoverished communist dictatorship and soviet client state. Currently they’re at 50% renewables. Was half of Texas annexed by Cuba until the 90s? Is that why they didn’t have money to pivot to renewables?
Moldova is still partially occupied by Russia and has a per capita GDP of $6000 dollars. Indiana has a per capita GDP of $61000. Guess whether Indiana or Moldova generate more electricity from renewables…
The US is the richest country on earth. Not having made the pivot to renewables is a political choice. You can blame corruption. You can blame undue influence of the fossil fuel lobby.
But let’s be real, a large proportion of Americans would rather buy a new and unnecessarily large truck than install solar panels on their roof or invest in a heat pump. I mean, IRC some or other government agency suggesting you should get rid of your gas stove became politically controversial in the US not so long ago. Michelle Bachmann ran a campaign against energy saving lightbulbs, for gods’ sake!
You don’t need a new powergrid to install solar panels on your roof or replace your gas stove with induction. All that is required is a realisation that saving energy isn’t gay, anti-christian or communism.
TBF Biden’s actually doing something about it, and California’s been ahead of the curve since forever, but half of congress and ‘real America’ is throwing a tantrum.
This is the best summary I could come up with:
Record-breaking temperatures have put pressure on Europe’s energy systems but increased output from solar is helping to fill the gap.
A major increase in solar power generation in southern Europe played a leading role in preventing energy shortages during recent heatwaves.
Solar power is particularly suited to coping with summer heat as the sun’s radiation is strongest around the hottest part of the day when electricity demand for cooling is also at its highest.
“The very significant growth in solar basically compensates for the peaks that are caused by air conditioning,” Kristian Ruby, secretary general of electricity industry group Eurelectric, said of the situation in Spain.
Catania, below Mount Etna in eastern Sicily, has faced power and water supply cuts that local officials partly blamed on the heat.
In a letter to the European Commission last week, 19 associations - 16 of which represent industry groups in the EU including SolarPower Europe - warned policymakers of issues with solar power.
I’m a bot and I’m open source!
Could have just as easily said it would have been “much worse” without fossil fuels.
When soaring temperatures and demand for cooling led to a peak in Sicilian power demand on 24 July, nearly half of the excess demand - which totalled 1.3 GW - was covered by solar, Refinitiv data show.
So basically wherever the 1.3 GW of capacity came from (could be a bolt of lightning, or some Libyan plutonium, for example), it would have been much worse if they didn’t have it.
Could have just as easily said it would have been “much worse” without fossil fuels.
Sure, but heat-wave weather doesn’t increase the supply of fossil fuel energy.
The gotcha is that the coal plants in Indiana, you know … exist. And there’s lots of them. And they’re being operated at a profit by people who are rich enough from operating coal plants such that they can afford to bend the rules such that they can continue getting richer.
