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KetaCuck t1_j7hyc27 wrote

Reply to comment by SexyOldHobo in Current climate policies lead the world to less than a 5 percent likelihood of phasing out coal by mid-century ,new study shows by 9273629397759992

I don't think most people understand how much power coal produces and how long it would take us to catch up with "green energy." It would be literally impossible to produce an equivalent amount of energy with wind and solar in that time frame. We'd basically have to build one nuclear power plant a week for the next 25 years.

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danielravennest t1_j7mdwc5 wrote

> We'd basically have to build one nuclear power plant a week for the next 25 years.

The world installed an estimated 268 GW of solar in 2022. Assuming a 20% "capacity factor" (actual average output accounting for night and weather) that comes to 53.6 GW average power. Note: US average capacity factor for solar is 24.4%, but not everywhere is so sunny.

A typical size for a new nuclear plant is 1 GW, so that is 53.6 nuclear plants, slightly more than one a week. It is just solar uses a fusion plant that is safely located 149.6 million km away.

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jeffwulf t1_j7lo4bb wrote

In the US we've been rapidly phasing out coal already with most of the decline being replaced by renewables.

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danielravennest t1_j7me7ig wrote

Natural gas started replacing coal due to fracking making it cheaper. This started several years before wind and solar were competitive. Now all three are killing coal, but as wind and solar keep getting cheaper, less of it will be natural gas (14% this year for new NG in the US).

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