danielravennest t1_it364up wrote on October 20, 2022 at 4:26 PM

Reply to comment by dominantspecies in German leader warns against 'worldwide renaissance' for coal by Wagamaga

> it would make them slightly less money to do anything.

Not correct. Solar and wind are now the cheapest energy sources, which is why they are rapidly growing. Hydropower first came into use in 1882, so it had a big head start, but not for long.

So assuming the usual profit motive, the 1% can make more money investing in renewables, which is exactly what is happening.

geekynerdynerd t1_it387oc wrote on October 20, 2022 at 4:40 PM

Tbh it's kinda dumb that hydro isn't more popular. It's the only renewable that can provide both base load and on-demand power. In areas where it's possible it should be a no brainer.

It might have it's own ecological issues, but that's true of literally every form of power production.

hoodoo-operator t1_it3bj5f wrote on October 20, 2022 at 5:01 PM

In areas where it's possible it's used a lot, the problem is that most areas aren't great places for building big dams.

Key_Confidence_2111 t1_it39cyj wrote on October 20, 2022 at 4:47 PM

You are missing the obvious that gas and oil are spending a lot of money to slow the swap, no matter how much cheaper wind and solar is the people making the decisions are more likely to personally profit from fossil fuels

danielravennest t1_it3hqb4 wrote on October 20, 2022 at 5:40 PM

Coal is already down 57% in the US as a power source. New US Power Plants are around 70% renewables these days.

Oil will take longer. Electric only reached 10% of new vehicle sales this year, and it takes about 20 years to replace the total vehicle fleet. So that means perhaps 1% of the vehicle fleet is electric so far.