[KaiserJeep]

Earth Day Shocker! Capitalism Saves the Planet! (Part I)
An unexpected free-market triumph for wind and solar energy entrepreneurs.

By R. Randolph Richardson – 4.21.16



$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', ' ')This Earth Day is different. Something BIG is changing fast… and not just the climate.

To everyone’s surprise, the war on climate change just morphed into what looks like an accidental free market triumph. Clean tech wind and solar energy entrepreneurs are kicking ass way beyond anyone’s wildest expectations, even in unsubsidized markets. Production costs are dropping so fast that reportedly, in 2015, the best executed utility scale wind and solar projects became (without subsidies) cheaper than gas or coal.

And this despite a massive drop in fossil fuel prices.

Through the magic of capitalism, technology innovation is on course to reduce, dramatically, your — and everybody’s — energy costs while at the same time reducing emissions that some credible evidence indicates may be bad for the environment. Next step: cutting some tax rates can accelerate these benefits in ways both conservatives and progressives can embrace enthusiastically, conserving their high-octane vitriol for other fights.

Consider the facts. According to a November 2015 study by investment banking firm Lazard, unsubsidized wind and utility-scale solar are now producing energy for a lower cost than natural gas, coal, or nuclear. Unsubsidized. For the lowest cost projects, $32/MWh for wind, $50/MWh for utility scale solar photovoltaics (PV), versus $52/MWh for gas combined cycle plants, $65/MWh for coal, $97/MWh for nuclear.

[onlooker]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_energy_consumption
Oh great I am jumping up and down. Now look at this link I posted. See the percentage of Renewable both as part of Total Energy consumption and also in generation of Electricity of the planet. How do you propose that Renewable will really make a much greater proportion? When we here know that Renewable suffers from problems with intermittent generation, less concentrated/potent energy source and its inadequacy to be a real solution within the transport sector. Not to mention the amount of fossil fuels, resources and money needed to scale up a Renewable energy infrastructure that can in any way replace what we have with FF. Remember, any money spent on Renewable is less money for exploration and production of fossil fuel energy sources which in turn means less economic activity and vitality in the here and now and short term future. All while society is coping with Hubberts downward slope of peak oil.

[GHung]

How The Developing World Is Reinventing The Grid
http://microgridmedia.com/how-the-devel ... -the-grid/



$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', '[')b]A Fresh Start

The way we interact with energy is fundamentally changing. The core business model of utilities is clashing with global efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, adopt new technologies, and become energy independent. While massive sunk costs and corporate politics stifle innovative business models in the United States, the 1.2 billion people around the globe without access to grid electricity can actually benefit from the fresh starting point.

The cost of solar panels has plummeted, and advances in energy storage is allowing clean energy microgrids to reach people where the conventional grid has failed. Leapfrogging technologies is not new to the developing world, new microgrid customers are using their new service to conveniently charge their cell phones.

It’s safe to say there’s no going back for these markets. These people no longer have a need for landlines or the bulk power system. In fact, the business models being developed to introduce electricity to new markets will challenge all electricity providers who fail to keep up.......

[KaiserJeep]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('onlooker', 'h')ttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_energy_consumption
Oh great I am jumping up and down. Now look at this link I posted. See the percentage of Renewable both as part of Total Energy consumption and also in generation of Electricity of the planet. How do you propose that Renewable will really make a much greater proportion? When we here know that Renewable suffers from problems with intermittent generation, less concentrated/potent energy source and its inadequacy to be a real solution within the transport sector. Not to mention the amount of fossil fuels, resources and money needed to scale up a Renewable energy infrastructure that can in any way replace what we have with FF. Remember, any money spent on Renewable is less money for exploration and production of fossil fuel energy sources which in turn means less economic activity and vitality in the here and now and short term future. All while society is coping with Hubberts downward slope of peak oil.

[onlooker]

"an advocate for retiring them from our economy just as rapidly as possible without upsetting that same economy." I too, Kaiser am in favor of doing just that but I just do not see that happening without massive convulsions to the Economy and the ability of people to provide for even their basic needs.

[Peak_Yeast]

Is that your solar array, GHung? Its enough for a small town?

[yellowcanoe]

Interesting that the most expensive power source is Solar PV-Residential Rooftop which is roughly three times as expensive as utility scale Solar PV.

[GHung]

Once you grok that "massive convulsions" are inevitably coming to economies anyway, the point becomes moot. Better beat the rush and move on. Third worlders and others who have been ignored or under-served by capitalism as we understand it aren't as invested in the status quo as most folks here are, so they get it from the get-go.

It's still capitalism. I read a story recently about a guy in Africa who managed to buy an 80 watt panel and a battery, and now charges 12 cents to charge cell phones. May not seem like much, but not bad in economy with an average annual income of about $600.

@Peaky - That is a micro-grid in Haiti. See the link. Here's my system (earlier photos; I've doubled my PV since these photos, just for fun:

Our first 4 arrays, tracking, mounted on recycled C/KA band satellite dish mounts (acquired free or very cheap).





Our first panels, in service since 1994 and going strong, pumping water now:



... all charging this battery set; also going strong (2200 amp-hours @24VDC). It's our second battery set. About $5800 installed.



... managed from an old laptop (not showing new arrays here):



More than enough to comfortably power a passively heated/cooled earth-bermed home with supplemental wood heat (which also helps heat our water in winter). This is an old picture; some construction happening.



We've also added a new solar water heater; heats a 450 gallon tank up to 165 degrees F. Provides all our domestic hot water and heats the radiant floors when needed. Very little management needed for any of this. Not bad for a place that gets over 65 inches of rain annually, on average. We got 78" in 2015.

Just a hobby, really. My wife says it's part of our retirement plan.

[KaiserJeep]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('yellowcanoe', 'I')nteresting that the most expensive power source is Solar PV-Residential Rooftop which is roughly three times as expensive as utility scale Solar PV.

[GHung]

Two things, KJ; Any power you generate and use locally in real-time is at a fixed rate. No rate increases for the life of the system. Also, that is tax-free income since that avoided expenditure can either be put into tax-deferred investments, or doesn't need to be earned in the first place. Most folks don't consider, or factor in, the 30%+ $$ that was paid on income used to pay that power bill. Means a lot to those of us not devoted to chasing the almighty dollar. Me? I would rather pay for PV panels than wars.

In the US, what percentage of your income goes to military spending?

[KaiserJeep]

GHung, I'm well aware of what you speak. My solar PV roof was $0 cost to me - a financial deal called a "Power Purchase Agreement" or PPA. I paid $0, and gave permission for the rooftop panel installation. Then I assigned to the company SunRun the two incentives (State and Federal) which effectively paid for the panels. Then I agreed to pay a fixed cost for my electrical power for 18 years of lease payments, which was about seven incremental electrical rate increases back - electricity costs way more now. After 18 years of lease payments, the panels belong to me, or to the new owner of my present home, for $0. Now 12 years and counting down...

Although they deliberately sized the system at 90% of my average power consumption, I drastically reduced my actual power consumption following the panel installation, and now they owe me every month for surplus power - or would, if not for those pesky fees and surcharges. My power savings come from almost 100% LED and CFI lighting, from new LED HDTVs and computer monitors, from replacing a powered 1/2 hp attic ventilator with wind turbine venting, and from the (mandated by the drought) abandonment of running the 1 hp swimming pool pump.

This level of discussion was really more than this thread called for. I don't have the option of PPA or net metering in Wisconsin. I will have a much more significant heating bill unless I have a super-insulated home. Lots of factors to consider - and off-the-grid is possible, depending on where I end up and whether I am buying or building.

[kublikhan]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('onlooker', 'O')h great I am jumping up and down. Now look at this link I posted. See the percentage of Renewable both as part of Total Energy consumption and also in generation of Electricity of the planet. How do you propose that Renewable will really make a much greater proportion?

[GHung]

"....The net result is that the share of coal in the global electricity mix drops from 41% to 30%, with non-hydro renewables gaining a similar amount, while gas, nuclear and hydro broadly maintain their existing shares.."

Still looking for the part where we REDUCE carbon emissions. Any at all? Having a come-to-Jesus moment about the time the Devil shoves a hot pitchfork up your ass isn't exactly getting saved.

[kublikhan]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('GHung', 'S')till looking for the part where we REDUCE carbon emissions. Any at all? Having a come-to-Jesus moment about the time the Devil shoves a hot pitchfork up your ass isn't exactly getting saved.

[GHung]

First big test for Paris climate deal
http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-36088904

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'D')o you remember the day we saved the world?

When COP President Laurent Fabius smacked down his gavel on December 12, it signalled that agreement had been reached at the UN climate conference in Paris on one of the world's most intractable environmental and economic problems.

After years of onerous, cantankerous and often tedious talks, somehow all 196 participants, like a large collection of cats, had agreed to be herded in the same direction.

They had agreed to keep global temperatures "well below" 2C and "to pursue efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1.5C above pre-industrial levels".

This was a globally significant moment and the celebrations lasted long into the night......

[onlooker]

Is he the senator who says GW is not happening or that we are not causing it? Is he still spewing that rhetoric?

[GHung]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('onlooker', 'I')s he the senator who says GW is not happening or that we are not causing it? Is he still spewing that rhetoric?

[ennui2]

Inhofe is a jerk but let's not kid ourselves. If someone sat everyone down and told us what we'd really have to do to slow this train-wreck down, people people simply respond with "let's just eat drink and be merry".

We've backed ourselves very far into Al Bartlett's right-hand-list at this stage in the game.

[ralfy]

Capitalism cannot save the planet because it requires continuous growth, as the profits reinvested lead to more material resources and energy needed. This and other points have been explained repeatedly across multiple threads.

Worse, capitalism driven by competition requires expanding markets, and that can only happen if most countries (which have developing economies) industrialize (an obvious step needed before post-industrialization takes place). Several earths will be needed for that to happen.

With that, capitalism will not save the planet but damage it significantly, and fallout from that damage coupled with limits to growth will include the collapse of the global economy, population, etc.

[snoopdog]

Yes, America’s green movement is often seen as white. And there are plenty of reasons for that, including the fact that environmental organization staffers are predomnantly white and that a small fraction of environmental grant funding goes toward environmental justice. But when you ask Americans what they care about, nonwhites are the ones who give a damn.

According to data from the Pew Research Center, organized and prettified by FiveThirtyEight’s DataLab, nonwhite Americans are significantly more likely than whites to think global warming should be a top priority for the U.S. government. The gap is now over 20 percent.

http://grist.org/article/americans-of-c ... n-climate/

http://fivethirtyeight.com/datalab/the- ... l-warming/