How solar energy got so cheap, and why it's not everywhere (yet)

[@Kirill-xp9jq]

"It kinda looks like a duck" That's the stretchiest stretch I've ever seen lol

[@davepermen]

Once the second line is drawn, it's very much a duck

[@achimwokeschtla7582]

You have to wait till 3:47 to see the duck

[@martinphilip8998]

It looks like a line on a graph to me.

[@MrTwenty20video]

😂

[@axeblue]

When they shadow in the duck at 3:20, like you say, they sure stretch the image. It's almost parallel to the number 20,000.

[@jts49]

DW, just an idea…. Could you do an episode on the making and disposing the solar Panels and lithium batteries? It would be interesting to understand the complete life cycle of the solar panels. What does it takes to manufacture these and how do we dispose them safely. Thank you.

[@jamilajulie5717]

GREAT IDEA! I hope DW will make it happen soon.

[@yoooyoyooo]

Where do I sub for this video. I would love to see the whole life cycle price.

[@brianwoodruff4891]

The raw material for solar panels is silicon dioxide essentially sand to get the silicon out it is mixed with charcoal then heated in an electric arc furnace to 2000 degrees centigrade from this you have silicon and carbon monoxide gas the silicon isn't pure enough so the process is repeated in the presence of pure silicon rods where pure silicon is deposited. Then starts the manufacturing process to make the panels .

[@gustavoturm]

They won't do that because people are still stuck in the idea that "solar is clean" when that is clearly not the case, as you may have noticed.

[@brianwoodruff4891]

That's right solar panel factories are not powered by solar panels and even if they were they would still pump out carbon monoxide

[@fatcat1840]

The person who visualized that as a duck was clearly trippin on acid or was high AF 3:17

[@Phosphoenol_pyruvate_CK]

Chill bro! Perhaps he meant a MARTIAN duck!

[@MrStarwulf]

no imagination

[@achimwokeschtla7582]

You have to wait till 3:47

[@danbobway5656]

Fr, its a damn line, you could put any animal there under it and say "oh it looks like a hippo or wolf or deer. Dunno where duck came from lmaoooo

[@elumiomerk4013]

@@danbobway5656 it's the same with those star maps with pictures of animals on them, making similarities out of nowhere in my opinion.

[@andreavila8994]

Would love to see more on panel end-of-life issues: recycling, disposal, etc. Thank you!

[@DWPlanetA]

Hi Andre! Feel free to check out this short video on how to recycle solar panels: kzbin.info/www/bejne/gniYmp5mndprnbM Let us know what you think in the comments :)

[@kurtniedrist2839]

@@DWPlanetA and

[@chenisikymoh]

same will happen in EV battery , but people so excite about the new EV product or those manufacturers intent not to bring up the issue

[@larryc1616]

There are recycling companies popping up now. Car batteries can be re-purposed for home storage or 90% of the rare metals recycled like they do for catalytic converters.

[@chenisikymoh]

@@larryc1616 @ you think the solution of battery disassembly is that simple ? continue dreaming

[@pbkayakyer]

That looks absolutely nothing like a duck.

[@godfather7339]

U can say the same for constellations too, looks nothing like a bear or whatever animal...

[@George-gb2zn]

Is that what you got out of all this ?

[@pbkayakyer]

@@George-gb2zn lol! I'm one of those folks that make a comment as soon as it pops into my head. Hell, I even made this comment before he completed the "duck"! But I don't want to blow up the comments with every thought that I have about a video either..

[@raypurchase801]

@@pbkayakyer A duck which was crushed by a car. Makes sense now.

[@oksowhat]

they way scientist are called insane

[@konnyfu]

I hate that lithium ion batteries are a economically effective way of large scale energy storage. They have a huge environmental impact, are also based on a limited resource (which we are trying to AVOID with renewable energies) and degrade over time. I am bidding on either hydrogen or more sustainable batteries such as carbon based ones.

[@DavidGarcia-nx2gj]

The problem with hydrogen is motors are not as efficient as electric ones, so there's a bigger problem with hydrogen in efficiency. But hey a year ago I saw the biggest impact hydrogen motors could ever make and that's almost 100% clean emissions wich means working with machines or vehicles in closed environments are a pretty BIG deal to have hydrogen motors.

[@konnyfu]

@@DavidGarcia-nx2gj that's true, one needs electricity for hydrolysis with poor efficiency and then you got poor efficiency in the combustion process again. But hydrogen synergises so well with renewables because performance of renewable power plants on a macro scale is "overperforming". That unusable energy could be used for hydrolysis. Then hydrogen can be used to balance out the uneven energy production of wind and solar.

[@0bled121]

i saw that some people are close to finding a way to make iron based batteries and iron is one of the earths most abundant resources so hopefully that’ll help with storing energy and making it cheaper for homes to get it

[@danielvilliers612]

Lol, ever heard of LFP batteries that don't contain any cobalt and rare minerals. Hatters of green energy are always spewing same agenda of 5, 10 or more years ago. Contrary to fossil fuels, these are new tech that have a very high margin for progression and cost reduction. What was true 10 or even 5 years ago is not anymore.

[@garenbot3599]

i dont why didnt talk about graphene batteries is better than lithium ion battieres for solar panel lol.

[@lotusmojo]

I have a 9.2 Kw system in my roof here in sunny Texas and it did really cut my bill by at least 60% depending on consumption based on temperatures ... I need batteries tough, I’d like to see decrease in cost so I’m 100% independent from grid in case of a new massive outage

[@iareid8255]

Routulino, the recent big freeze in Texas woul not give much output from your solar panels nor would your storage last for long if it was not being topped up?

[@kerryrus]

A battery and a gasoline generator for a quick top-up when there is no other choice.

[@lotusmojo]

@@iareid8255 you are right, I reviewed the numbers for the days of the big freeze my panels only produced a fraction almost zero... I guess a back up generator may be needed on top of the bank

[@whitelfner4582]

In the end "net metering" makes that possible and it's NOT sustainable for the power companies. Somewhere people need to pay for the maintenance of the grid.

[@EnSabahNur-ir5mw]

What about the inverter Cost. The most expensive equipment used in solar generation

[@albertchapman5281]

Compliments, simply brilliant, clear and easy explained... Thanks I can say. Some hints for next Videos: 1) work with number, statistics, be reagion countries and related to polution 2) show how it cna be for a simple family or worker, in the city and suburbs, etc 3) show how is the trend and diferences on hot sunny regios, cold sunny regions, during the year and environmental impact

[@gumdum5258]

‘China make it cheap’ totally relatable to almost everything. 😂

[@vincentortega4284]

China makes anything they make Cheap.

[@chrisw3853]

Instead, you should say 'the West makes everything expensive'. Reasonable cost to build is not cheap.

[@Stedman75]

well having tons of slaves helps making things cheap.

[@gumdum5258]

@@chrisw3853 nope, it is reasonable in their country at the time. the technology improve decreasing the cost. labor cost in west arent the same as china.

[@feargach2107]

@@Stedman75 They did away with slavery when the expelled the western powers after the Boxer rebellion and then with the establishment of the People's Republic, the way was clear to bypass old capitalist methods of production and division.

[@joeyager8479]

I'm always astounded by the negative reactions to new technology by people who are holding a smart phone in their hand with 120,000,000 times more computing than the Apollo spacecrafts had that landed on the Moon almost 52 years ago. This all came from that and everything that preceded it. Technology comes and goes to be replaced by something better.

[@baneverything5580]

I would love to be able to run my travel trailer on 100% solar. I can afford the solar panels. That`s within reach. Well, not really, and you`ll see why if you continue reading. What I mean is, I can afford to pay 77 dollars for a 100 watt solar panel. I could buy one per month, maybe two, even on my limited income. The lithium iron phosphate batteries one needs, for the quality ones, cost at least 700 dollars (much more for the best) each for 100 amp hours. Yes, you can buy less expensive lead acid batteries but they`ll need to be replaced far more often and if they`re over discharged even once they`re instantly ruined. So for emergencies which happen all the time in tornado and hurricane country I`ve bought three portable power stations that can be recharged with solar panels. Two have lithium iron phosphate batteries good for 2500 to over 7000 charge cycles to 80% remaining capacity depending on how you use them. I can run lights, fans, a small freezer, and cook rice and lentils and heat water for instant coffee and tea. If I use a timer that only turns my freezer on for a limited time every few hours I can extend the tun time of the very limited storage capacity of the power stations and save my food. But a week of cloudy skies and I`m in trouble. I will probably get a gas generator for backup but decided on solar first just in case democrats destroy the country and gas isn`t affordable or available. Using some of the portable solar panels with USB outputs I can charge little power banks and all types of smaller batteries for radios and flashlights with USB chargers. I can run an extension USB cable inside to power a 2 watt fan or 5 watt light even on cloudy days with a higher wattage panel. This is a rough estimate but fairly accurate. One 100 amp hour lithium iron phosphate battery can power a 500 watt air conditioner for aprox two hours. The highest quality batteries of this kind sold at the moment cost 800 to over 1000 dollars. That`s a LOT of money to run a small air conditioner for 24 hours and we haven`t even discussed to cost of the solar panels, wiring, inverter, charge controller, and other costs involved with a proper installation. And these batteries have a battery management system (BMS) that contains electronics that can fail. You will also need TWICE the amount of batteries if you want to maintain the charge cycles between 30% and 70% charge range and greatly extend the life of your priceless batteries, so double the amount of batteries you need to 48. But what if you have two days of rain? Well you now need 106 batteries to power your air conditioner and and ungodly amount of solar panels and your charge controller just got more expensive.

[@deanharries4154]

Portable solar is absolute garbage.. Have spent thousands in my caravan. Setting a system up. Then upgrading , replacing crap batteries ,agm & gel.. Replacing faulty controllers. 6 batteries in eight years. My German panels have been the only good thing. 2× 200.. 2 x 250...panels.. I run a weapon fridge, has been a nightmare also.. 2 x 50 cm led lights & a 19in led TV.. My petrol Ebay $500 3.5w generator 8 years old going strong.. I am scrapping my useless waste of money solar system for a diesel generator..

[@thedink5]

Electric costs will double to pay for the same Taxes that fuel has. Government will Not let you drive without paying up!

[@timkluna5185]

Thats the key "replaced with something better" if it was better the government would not have to force people to use it.

[@dfgriggs]

@@baneverything5580 Your experience shows us just why, despite many disadvantages and costs, the interconnected electrical grid is so useful.

[@armgash]

I would love to have a solar energy production system on my roof top that can not only meet half of my home electricity demand but also reduce the heat buildup in the upper floor during scorchy hot days of summer. I have this as top of my wish list.

[@theseventhgeneration6910]

The reflected light is actually hazardous.

[@Greego-z1z]

put one on my roof top of car ,its stationary 90% of time ,who cares if it only supplies 90 % of the power

[@ayosamal1659]

I can help you

[@Cspacecat]

Solar panels radiate heat. If you are interested in cooling your attic, you need to "paint" your asphalt roof white. Roofguard 700 is a sealer that will basically make your roof last forever. Apply one coat about every 3 years and you will not only save on your electric bill but probably will never change out your roof again.

[@ayosamal1659]

@@Cspacecat who told you that 😂 you must of got that from one of your buddies who's into commercial solar because residential solar does not radiate heat infact it absorbs and reflects heat off of the roof in the area they are on. Making it easier to cool your house down in the summer

[@Hunzastories]

Solar energy fails where the temperature drops below -1° Celsius . I have lost thousands of $ by installing solar system at my home and office. The biggest problem is with the storage and sunlight in winter. I live in the mountainous region of Pakistan where we don't get enough sunlight in winter. Even if we get some sunny days the problem then comes with the storage. The lithium ion batteries drain off as the temperature goes below 1° Celsius. The power only last for few hours and shuts down. I will not recommend to shift into solar energy if you live in a place where the temperature goes to negative numbers. Still there is more work need to be done to overcome this issue.

[@icookwithmom]

What's the carbon footprint of all that silicon and lithium that needs to be mined in order to make this work on a large scale?

[@Niggurath-n4h]

As I watched this, I was expecting the video will answer this and the storage problem. Basically all we got is nothing at all. The near answer we got is lithium and other sources but how & who. Which lead me to believe it is up to 2nd to 3rd world countries to shoulder this heavy burden again.

[@lordunhold5381]

The carbon footprint isn.t that bad ..... but i am pretty sure that it fill supercharge slavery in africa and also lead to some dictatorships and crime lords just to drop acid everywhere to make the minning faster & easyer

[@gromosawsmiay3000]

good question, because they do not count cable system, and how much energy we need to made copper cables, and ow many of them are needed, also electronics is needed. in my opinion better solution to reduce carbon footprint is to reduce power consumption by modern systems and to do not waste energy in example look for standard size of cars in europe and in US and tell me which consume more energy, the same story is when we talking about electric power consumption.

[@randomyoutuber8227]

@@gromosawsmiay3000 copper & aluminium is needed regardless

[@gromosawsmiay3000]

@@randomyoutuber8227 huge amount of electric energy is needed to produce copper and aluminium

[@flash521]

Thank you for the video documentary on “solar energy.” Yes, I use solar energy to support my casa in Baja Sur, MX. I have 16 panels. The MX government has a program that takes the energy you use from their system and deducts from the amount you generate from your solar panels into their system. My cost ends up being on average about $10 USD for every two months. CFE bills every two months. The fee is more a minimal hook-up than use fee. I have a large swimming pool, five bedrooms, each bedroom and other rooms having AC, although we do not always use the AC. In sum, solar system has paid for itself in less than 4 years and I have been operating the system for better than 10 years. Still works great. Minimal problems or maintenance. Fortunately Baja Sur lends itself well to solar power, not all places do. The MX solar systems saves me from having to purchase batteries. Extra energy in credited to me by investing it back in the MX CFE grid.

[@lfstimpy2130]

Baja Nor here, how does this go about? I live in plain desert and have always considered the posibility of using solar energy to power my house, specially in summer when A/Cs are basically mandatory due to the temperature rise. I thought CFE was against the installation of these systems but if it's not so I want to know how to get into this so I can install solar panels in my home.

[@flash521]

@@lfstimpy2130 - We applied to CFE for their program. We were approved. I cannot really say much else because I am on the system. Again, the way it works is that the electricity I use is deducted from the excessive energy I produce. The difference is what I owe. The solar system FIRST meets my energy needs before being invested in the CFE system. Works great for us and is very inexpensive. And you are right - summer is when we most benefit because we do LIKE THE AC. Best regardsm

[@CaptainQueue]

You need to report the subsidies (state, federal, local, CFE, manufacturer) that make it so affordable, to you, but has everyone else paying in to make it affordable, to you.

[@SeattlePioneer]

> You are the beneficiary of a racket. Pretty much any grid tied solar power system is a racket. You are using the services of the utility, requiring them to buy your power whenever it happens to be more than you can use. It doesn't matter that the utility may not be able to use your power, they have to buy it anyway, and usually at a very high price. You ought to be paid a cheap price at best for unreliable power the utility can't count on. In my view, you shouldn't be able to connect your solar system up to the utility at all. Use what your solar system produces and pay for what you need from the utility at regular prices. You get to use the services of the utility without paying them a fair price. Other rate payers pay for your subsidies.

[@wora1111]

I am living north of the Alps in Europe and have some collectors on my roof, facing south-east and south-west. In my basement there is a small battery with about 4.7kWh. In March and April our house used less energy than it produced. Still there were some peaks when I needed additional energy from the net, only during the day though, when dish washer, the oven or the washing machine were running. One important change by house based solar systems is that the energy is produced not in central spots but rather the production is distributed, which reduces the need for high tension power lines and changes the setup of the grid. Like the mobile phone did for the landlines.

[@VagishaDas]

Good point of large grid and comparison with land lines. Also there is a lot of loss in large networks and distant transmission.

[@markatingi8645]

"One important change by house based solar systems is that the energy is produced not in central spots but rather the production is distributed, which reduces the need for high tension power lines and changes the setup of the grid. Like the mobile phone did for the landlines." @wora1111 very good observation. I think crypto currency will be to banking what solar is to energy although solar cant supply all our energies, in the same way Central Banks are going to have to find a middle ground and decentralize some of their roles...

[@robinconnelly6079]

I'm an industrial electronics designer based in South Africa. I have been developing my own solar systems designed with the African market in mind (which is huge). Lithium-ion is great for first-world countries where everything is so easily accessible and money is not a problem. I actually still like lead-acid. Everyone seems to be forgetting about lead-acid these days but it's used extensively here in mines and private installations. In Africa lithium-ion batteries still have to be imported and they are heniously expensive for the scale of money here. So for large-scale use, it would put a burden on the economy. I have heard there is a company starting lithium-ion manufacturing here but it's not established yet. Lead-acid is simple and more accessible, and easy to recycle (as long as you look after them. Most people are uneducated in this) Another thing is the unnecessary high-tech that is used to convert solar power to AC. It's a big money-game with salesmen going crazy to sell you all this crap from China because "you need this" and "you need that" and "this microprocessor-based gadget". And then it goes obsolete yesterday and "Oh... now you've got to replace the WHOLE thing...". No you don't. There are lower-tech ways of dealing with this. When it comes to pumping, for example, I want to develop DC. There is a company here reviving DC motors popular in the 80's when the idea was to convert AC to DC to get speed control Now, we need to convert DC to AC and that takes a stack with 6 IGBTS and all the sync and switching tech. But a DC controller takes only 1 IGBT, no syncing and simple analogue circuitry involved (unless you want true MPPT which involves switch-mode converters. Sales people won't tell you these things). People also don't consider that batteries have a life. Currently, replacing a battery pack for an EV is an arm and a leg. But people won't really start to feel this for another 5 years. Then there will be an uproar like you won't believe.

[@CUBETechie]

Zink bromide Gel batterys are interesting because a lead based battery factory can back up 18 from 24 production lines

[@chenisikymoh]

@@GabrielCazorlaPersson1 @ the problem , companies don't want to sell people cheap stuff even it works as good as the expensive one.

[@chenisikymoh]

@@GabrielCazorlaPersson1 @ as consumer , i will pay $100 for a bottle of wine in glass but not in plastic ; same as happy see food nicely sitting in paper box but not inside a hanging plastic bag.

[@jdillon8360]

@DW Planet A This video fails to mention the fourth country that played a vital role in the development of solar - Australia. Professor Martin Green (along with students and colleagues) from the University of New South Wales took the US invention and vastly improved the efficiency. He was also involved in setting up research and manufacturing in China to produce the panels that went on to supply Germany and the rest of the world.

[@tobygray438]

This all sounds very positive. There are not many people who don’t wish to see our reliance on hydrocarbons removed. In some places in the World solar clearly has the potential to replace older carbon emitting power generation, but for countries (western Europe) the sun doesn’t shine too bright. In the UK for solar to provide for all out power needs, if the storage problems are solved, we would need to cover 25% of the land’s surface area. (See Prof David Makay). An alternative is to rely on solar from hotter climates. Power generation promotes economic growth for the world. Solar surely has its place, but perhaps for us in North Western Europe we might be best to be self reliant on power. If we want to generate our own clean energy we might need to look beyond solar and wind if we don’t want to sacrifice our environment on the alter of climate change. There are alternatives. We might need to understand them better and change their profile.

[@johnfal1849]

Who cares about Australia? Totalitarian dictatorships don't deserve to be recognized.

[@jdillon8360]

@@johnfal1849 😂

[@juliane__]

Then you have to mention a few others ( Just for pride reason? Nah.) But Canada, early development / CdTe, Swiss, technology/Graetzel cell, Estonia, Perowskit, and Japan, technology, and, and, and

[@Superz3ro]

@@tobygray438 Germany… Not the most synonymous nation in the world for sun, literally led in the European implementation of Solar technology… Germany… Wrap your head around that reality, then get back to us about your musings… …

[@HarryJMac]

We need to keep the Lithium (and the cobalt it also needs) for uses where the power to weight ratio is important, like cars. Static batteries can use other technologies where weight is less important. Iron-air is one option - even lead acid.

[@coralsea7913]

Sodium-ion batteries are also promising, sodium is cheap and rich on the earth.

[@bbcooter388]

Lead Acid batteries will not work on the scale that we need, for several reasons: first, lead acid batteries charge and discharge too slow, it takes over 8 hours to fully charge a Lead acid battery. Additionally, Lead Acid batteries can only be discharged to around 50% without damaging them. Second, Lead Acid batteries will not hold up to the daily charge/discharge cycles required by an electric utility company. The good news is that Lithium Iron Phosphate batteries are well suited to the needs of the electrical grid, and they are very cost effective in this application.

[@SustainableGal]

Lithium Iron Phosphate, is the answer! not those unstable Lithium Ion batteries with upto only 2000 cycles per cylindrical cell, unlike LiFePo4's 4000 cycles per prismatic cell and even then they still have 80% usable capacity. Not to mention that LiFePo4 is at least 2-3 times safer and more stable than li-ion

[@scixxor6025]

@@bbcooter388 To add to this they also last about 3-5 years to LiFePO₄ 10-15, LiFePO₄ batteries can also be repaired while lead acids can't.

[@ninahijmans3594]

hydrogen cars!

[@antoniomarrocoortiz6023]

Hi from Spain! I have 7kwh panels in my house and it’s working really nice. Also I put 270kwh in my industry and my electricity costs are going down a lot. Keep shining!

[@organicfarm5524]

Are you from Andalusia?

[@wolwo1992]

Tell me what u will do with that panels after 20 years. And penels every year lose its output so other options ar better water geo coal(only best quality)

[@organicfarm5524]

@@wolwo1992 burning of coal increases carbon in the atmosphere

[@leiyue1411]

Where did the panal made in?

[@antoniomarrocoortiz6023]

@@organicfarm5524 yes, from Seville

[@donaldcake1]

The production is distributed part about solar, is why the solar is cheap part is somewhat misleading as often the cost of solar and it's maintenance is pushed onto building owners who do not have the capital to make the investment

[@mattr453]

I don't feel like the folks who made this video have really done the math on storage. It seems like they are making it out to be more simple than it is. If the world goes say 70-100% renewable, you need enough storage to make up for the edge cases of the longest period of time that the sun doesn't shine and the wind doesn't blow. So if historically the sun doesn't shine for up to a week at a time in a particular part of the world, that part of the world needs a grid size 7-day battery. This works out to a truly mind boggling amount of energy storage. You need that massive battery or you need a 100% fossil fuel power source backup which is also insane. The true storage scale needed is not a few hours but closer to a week I think, especially in low sun climates. This is why many of us who want to go green and decarbonize think modern, standardized nuclear deserves a serious look. Solar and wind and storage will continue to be awesome contributors to the new grid (and off-grid!), but I have serious doubts we can actually pull a transformation off without modern and standardized nuclear.

[@oammeditation]

Good analysis. Hawaii is a good example of what you’re saying. Nuclear is a better alternative but solar also has its place. I anticipate a new even cleaner energy source to emerge. Let’s see :)

[@dakotanorsk2045]

Totally agree. Where I live we can go months without sun, and days without wind as these sources are not reliable. Storage of power from these sources would be extremely expensive and take up vast amounts of real estate. Besides battery technology (lithium) is not very advanced yet and is very inefficient, plus has a high carbon foot print when it comes to manufacturing. People want power on demand, and you can not achieve that with solar or wind, only fossil fuels can provide that for now.l On the other hand, nuclear technology has advance so much, it is too bad it is not being looked at more closely. We now have small modular reator technologies, light water reactor technologies, and advanced reactor technologies. There is ongoing research with VTR (Versitile Test Reactor) being conducted by the DOE and Space Power Systems research being done by NASA and other US agencies. If people really want to go green and want power on demand, nuclear is the answer and is very safe power source, even if people don't think so.

[@jackfanning7952]

Power storage is more simple than you think and grid scale storage is already available and cost-effective. Nuclear is way more complicated than you think. You make me laugh talking about "modern, standardized nuclear." The last nuke to start up in the U.S. is at Watts Bar from a 1970s design that has since been banned by the NRC. Fast breeders, SMRs and MSRs and Pebble Bed reactors are flops and 2-3 times more expensive than light water reactors which are 2-5 times more expensive than renewables. China has given up on AP1000 reactors because of bad experiences at at Haiyang and Sanmen. Taishan shut down soon after start up to stop contaminating Hong Kong because of their fuel rod problems. At best, nuclear has flat-lined for the last 30 years, increased in cost by 33% and solar is 80% cheaper and wind 70% cheaper. No one is building a nuclear reactor in less than 10 years (more like 20) and construction costs are skyrocketing. Look at Olkiluoto, Flamanville, Hinkley Point, Vogtle , V.C. Summers debacles. The lawyers are lining up at the gates to fight over the scraps of the carcasses and customers are going elsewhere. The investment money is going to renewables, not nuclear or fossil fuels. Old leaky, brittle nuclear reactors will limp along until the utilities can no longer maintain them, then shut down. They are unprofitable right now, but if the owners shut them down they would go from the asset side of the ledger to the liability side overnight and the owner would be bankrupt just as quickly. Income would stop, but maintaining the waste, security, decommissioning the site would remain. Nuclear is in for a slow and painful death. Thank God.

[@jackfanning7952]

@@dakotanorsk2045 Not only do we not think so, we know so!

[@benjaminloyer1293]

But grids are interconnected. If a region doesn't get any sun, in some other there is!

[@PeterSedesse]

The other thing about lithium ion batteries that we are just starting to see is that the core elements used to make them are now being recycled out of them. For the past 15 years, they have been expensive because all the components needed to be mined out of the ground and transported.. but we are going to quickly reach the point where most of the elemental ingredients can be obtained from spent batteries.

[@Deinorius]

We can just hope recycling isn't way too expensive in relation to mining in poor violent countries.

[@PeterSedesse]

@@Deinorius I just saw an interview with a former tesla engineer who started a battery recycling business. Looked good and they were getting close to 100% of some minerals and 80% of the lithium.

[@fredfox3851]

That's a great point and good news for our near future.

[@noguruespanol]

@@PeterSedesse right. He is scaling it up for comercial use. Time to invest in his company.

[@Gromic2k]

The solution are iron-air batteries. Cheap and they last forever, but they are large. Not good for cars, but no problem in a house basement

[@5th_decile]

International grid interconnectedness beats these storage options by a long shot. Pity this wasn't discussed or pointed out in the video.

[@tldrinfographics5769]

Wow I didn’t think about that

[@hakansaribal5093]

The world is round after all 🤦‍♂️

[@meatlovinvegan388]

Aged like milk

[@5th_decile]

@@meatlovinvegan388 Why? Still sounds correct to me?

[@thinkbank8709]

@@5th_decile war and politics. Imagine being dependent on countries like north Korea and terrorist countries in middle east for energy. Global energy grid will never be a thing. Not at least for the foreseeable future.

[@KD9-37]

Love this Channel n all its videoss! Thankyou and Awesome work!

[@francisking708]

Pump storage could be put on the coast. The lower reservoir is the sea. The upper reservoir is built into the top of the cliffs. Then there is no need to find two lakes separated by a hillside.

[@RJ-tr8vt]

It's preferable to use freshwater for pumped storage.

[@billrodden4120]

Yup, seen it live as a demonstation project a few years ago

[@leomay4240]

Ye cliffs arnt that high and you have to build the reservoir, cliffs tend to erode fast, and saltwater is really bad for turbines you have to overhaul them about once a year which is bad for costs

[@talibjalloh928]

Do they have this pump storage technology in Germany?

[@ytpkj1]

A pump storage reservoir was installed above Lake Michigan back in the '70s.

[@andrewbrown3818]

Solar adoption in Northern Ireland (not sunny California) was only made economically possible because of 20 year guaranteed grants paid to early adopters by increased prices for all! Storage is still not economic!

[@ken-ch1rp]

u are fined for using solar energy in america, to protect the profit of elec. corp

[@sandal_thong8631]

There's still subsidies for oil industry.

[@tutex119]

there's a lot of wind in Northern Ireland isn't it?

[@TheEvolutionHDGaming]

@@tutex119 the wind varies quite a bit often there is too much wind and too little

[@DelonYeoh]

Hi... I am an Off Grid solar power provider in Malaysia, kind of a small company. The biggest problem we are facing is the power storage whereby the cycle of the batteries will eventually fade out and the cost of replacing the batteries will cost a huge sum of money. Though solar panels price is decreasing by day, the wet batteries prices are increasing every month. As for the deep cycle batteries, it cost 3 times the price of a wet battery which doesn't really last a long time as it claims. The majority of off grid users are on the rural areas or farm which commercial power are not available. And.. as for the On Grid system, our govt took us for fools by selling us the solar panels 3 times the price and only will be legal if purchase from them and sell back to them at a rate of 25% of the commercial electricity. I guess this is how the solar business goes in my country and licensing are only granted to their favor only. BTW, I venture into this business to support the act of Green the World but I was wondering if the matte surface of the solar panel would reflect heat or rays back to the atmosphere?

[@illuminated2438]

Thank you for sharing all that interesting info. And regarding your last point, indeed it has been shown that solar panels are producing an actual warming affect. Not the fake global warming affect promoted by the climate hoaxers, but a real warming affect quite profound.

[@zezizarjaars]

The price of solar panels drop by about 11% a year for over 3 decades, the price of a kWh of batteries drops by about 16% a year recently.

[@DelonYeoh]

@@zezizarjaars Solar panel prices went down based on mass production from China. Batteries price do not go down based on but perhaps went down due to pandemic. We have been constantly purchasing batteries directly from the manufacturing factory and their price are going up every quarter year.

[@zezizarjaars]

@@DelonYeoh Well, I've seen it going from 1000 euro just a couple of year ago to now Tesla paying a price under a 100 dollar a kWh and from better quality on top of it.

[@klaasdykstra8127]

Stop the subsidies and see how cheap the unreliables are,and the cost of dumping all the shit when they break down!

[@alan1340]

16 x 415W solar panels installed on a 5kW inverter to power a small 4 bedroom home. This was fitted 10 days ago so no actual results as yet but it's looking good and we should make some savings in the near future. (Australia)

[@frankprah5704]

Part of the puzzle could be to install solar hot water heaters. Water is a cheap battery. You can also heat with it in the winter. Hope this helps. Frank

[@Kangenpower7]

In Israel every building must have a solar water heater, and has been required for many years. This is because Israel was required to import all of their fuel, and solar does not require sending out the money to buy fuel! Evacuated tube solar collectors can be used in the snow, and still make 130F water - even with a few clouds in the sky!

[@classicguy7813]

Free Palestine

[@matthewt011]

explain how solar water heaters can store energy

[@1ntwndrboy198]

Now they have a battery that is made of iron and when it's charged it turns it to rust and then when it discharges it turns it back to iron and I really love the new solar panels that are clear then you can use them to have a garden still get solar power above

[@Justwantahover]

The glass solar panels are only 10% etficient but we can install twice as many by using them as windows as well as on the roof. Better because you could put reflective stuff under the solar cells for 2 reasons: 1) To get more light into the solar cells. 2) And to reflect light and heat back into space, instead of it heating up the planet with the dark heat absorbent solar cells. To me this is an issue and they should try to get the transparent cells cheaper. Half the price of standard ones so we can afford twice as many.

[@bebe9959]

I have an idea of adding a battery bank in a grid tied setup in commercial home use. Adding battery bank charges during the day when solar is available and during night, the grid tied inverter will draw energy from the batteries. It will help level the duck curve.

[@dbonk6264]

We need to look at helio stat mirrors. Kind of retro-fitting all day long sunshine rather than for those on the right direction of facing roof for solar panels. They also need to be much cheaper than they are to make them viable. The halo solar flower idea is an amazing idea for those who don't have a great direction for roofs but it's really good xpensive and with solar roof tiles becoming more popular. It's shot itself in the foot before it even got going. Solid state batteries might even make solar and wind much cheaper when that becomes more common place.

[@johndoh5182]

In the US, you could use a lot of the desert Southwest for solar panels, and instead of using Li-Ion grid storage which is a terrible idea because of the demand on different metals, use ESS's iron redux flow batteries, which mostly use iron and water. Once long range power transmission is improved in the US, the Southwest could power a lot of the country. Add that in with the wind corridor which goes up through Texas and OK and further north and get a lot more wind generation that feeds power to the east. Between the 2, improved long range power transmission, and grid storage, you could probably power 80% of the US with just that. But of course states would have to work together and the Fed. govt. would have to be run by people who understand global warming, because the way the country is going right now, I see no cooperation for getting this done. Probably due to power companies that use coal and natural gas and the oil industry and coal mining company owners who want to keep pushing the lie that fossil fuels aren't contributing to global warming and want to use fear of job losses to keep the country from moving forward.

[@vintageguitarz1]

Here are MAIN REASONS that Solar is a Disaster as a power source: 1) No way to store electricity effectively, or long term. 2) batteries cost too much, and making them creates POLUTION!, 3) no power when its cloudy, raining, snowing, dust on the panels, and ironically in heavy polluted air days including fire smoke from forest fire's you have poor production, ,4) making panels cause polution, including the mining of rare Earth minerals that can also cause cancer, 5) disposing of those panels (see precious), 6) as a panel ages it becomes less and less efficient.... fast. And 7) when the winter comes in most locations that NEED energy to stay warm, the angle of the sun is too low on the panels, with also a thicker atmosphere to create acceptable power! With Solar, you're toast in the summer and frozen in the winter. KAPUT.

[@brianevans4525]

I live in my 97 dodge grand caravan for the past 2yrs I have. 180watt panel on my roof and a lithium battery to run everything in my van 2 refrigerators run off my battery 100amp hr battery much better than lead acid

[@beebob1279]

My neighbor just built his van. He's using it for travel and not living.

[@iKetz257]

Hi from INDIA! I have 5kwh panels in my house and it’s working really nice.

[@SweBeach2023]

Too bad many places have this thing called "winter" where the total efficiency of solar panels is down to the single digits while demand is at its highest.

[@TheTaXoro]

Actually the demand for electricity is lower in the winter, and peaks in summer for most places

[@MrGeometres]

@@TheTaXoro Because we heat with gas, but chill with electrically powered air conditioners. Long-term, everything needs to be electrified...

[@TheTaXoro]

@@MrGeometres You don't need to electrify heating, it's a lot more efficient to use warm water pipes from power plants, basically you use waste heat

[@MrGeometres]

@@TheTaXoro But then it's not carbon-neutral anymore. And in the case of nuclear power plants - good look convincing the average person to have a pipe from a nuclear power plant to their home, even if it is absolutely safe from an engineering/scientific point of view.

[@TheTaXoro]

@@MrGeometres It is certainly carbon neutral. So what you do is you take co2 from natural gas pipes(gas pipes are about 30% co2, this is where sodas get their co2 from) and you turn that into fuel, when its burned its turned back into co2, so it's completely co2 neutral. Obviously you wouldn't use warm water from a nuclear powerplant

[@OmegaDenz96]

the one narrating this sounds like the guy from YT channel "Real Engineering". i suggest people go see that channel too. the advancement of the tech in renewable energy must also be compensated with the advancement of tech in batteries. or much better, the advancement of batteries be ahead of everything.

[@thebaconbreadful]

This was pretty well made but I'd like to point out, that the mentioned swiss company "gravityapproach" is a really elaborate inefficient way to do pumped-storage hydroelectricty.

[@I-Maser]

Beat me to it. I really dont get why the company never got the idea to at least improve their design by diggin down instead of up. A tower lile this is just a desaster waiting to happeb

[@tomaznovak645]

@@I-Maser why dig u have sea which is deep

[@iancarry]

yeah ..these types of storage are just overcomplicated and super expensive .... been debunked several times

[@trainzmarcel2074]

just see thunderf00ts videos on it its a total scam

[@I-Maser]

@@trainzmarcel2074 might wanna provide a link for other bypassers

[@Radio_FM_3123]

" I have invented a solar flashlight, it works when there is sunlight ...." The most useless invention ..... from a Hong Kong comedy!!!

[@edwardlinne2156]

It was invented in Japan. Trying to be funny I guess.

[@alfonsosoriano171]

It has battery.

[@ehombane]

@@alfonsosoriano171 no it has not, because it says that it works when there is sunlight.

[@garethbaus5471]

I used to have a solar flashlight, it lasted me 5 years of fairly frequent use and it was great.

[@ehombane]

@@garethbaus5471 Interesting. It was a model with a tiny solar cell on a side? or a proper solar panel of usable size? I have seen on the market many products with incorporated solar cell, but not of real use. For a solar bank I did the math, and few hours would have provided energy to send an message. I had too a solar pocket calculator three decades ago, and it worked even indoors at a regular bulb. Buit obviously, that tiny chip and display did not required much energy. The flashlight with solar cell on it mention usb port too. So, charging it from a battery does not make it quite solar. And I had too a crank flashlight, and it was good for emergencies, not really a proper flashlight. And had one with :) ... masturbation. It had a magnet inside a spire and charged a tiny battery by shaking it. Surprisingly the small led lasted quite many minutes, but the light was quite faint. Not a proper flashlight either.

[@randalthor6962]

I have a 20w 12v solar panel(from a solar floodlight 60w) then i switch connection to buckconverter 0-48v in with USB output with fast charge which i use to charge my Romoss power bank. Then i use the power bank to charge my phone and power my LTE modem. It works well actually, it might not have that much impact on my e.bill but i feel good about it

[@BicycleFunk]

I love the idea of mechanical storage devices such as flywheels or simply raising and lowering a heavy chunk of material. These could be cool centerpieces in the public space too.

[@sukoner1]

@@boblatkey7160 Because it has been debunked many times, the real aplication of that is Dikes

[@深夜-l9f]

probably inefficient

[@BicycleFunk]

@@深夜-l9f bingo. I did the calculations and you would have to move a lot of mass to power just about anything. They do have some emergency lights that are powered by weights. That said, there are still some good ways to storage energy that are underutilized, such as sand heatsinks.

[@kg0173]

@@深夜-l9fBut you could make them efficicient by subsidies. Like windturbines.

[@matthewwakeling4978]

Electric motors and generators, especially large ones, are very efficient. The problem with this method of energy storage is that you need a lot of mass lifted by a lot of height to store any decent amount of energy. For instance, if you have a ton weight, and you lift it five metres, about the height of two stories, that's only about 50kJ of energy, or 0.013kWh, about half a pence worth of electricity, and you'd need a substantial construction to actually hold that weight up. There are some nice ideas to use very deep mine shafts with a large set of weight loads, and we know pumped storage works, but you need that combination of lots of weight and a very large height change.

[@Jay-jq6bl]

I'd like to see costs when you factor in the required energy storage. If ThorCon's projections are correct about being able to make 100GW per year at the cost of coal power, it would be far better than Solar... Cost, small footprint, etc. Unfortunately Germany shot themselves in the foot on that front. I sure hope the environment minister stops getting in the way of the EU. Denmark's energy island and distribution network would be a great place to set these up. Amazing that Germany put a blanket ban on nuclear instead of particular designs. This is like banning fire because someone got burnt.

[@rhynosouris710]

To date, the only thing ThorCon has produced is the world's most expensive powerpoint presentation. No ground has been broken, no concrete poured, no small scale proof of concept has been constructed, and never will.

[@gregorymalchuk272]

@@rhynosouris710 Reopening the three nuclear power stations idled on the last day of 2021 would be a good start.

[@johngeier8692]

The Climate Delusion and the Nuclear Power is Unsafe Delusion are rather pervasive in Germany. Wind has a low energy density and wind power is centuries out of date. Solar panels are not cost effective in cloudy upper latitude areas such as Germany.

[@-opus]

nuclear and fire analogy, well out on a limb there, might be a good idea to stop licking the reactors?

[@stephenbrickwood1602]

And all the nuclear to charge batteries in Electric Vehicles ?????? Daily drive is 7kwh EV battery 100kwh 93% full and topped up daily by a few m2 of PV panels on the home rooftop. In the cold latitudes, 11mth solution.

[@jasonedwards789]

The key to Solar and Wind is the storage of the energy they produce, Batteries and constant improvement of Batteries!

[@WECantThink]

Batteries are very expensive and require exotic materials.

[@xijinpingpong4426]

It is not so cheap, if you consider the cost of storing the energy. It is still a good solution to produce electricity with less CO2, but people who argue that it is much cheaper than coal are not considering the cost for storage systems.

[@justdoesntaddup8620]

When the grid to be fully operated by wind & solar there would never be any spare generation to charge batteries. Topaz solar in California is 10,000,000 panels but only averages 650mw , that wouldn’t run the traffic lights in Loss Angeles, then night falls and that giant trillions $$ facility has nothing to offer for 10 hours.

[@troypoorman5948]

Large scale lithium mining in third world countries will create an environmental disaster.

[@eugenelamour1086]

At 100$ per Kwh with 5K cycles 5000Kwh with 15% loss cost per Kw= 6cent per Kwh. We produce nuclear at 2cents and Wind at 6 cents. you double the cost! And FYI China burns coal to make silicon. You can pull this scam as nobody can calculate like a civilized human being.

[@Robert468us]

I’ve been off the power grid for 13 years because of solar panels and even on a cloudy day you still get power from solar panels just not as much that mean you just need more of them to give you the power you need on cloudy days !

[@jimburdin]

and you get how much from us in your subsidy payments?

[@mofumofutenngoku]

@@jimburdin nothing, cuz what hes doing is actually illegal, if he government knew they would fine him and or send him to jail.

[@xIQ188x]

jim burdin far, far less than you get in subsidies to make your fossile fuels cheaper

[@jimburdin]

@@xIQ188x no i think you might be mistaken about that... i buy oil products from Canada...no subsidies here...i pay tax on the fossil fuel actually which in turn pays for your solar subsidies..

[@strigoiu13]

@@xIQ188x :))) fossil fuel and derrivates are the most taxed products around

[@Garrett-lo6pu]

As a 52-year-old QA Specialist at Confluera with an annual income of $150,000, who's keen on exploring short-term investment opportunities, what would be the most suitable strategy to achieve my goals?

[@Chris-l5t]

The market is volatile at this time, hence i will suggest you get yourself a financial-advisor that can provide you with entry and exit points on the shares/ETF you focus on.

[@Muller-o4d]

Very true , I diversified my $400K portfolio across multiple market with the aid of an investment advisor, I have been able to generate over $900k in net profit across high dividend yield stocks, ETF and bonds in few months.

[@Tetsu-p3g]

Please can you leave the info of your investment advisor here? I’m in dire need for one.

[@Muller-o4d]

Jenienne Miniter Fagan is the licensed fiduciary I use. Just research the name. You’d find necessary details to work with a correspondence to set up an appointment.

[@Lisa-w4u]

I just googled her name and I'm really impressed with her credentials; I reached out to her since I need all the assistance I can get.

[@NoeOlive]

Beyond the storage solution, it's also needed to incentivize the use of electricity when is more cheaper because of solar production. We have to upgrade the grid for that purpose

[@videos5923]

1:33 And now here in Germany we have the highest electricity price in Europe and one of the highest prices in the world.

[@jonathantan2469]

"The more expensive electricity is, the less people will use, the better it is for the environment" - man smiles & taps his head...

[@videos5923]

@@jonathantan2469 "The more expensive the electricity is, the less the productivity will become. The less the productivity comes, people gets poorer." - man tries to explain & and gets crazy because green party does not understand ^^

[@AndreasDelleske]

While industry has one of the lowest! If industry would contribute to the EEG our electricity household price would be average in the EU. But already today, thanks to the EEG, tens of billions of EUR remain in D / EU and are not being paid for fossile or nuclear fuels from abroad any more. We still have 60 billion EUR per year to save in the same way for the transition. EEG created over 100.000 new jobs, 80.000 of them were already destroyed again by Altmaier but people are ignorant and chose to whine when they have to pay one cappuccino per month extra.

[@dariozanze4929]

Because Germany closed down it's nuclear plants and built gas plants to replace them and also built up a bunch of underground power cables... that shit costs money.

[@videos5923]

@@AndreasDelleske Keeping up a second emergency power supply for the case that wind and solar does not produce enough energy is MUCH more expensive than the fuel you do not need to buy. EEG is required to make renewable energy somehow profitable. If you calculate the price of each new job, you could just give everybody a million € and would save a lot of money. Furthermore renewable energy concept is such a huge lie in so many aspects. e.g. Germany has booked 2 full blocks of a nuclear reactor in France to compensate floating energy production in Germany. At the same time Germany shuts his own nuclear power plants down. In other words: the conventional energy production still exists and is moved to neighbor countries, with the connected jobs. (And this promotes the french nuclear reactors while better German reactors get shut down) Germany buys a good conscience with a lot of money, but achieves absolutely nothing. Except with the extreme electricity prices to serve as a cautionary tale.

[@ugrttviper1564]

You guys are missing another battery which isn’t being utilized… our homes. Heating and cooling accounts for a significant amount of energy usage. By over heating/cooling our homes while the sun is shining, you can reduce the need for heating and cooling needed when it’s not. Coupled with good insulation (which reduces energy requirements as well), this is very effective. I’ve been doing it for years and it works great!

[@chenisikymoh]

put up few pieces solar panels to help reduce day time electric cost is not a bad idea.

[@danmoreton1788]

I use solar panels to power my solar rain barrels. Always a nice supply of water for my garden/yard! Solar also powers fans to keep my small shop cool in the warmer months.

[@oluwaseunipede7455]

This is inspiring... Am just starting my solar energy program as a solar engineer trainee at Energy Talent Company Nigeria. After watching this, I can resolve that am on the right track

[@theseventhgeneration6910]

It is not earth friendly, sorry.

[@tuckerprice392]

I just installed 31, 330 watt panels and 2 sol ark inverters and and 2 Storz battery back up with a lumin control peaks at 10,000 watts

[@kennyg1358]

Sweet

[@Tore_Lund]

@@kennyg1358 That's 60kWh / Day, yearly average! Do you run a public sauna?

[@moppman3191]

I like the idea using the water storage as in pumping water up to a storage lake for hydro power. This could be done on a large scale produces no pollution and doesn't use any rare earth materials. Could be possibly a backup to the grid.

[@pick_up_haselnuss7250]

We have lots of them in austria

[@philhealey4443]

Pumped storage is fine if surplus renewable energy is available for the pumping, but remember the round trip efficiency will be between 50 and 60% whereas a battery can manage well over 80%

[@matthewwakeling4978]

@@philhealey4443 Dinorwig runs at around 75% round-trip efficiency.

[@matthewwakeling4978]

The biggest problem with pumped storage is the same as with hydroelectricity - finding suitable sites, and destroying the habitat when you flood it. That's a pretty big environmental impact.

[@philhealey4443]

@@matthewwakeling4978 That's very good when you consider electrical losses in pumping and generation, turbine / pump mode efficiency, water pipe friction losses in the 'up' and 'down' directions of water flow, plus electrical transmission losses to and from the point of main interconnection to the grid.

[@gund89123]

It got cheap because of government subsidies. If government didn’t subsidize EV, solar, battery back up at home, ever few people would buy them. All these companies would close down. All three are not profitable without government subsidies & carbon credits.

[@jaihind6208]

Some information were new for me... Especially hydro storage... Thank you very much

[@portagepete1]

How about making 2 swimming pools one high and one low, when the sun is hitting the solar panel pump the water to the high pool, then hydroelectric at night.

[@paulp.l.4869]

@@portagepete1 The hight difference between the water basins is what determines the energy capacity. You won't be able to get anything useful in a yard...

[@timothylegg]

Germany hit a tax snafu with their hydro storage prototype. It turned out they had to pay tax on the energy twice, once for pumping and again for selling the turbine electricity. It made the system unviable. Last I heard, the tax code is in process of being revised.

[@valeriotrinito5263]

It would be interesting to analyze the amount of energy required and pollutants emitted in the production of said solar cells and lithium batteries...

[@alanyoder5232]

That analysis has been done. What is the need to move to renewable energy along with the immense cost. The climate science hoax is driving the change. And it is making people like Gore and Kerry rich.

[@terryesparza6859]

I strongly agree with you mate. Investment is the key to sustaining our financial longevity, and not just any investment but an investment with guaranteed return.

[@colbygibson7594]

To earn more you are required to have a multiple diversified stream of income, which is why investment is an avenue of making more money once it's profitable.

[@anitareid4354]

It's more wise and save that those intending to start crypto journey learn the trade withprofessionals who understand the market quite well, with that maximum profit is assured.

[@salisusanigarba9530]

It's professionally recommended to trade your coins with experience brokers, who can help grow your coins while assisting you learning the trade

[@mudashirushakiru8549]

into the financial mainstream. Crypto currency gradually being entrenched

[@dustincarlson2729]

l also can be a profitable in trading all it will take is determation and mentoring even though you lose money you keep on trying

[@DNg-b4l]

I use old acid batteries with solar panels it works for little house, I found it out 100 watts panel produces about 50 watts at peak sunlight

[@hubertwierzynski]

Solar energy isn't 'clean', you have to get those rare elements from somewhere, and their extraction is totally not ecological. And then you have store the used panels in some way.

[@FloridaGirl-]

Yes look at all the property it takes up as well . And what about the batteries?

[@mrunseen3797]

Still it's not radiating for millions of years like radioactive waste....😉

[@hubertwierzynski]

@@mrunseen3797 It doesn't have to radiate to pollute environment and kill people.

[@nickl7996]

Yes, but it’s not like we’re already extracting other huge swaths of a limited resource, as well... *cough cough OIL cough cough*

[@DWPlanetA]

We're planning a video on the overall sustainability of solar and solar panels, scheduled to come out at the beginning of November, where we discuss this topic in detail!

[@nejihiashi]

i like these forward thinking ideas instead of talking about problems without solutions for them

[@MrSummitville]

Wait until you compute the amount of land needed to power a large city ...

[@nejihiashi]

@@MrSummitville solar panels can be used in buildings structures, parkings, on roofs, so no need for lands also solar panels can get more efficient when the technology becomes better, lastly you even can sell your excess power.

[@MrSummitville]

@@nejihiashi Not all roofs point south or get full sun, from sunrise, to sunset. Tall buildings ( ie New York ) have very little roof area vs the amount of energy they consume. Some Electric Companies do NOT allow you to sell power. The cost for Residential Solar is still very high ...

[@awesomenesschanel]

@@MrSummitville you’ve come up with a few problems and you’re stating them as though it makes the whole system pointless and stupid. Let me point out a couple of those problems for the alternatives: the fact that fossil fuel emissions are destroying our planet AND that we are running out of them. Surely you can’t look at the problems you have stated and say that they are bigger than what fossil fuels are doing to the earth

[@samautrey]

Let’s not forget that most people buy batteries for their solar set up; which both gathering the materials for those batteries, and disposal of those batteries is harmful for the environment. I say we yeet the old non-recyclable materials far into space. Or maybe bring them to Mars to burn them, thus helping us get closer to terraforming via thickening the atmosphere with the emmisions.

[@AK-tx5lr]

We should talk about lithium though: 1) it’s a limited resource: 2) its extraction necessitates trillions of tons of drinking water, turning whole territories into deserts in South America

[@DWPlanetA]

We are actually currently working on a piece about more sustainable lithium extraction - and we also have a video about how to recycle lithium-ion batteries, check it out if you're interested! :) kzbin.info/www/bejne/hpOyc6Ckj7ejkJY

[@thedink5]

Electric costs will double to pay for the same Taxes that fuel has. Government will Not let you drive without paying up!

[@timothylegg]

The cost has been driven up high enough that extraction from sea water is becoming viable, which is the least impactful method to acquire it.

[@musafawundu6718]

@@timothylegg Interesting. Do you have more news on this extraction of lithium from seawater?

[@SustainableGal]

Lithium Iron Phosphate, is the answer! not those unstable Lithium Ion batteries with upto only 2000 cycles per cylindrical cell, unlike LiFePo4's 4000 cycles per prismatic cell and even then they still have 80% usable capacity. Not to mention that LiFePo4 is at least 2-3 times safer and more stable than li-ion

[@sermexflomex1423]

Third problem. Need a lot of land. Needs to be further away from the load because of the large amount of land needed.

[@aBusybee]

There's actually a lot of land to put solar panels on, including on top of houses/buildings/parking lots.

[@anthonymorris5084]

@@aBusybee This in fact is the only places panels should be placed. Bull dozing forests, jungles, and farmland for hectares of solar panels will result in unprecedented plant and animal habitat destruction. Solar farms are absurd.

[@Differ220]

Personally I think every house should have at least 1 to 3 solar panels to help out on space issues and well making it so it doesn't over power the grid as people are using that power at their own homes. Though I guess companies Don't want that cause that means they get paid less.

[@chenisikymoh]

agreed ! every household small help = big help . put few pieces up the roof or on the backyard is no big deal .

[@adrianshi6791]

you missed industry/commercial use electricity which is much more than domestic use but matches the solar output curve well.

[@domclouston5037]

Power factor correction could save gwh in industry

[@thevenetianmask1427]

Great briefing, although you should have also mentioned the melted salt night storage solutions. In my eyes is the best method to out there for solar storage/night power production.

[@mfb424]

Molten salt systems are concentrated solutions which could be installed next to large energy generation facilities. However the issues are in the distribution also. What li-ion offers is easy management of horde of smaller units. This so called aggregation also allows us to have the transmission and distribution secured by leveling loads and maintaining the voltage at the end of the line. And if we go even behind the meter what Tesla Powerwalls and Sonnen batteries are there are additional gains to be achieved. So battery energy storage is not only a energy storage device as it also serves as part of the electrical grid as critical support to telecom base stations and other infrastructures (fresh and waster water, radars, traffic lights, etc.). Cost efficiency of li-ion and revenue stacking is just killing all competiton.

[@abdullahalrasheed394]

@@mfb424 Nice explanation! Is the molten salt technique economically viable for 1 or 2 MW solar array? Or does it need bigger arrays to be economically viable?

[@thorH.]

There are so many different techniques that it is not really viable and on purpose to include all of them in this small video which is supposed to give an overview. There is Liquid Air, actually also mechanical storage with flying wheels, hydrogen was mentioned briefly. There are probably even more than that.

[@MDP1702]

Solten salt storage is used with concentrated solar towers, which is still a more expensive form (2-3 times more expensive for the generation 'plant'). However you do have the storage advantage. But some disadvantages besides price are things like location (you need a place with a lot of sun) and the heat it generates in the air (which can literally fry birds if they fly through it). In places it is used there also usually is a problem/impact of water usage to keep the mirrors clean in area's usually already struggling with water/dry weather.

[@maa1649]

@@mfb424 Your right about li-ion killing other storage solutions, but remember that there are places and industry that will need other storage solutions because they need enormous amounts of energy like steel production and other hevy industries that need lots of heat. There only solution is hydrogen to get enough energy density. Different technologies addressed in this video will all be relevant in different parts if the world and with different parts of use cases, there is no one technology to rule them all. It’s just based on the amount of energy needed. Highly dense energy solutions like hydrogen will power trucks, train locomotive and probably planes as well.

[@Expendable69]

I would like to know; from where are you getting the "" 40 cents" per watt?

[@majidmehmood3780]

Its the panel prices and in reality it is much cheaper if you buy directly from chinese vendors and yeah in places like my country Pakistan the cost of installing a full solar system with on-grid is about 60 US cents

[@abdullahalrasheed394]

She actually said 20 cents per watt not 40, which I assume is even more ridiculous to you. You can look this up yourself at Alibaba for example, you will find many Chinese manufacturers who sell their panels directly to consumers for less than 20 cents a watt, no middle men involved! They even offer warranties for up to 25 years. Solar is aggressively expanding worldwide.

[@chapter4travels]

Solar panels are cheap, but they are only a tiny fraction of the total cost it takes to make them reliable, dispatchable and clean. When you add up all of those things, solar is incredibly expensive.

[@johnaugsburger6192]

@@abdullahalrasheed394 Thanks for that info

[@johntarun9177]

@@johnaugsburger6192 installation and battery cost are more. Battery costs are nearly 60% extra. Forget installation charges

[@Rendus4]

The problem isn't solar, it's the grid. Look at the Texas blackouts in February 2021 for example. Plenty of power in neighboring states, but none of it could reach Texas. If you could connect the grids of Europe, Africa, Asia, and the Americas, you could have solar 24/7.

[@hakunamatata1352]

There are some scary documentaries and videos out there about grids and solar storms/solar flares. Apparently, the grids are not up to snuff. And a solar phenomenon (which is only a matter of time) can wipe out a large part of our planet's largely unprepared energy grids. It is scary to think about it.

[@rich6784]

Very Interesting idea

[@michaeltewes7833]

UK is building a network with western African countries to harvest their wind and solar It will take 5-8 years and cost $ billions

[@juliane__]

It is being done in Europe for 20 years now. It is the main grid stabilizer in Europe.

[@SeattlePioneer]

> And of course, it's as easy to DO as it is to SAY!

[@Road_Rash]

The cost of a solar system is nowhere even close to 'cheap'... even a used setup can cost $10K+... around $40K+ new... I wouldn't call that cheap...

[@martingargas3217]

Where the hell are they buying solar panels for .20 per watt?

[@garethbaus5471]

I found some on the internet for about that price, after about 10 seconds of searching (it took longer to write this comment).

[@PixelShade]

I live in south of Sweden, we constantly have at least 5m/s winds. and more usually around 8-15m/s. Solar isn't very viable in the northern hemisphere. and honestly I don't think solar is particularly good unless we get really creative and are able to create green energy storage. Lithium ION Phosphate batteries are NOT environmentally friendly or in any way "green".

[@princessgreen726]

@Pixie, I think the choice of energy source should depend on topography, climate conditions and resources available. You could use small hydro or wind turbines instead of solar. I am in Africa we can boast of almost 12 - 13hrs of good sunshine everyday. So solar is best for us but we can't afford it.

[@uwucaffeineaddiction4023]

I should note that lithium ion batteries are still very expensive for this use and are not really cost-effective. So for solar site we’re having to use other versions of batteries that are a lot cheaper but can also store for a longer period of time.

[@SustainableGal]

Lithium Iron Phosphate, is the answer! not those unstable Lithium Ion batteries with upto only 2000 cycles per cylindrical cell, unlike LiFePo4's 4000 cycles per prismatic cell and even then they still have 80% usable capacity. Not to mention that LiFePo4 is at least 2-3 times safer and more stable than li-ion and have just dropped in price per MWh compared to li-ion

[@uwucaffeineaddiction4023]

@@SustainableGal nope still to expensive. got something that can hold energy fo a long time

[@Tumbleweed5150]

@@uwucaffeineaddiction4023 It is only expensive in up-front cost. Lead acid batteries only last a few years, like 500 cycles, where LiFePO4 batteries lasts around 2 decades at full power. I figured out that I would have paid half-again as much over the same time period for "good old" lead acid as I paid for my Battle Born 270 Ah batteries that will last twenty years IF I use them fully every day. I have rarely seen my system fall below 50% capacity in the last year that I've had them. Lead-acid batteries will be harmed by going below 50% at any time, while I can use 100% of my batterys' power without a problem because they are set up with Battery Management Systems that make sure they never fall below or go above the minimum and maximum safe values for this chemistry type of battery. Much better than lead acid, with NO off-gassing, and no thermal runaway like with older lithium ion batterys, I have them here in my living room in my old RV without fears of fumes that could ignite, (Lead-acid batteries put off hydrogen gasses), or of them creating a fire from thermal runaway. If they get too hot, they disconnect power from the terminals. Oh....and they hold energy for a long time in shelf life as well.

[@matthewwakeling4978]

@@Tumbleweed5150 sounds like you tried some really poor quality lead-acid batteries. With a decent deep-cycle lead-acid, you should get a reasonable 10 year life out of them, which is what battle-born quotes for the life of their LiFePo batteries. And you can discharge them lower than 50%, though I would recommend not going below 20%. There's a difference between proper deep cycle lead-acid and your normal car-type battery.

[@amodmishra3030]

PBA Sodium ion batteries are the answer

[@okwatever3582]

Many other ways of storage are also viable. Economy of scale is key to make them cheaper. Things like thermal energy storage - using molten salt to store those energy Compressed gas storage: uses energy to compress CO2 into smaller volume, releasing them due to high pressure into a chamber releases the energy. Biogas storage: uses organic compounds reactions to store energy, and letting them react to release heat or gas to capture those energy.

[@krashunburn]

"How solar energy got so cheap, and why it's not everywhere (yet)". I dare you to say that to a Texan right now. If you do you'll have to redefine 'cheap' and 'everywhere'.

[@goodnessgodfrey5334]

It is cheap and everywhere dog. Texas failed to regulate and update their power grid, it has nothing to do with the source of the power itself.

[@warrenpeterson6065]

The recent problems Texas encountered are all Texas' doing. I live in British Columbia Canada and we have 31 government owned large scale hydro electric generating plants and 98 privately owned plants that combined produce 15,900 megawatts of electricity. This is a fraction of capacity and we could easily have ramped up production and routed to Texas if Texas has chosen to be a part of the North American grid. So please do not listen to Abbott ... Texas' recent problem is all Texas created.

[@vishalkurien1982]

Greetings@@goodnessgodfrey5334 , Out of curiosity, you are confident renewables are the best answer to efficient energy source?

[@vishalkurien1982]

Warm Greetings@@warrenpeterson6065 , Is Canada focusing on Nuclear energy or just Wind, Solar and so on?

[@warrenpeterson6065]

@@vishalkurien1982 Canada is renewing its focus on nuclear as it was past world leader in this technology but also wave technologies.

[@vickyjansen3544]

Do we reuse the batteries when their life is over or do they become waste. Is lifimim or other materials of a battery harmful to the environment when mine. So is solar or electricity vehicles using a big battery also good or bad ? I just want to know......thanks.

[@NullHand]

We currently do a poor job of recycling Li-ion batteries, because most of the production is in small dispersed personal electronics. Cellphones, laptops, etc. As the individual battery installations become car, or substation size, the logistics of recycling become much easier. Lithium is usually mined as a salt from evaporite deposits in dried desert lakebeds. Like most everything humans do, its environmental effects always depend on how it is done. You can get it quick, cheap, or clean. Pick 2. Humans on average always pick cheap first.

[@treasure7278]

I stay in Nigeria, the sun is ALWAYS out till night time.

[@jigmanx]

I'm in the SE you moron, and the sun is only out from 7:30 to 5:30, not ALWAYS!!

[@thegiantratthatmakesalloft9415]

Duh, its morning

[@treasure7278]

🤦🏽‍♀️ In some countries, the sun doesn’t come out even by day time due to the weather. That’s what I’m trying to say. I know the sun is always out except at night, duh!

[@thegiantratthatmakesalloft9415]

@@treasure7278 ok know it all

[@switzerlandch4986]

The sun either never sets or never rises -This post was made by the Polar Article gang

[@TechnicalShivam-bh1hv]

Your Documentary is so Amazing❤❤❤

[@fayemadriaga7840]

Thank you for this episode as usual!!! We had a solar farm near our town and the problem I saw is that lots of trees were cleared out. So it got me thinking, what's more beneficial? Appreciate episodes on cost-benefit analysis of green energy.

[@DWPlanetA]

Thanks for sharing! 🌲 Best would be if solar panels could coexist with the trees but in a case like this it may be necessary to replant trees or restore other forms of vegetation to compensate for the loss. You could be interested watching our video "How green is solar energy really?" kzbin.info/www/bejne/e4i5ZZhqapisbrs. And don't forget to subscribe to our channel for new video content every Friday. 🌸

[@MagnificentShorts]

Actual and interesting video

[@KelloVG]

Great video! I won't throw any questions at you this time haha Would love to see a video on nuclear power vs solar, especially as many anti-solar see nuclear power as the way forward when all factors are taken in. :)

[@DWPlanetA]

Hi there, thanks for your suggestion - we've actually talked about making a video about just this subject, but there already are a couple of good videos on it so we decided not to. Like this one: kzbin.info/www/bejne/sIu4fqJ7m7mlbdk But if we find a new, interesting take, it would be a good topic to look into further!

[@alessandroruozzi7363]

@@DWPlanetA The video is not so good. It is true that in EU and USA the cost of nuclear are high but this has nothing to do with the technology per se, it has to do with 5 decades of over-regulation and criminalization of the technology. France and Sweden decarbonized the electricity sector decades ago by using nuclear energy. Nuclear energy is, despite decades of criminalization, the largest carbon-free energy source in EU and USA. Nuclear energy was also the largest carbon-free electricity source in Germany before 2011. Comparing the cost of nuclear and solar does not make a lot of sense: a modern nuclear reactor can last 80-100 years and works with 90(+)% capacity factor, solar panels and batteries last 20-25 years and the cost of storage is never mentioned in the solar cost. Solar panels work, in the best case scenario, with 30% capacity factor the rest of the time they need back-up (methane) and storage (that does not exist on a large scale). That is why, despite decades of massive subsidies, solar generates less than 1% of the global primary energy, and global primary energy is going to increase a lot. The idea that solar, wind, batteries and biofuels are going to save us is a hallucinatory delusion. The Energiewende program in Germany is an example of the failure of this idea: they are still the largest consumer of coal, they will use coal until 2038 and they are doubling the North stream, not to mention the increase of energy cost. And they still have much higher emission of nuclear states like France or Sweden. Comparing solar and nuclear is like comparing an airplane and a hot air balloon: the hot air balloon might be cheaper but no one takes and hot air balloon while traveling from London to New York. A 1400 MW Korean APR reactor costs 5-6 billions and produces 900 billion of KWhs in 80 years, day and night, summer and winter...So you can do the math. China, Russia and Korea usually build the reactor on time, on schedule and on budget, that means it is possible. Just out of curiosity what is the plan for powering a 200 thousands tons cargo ship with solar or wind? You can easily do that with a nuclear reactor...

[@antiapatic]

i second this. but put the accent on Thorium reactors ...that's the Holy Grail :)

[@TCt83067695]

@@DWPlanetA can't read the rest without clicking on the first link

[@DWPlanetA]

How do you mean?

[@ronaldcole7415]

Friend in Key Largo, Florida has an interesting way to store his excess solar power. He's got 3, 45 ton cement blocks on his property with 3 wenches and 3 geared down fly wheels in a personal small warehouse. When he has excess energy, the electric motors kick in and lift the cement blocks with the fly wheels and gears on steel chains. Some days, the blocks are lifted 15 feet high, the highest they can go. At night, the gears are reversed and an extra gear slides into place and one by one, the blocks slowly come back down and drive a generator motor more than enough to power the entire home for 6 days if needed. He says it's called a gravity battery. Seems to work pretty well.

[@princelyijieh9825]

Coming from someone that actually depends on solar for power daily and lives in the Western Africa A lot of details were brushed over in this video Solar cells have just about 4-5 hours of optimal output 10pm-2-3pm the rest of the day is almost useless. And that’s for bright and sunny days. On cloudy days it barely outputs anything and rainy days is just nothing. There’s a difference between visible light and good sunlight that gets the solar cells going. ie when they work they work great 😊. But that’s for about 4-5 hours on a good day. So I wonder how much better it will be for Germany and the likes. BTW I have a 3KW solar system

[@philmanke7642]

In these longest days of the yearly PV produces from 6AM to 6:00pm Though it may not be the highest output, beginning and ending, for batteries, it is still good for some current, and for inverting, a lower output still has uses.!.!.!. Sometimes an occluded solar window limits performance also, which Is no fault with the solar, itself.!.!. I'm at 43ºN Lat.!.!.!. A day tracker could help also.!.!....

[@peterweller8583]

Thanks for the video. On a personal note, I was gratified that i did not hear possibly, might or perhaps. I agree that saving the planet is difficult but a worthwhile long-term project. So, I will end by saying we just need to prioritize our efforts in energy storage and use the technology that makes sense.

[@DWPlanetA]

Thanks Peter! If you like this video, be sure to subscribe. We have new reports coming out every Friday. 📺

[@scogginsscoggins]

I live in Hanoi where it is almost always sunny. Vietnam would be ideal for solar energy.

[@Duke19073]

Vietnam has limited spaces for installation. I'd better go with nuclear SMRs.

[@Em-wb4kf]

Just to say that here in the UK I qualified for a grant to cover having 10 photovoltaic solar panels installed onto my roof, no battery, but a new meter too. What I use in the evenings will register with my energy supplier. I will just try to do most of the activities in the daytime that require electric energy. I get mine on Monday and look forward to the benefits.

[@davidgoodwin3783]

I bought my first solar system in 1988 to power my then home, I paid $10.20au per watt. I've recently installed a system to run a small home workshop costing 0.75c au per watt and using LI batteries. I haven't paid a power bill in 30 years. Sure, I've done upgrades and had to replace batteries each 10 years or so but with so many pro's and so few con's, it's a no brainer.

[@martinduke218]

I will be one of those in Germany adding to the capacity with a 11,46 kWp system using circa 31 panels in an east west orientation. Additionally I will have a battery at 7,7kW. I expect 75% of my needs will be covered. It will be even more important when in a couple of years I will replace my oil heating system with a heat pump... Alaaf aus Pulheim!

[@mfb424]

Thank You for doing your part! It’s ”all hands on deck” moment with this climate disaster. We cannot work too hard to fix the problem. Hence we must find ways to leverage the banking industry to really turn their coal barge around. There must be ways to kill the inertia of the financing sector. If only say Deutsche Bank would structure a new derivative from flexibility they would really ”fly to the moon”. The rest of the banking world would follow.

[@comancheflyer4903]

Does anyone of you know where the materials comes from to produce lithium ion batteries

[@martinduke218]

@@comancheflyer4903 Sources state 80% of rare earth metals (17 different materials) are mined in China. 70% of cobalt is mined in the Democratic Republic of Congo, but it is controlled by China. Australia mines 50% of the Lithium. Chile about 20%.

[@TedApelt]

@@comancheflyer4903 Lithium ion batteries are only used now for utility scale storage because they are mass produced for electric cars, where weight is very important. A much better choice for the power grid would be the much heavier, but cheaper for the amount of electricity they store (if mass produced, they currently aren't) calcium ion batteries. We will NEVER run out of calcium, as it is a big part of limestone.

[@klaasdykstra8127]

At what cost,that is never mentioned,it is not cheaper,it just costs people that can't afford the cost of their electricity bills,there is no climate emergency problem,total bullshit!

[@aniketmahapatra8985]

This video is a complete package.. well done🔥

[@klaasdykstra8127]

All bullshit,for a problem that doesn't exist,there is no man made global warming,it's actually getting cooler,the solar minimum,all you snow flakes must have gone to university and done the alarmist course,same as the media now caught out in their corrupt alarmist coverage and lies,all propoganda,follow the moneeeee!

[@v1-vr-rotatev2-vy_vx31]

165 watt panel is $165 us, $175 watt panel is 175 us, the 200 watt panel is $200 us. Have any of these panels on my RV 1,400 watts that charges 8 lithium titanate batteries. Keeps me off the grid 24 hours a day until I want to use air conditioning then I will have to use the gasoline generator. Works great love it.

[@pathansahab3452]

You didn't talk about Wind energy which you can use even without Sun.

[@beebob1279]

But you need wind. It's as reliable as sun and even less reliable if you live in a light wind area

[@johnrubensaragi4125]

Without sun yall gonna die

[@akyhne]

"How solar energy got so cheap, and why it's not everywhere (yet)". That was the title of the video. I wonder why they didn't mention potatoes. You can generate electricity from a potato too.

[@akyhne]

@@johnrubensaragi4125 It was a joke, man 🤣

[@akyhne]

@@johnrubensaragi4125 Save? You clearly didn't get the joke then. The first comment complained, why wind power wasn't mentioned in a video, purely about solar. So I quoted the title of the video, and then made a similar stupid comment about potatoes. It could have been about anything - lemon batteries, bicycle electricity power etc.

[@kaushikganesh6216]

What's happens when u set up a solar farm generate all that energy sign power purchase agreements with the government of karnataka (india) and then need to bribe government officials to get paid for the electricity that u produce? Its practical in only non corrupt countries unfortunately.

[@thaop.nguyen5093]

yikes that's sad

[@india9unknown]

Karnataka is notorious for corruption among South Indian states

[@mrem7196]

Start a revolution

[@mrem7196]

Start a revolution

[@bossadave]

Try buying solar it is not cheap. The panel is just a fraction of the package price.

[@ivankontra3446]

they're so full of crap I'm surprised they're not getting sued

[@fudgedogbannana]

about $20,000. for a system on your house.

[@ivankontra3446]

@@fudgedogbannana and another 10.000 every what? 5 years?

[@meerkathero6032]

​@@ivankontra3446 My 2.3 kW PV system on the roof is 22 years old and still kicking, no replacement cost so far.

[@williamhaynes7089]

@@fudgedogbannana - all the estimates I have been getting are closer to 40k

[@mortezahabibnia8120]

Thank you for your excellent presentation

[@DWPlanetA]

Hey there! Happy to hear that you liked the video. We post new videos like this one every Friday. Subscribe to our channel to not miss any ✨

[@ItsoFototo]

I'm seriously considering installing a grid-tied solar system on my house, but storage is really not the best part. Lithium is a finite resource with energy intensive and pollutive mining process.

[@SeattlePioneer]

[@ItsoFototo]

@@SeattlePioneer I don't see the disadvantage of a grid tied solar system and I think it's better for the environment this way. I don't have to deal with expensive, not lasting long, requiring lithium extraction batteries. The grid is there, I'm producing solar electricity and I'm feeding it back to the community when I don't need it. So, why shouldn't I?

[@SeattlePioneer]

@@ItsoFototo

[@ItsoFototo]

@@SeattlePioneer I don't see it that way. I'm producing clean electricity and I'm sending it back to the community, when I don't need it, decreasing the use of coal in the power plant, I guess. You sound like you might be working for some grid company

[@SeattlePioneer]

@@ItsoFototo I don't work for a utility. But you do -----your own. And you have a selfish interest in squeezing money and services from other utilities to make your own utility functional. THAT is the TRUTH. As I say, if you want to be your own utility ----fine. Go ahead and do it. But take the responsibility of doing it and don't saddle others with the burdens you can't manage yourself. If you aren't satisfied to have your power run down and out in the afternoon, buy batteries to make your system work. That's fine by me. But don't saddle the utility and other rate payers with costs like that that you don't want to pay.

[@ML-jw8kf]

Watching this, will be purchasing a 7.5KW system for my home in the coming week or two.

[@michaelmaroney1660]

Check a solar distribution map first. If you live in an area like I do (West Texas) It makes perfect sense.

[@ML-jw8kf]

@@michaelmaroney1660 I live in a tropical area with low sun-light. I have no choice as the government service is pathetic with frequena and long blackouts on a daily basis.

[@michaelmaroney1660]

@@ML-jw8kf My advice in that case would be a hybrid solar and wind system, with battery backup if possible. I realize the cost is much higher, but it can be built in stages over time.

[@ML-jw8kf]

@@michaelmaroney1660 Sorry to be a novice, but wind for residential use? I thought wind farms was large commercial ones. Can you send me a link to a product? I can purchase a 7.5KW solar system for around 10K dollars. I am from India by the way.

[@michaelmaroney1660]

@@ML-jw8kf I'll look around for you and get back to you later today. But there plenty of small residential turbines that would surely fit your needs.

[@AirLancer]

Wonder when all those new, revolutionary battery technologies that are always "just 10 years away" will actually be ready.

[@rond5936]

They are always over ambitious with their projections. It's still not that easy to store solar. And you still cannot store it in large quantities. And by 2050, solar may be about only 10 percent.

[@GLJosh]

Well that is easy, 10 years after you watch the video.

[@ytpkj1]

Free beer tomorrow!

[@susanlourens3949]

We are staying in South Africa, and solar is in demand. Cheep, not at all. Very, very expensive and working overtime.

[@jeremygates51]

We have been talking about power storage for 20 year's and its still expensive

[@Apjooz]

Not really that expensive. For context, if you can buy a kilowatthour of battery capacity for 100 bucks and get 10 thousand cycles out of it (these are not ridiculous numbers) then to store one kilowatthour costs a cent. For comparison, to get a kilowatthour of energy into the tires of a gas car costs 20 cents.

[@nicollo3672]

Because it was mostly that: talking. Instead of doing

[@Matzes]

Tesla gonna change that

[@nosdregamon]

Progress is relatively slow but steady. Battery storage (just as pv-cells) has become cheaper and more efficient in these 20 years. Battery prices dropped about 90% in the last 10 years alone and companies like Tesla expect it to go down even further. This doesn't go 1-to-1 to the consumers, but it's still noticeable: Nowadays I can get a cheap 150€ phone that has 10x times the power storage (and probably 1000x the computing power) of a 2001 Nokia flagship phone.

[@jackfanning7952]

@@Matzes It has already. Tesla is worth twice as much as GM and Ford because of its innovations in battery technology.

[@tg2498]

As hinted by somebody, in theory the ultimate solution is to move the solar energy from day part of the earth to the night part of the earth: then there are no energy storage issues but movement.

[@atmanandmaya2090]

How to move day part energy to night?

[@garethbaus5471]

@@atmanandmaya2090 very large extremely high voltage lines.

[@zhaow4832]

which isnt economical nor feasible

[@frankclough380]

@@zhaow4832 China has an HVDC system in use that transfers 12GW over 3300 Km. The UK is laying underwater HVDC cables to transfer electricity from Norway to the UK.

[@anotherdamn6c]

You must be a lot fun at parties. ;^)

[@DmitryKiktenko]

What aboul li-ion maintenance and recycling? My phone needs a new battery every 2-3 years, and here are holly mountain of those cells. You should hightlight this topic in your video.

[@heyhoe168]

li-ion in big electricity is definitely a scam. Right now I can see only the water dam as realistic night counterpart of the solar plants.

[@ehombane]

If you do not let it discharge under 40 percent and charge it only 80 percent then will last a lot more. My first one was ruined after 2 years, second one, I found the rule and after 3 years is as new even occasionally got fully discharged or fully charged. And your idea of wasted phone batteries as source for storing forgets a thing. capacity. you will need hundreds of phones for a single power wall. And your holly mountain, is not enough. For example that first Tesla australian battery is 100 MWh that is 100 000 kwh, and for a kwh you need 50 phones, so you will need 5 million phones. So 10 million people worth of phones. So yes the idea will provide for a symbolic storage. But not the lack of lithium is the problem, but the cost. That recycling is not free. It costs more then mining. In time the technologies for recycling will become cheaper, but we are not there yet. And for storage are many other ideas too. One is gravitational storage. Just stone blocks down a mine shaft, or a hill. Even there are not plenty sites, we could mine them for storage. So, they dug holes in the ground, take the coal or ore out and recover the cost of the hole in a single use of that resource. Now think that digging a mine to store energy gravitational, will last centuries, or millennia. But the problem is returning money fast. Nobody wants to work today for the benefit of next generations. Everybody including you when invest money, want to get it back double in a year. So who will invest in this simple and efficient storage method?

[@ehombane]

@@heyhoe168 Yes, where the location permits. In my country we have already a quarter hydro. and in last decade installed another quarter wind and some ten percent solar. But when the wind is blowing, we export all of it. There should be less hydro during the day or windy times, to save it for night and calm days. So in a way, green certificates are a scam too. We paid and still paying for that wind and solar, but instead reducing coal, by using hydro storage, we export that green energy surplus, not for our profit, but for the profit of those who get to decide what. And that 100MW australian battery is a scam? Because being used as peak safety it is quite a success. Sure for mass storage is still not a viable option. But considering that hydro storage location are scarce, and building them takes decades, the alternative of li does not look such a scam. It has the advantage of knowledge and production already in place. There are many other technologies, like flow cells, molten salt, gravitational, but some are still expensive, some not well researched, some still with big upfront investment. So Li may win. Just take a look at sub sea level zones in Africa. Those could be perfect opportunities for huge hydro. Direct production, not only storage. There are planes since a century ago. But the huge investment needed pushed them in the fantasy zone.

[@heyhoe168]

@@ehombane 100MW, but what is the capacity? Australian battery is not the storage, it is efficiently peak capacitor.

[@narsimhas1360]

@@heyhoe168 Geothermal could also be a counterpart (or replace all other energy sources all together to a large extent) kzbin.info/www/bejne/kGezhX6Or8RlqJI (EDIT - skip to 14:00 in the linked video) The above video explains it very well,. Geothermal power plants can be built anywhere not just near hot water springs etc like most people think, is reliable and consistent (unlike solar and wind), doesn't have stigma of nuclear. It is the ideal power source, it's a shame not many people know about it

[@bernardhargraves527]

Maximum voltage from solar is currently 24V . That’s a fucking huge problem.

[@querube78]

I'm sure more of us young, working age, (and more likely to be environmentally conscious) would be willing to switch to solar regardless of the cost or sacrifices we would have to make until this becomes the main energy source...if only we could afford our own houses.

[@kerryb2689]

Maybe, but are you willing to work hard outdoors to install it? You WILL be able to afford housing near the solar farms where jobs will be plentiful -- installing and maintaining solar.

[@querube78]

@@kerryb2689 Yes

[@kerryb2689]

@@mach2223 I agree completely about efficient storage and nuclear. Nearly all large scale power generation is inefficient on a thermal basis (50%). Storage adds to that inefficiency coming in at 80-90% at best. There is a great deal of push back on nuclear from the Not In My Back Yard crowd. Nuclear also has the waste issue to deal with. In the US most of the population is on the coasts, and nuclear power does not go over well near populated areas. Presently it takes 10 years to build a nuclear power plant, with one of the highest wholesale electric rates amortized over 20 years. I also understand there are alternate nuclear options that are safer (but have not been proven). It's not possible to convert in 14 years time... not saying we shouldn't start now, just there are no easy answers, and don't pull the rug out from the existing infrastructure at the cost of doubling or tripling electric rates.