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

A lot speaks for solar energy. It's clean, renewable - and now even cheaper than energy from fossil fuels like coal or natural gas. Sounds pretty great, right? But it only makes up a tiny bit of global electricity production. Why don't we use a lot more of it yet?
We're destroying our environment at an alarming rate. But it doesn't need to be this way. Our new channel Planet A explores the shift towards an eco-friendly world - and challenges our ideas about what dealing with climate change means. We look at the big and the small: What we can do and how the system needs to change. Every Friday we'll take a truly global look at how to get us out of this mess.
#PlanetA #SolarEnergy #RenewableEnergy
READ MORE:
Cost of solar:
www.irena.org/-/media/Files/I...
ourworldindata.org/grapher/so...
Solar and wind in global electricity production:
yearbook.enerdata.net/renewab...
The duck curve:
www.caiso.com/Documents/Flexi...
www.energy.gov/eere/articles/...
Growth of solar energy:
www.iea.org/reports/renewable...
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Author: Malte Rohwer-Kahlmann
Video Editor: Cem Springer
Supervising Editor: Kiyo Dörrer

[@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.

[@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.

[@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

[@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.

[@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

[@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.

[@KD9-37]

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

[@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

[@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

[@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

[@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.

[@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

[@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.

[@geraldgreenman4715]

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

[@jessicaklement656]

We should also focus on shifting energy demand to times when there is energy availiable. That could be easily achived by offering the exesive power at very low price and making this information avaliable online with a forecast. People would automatically find ways to use it like price dependant electric Vehicle charging or temperature control (heating and cooling).

[@StYxXx]

This already exists. Some electric companies - like tibber - offer variable pricing, the forcast is published a day before. You need a smart electric meter to use it though and most people only benefit a bit since their daily schedule is not that flexible. You can of course run a washing machine with a timer at cheap hours. But you'll want to cook when you get home and not wait until the price drops. With an electric car you can benefit way more, you can set a timer when to start charging. Most of a countries electric consumption isn't done by private households though.

[@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

[@user-uu5xf5xc2b]

probably inefficient

[@BicycleFunk]

@@user-uu5xf5xc2b 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]

@@user-uu5xf5xc2bBut 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.

[@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?

[@Ren089]

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

[@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.

[@user-kt7uz9xc5m]

I've read that wind turbines have many problems too and cant work without batteries, have a lot of distortions at hz and voltage. I dont trust that thing about heat underground accumulators, but if they are actually working to round steam turbine this could work - heating it with wind turbines+solar panels extra power and rotate steam turbines at nights :))

[@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. 📺

[@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

[@superzero4250]

@@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… …

[@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.

[@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)

[@flyingmedic]

A very impartial and thoughtful assessment. Thank you.

[@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

[@Warzak77]

The twist is, there won't be enough resources on this planet to supply Terawatts of battery storage

[@tomizatko3138]

what is your source? and what are you talking about not enough resources on the planet? There is more litium in the world than a lot of other rare metals combined,! And don t forget that these batteries are always changing in mixture of elements. And everyone is trying to improve power density of a battery. And a lot of companies are already recycling almost all of their batteries (like for example tesla)!

[@fixafix69]

Lmao yeah we do if switched to salt batteries

[@chicobicalho5621]

This posting gave me a renewed hope for the future. Born in 1960, my generation experienced an amazing transtormation; we grew up and became totally familiar with the analog world, and were young enough to witness and become fully versed ( some of us, at least ; ⁰ ) with the digital world. I wonder if, at 61 I will live to see the complete change to renewable, non polluting energy, since it seems to be moving a bit slow. I understand this post was about solar, but I always thought the combination of wind and sun is ideal, for wind turbines even small ones can produce a good amount of energy in clowdy conditions or at night, compensating for when solar is down.

[@GJ-oo2xw]

you may yet. No one is building coal anymore ( except China outside China long story) So with off shore and on shore wind and solar and the greater investments in those the only piece missing is the high voltage smart grid. technically easy....just historically utilities had and have fiscal reason not to invest. Better ROI to ignore it as much as possible even with maintenance. So expect massive increases in RE with it making up the build of new capacity from now until the foreseeable future.

[@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.

[@sustainablebloke112]

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

[@suhailsurajpal]

Would love to see your oppinions on air compression storage of solar power

[@priscillaannunziata6848]

Thanks from Brazil for the nice video. I truly believe that technologies for storage are going to move fast and we will soon have an accessible way of storing or reusing solar power.

[@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

[@spalderz]

Imagine you're an Airbus A380 pilot and one of the engine's thrust fluctuates between 10-100% and you can't control it but you have to keep the altitude constant and keep the airplane safe. That's how challenging solar power is for us grid system operator.

[@energycantbedestroyeditcan7671]

Control. Money. That's the only problem I see you 'operaters' of the grid having. Total energy independence, for everyone. The public not paying a penny for energy. That would be great!!!!

[@fredomulo2146]

Except, we are not in a plane and you have a hyperactive imagination 😁

[@sandal_thong8631]

Bull. Hawaii and other places with a lot of rooftop solar, haven't invested in sensors (smart grid?) to tell them when solar's increasing or decreasing due to clouds, because utilities are against rooftop solar which is cheaper than the solar parks they invested in.

[@vilaasbappat7635]

Virtual power plants -VPP - is probably a solution.

[@madbats69]

I think that analogy falls out of the sky because capacitors, transformers, etc aren’t available to planes to temporarily store and convert velocity

[@superzero4250]

Ten years ago, I was watching an exposé on MotoGP of a wildcard racer during the Japanese round that season. The guy lived high up on hill or mountain. When that Tsunami hit back in 2012 he said he watched in horror as the ocean just swallowed up his country below. Later, people who made for high ground began to filter their way up to his house. He helped as much as he could. People began using his phones and internet to contact friends and relatives to let them know they were alive and okay. It was all because he had a solar system for his electricity. That sort of self sufficiency made that situation possible. It was enough for me to recognize the value, that I invested in Solar myself. One thing is for sure. I know in the US, Texas had a power issue a couple of winters ago, where hundreds of thousands of homes had no electricity, due to an insufficient power grid. The households with solar, became the havens for their neighbors that had no power at all during those desperate days. Some people died… Some people could debate the efficacy of solar til the fall of civilization, or monkeys spout wings. But all I know is, we will have lights, the refrigerator will still be cold, and the heat will be on when necessary… …

[@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.

[@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.

[@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.

[@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. 🌸

[@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.

[@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!

[@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.!.!....

[@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.

[@yeohszehow]

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.

[@yeohszehow]

@@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]

@@yeohszehow 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!

[@dougsagal5860]

Been off grid 40 years and eyed the technology = there is additional idioms on the market not mentioned = vacuum tubes that are more effective than panels can use water as a battery via phase change temperature pressure differential - Tesla turbine/heat/cold pump = it mostly a awareness problem of how to inter grate the complexity

[@paulredfern2252]

Flywheel storage using 100Meter diameter wheels, slowly brought up to rotational speed (using high efficiency synchronous motor... via Solar excess daytime, and the energy return when solar not available. Batteries still loose heat energy.

[@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.

[@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.

[@kaganozmeric9822]

Apart from the environmental concerns one of the most important effects of solar energy is social. It will allow more people to live a life off the grid. In Turkey rapid urbanization in the last decades created densely populated cities with many problems. Now middle class who can work from home and pensioners are looking ways for getting away from the big cities. Also privatization of the electrical power generation and distribution in Turkey favored energy companies more than the consumer. The prices have hiked seriously in the last decade. So eventually cheap solar energy will encourage more people to live off the grid in our case.

[@cameronf3343]

I think the real biggest potential to making solar be more desirable, especially with homeowners, is working on changing the last two really big misconceptions around it. The first one is that Solar only works when it’s sunny; that’s a falsehood. It only works optimally when it’s sunny, but during the majority of cloud conditions except *thick* aggressive storm clouds, enough UV gets through to operate at a lowered efficiency. In my town in PA we typically get a lot of thin cloud cover throughout the year that doesn’t do anything but block the sun, and my grandparents still get about 40-70% efficiency, and sometimes less but typically no less than 20%. Does that create a lot of energy? No. Does it create enough energy for things like lights and the refrigerator? Yes. Some is more than none. The other is the lifespan rating. Modern solar panels post-2005 innovations last more like 30-40 years instead of 20. 20 is the average payment period, but not lifespan, and they do last longer. Changing that misconception, that it only lasts as long as the payment period before you’re trapped into getting another system, would also be very beneficial.

[@cameronf3343]

@Randy Marsh Speaking honestly such sabotage makes it I’d rather just either buy a 100% energy used system or daydream about what I need to do to get a 100% energy system. Any utility that bumps peak hours to try and keep their profits by punishing renewables adoption doesn’t really deserve that money in my opinion.

[@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?

[@nightshade8958]

@@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

[@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

[@ericpham7773]

If redesigned pattern and driver it can use even the darkness to generate electricity as well as sun light

[@brucefiset5736]

Thanks for the solar info. I have used it and it is the way of the future, keep us informed,,

[@johndoh5182]

It would be nice if you covered ESS iron Redux flow batteries made by ESS. The problem with Li-Ion grid storage is the demand on different raw materials, and BEV needs Li-Ion more than grid storage, which needs efficiency in conversion, but doesn't need the energy density.

[@amodmishra3030]

We also have sodium ion batteries

[@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.

[@trinadhbabu208]

Thank you for your information

[@SAM-gy7ep]

Thank You For Sharing ❤

[@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.

[@craigthacker]

On the east coast of Australia (where I live) photovoltaic panels are the way to go. We can power all the major cities and towns down the coastline with solar. We have a mountain range that spans from the top of Queensland to the bottom of Victoria, so we can use solar during the day at the same time as pumping seawater to the top of the mountain range that is stored and released after sunset to turn turbines at night. We can also cover our freshwater supplies with floating solar panels which reduces water loss from evaporation, with the added benefit of cooling the panels with the water they are floating on. In times of drought (which we seem to experience in 7-year cycles), the pumped seawater that is stored on top of the mountain range can be gravity fed through a desalination process after passing through the turbines and then delivered to the areas that need it, usually the farmland on the other side of the mountains. It really is a simple and cost-effective way to provide energy, create fresh water and drought-proof our country.

[@tandemwings4733]

You're living in a dream. ALL solar systems (private and commercial) are heavily subsidised by gov'ts, which means that we're paying twice for our electricity. Without those subsidies, solar would NOT happen - at all. On top of that, the environmental legacies (yes, plural) are horrendous.

[@craigthacker]

@@tandemwings4733 it’s actually the opposite. Solar is cheaper to produce now than coal fired power across the world.

[@tandemwings4733]

@@craigthacker ONLY with subsidies.

[@craigthacker]

@@tandemwings4733 look it up. Solar is cheaper without subsidies

[@matthewhuszarik4173]

Grids have alway required rolling reserves that can ramp up immediately and ready reserves that can be brought on line within a few hours. Because demand isn’t consistent. The proper mix of solar and wind will result in a system that needs even less reserves than do fossil fueled plants.

[@vadergrd]

i am expecting to see more of the wind source type of alternatives

[@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.

[@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.

[@kcarch25unkown27]

@@Justwantahover a little more then that

[@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.

[@donTeo136]

There are some batter technologies, non lithium, set to roll out in a year or so. They are cheaper and use more common materials like salt . They also have longer discharge times. There energy density is not equal to lithium, heavier, but that's not a issue with solar stationery installations

[@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.

[@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

[@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.

[@cameronwalker294]

This sounds great. Please explain why everywhere large investment is made into PV the cost of energy goes UP, not down.

[@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

[@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.

[@cablestick]

How efficient is pumped hydro for storage? There would be losses in pumping the water plus opportunity cost for running the water pump instead of directly powering the grid.

[@shakeesangwenya4927]

What an eye opener.... Science never stops to fascinate me. 😅. Storage of solar energy has been a proplem but with the right kinds of minds, solutions can be found! The idea of the two lakes makes Scientific sense 😅. I've enjoyed and i have been inspired by this episode. Thank you.

[@curtwuollet2912]

I live in an area that requires massive energy for heating during a long darkish winter. The promise is a bit tarnished here.

[@kenmoore800]

Use a heat pump to heat your home,electric stove to cook,electric water heater then when the first winter storm hits and your power is out for a week and nothing in your house works and you can’t charge your electric car to get to someplace warm what do you do just freeze to death?

[@curtwuollet2912]

@@kenmoore800 Yes, this winter, Texas was the poster child for the Green New Deal. It was a little cold for Texas and the grid failed. A few people died. If it happened in MN, at - 25, it could kill thousands and cause massive damage. And it would be extremely difficult to fix and will be extremely expensive to prevent. It's a wonderful idea for some places, some of the time, but they ignore the rest of us. All the time.

[@acmefixer1]

@@curtwuollet2912 It doesn't happen minnesota because they winterize the wind and solar farms. The Texans didn't do what they were told: winterize your systems including the gas turbine generators. So they got screwed by their own lack of preparation. They have only themselves to blame.

[@curtwuollet2912]

@@acmefixer1 That still doesn't account for anything like the actual energy requirement of a state when it's 25 below zero for a dark week in January. It seems for the green crowd that if it works in LA, the rest of us can freeze. Even electric vehicles are severely impacted by reality here. And I like the idea of renewable energy and EVs. Just not realistic here. And I haven't heard of anyone addressing that.

[@repete2362]

@@curtwuollet2912 NW North Dakota just hit by huge ice storm last saturday lots still with out power .no one died. no wind turbines were destroyed . thousands of power poles broken wires on the ground

[@fasihurrahman2211]

I really like the lake idea and the building block

[@alex-sd]

We've had our Hyundai solar panels for 6 years and we're producing more electricity than we did 6 years ago. Very happy that our solar panels are not degrading or that the sun is more intense.

[@MrCvdx12]

Solar on rooftops has a better advantage in tropical countries demand for electricity peaks during the day primarily for cooling appliance like AC and electricfans, when the heat produced by sunlight is also at its peak Solar production would also be in its peak at the same time

[@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?

[@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?

[@gouravfromuk]

One world, one grid , is an awesome idea to over come most of these problems. When it's shining in one country, it can provide energy to country in dark and vice versa since sun shines 24*7.

[@janetihaka799]

Yes please more information is what I need I have solar power which is wonderful in Summer and not so great in Winter.

[@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.

[@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.

[@silverdamsen2680]

There are a couple problems here. The biggest one is that lithium batteries are NOT clean energy because of all the pollution that goes into mining the lithium. Still, it is good to know that energy will be thrown away if it isn't stored with lithium batteries or some other method, which is one of the problems of combining coal and fossil fuel with solar panels.

[@kd7bwb12]

This video was in my KZbin recommended page... The biggest problem, for me, dealing with solar panels, is their basic power conversion efficiency. Solar energy conversion to electrical energy is less than 15%. The average electrical power from the average panel is roughly about 100-watts/panel. If the solar cells used were 60% efficient, you could power you house, on average, with 10 panels... very doable. But... as we've seen, most houses require more roof area than is available. Hence, no fully solar solutions, in most cases. And so far, there's no fix for this problem. Storage of power is a separate issue. The production of power, overall; is much more important.

[@smh9902]

Use Sabatier reactors to produce synthetic methane from water and Co2 (carbon neutral) then pump the methane into the natural gas infrastructure, then use small decentralized and efficient generators for on site power production. This will increase the cost of solar by about a factor of four, but the infrastructure is already in place for both hyper efficient distribution and storage via gasometers.

[@michaelbee8263]

🧐

[@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.

[@sustainablebloke112]

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]

@@sustainablebloke112 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

[@wenpinglin4261]

In Taiwan our energy peaks happen at 2:00 pm because of hot weather in summer time. We actually had a lot of factories running in the daytime that need power.

[@Milarz]

Nitpick: Pumped hydro doesn't necessarily need a lower lake, as any body of water will do, such as river, the sea, etc.

[@soapshouse9275]

TQ Sir GOD bless you family and business

[@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

[@morecurlsmoregurls298]

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.

[@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 .

[@user-ee8hh4xp4x]

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

[@jetfu400]

Energy indipendence is the key. Not companies bringing in solar but each and every household having solar power.

[@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!

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

[@JA238979]

In warm climates of the USA it gets very warm during the day for most of the year, and air conditioning uses a lot of electricity. Demand rises after sunrise, peaks at mid-day, and falls after sunset. We don't store solar PV energy, because the wind turbines provide even more electricity at all times. We also use use gas from our own country at all times, and nuclear power plants provide a constant supply of carbon-free energy to the grid 24 hours per day.

[@reakma3913]

What I really love Solar Energy is that it’s reusable energy and no pollution. Hopefully it costs cheaper in the future.

[@CherokezPittman]

I completely agree with you! Solar energy is indeed a fantastic source of reusable energy, and it's amazing that it's not only environmentally friendly but also cost-effective. And speaking of future developments, have you heard about the Segway Portable PowerStation Cube Series? It's a versatile power station that offers massive capacity, fast recharging, and even waterproof technology. It's perfect for outdoor enthusiasts like us who value quality family time and reliable power backup. Definitely worth checking out!