Renewable Energy Series: Solar Vs Wind | Answers With Joe

[@govindmit]

I have worked in renewable industry for almost a decade. Your video really sums it all. Good job man!

[@BenSullinsOfficial]

Excellent! Here in San Diego residents can also pay a little extra (around $5) each month to get 100% of their energy from renewable sources. So in that case you don't even have to install panels or anything else, just choose to pay a little extra.

[@joescott]

I may be doing that at a private level through Green Mountain Energy. I pay for a 100% renewables plan. (Whether that's actually what I'm getting is another matter...)

[@kerrybutler6404]

I don't get, pay extra for something that costs less to produce? Only in America

[@TheGuyThatEveryoneIgnores]

@@kerrybutler6404 You have to also include the cost of the energy that is lost in transmission. If you are getting your electricity from a hydroelectric dam that is hundreds of miles away, most of that energy is lost due to the electrical resistance in the power lines. Of course, this is also true for far away, centralized, fossil fuel and nuclear power plants. Furthermore, power companies want to make their money back faster so they take advantage of the perceived "feel good" value of using renewable sources.

[@Lalorama]

@@TheGuyThatEveryoneIgnores Transmission loss is only about 10% of delivered energy

[@DigitalNomadOnFIRE]

Nope that can't be true. It's not always sunny and windy and power storage just isn't there yet, and won't be probably ever. Some of your power, probably quite a lot is coming from gas peaker plants or coal. Worse you can't spin nuclear up or down fast enough to back up wind and solar, they truly suck. "100% renewable" is some trick they're playing, look at the fine print. This is a perfect example of you paying more for greenwash. You may think wind and solar will save the planet but quite the opposite, they can't. Nuclear solves climate change and causes barely any pollution (zero with liquit thorium or fusion).

[@KlownJedi666]

"The sun is gonna come up everyday. If it doesn't we got bigger problems." Now THAT's an understatement!

[@nagarjunkashyap5987]

If it doesn't come up you don't have to worry about climate change

[@CrotalusHH]

The sun comes up every day, but we don't get sunshine every day. Shadows reduce the power output dramatically.

[@DigitalNomadOnFIRE]

Have you been to Norway in December 🤡 Unless you're on the equator it's not gonna come up at the same time is it, what if it's cloudy?

[@JM-us3fr]

"Let's math the sh*t out of this" As a mathematician, I approve

[@joescott]

As a very much non-mathematician, I hope I punched the numbers in the calculator right.

[@JM-us3fr]

Oh I suppose I didn't check your math. I just approve that you are using it :P

[@whlphil]

w8stral2 no your wrong PV generates from within 30min of sun up just at a lower output 60% of daily output will generally be between 10am 2pm certainly in UK anyway at 53deg north

[@whlphil]

w8stral2 no your wrong I design PV systems for a living and monitor several hundred commercial systems so I've probably more idea that you would suggest! If your system is not coming on it's probably designed wrong, I highly suspect that the string length wont have enough panels in it to get the inverter into the correct voltage range to start. If you use something like a Fronius 3.6TL then they will start up with only 150w yet the string MPP will be 1800w so even the slightest light will start it. Germany realise that a power system is precisely that, it's a mix of technologies that provide a balanced approach to security of supply and currently they are supplying about 60% from renewables through their approach As for the amount they spent it's probably thanks to them and the amount they spent that the cost of installing a system is now only 20% of what it cost 5 years ago As for solar thermal it's only any use if you've got a thermal load if you don't use any hot water it's not much use on its own, it's great as part of a system with a mix of PV or other tech, it doesn't produce electricity. Unless of course you are referring to Concentrated solar thermal but that's only any use of you live in a desert as you do need clear sky's for that to work properly and from a cost perspective it can't compete with solar PV on cost per kWh delivered to grid unless you are in Nevada Lithium ion batteries if you buy the right type and look after the temperature will let 15-20years indeed you can get a 13 warranty from Samsung for their Li - Ion NCM units

[@whlphil]

w8stral2 I think you are also confusing capacity factor with efficiency as 15% will be the system size times available hours giving 15% of total yearly hours which is why you can work it on total availability

[@bjolfuriceland]

3:46 "The sun is gonna come up every day" - I beg to differ! XD *cries in Icelandic*

[@a4yster]

2:15 whole days can pass without wind? Wholey sh!t can I have some of that here in Oklahoma north? cries in Cherokee.

[@jimhood1202]

Also in Icelandic, don't be concerned for us because the geo-thermal thing is great here. It heats all of our homes and businesses and even allows us to grow pineapples. Seriously, they export pineapples. Who knew.!

[@SteveBakerIsHere]

En plús hliðin eru nætur sem eru virkilega dagar!

[@denisedixon1335]

What about Antarctica and Alaska?

[@friedrichvonhoffmeister3343]

Lol tf this dude islandic talk

[@TK199999]

In Sol Cal one of the most popular places for solar panel placement is parking lots and parking structures. Since if there is one thing the panel's provide separate from generating electricity that people love is the shade on their cars. So hassle of panel installation is always immediately forgotten once almost everyone can park under shade, on hot Sol Cal days.

[@TheVegetarianBaker]

Congrats dude on 50k. That's incredible. Loved the comparison of these two.

[@joescott]

Thanks! Congrats on getting featured. :) BTW, wanna be on my podcast?

[@zapfanzapfan]

50K to 600K in two years, impressive!

[@erikjohnson9075]

For the ranchers they would still be able to use the land if the panels were elevated and built in a checkerboard pattern so that enough light passes through to allow grass to grow to feed the cattle...

[@mykobe981]

900 million? That is a LOT of birds!! Dang, Joe, that's one crazy stat. Great, informative vid, Joe. Thanks!

[@joescott]

I kinda said it out loud and then it hit me how crazy that was.

[@mykobe981]

I could tell. ;)

[@zapfanzapfan]

Buildings, trucks, power lines... not to mention cats... wind turbines are a very minor problem but since they kill a couple of birds of prey it gets a lot of attention.

[@brucebushey5267]

Joe, love the videos. I've up graded our RV 5th wheel to run on 1200 watts of Solar. We run almost everything off of that as we've sized down from a large house so we can see visit North America and Grandkids.

[@gregcollins3404]

When solar power has a massive spill, it just called a nice day!

[@snowman4242424242]

If I could add a few more likes to this comment, I would. Clever and witty!

[@dustinpringle8669]

build your solar plant off of solar energy. Good luck . @@snowman4242424242

[@sascharambeaud]

Those concentrated solar thermal plants you only mentioned as a sidenote actually warrant a much closer look. Without nuclear fusion they're IMO the single best solution for most of our energy problems, if done right.

[@HomesteadEngineering]

7 things you can do to reduce burning fossil fuels: 1. Blow insulation into your attic 2. Replace all your incandescent light bulbs with LED's 3. Reduce miles driven by planning ahead 4. Put all your electronics on power strips and turn them off at night 5. Install your own solar power system 6. Get an electric car and charge it with your solar (no more gas bills) 7. Pre-heat your water going into you water heater with solar Almost everything in our house runs off solar now... FREE ENERGY!

[@kk346592]

David Armstrong Now all I need is some FREE REALESTATE!

[@SangoProductions213]

An average American home spends about 1.1k dollars every year on electricity. So, assuming you had exactly enough solar to equal out your costs, then you're saving about 33k dollars over the course of the system's expected lifetime. That's about 1/6 the cost of a median house. Of course, those 'median cost houses' are lie mansions compared to what I lived in. I believe the most expensive house my parents ever bought was 100k. So just 3 installations running their course...will take up the majority of your life (if done in series), at about 90 years. But it will effectively give you free real estate.

[@joncocks2262]

It's only free once you've paid of the cost. How much did your solar panel cost.

[@rstevewarmorycom]

Craig Schultz Wrong about switched power strips. Fire stations and power companies recommend them to shut off groups of devices that otherwise are on all the time and which ARE major sources of fire and parasitic draws.

[@rstevewarmorycom]

kai sanders Panels are now down to 75 cents a Watt. Buy what you need. Get a couple panels, say 2 240W panels, a cheap $12 charge controller, a couple auto batteries and $50 inverter on eBay and find out what you can run with it. You'll be shocked at how many devices you can run. You will slowly switch off things you find you really don't need, AND you can slowly add panels and batteries and bigger charge controllers and inverters slowly over the years, You do NOT have to spend a fortune all at once on a bunch of matching panels and a huge system. You can reduce your power bill by running some stuff off solar and other off the grid.

[@alecgrolimond1678]

Living in Thailand and going solar tomorrow.

[@heftyordinanceindividual4015]

So, how are the panels holding up?

[@alecgrolimond1678]

@@heftyordinanceindividual4015 Very well. Ihave not noticed any degradation and I have 20 poly and 10 monocrystaline panels now. I recommend mono if the cost difference is 10% or less. More power less space required. The PEA (Thai electric company in our area) was a pain to deal with but now they are buying my extra power.

[@heftyordinanceindividual4015]

@@alecgrolimond1678 Good to hear!

[@alecgrolimond1678]

@@heftyordinanceindividual4015 I am in error I have 20 poly and 8 mono the 8 mono cost 8% more per panel so the amount of power is the same or better with the mono

[@MichaelDeeringMHC]

The rotation of the earth does not create wind by the atmosphere sitting still while the earth turns under it. No, it doesn't work that way. Both the atmosphere and the earth rotate together at the same speed. The rotation does create some wind by the corollas force, but most wind is created by the sun heating the atmosphere deferentially.

[@jeanremc]

I'm glad somebody else noticed. Surprised not more people did. "the earth(...) slides underneath the atmosphere" is normally the kind of reasoning that flat earthers use.

[@mrmichrom8553]

I have _no_ idea why Joe is negative about wind. US has awesome untapped wind power potential, especially offshore. The wind often blows at night when the sun isn't shining. Here in Denmark right now (this minute) we are producing 2.4 Gigawatts of wind power, and only using 3.0 Gigawatts. Stormy weather is coming, and we will be producing more than 4.5 Gigawatts.

[@glasshalfempty1984]

@@mrmichrom8553 I REALLY wish you had said 1.21 Gigawatts somewhere in there.

[@YoniMek]

Couldn't watch the rest after this blunt mistake... and btw the earth rotates towards the east not the west. Joe please cut out this terrible explanation or delete the video. This is harmful and shameful to be frank.

[@ironcito1101]

The Camrys force also plays a part.

[@michaelfarrell4824]

Defo one of my new favourite channels, keep it up man, I hope you get the subscriber base you and your content deserves.

[@joescott]

+Michael Farrell Thanks dude!

[@Xerxes910]

I've said this other places but I grew up by the Nuclear Test Range in Nevada and there is a HUGE area of contaminated land that could serve as a great location for a large number of Solar Power plants that don't interfere with farming or human needs and could easily be plugged into the grid. You could also supplement the solar farms with cold nuclear reactors to compensate along with molten sodium solar plants.

[@imakevideos5377]

molten sodium solar plants are fucking amazing. i thing we really need to invest in them, replace coal plants with them. they are safer and can provide electricity all night, if required. using solar and wind during the day, and these molten sodium plants during the heavy use period at 8pm (when prices are allready higher).

[@DigitalNomadOnFIRE]

Yeah Thorium is a massively under explored resource.

[@BaronVonQuiply]

I bought some panels last year and for two summers I've *loved* the fact that the hot sun is powering my air conditioners.

[@garethbaus5471]

Plus if you have a roof instillation that is secure enough you could create an air gap so your house is functionally shaded.

[@zodiacfml]

Even electricity producing companies like this. Some companies in the UAE found that they can offer cheaper electricity using Solar PVs. That is quite ironic as the middle east produces a lot of oil but fortunately for them, plenty of sun and vast areas of dry land is conducive for solar power generation.

[@matthewbrown435]

About time you updated this one Joe

[@DralafiXIII]

You should do a video on Liquid Fluoride Thorium Reactors if you haven't already. I'd want to see how you think that stacks up against the other energy possibilities, including solar and wind.

[@davidr.massey419]

AMEN !

[@ericdew2021]

It'll be 15 years away. Always 5 years sooner than fusion.

[@semi-relatablerants3964]

I'm finally back to watching your videos! And still as interesting as it was when you had 3k subs, keep it up Joe!

[@joescott]

And I just keep getting more handsome.

[@chrisgarcia6098]

"This is where solar really shines." (Dumb smile over old timey laugh track) 😂😂😂😂😂😂 perfect comedic timing! 6:14

[@mykobe981]

Yes, but what silly joke did he cut out after "..put all your eggs in one basket"? You can tell by the look on his face, Lol.. Thanks Joe! You rock! =)

[@joescott]

Actually, there wasn't a joke included there. That's just how my face looks sometimes. 😒

[@mykobe981]

Lmao, Joe.. You just keep 'em coming! Obviously can't help yourself, and we all love it! XD Oh, and I totally don't believe you.. You just don't want to admit it cuz you know we'll all bug you 'til you tell us.. Must have been a pretty bad one! :P

[@mykobe981]

Btw, I seem to remember that u live in Texas. You doing ok? Are you in any of the hard hit areas? If so, I know we will all be pullin' for you! Don't be afraid to ask your community here for help if you need it. We all owe you quite a bit.

[@cljeans8399]

agree...I just love your comedic timing. And thanks for taking the time to look at this issue more deeply.

[@Markle2k]

I believe that it is actually the poleward negative temperature gradient causing winds that get turned by the coriolis effect that causes the west to east winds. If the Earth was turning under the atmosphere, the prevailing winds would be east to west. The Earth turns counter-clockwise viewed from above the North Pole.

[@LenweTaralom77]

I think you forgot to factor in clouds for your energy-calculation... But even so, we could easily cover 10% of our houses with solar panels and make up for that. I normally don't try to 'convert' people, but this is really important: If you CAN put solar panels somewhere, DO IT! It does not only save the planet, you can sell the energy to the local energy provider.

[@pepperelijah]

Worked on solar plants, the clouds rarely affect solar fields. In the rare case that they do, it is the days when it is over cast. And since they build the solar fields in the deserts, it almost never happens. Over a year on each of the plants I built, it happened maybe 10 times each. So less than 5% of the life span per year.

[@PhiloSage]

Beregolas dust is a much bigger issue than clouds. Have to keep cleaning the solar array.

[@pepperelijah]

Yes, and no. Yes it is a much bigger issue, but if it is a tilt system, no cleaning needed, usually wind handle the dust if its not a tilt system. I've seen them hose them off, but due to CA state laws about dust, they usually keep the roads wet so less dust is blown around.

[@whlphil]

Philosopher's Sage cleaning makes virtually no difference I monitor several hundred plants and only those on particularly dusty areas e.g. Side of ploughed fields see much benefit. A cleaned system may benefit 2-3% that's all

[@blacsktonebay]

Shouldn't we also cut the energy calculation in half since half of the panels will be on the wrong side of the planet?

[@carolbritton3485]

Your comment about the birds is killing me Lol. You got super hyped 😂

[@SouthGallaecian]

The 400 TWh value for total wind power potential is most definitely wrong. Right now, wind generates ~5 % of global electrical energy, ~1000 TWh.

[@imakevideos5377]

really, is this true.

[@saitenspieler3489]

I also wanted to mention that, thank you! 400 TWh is way too low. Let alone Germany is actually doing about 70TWh p.a., if I'm not mistaken. And they didn't even really start to use their potential.

[@billtreusch]

Author Ben Bova wrote about the JAXA plan in Powersat, an excellent read.

[@ftbsecret]

lol it is clear you got desilusioned by wind, I feel you are a bit to harsh judging it though! Nice miniseries for the rest :-) The wind turbines are improving and getting much more reliable, most of whats out there now isn't anything to brag about, but like with solar they improve a lot. For wind turbines I believe current average production is at 30%, new generation tall windmills have a production of 70% (partly due to wind being more stable the higher you get) Sure it still is a gap of 30% of the time no production, but thats where storage comes into play. Solar not producing at night needs storage too anyhow, but a combination of wind and solar covers a lot of eachothers blank spots. With both of them beginning to break below the price of coal energy I don't think anyone should write off wind really

[@Hunter-bm6ss]

ftbsecret ya i live in north dakota and in some places you see fields with about 100+ wind turbines and there is almost always wind and with batteries that could work

[@databanks]

Indeed, if I'm ever in a situation where I can own my own home, I intend to go for a combination of ind, solar and batteries for load smoothing.

[@garethbaus5471]

@@Hunter-bm6ss sounds like most of Kansas, the sheer size of the midwest is enough to pretty much guarantee that the wind is always blowing over the majority of our turbines.

[@rstevewarmorycom]

Joe Scott You're wrong about wind costs. In the midwest, specifically Texas, wind energy is now down to 3 cents per kiloWatt-hour. This includes the manufacture and maintenance of the turbines for 30 years, and they are estimated to run for 60 years if maintained. That's compared to the best solar at 4.5 cents per kW-hr. If they are built on farm land surrounding most small cities, then the need for long distance transmission disappears.

[@dschledermann]

There is something totally wrong with the figures presented here. In 2010, and 8 years is an eternity in this field, the global output was 328 TWh from wind. The MW capacity has almost tripled between 2010 to 2017 from 197,637 MW to 539,581 MW. There is no way that 400 TWh is the production limit for wind. Just scaling the current production from the capacity would approximately 900 TWh for 2017 and almost over 1 PWh this year, and the limit is nowhere near exhausted. If anything, we have reasons to expect that the growth rate will increase now that wind is cheaper than nuclear or coal.

[@thechacokid1599]

Congrats on reaching 50k subs, Joe!

[@joescott]

Thanks! Big celebrations ahead!

[@dutchflats]

Why the minimization of nuclear? Clean base-load, on-demand energy could easily power the entire global demand for electricity. New designs are much safer than 50's and 60's design reactors in use today. The French use nukes to generate 80-90% of their electric demand and store the waste on site in solidified glass cylinders. Uranium is used as fuel, but thorium from seawater can also be used.

[@phamnuwen9442]

Seawater contains U, not Th. Thorium however is pretty much all over Earth, in rock, in soil etc. Regardless, there's enough U and Th to last for millions of years.

[@dougmc666]

The series is about renewable energy, which nuclear isn't, and this video is about solar and wind which nuclear isn't. I think nuclear is an absolute must have if we're going to address greenhouse gasses, but that doesn't mean it gets included in every conversation, especially coming from Joe who loves solar.

[@phamnuwen9442]

@@dougmc666 "Renewable" is a silly concept. What we need is cost-effective energy (including externalities if calculable), right here and right now. Whether the energy source lasts until the sun swallows the Earth, or "only" a few million years is irrelevant. Lack of cheap, reliable and safe energy is possibly the foremost problem on Earth today. We can't afford to keep denying ourselves proven energy sources because of public irrational fear of radiation.

[@richardlighthouse5328]

Requires extraction of non renewable fuel

[@phamnuwen9442]

@@wahkean Exactly. If people would get electricity cost and reliability on par with their chosen energy source, nuclear would rapidly achieve 100% popular support.

[@albertjackinson]

'This is where solar really shines.' NICE!!!

[@databanks]

Ooh, solar is now net negative carbon now (2019)? Damn, good news

[@LoneStarr1979]

Nice series. We really have to take this issue more serious. BUT: afaik, with current technology wind could generate about 7 times the current worldwide consumption just on land on usable places. But you are right, the mix does the trick: solar for already used space, wind / others out on the open land. AND: the noises wind turbines generate can be greatly influenced by the design of the turbines, mainly the blades. There is a great variation among the manufacturers.

[@artemaung5274]

I recently did the math for PV's. So basically if you completely cover Sahara Desert with average efficiency solar panels I'll generate around 40 PWh daily (Petawatt * hours) According to Wikipedia whole world consumed 110 PWh in 2014. So in just 3 days Sahara covered in PV's will provide enough for whole year. Or 1 - 1.5% of Sahara covered in PV's can generate enough electricity for the whole world.

[@glidingsideways]

Probably just need a massive place to store all that electricity. But I don't see why the South West of the USA isn't loading up on solar panels. Arizona, So Cal.. Texas.. New Mexico etc etc..

[@stormrose7929]

The REAL issue is not in the production of solar power, it's in the transport and storage therein. The transportation of power suffers from massive distance dependent inefficiency, removing solar as a practical solution when abundant sunlight is not nearby. Then there is the issue of power storage.Re-batteries are a poor option, as they waste more than 90% of the power used to charge them. Hydraulic storage is prohibitively expensive and is often locational. Mechanical storage devices require too much maintenance. Thermionic storage dissipates energy too fast. RF-LF capacitors have the same problem. Hydrocarbon conversion however, is just too inefficient.I couldn't think of any other methods to store power. Let me know if you think of any!

[@whlphil]

Storm Rose Li-Ion has a round trip efficiency of about 95% so only 5% of power stored is wasted, plus if you didn't pay for the energy input in the first place (solar) it doesn't kill the economics, the battery will typically last 6000 cycles (full discharges 100% to 0%) life span is very dependent on the way the unit is used and how well its temperature is controlled over life, the shallower the discharges the longer it will last.

[@whlphil]

Yep your quite right at the moment batteries are still a little expensive, if you look at the Tesla or Samsung units they are typically 6000 cycles so for most people they are going to last getting on for 15 years so there's a good life already but at $800/kWh installed then the economics especially where grid connected don't quite add up but that's coming for most places in the next two years with current price declines.

[@whlphil]

Capacitors at the moment I can't see them being competitive, I looked at them last year for a frequency project and whilst they are good at power (instantaneous) they are too expensive for kWh's storage. Lead acid are cheap but typically 600-1000 cycles so the cost of energy delivered isn't that cheap compare to Lithium at scale as they are only about 1/4 the cost with 1/6 the life, plus the useable DOD isn't as much

[@sytuto]

The video is so easy to understand and so well made, and I was going to sub because you seemed like a great guy 6:02 until this happened

[@madsrosenfeldt8573]

Did you know that in the northern part and southern part of the world the sun doesn't shine for 2-3 mouth, and that is when the energy usage is the highest. Solar may be great 10,000 km north and south of the equator but if you go much further north than that solar doesn't make enough energy all year around.

[@heronimousbrapson863]

Mads Rosenfeldt That part of the world, however, has a very low population.

[@danielw.1939]

I am no math genius, but the earth has a mean diameter of 12,650 km, or a circumference of 39,750km. From the equator to either pole is a 1/4 of circumference or 9,940km. So if you go 10,000km North or South of the equator, you are past either pole...?

[@heronimousbrapson863]

Daniel Wolff My information says that the earth's circumferance is actually 40,075km. However, I fail to see the point you're making.

[@BXJ-mi9mm]

@@heronimousbrapson863 Your random number covers the entire planet.

[@IsjeFeil]

Thank you for a great video. Very informative and well up put together.

[@HamishMarr]

Great video. Diversity is the answer. I live in the north of Scotland, we have wind power, potentially the largest tidal, hydro and unfortunately Nuclear (historical fast reactor development now being made "safe") sun is not in abundance at our latitude (coal is going bye bye). We have wind we have tide, development in wave energy is ongoing (I am not sure this is viable) there is peat (I guess this comes under biomass). So I agree diversity is necessary due to cycles and location. What we need is an international grid. I think it comes down to politics in the end, life not money!

[@dougmc666]

It's good to have peat and coal, the peat is so dirty it makes the coal look pretty good.

[@Jemalacane0]

Unfortunately nuclear? That is idiotic.

[@Jemalacane0]

@@dougmc666 Coal emits particulate emissions, V.O.C.s, heavy metals, sulfur oxide, and nitrous oxides (which create acid rain) whereas nuclear emits steam. Which one is dirty, idiot?

[@042_sayankabir7]

thanks joe for providing the transcripts. i needed them for my project on renewable energy future . 😁

[@AlienWits]

Great vid, informative. "Ranchers can still use their lands for agriculture", but as weird as it sounds, I never saw crops and wind turbines together, at least here in Europe. The land where they stay is just not used anymore. Strange.

[@PhiloSage]

Alien Wits in the USA farmers still grow other crops in the windfarm. It might just be hay, but something is always growing there.

[@pepperelijah]

Where is that? I know of a few wind farms in CA, where they don't allow the land to be used under the wind generators. I'd like to see that, it'd be kinda cool.

[@AndDiracisHisProphet]

I see it very often combined here in germany

[@joescott]

Yeah, they use it for both here in Texas.

[@edeggermont]

Alien Wits, here in Holland there are wind turbines and crops combined all over the place. Which country do you live?

[@Green_Shortz]

Really enjoyed the renewable energy series. I am with you on the potential of solar PV. And I love Elon Musk 's comment that we already have a huge fusion reactor in the sky. So true. You're right about solar energy being one energy generation option we can do ourselves and that goes beyond rooftop PV. There are smaller solar panels to charge USB devices like an iPhone. I'm glad you mentioned the solar thermal option, and even molten salt...good research Joe.

[@RRW359]

Isn't nuclear independent from the sun? Sure SOME star going supernova created the Uranium that we use for it, but it technically wasn't ours.

[@roberrplatt4214]

It's migration season and in the last two days I've seen two songbirds killed by flying into windows. If we can't have windmills because of birds, we also also can't have buildings. Only fair.

[@JM-us3fr]

Actually even the tides are DIRECTLY caused by the sun, since the sun's warmth keeps the oceans liquid.

[@redmondhenry398]

tides and tidal forces are two different things... www.haydenplanetarium.org/tyson/read/1995/11/01/the-tidal-force

[@tigre2236]

The most direct cause is the moon. The sun keeping earth's waters liquid, is a necessary condition, but there are many necessary conditions, like also that the sun not be too hot turning the water to vapor, etc.

[@DavidMDensford]

Build lots of solar-powered 55+ retirement communities. Invest in the tech while a worker bee and harvest the product when you have an empty nest. Build super energy efficient smaller homes and put solar either on the roof or over the EV carport. A couple of senior citizens don't need as much power as a family of 4, or 5.

[@Sheamu5]

Japan is building a microwave satellite? Goldeneye anyone?

[@dwolff4127]

unfortunately more energy will get burned launching it to space then it will ever produce.

[@cardboardmannequin4069]

@@dwolff4127 Maybe elon musk will figure out how to manufacture more of them from raw materials on the moon ;)

[@databanks]

Just shooting ideas here, but for the solar farms, would raising them higher help the rancher for shade fields during excessively hot days? Or is cattle/sheep death due to sunstroke more of an Aussie issue you guys in the US don't have? Really would like to know. Also, for very sunny areas, to name one thing that REALLY pisses me off about shopping malls - lack of shade in car parks. A few places have started building shelters for the parking lots that are topped with solar panels. Multiple bonus included is no more scorching hot steering wheels and seat belt buckles, fewer cars doubling as solar ovens and a shady walk to/from your car on shopping trips. Meanwhile the mall management gets a lovely rebate on their power. My guess is that local policies would influence how desirable this would be, but as a customer, I like my shoes not sinking into the melted asphalt while I'm in the car park (parking lot). Yes, it does happen - melted asphalt is a thing

[@TimothyWhiteheadzm]

You mentioned low efficiency as a downside of wind. 'Efficiency' is a vague term often touted by the anti-renewable lobby but is essentially irrelevant in reality. What matters is not what percentage of the winds energy is converted to useful power (efficiency), but rather what it costs per unit of useful power (costs including manufacturing, maintenance, land use, environmental consequences, etc). More efficient turbines can drive down costs, but a highly inefficient but cheap turbine is better than a super efficient but very expensive turbine, if the later has higher costs per unit of power produced. You also suggested that wind is unreliable. In reality, it is a very reliable source of energy in many locations and can be used as a baseload in conjunction with a storage solution, or in conjunction with other power sources.

[@forloveofthepage2361]

Solar really needs to be embraced. Those numbers are impressive. Government incentive programs could make this a very real option very soon. Coal will most likely never truly go away until we begin to travel outside the atmosphere on a mass scale and hauling large fuel reserves becomes a thing of the past.

[@timrobinson513]

When coal runs out what will we use in the steel industry to refine iron ore? Can we use electricity to get to those temperatures? Charcoal won't get hot enough and I don't see another option. We always think of electricity when the subject of fossil fuels comes up but we use them for many other reasons?

[@richdobbs6595]

1. We are not close to running out of coal. Instead, we are considering not using it because of environmental concerns. 2. Iron ore can be reduced by using natural gas, and refined to steel using electric arc furnaces. 3. Absent any fossil fuel source of carbon but with plenty of energy, chemical engineers would be able to devise an appropriate process to use wood or other biomass to create steel. Ancient steel making processes were based on charcoal.

[@3rdrock]

Tim Hydrogen gas can be used as a reductant instead of coal.

[@darknightx33x81]

Rich Dobbs your 3rd point is mute, it's called creating charcoal.

[@richdobbs6595]

That is certainly one way to do it, but its not the only way.

[@2awesome292]

Just use aluminum?

[@changelingthing423]

Interestingly, I have seen at least one field in my area of California with solar panels, and also sheep. It looked like they were just grazing. I have no idea how long the sheep are kept in the field with all the solar panels, but at least one farmer has found some way to use that land after having them put in.

[@joescott]

Yeah, it might be grazeable but not farmable. Or maybe they figured something out.

[@cokechang]

Lol, you’re way underplaying the intermittency and land use problem of solar.

[@imakevideos5377]

actually, you should have a look at how much of the usa is currently used just for oil and coal.

[@cokechang]

@@imakevideos5377 in absolute terms, of course we have more land use for oil and coal, however, when you consider the amount of electricity generated per square ft than wind/solar is complete joke.

[@garethbaus5471]

@@cokechang the land used for wind isn't really a significant factor it doesn't particularly interfere with agriculture or several other possible uses for the land, and many of the areas best suited to solar are literally dessert which really isn't particularly useful to humans anyways.

[@alexacarlos5492]

this video helped me A LOT. Thanks Joe!!

[@AxionZetaOne]

And now we wait for angry nuclear energy guy to show up and rant. =)

[@joescott]

You've been in my comment section before, I see...

[@joescott]

It's worth a video, which I'll do eventually.

[@AxionZetaOne]

Right on schedule!

[@JM-us3fr]

Destruction of land for roads to transport wind turbines? Dude, roads already exist, and more are being built regardless. The effect of an increased demand for wind turbines is completely insignificant compared to the demand for other things that need transporting, like people. And if you recall Joe's analysis, he assumed a 15% efficiency for solar panels, which their theoretical limit may be as much as 80%; more than 5x as much. A massive degradation of soil? That's why you put them in the desert or on roofs. It's not like we're intentionally blocking sunlight that would otherwise fall on crops; that would be moronic.

[@JM-us3fr]

I'm down for a nuclear rant

[@KevinsDisobedience]

Very well done, Joe.

[@imnotchildish2384]

Thorium nuclear power is the way to go.

[@ramblerandy2397]

When you consider that, eventually, like in the next 5-10 years, domestic solar + storage will be less than the price of transmission of electricity of any other form of energy, that puts Thorium in the shade as well. Unless we can have a Thorium reactor in the cupboard? That might be fun. Although it'll probably need servicing. Solar panels just need a bit of a dusting occasionally. We are talking power generation at zero cost. Not a little, or just a bit. Zero. Nothing competes with zero. Unless it is less than zero. Which is what solar + storage will become anyway. So you'll be able to send some electricity back to the grid.

[@threadbearr8866]

And yet Andy the places that are predominantly powered by solar power have higher electricity bills then before they switched. Odd that. www.forbes.com/sites/michaelshellenberger/2018/04/23/if-solar-and-wind-are-so-cheap-why-are-they-making-electricity-more-expensive/#173f03e11dc6

[@threadbearr8866]

www.forbes.com/sites/michaelshellenberger/2018/04/25/yes-solar-and-wind-really-do-increase-electricity-prices-and-for-inherently-physical-reasons/#53417cd117e8

[@ronaldgarrison8478]

Thorium might have had a chance a couple of decades ago, if it were pushed more then. But in today's energy marketplace, it's hard to see how it's ever going to compete and catch up. Same is true for SPSS. Thorium might be a goer, someday, in deep space.

[@glasshalfempty1984]

Yes, an element that must be mined from the earth and will eventually run out and need to be replaced is the way to go....seriously man? Smh....

[@dbbrown1512]

A video over mechanical battery solutions would be awesome! Flywheels, gravity ect

[@chubbyninja842]

Wind is VERY expensive and not terribly efficient. Hydro is good, but you have a significant ecological impact. Solar will EVENTUALLY be our go-to option but for now it's just too expensive. People keep saying we need more government regulation to force us into "green energy" ... but they ignore the fact that "green energy" simply isn't ready to handle the load. There's not enough affordable green energy in the world to deal with the current demand. Trying to force us into this will only cause more harm than good. The fact is that private industry is ALREADY dumping a fortune into green energy research and green energy is getting better every day. When it's ready, it will be more available and more affordable than fossil fuel and at that point everyone is going to voluntarily convert ... not becuase the government is telling them to, but because it won't make sense not to! If green is cheaper, why would they ever NOT use it?! No one had to force us to give up horses to drive cars. When cars became cheaper, easier, and more available than horses, we all just started using them because that's what made sense. We didn't all give up oil lamps and candles because of a government program. We gave them up because the market made electricity cheaper than oil. When the market makes solar cheaper than coal, we will all switch to solar ... SO STOP STRESSING OVER IT! It is going to happen. Just not on YOUR time table. It will happen when it happens. Just let it happen and get on with your life already.

[@HashtagAbdul]

I love it when a laugh track is used perfectly.

[@3rdrock]

The Earth rotates toward the East, doesn't it?

[@janek8195]

yeah i noticed that too. was going to comment but first wanted to see if anyone else had caught that.

[@3rdrock]

The atmosphere is part of earth and rotates with it. In the southern hemisphere weather systems, below the tropics, move in an easterly direction.

[@Markle2k]

The warm tropics and cold poles mean poleward winds which get turned to the right in the Northern Hemisphere and to the left in the Southern. Coriolis effect, don't you know.

[@foxpup]

sure does, even in the southern hemisphere :-) Personally I can't stand graphic animations where the Earth is turning the wrong way, so I'm kinda sensitive about that. :-) OCD, you know, but it's usually news reports. How can I take a news report seriously when they don't even know which way the earth turns? :-) I'm sure Joe Scott knows better. :-)

[@zact9941]

@Joe Scott: I think solar is only 10 years away from scaling tremendously in the residential and consumer markets. New innovations in battery technology that will make cells safer, faster to charge, and hold more power while being cheaper to mass produce will be half the battle. The other half will be falling costs of PV panels as they scale accordingly.

[@dougmc666]

Yup, batteries have been manufactured for over a hundred years now, so the revolution in battery tech must be real close! The new ones will have great capacity, no more nasty chemicals, no more explosions and fires, light enough to run airplanes and cheap enough for every home. Technology is wonderful, I can hardly wait!

[@jaridkeen123]

They should pass a law that all new houses have to have a minimum of 10 solar panels on the house

[@2awesome292]

What size? Who is going to pay for the solar panels? Who is going to pay for the inverter? Who is going to pay for the installation?

[@JM-us3fr]

The cost would be apart of the house

[@jgr7487]

cut Houses, add Governmental Buildings, & you have a system in which the gov't spends way less in electricity bills & it fuels the grid with extra power.

[@richmigala2539]

"They should pass a law that all new houses have to have a minimum of 10 solar panels on the house " Do you realize that such a law would price some people out of the housing market? Are you okay passing laws that make some people homeless? I'm not saying that such a law is a bad law in the grand scheme of things. I just want you to realize that such a law is going to make the lives of some people much more worse than if the law was never passed.

[@billtruttschel]

Implementing mandatory solar installation for all new houses would be a nightmare. Rather than mandate it, just incentivize it. Give tax credits to those who install solar. Let the people who want solar put it up and give them a financial reason to do so.

[@RussellFineArt]

Great video Joe, thanks! Having worked in commercial wind energy for the past 10 years, I have to admit, wind turbines will not grow nearly as fast as solar as wind turbines will never get as cheap or as available as solar. All turbine manufacturers are scaling up, big time, to extremely large 5mW, land-bases and 10mW off-shore turbines but are only focusing on places where the winds are the strongest: mountain tops, Great Plains, off-shore, leaving solar all other space, which is HUGE! I own both a wind turbine (Skystream) and a 4.5kW PV array, on my house and the solar far, far out-produces the wind and both were about the same price. And, my solar is silent--forget it's ever there but my turbine is loud and always reminds us, it's there.

[@dougmc666]

Try looking beyond your own neighborhood, worldwide wind generates four times as much as solar. Solar is popular in the south, wind in the north.

[@houstonbill]

People that do indoor vertical farming could put solar on the roofs.

[@spacecanuk8316]

In denmark I always passed by a field on the way to the barracks with rows of solar collectors that had enough space both underneath them and between them for sheep to shelter and graze under.

[@MyKharli]

Shame its probably to late.

[@Youhaveaname]

peter lewis Not to be a tree hugging hippy, but, if we solve the energy issue we have the tech to build atmospheric carbon scrubbers. The issue with why we font have them yet, is whats the point of scrubbing carbon from the atmosphere when most energy comes from burning carbon.

[@ronaldgarrison8478]

Here's how it goes: 1. Solar build-out, to handle peak loads including EVs. 2. Storage build-out, with more solar, becoming truly baseload. (When it finally occurs, this stage will be quite sudden.) 3. Dirt cheap energy makes air capture affordable. (This, when it finally happens, will also be quite abrupt. But it will be essentially a one-time event. It doesn't make much sense to do this before renewables dominate. For one thing, until that time, it would do too much to perpetuate fossil fuels.) 4. Meanwhile, modest amounts of albedo compensation, by various means, to compensate for other greenhouse gases (N2O, CH4, HFC).

[@pauladams1814]

Huge amounts of energy storage is available and growing with batteries improving constantly as well as pumped water, compressed air, liquid air, hydrogen and bio gas. Also electricity is now being traded over thousands of miles both in south America and New Zealand. Intermittency is not the big problem that it is made out to be.

[@dougmc666]

Have you heard of anywhere in the world where a grid battery can supply a whole days demand? Most of them are less than 8 hours because they cost too much.

[@drzarkov39]

Solar-paneled roofs could be built over highways. No waste of land, plus protecting the highway from rain and snow, making driving much safer. Plenty of light from the sides would still be illuminating the roadway when built high enough over the highway.

[@one-of-us9939]

Thanks crew... and Joe too!

[@misternewoutlook5437]

When I was a kid, My dad and I built a crystal radio set. It's amazing in simplicity, but what really grabs you is that in a world of battery-operated everything, here was an electronic device that was completely independent of an electrical source. There's sound coming out the headphones. You wonder how can something with practically zero electrical dependence, cause the speaker to vibrate and reproduce a symphony broadcasted from a local station. It makes you think about crystals and if there is some way to harness it on a larger scale.

[@ericgustafson7287]

Wrong! The energy collected in a crystal radio is consumed and propagated by the radio station. The crystal radio antenna system collects that radiated energy and the crystal diode rectifies the signal.

[@chadney68]

Love watching your videos. They are all very informative and you just give the facts. Can't get enough of that with how everything is nowadays. You can't look at videos or news anymore without having people say it's my way or the highway and everyone else is wrong. Back to the point of the videos though. I always say that we have to look at the world as an addict unfortunately in regards to fossil fuels. Yes it is much better to have other less polluting forms of energy but we have become so reliant on fossil fuels. Because it is so ingrained into our everyday society we have to wean ourselves off of the stuff. Drug addicts or alcoholics can't just cut themselves off or they will go through massive and sometimes devastating withdrawals. It would be the same with our world if we forced everyone to stop.

[@jfvenne]

Hi Joe, regarding the sun energy, there is a important draw back.... cloud and snow! And snow can accumulate on solar panel ! And snow can turn into ice or when it is snowing at the same time there is also freesing rain.... that mean you need a way to remove that snow and ice without damaging the panel!

[@lucidmoses]

Way to go Jaxa. Even Dr Evil couldn't make a space laser.

[@lamajigmeg]

great job Joe👍

[@joescott]

Thanks!

[@chriscunicelli7070]

Cool Joe, well said as usual

[@KurtVanBever]

I see you have the fan on. Must be hot there. Hope you and your family are safe from hurricane Harvey. Keep it up 👍🍻

[@jacquelinebtoccigailhelena5184]

Larry Hagman had wind genators similar to an ac unit! I would love to see that episode again!

[@gospelofthomas77thpearl22]

As usual, very informative. I’m getting solar panels & one wind turbine (small) to supplement. 🤠👍🏼

[@Kaiser1234100]

Great job! Thanks for the videos

[@mgoulding21]

Great video man.

[@mylesmcarthur642]

Did you just say I could not build a hydroelectric dam myself, CHALLANGE ACEPTED!

[@mulattoraver]

“Or you may disagree with me completely. You can do that down below. “ There are so many ways to interpret this... 😆

[@jebbus132]

If I remember correctly there is a system of collecting energy from photosynthesis process of plants where a 15 square meters plantation can power a phone or something with similar power needs

[@deconte1259]

Brilliant as always..thanks!!

[@JensOverby]

Yes, the sun shines everywhere. However, the most populated parts of europe are on the same latitude as the hudson bay - pretty far north. So the sun doesn't really shine a lot due to short days for 4 months every year. Here wind power has much more potential. Even a tesla wall panel can't store energy for 4 months.

[@dszqujd]

You did a good job over all. The lack of detail was largely irrelevant to your conclusions. So..... Well done.

[@joescott]

Hehe... Thanks. There's only so much detail you can fit in a 10 minute video. I'll leave the rest to Isaac Arthur. :)

[@antwonsmith70]

I want to know what "5" people disagreed with anything you stated here. Some people seem born to be disagreeable, regardless of the facts presented. Great video, love the channel Joe!

[@dougmc666]

That solar outperforms wind, there's 4 times more wind power worldwide.

[@philippesantini2425]

Meh, don't sweat it. It's estimated that around 10% of the population will never be satisfied with anything. You can give them the shirt off your back and they'll still want more. While this can be useful in some instances, it can be quite annoying and obnoxious to more reasonable and balanced people. ;)

[@nigelweir3852]

Great show

[@ronaldgarrison8478]

One of your best videos, Joe. Do you have a link for that Van Sark study? I guess I can Google it...

[@amutah8063]

We should put the solar panels in the Sahara. Nobody lives there, its huge and gets more sunshine than pretty much any other parts of the world.

[@ronolson8682]

The situation in Texas earlier this year was a hard lesson in not putting all (or even too much) of your eggs in the Wind and solar basket

[@psc7949]

Dear Joe, I have had a question for many years, have asked many qualified people too but never received anything other than puzzled looks or half answers; so I was thinking maybe you could figure it out... If I popped my eyeballs out of their sockets & pointed them at each other, would I see one eye or would I see two eyes? Best answer I have had thus far has been "Visual feedback".

[@WestOfEarth]

Solar and the power wall really should be a high priority for everyone. Yes climate change...but also national security. If some hostile nation attacks another nation's power grid, whether through hacking or localized bombing, then currently there will be catastrophe. Not to mention if a large Coronal Mass Ejection from the sun wreaks havoc on our current electrical system. But if everyone had their own individual power sources, these dangers disappear. REally should be a national security imperative.

[@dougmc666]

There are much more direct ways of dealing with insecurity.

[@chasindigo]

Not looking as tired as you are today, time to take a break.

[@PhaeronServinus]

Great vid man I totally agree

[@patrickmckowen2999]

Very good info -- cheers

[@Bra-a-ains]

Overall, I think a combination would work best. Electricity is fungible and if you produce extra, you send it off somewhere. Hmmm, what if you built a combo solar/wind farm? And, you could place it next to a small dam (grin.) With back up generators, small towns could be built off the grid.