100% wind and solar is coming!

[@fredochs]

In USA (Iowa) here. I bought shares in a "community solar" project, now constructed and producing power. My shares in the solar farm pay me for power sold back to the grid, so when the price goes up, by $$ earned goes up. All this acts like a 9% bond I might have purchased instead. Win-win!

[@robertmarmaduke9721]

Then came the tornado and hailstorm and the Community Solar manager skips town because he was pocketing the hazard insurance fund.😂🎉

[@danielcarroll3358]

@@robertmarmaduke9721 And the company with the 9% bond goes bankrupt and poof! Life can be like that. Vary thy investments.

[@MrPizzaman09]

I'm hoping to make ~20%/year on my panels I install here in the coming months.

[@MyKharli]

@@MrPizzaman09 As long as the savings are not spent on carbon spewing products or why bother ?

[@bunnycatch3r]

I'm in Adair, what county are you in?

[@WhichDoctor1]

people having ownership over the resources they rely on is soo good. Ordinary people should be the ones profiting from wind farms and solar parks being built around their communities, not some millionaires who've never even looked at the site on a map. My parents bought shares in a Ripple scheme a few years ago and last year they got something like £50 a month off their energy bills. That's vastly more than the best savings rates you can get, even with interest rates as they are right now. Obviously those numbers will go down as wholesale energy prices go down, but so will their bills. This is how we become resilient. Not just nationally in terms of energy independence, but as financially resilient communities too

[@undertow2142]

Absolutely couldn’t agree more. Everything shouldn’t be a profit over everything proposition to the benefit of a few investors. Some things should be non profit publicly owned for public benefit. Energy generation absolutely should be in this category. Healthcare is another.

[@loopwithers]

Can you put that into one paragraph..?

[@LuisAldamiz]

That's communism but yes, of course.

[@cht2162]

@@LuisAldamiz It isn't communism, it's democratic socialism.

[@trevx3680]

@@loopwithers A not-for-profit model or a community owned electricity generation model will be cheaper and allow for greater energy independence.

[@thankyouforyourcompliance7386]

We live in one of the more windier areas in Germany and we see a lot of wind turbines when we look into one direction. It is actually an pretty sight as they rotate in some synchronity. Much better than chimneys with stinking yellow smoke like some decades ago in the Ruhr area.

[@KalleStropp45]

For 30 years Germany h s spent zillions to construct a sun and wind Power Electric system. And failed. Today Germany for baseload relies on French nuclear and fossile imported gas and domestic brown coal. Politicians are so arrogant that they believe they can outlaw laws of nature and Electric engineering .

[@Withnail1969]

Good luck running steel plants with those. Can't make any more of them without steel.

[@emceeboogieboots1608]

@@Withnail1969 Not sure that this person was advocating for the cessation of steel production. Presumably it is not done in this area now, so there is no loss there🤔 I am not a fan of exporting pollution, but perhaps with DRI technology steel production may return if there are remaining iron ore reserves to be exploited

[@Withnail1969]

@@emceeboogieboots1608 You need coal (high quality coal suitable for steel making) or its a non starter. Our way of life is built on cheap steel in massive quantities. No more civilisation if we lose it. We can recycle some steel with electric furnaces but guess what you need to build the electrical transformers they need? New (not recycled) steel.

[@emceeboogieboots1608]

@@Withnail1969 We are still making steel with coking coal now. I can go and buy it tomorrow. Why is it bad to make electricity with wind turbines? And if there is an excess of generated renewable electricity, industry will produce direct reduced iron and bypass the requirement of mining coal

[@rickemmet1104]

Hello David, I've worked on wind farms up to 3 megawatts in size (that is, 3 mW for each turbine) and I can tell you from personal experience that they do make a sound. You can hear a whoosh sound as each blade passes overhead. But here's the kicker, wind turbines make less noise than trees. Literally, trees make MUCH more noise than turbines - and you don't hear anyone complaining about that.

[@rudigereichler4112]

Well, there is a difference between whoosh, whoosh, whoosh, whoosh and schhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. Do you think ? Animals think so, they leave areals with pulsating shaddows and sounds that are unnormal.

[@dunravin]

And you don't hear about sounds from trees making people ill or driving them to insanity. Woe betide anyone living down wind of a turbine, you don't hear about the problems people have with that because its supressed. The offshore ones are no better, they're wreaking havoc for marine mammals, very "eco" indeed.

[@dickwallace7995]

@@rudigereichler4112😊

[@stevesmith-sb2df]

I live in Tx USA where the grid is deregulated. I buy 100% renewable electricity. Theres an interesting tension between wanting a free-market and keeping the fossil fuel generators running. I doubt the state leaders forsaw the day that wind and solar would compete on price with natural gas electricity.

[@bengt_axle]

I believe renewable energy production has now surpassed fossil fueled electricity production in Texas. With electrification of cars, it is likely that the oil industry will see further contraction, especially since solar and wind continue to expand.

[@redshift3]

I used to work with Simon. He is a very enthusiastic and experienced wind farm developer. Great to see him again.

[@michaeljames5936]

There's a 300 MW wind farm a few miles from where I grew up, and I've wondered at times, if there is something wrong with my hearing, because I've visited that farm lots of times, and there was no noise. If you are standing directly below the blade, there is a whummsh noise, but not something you'd hear a hundred metres away.

[@TaiViinikka]

Similar experience. If you describe this, people who are dead set against wind turbines will start talking about subsonic frequencies, or noise from substations, strobing of sunlight, or whatever enters their head. Fortunately most of us can make up our own minds with a quick trip to a nearby wind farm and realize how spread out, quiet, and unobtrusive they actually are. Much corn is grown around them here in Southern Ontario. And the cows don't mind at all.

[@rogerphelps9939]

A lot quieter than living next to even a minor road.

[@bjb7587]

​@@TaiViinikkathose cows keep a low profile, 'cause...y'know.

[@jeremycole9158]

It may well be frequency noise but you need a acoustic site survey carried out at you property. AM has elements of turbine noise that has a long wave length . I can easy couple of miles.. If your property is down wind of the wind turbines and you property is also down hill of the wind farm, it may well be this. I sympathise with you on this,

[@KalleStropp45]

Do you know what kind of MW it produces ? Is it real or imaginary.

[@tedbomba6631]

The plan put forth by the Ripple representative certainly makes sense to me. I would gladly become a shareholder of a locally owned power company if it was available in my location.

[@markthomasson5077]

And when you can hear the turbine…you feel joy! And a better bill.

[@matbowden9156]

It is my understanding, that you'll soon be able to do exactly that. I would humbly suggest you look up 'Ripple Energy' if you have not already done so, and read all about their upcoming and previous projects so that you are both informed and ready to part as necessary

[@rogerphelps9939]

@@markthomasson5077 I have stood right next to a wind farm. There are ots in Cornwall so it is easy to do and there wasn't much noise at all.

[@randomjasmicisrandom]

You don’t need to live near a Ripple project to benefit from it. I have invested in their two most recent projects, one is in Devon, the other in Scotland. I live near Leicester.

[@broadsword6650]

You don't have to be local to the wind farm or solar farm to be a member of the co-op.

[@NigelWickenden]

I paid £2,004 to buy part of Ripple Energy's Graig Fatha wind turbine. It saved me £1,013 in the last 12 months.

[@hrushikeshavachat900]

Wow. A 2 year payback if you are able to save similar amounts.

[@ManuelSalvatori]

Did you declare it to HMRC? I had a seat booked but when I realised I had to pay taxes on the savings I stopped, not worth it for me, 40% taxes on the savings makes it unworthy. (Personal opinion)

[@ManuelSalvatori]

​@@hrushikeshavachat900when the energy price spiked when the war started, they have been able to save a lot. It is lower now, and apparently will decrease further, still worth it, if it wasn't for the taxes you have to pay on the savings.

[@hrushikeshavachat900]

@@ManuelSalvatori Why is it not worth it just because it becomes taxable. Can you please explain this

[@EllieMaes-Grandad]

@@hrushikeshavachat900 It's about return on capital employed.

[@taffygeek]

As someone who lives in an ex-mining area, now home to a large wind farm with a turbine visible from my window, I don't object at all to them. However, I do object to the fact that we supplied the energy for the first industrial revolution and now when energy production can be more distributed we are being asked to shoulder the burden again. It's time for all areas of the country to play their part.

[@MultiMenvafan]

I agree, those affected should be adequately and fairly compensated

[@gill222222]

Totally agree everyone uses electricity so everyone should be willing to play their part .

[@Lewis_Standing]

If you're with octopus energy, you can request a local "fan club". When it's windy in your local wind farm you get cheaper leccy. You win win for having beautiful turbines and cheaper leccy for hosting them.

[@taffygeek]

@@Lewis_Standing unfortunately the windfarm isn't operated by octopus. The one by my son is and he gets good discounts from octopus

[@zygmuntthecacaokakistocrat6589]

"we"? Are you 200 years old?

[@StepDub]

I live about 1 km away from a small wind farm. It has zero effect on our living conditions. It is just possible to hear a faint swooshing sound depending on which way the wind is blowing.

[@WhichDoctor1]

i live close to trees. I can hear swooshing when it's windy, too. People who complain about these things have never actually been near a wind farm

[@DeathsGarden-oz9gg]

I live 5 miles from a wind farm. Red lights everywhere and in day it kills the view we had for years before it went in.

[@derradfahrer5029]

@@WhichDoctor1 YES. I have a forest about 100m way, and 3 wind turbines (small ones, 75m-80m tall) 300m away, the other direction. All I hear is the forest.

[@harrison298]

@@DeathsGarden-oz9gg I would love to have a view of a wind farm. To me it's a beautiful symbol of humanity's progress. In the same way that people are proud to have an apartment with a direct view of a famous bridge or skyscraper.

[@macmcleod1188]

I'm a fan of wind but there is the possibility of subsonics. You can't hear them but you sure can feel them and they affect your emotions and mood. I'm not saying don't use wind, I'm saying test for subsonics.

[@salibaba]

I’m in Scotland and feel a sense of pride when I take walks though areas with wind turbines, knowing the power isn’t going that far til it reaches our nearby towns and cities. All that taking place without blighting our air with fumes. Same with travels down the M6, seeing all the wind farms I pass.

[@jaaklucas1329]

Well said. Why go through all the fuss of shipping power when you can use your local generation.

[@EllieMaes-Grandad]

Blights your land with unsightly structures. Strange choice.

[@StupidityIsOurWeakness000]

I'm in Denmark and embarrassed that we're focussing so much on wind power when we've got lots of possibilities of exploiting the current ready to be harvested beneath the water bodies that are surrounding us. Every river, stream Ocean, channel, lake and other water body have got moving currents beneath the surfaces just waiting to be harvested.

[@julianshepherd2038]

David Cameron did not ban onshore wind in Scotland because it is a devolved power. We have loads. Loads of Loads.

[@stickynorth]

Scotland, FTW!

[@tuc-dh4df]

Dave doesn't let facts get in the way of his politics

[@ramblerandy2397]

Well done Scotland. On the flipside, in England we had Liz Truss, who even fairly recently was topping up the Tory programming with "Solar farms are so ugly" codswallop. 🙄

[@JustHaveaThink]

The video was about England, but whatever. ;-)

[@bjb7587]

​@@tuc-dh4dfHate watching, eh?

[@agritech802]

We're at the early stages of a community solar farm here in Ireland so it was great to hear about the Ripple Energy business model

[@JustHaveaThink]

Good luck with it :-)

[@givemeabreak8784]

Solar is a waste of land and solar panels in Ireland. Completely inefficient . Wind is hundreds of times more efficient.

[@agritech802]

@@JustHaveaThink thank you

[@norwegianzound]

​@@givemeabreak8784A bit simplistic. Not all land in Ireland is productive.

[@linmal2242]

And we in AUS have loads of sun yet burn heaps of coal from all our mines(we have big ones supplying Japan, Korea and China. So why wouldn't we burn it ourselves !

[@fjalics]

I don't live near wind turbines, because it's not that windy, but I like seeing them, and would be happy to have them next door.

[@Petch85]

In Denmark a cooperative of I think ~2800 are right now installing one of the world's largest onshore wind turbines. Vestas 15 MW V236 There are pictures on the internet, but I don't think they have installed the blades yet. It is located in Thyborøn right beside some of the old record holders for most produced wind energy by any turbine ever. The cooperative is called Thyborøn Sydhavns Møllelaug II I/S.

[@jmr]

This is not a new concept. My grandma was part of a co-op that owned the local energy supply. All of the customers were owners. She even got a check about once per year when they balanced the books. The "profits" went right back into the hands of the customers but more importantly the stake holders got reliable cheap energy.

[@christianvanderstap6257]

And the Thatcher happened? Or did the co-ops / unions start disappearing earlier?

[@jmr]

@@christianvanderstap6257 The co-op was still going strong last I knew. My father got a check from them not so long ago since he essentially inherited her share. We are in the US.

[@bjb7587]

Got some electric coops in US. I get my power from one, tho mine doesn't generate the power.

[@jmr]

@@bjb7587 That interesting. Do they just mange the lines for distribution then?

[@ReidRankinRealEstate]

I used to live in Palo Alto, California and they have a power coop. My power bills were significantly lower than when I lived in SF and had to pay PG&E

[@frequentlycynical642]

I hate to tell you, I'm living the 100% renewable dream right here next door to Austin, Texas. And I don't own one solar panel or windmill. Texas has its own grid except for the very far north and west. No national interconnection. That allowed it to set up a market driven retail sales some years ago. The state oversees the running of this. Every vendor has its sales pitches. Most have to do with pricing, of course. I've lived here for 8 years and am on my third 100% renewable provider. I pay 8.1 cents per kw/hr for the electricity, and another 7.8 cents for the delivery and grid. Just under 15 cents kw/hr total. Some of the cheapest electricity in the US. Texas has two huge windfarm areas, the northern plains around Sweetwater, and out in the far west deserts of west Texas. Mile after mile of windmills driving along. Such a lovely sight. I don't know that the UK issue is with famers not be able to farm around wind towers. The leasing of land for wind towers has kept many family ranches out of bankruptcy here. Texas is also growing solar by leaps and bounds. We have had not rolling brownouts in three years due to so much solar coming online just when its needed, late summer days. Despite being home to America's O&G industry, and the politicians still very beholden to them, Texas has become America's renewable powerhouse.

[@davestagner]

Texas is absolute proof that market forces are on the side of renewables. The most deregulated grid in the US by far, and it also has more renewables than the super-activist California grid. That, to me, is proof that renewable energy is cheaper and easier than fossil fuels or nuclear.

[@ycplum7062]

The UK is not Texas. Texas is near ideal for solar and wind. While the UK has a lot of offshore wind, they suck for solar. They are marginal solar due to their latitude (fyi, Texas is closer to the equator), but teh UK is know for thier cloudy rainy weather. I think solar in the UK is net carbon footprint negative. Basically, the carbon footprint savings from using solar does not equal teh carbon footprint in the soalr panel production.

[@davestagner]

@@ycplum7062 “the carbon footprint savings from using solar does not equal the carbon footprint in the solar panel production”. You should run the math on that before just repeating misinformation that is incredibly wrong. It takes about 200kWh of energy to produce a 100 watt solar panel (feel free to do your own research on that). A typical solar panel installation gets about 20% capacity factor (the amount of energy it produces over longer time periods, relative to max output), due to nighttime, clouds, angle, seasonal variations, etc. Let’s say a lifespan of 20 years, although that is very conservative. 20 years is around 175,000 hours. 100 watts * 175k * 20% = 3,504,000 watt/hours (or 3500 kWh). 3500kWh is about 17.5 times the 200kWh required to manufacture the panel. If the UK is awful for solar, let’s say it gets 10% rather than 20% capacity factor (Wikipedia says 9.8-11.4% solar capacity factor in the UK). So that’s 1750kWh in 20 years for a 100 watt panel in the UK - about 9x the amount of power required to make the panel. I hope this makes clear that solar in the UK is absolutely NOT net carbon negative.

[@frequentlycynical642]

@@ycplum7062 Did I say anything about different locations? No, I did not. I talked about me, here.

[@KiteTurbine]

You need to make a HUGE distinction here between UK England and UK Scotland Plenty wind turbines erected here. Written in Shetland - (not locally owned enough) but 103x 4MW just installed, cool. Comissioning starts soon. More projects coming too. Personally love them And love driving with the clean electric Starting travelling to Madrid for an Airborne Wind Energy tomorrow conference

[@InYourDreams-Andia]

Finland, east mid lake district. here (this episode was on Point)! My partner interviewed professionally a few locals about their objections to a proposed WM site. I immediately thought about offering them cheap power if they live near one. I'm not sure that is a thing here, but seeing this confirmed the exact model that should be implemented here, and that's the beauty of it

[@thomasreilly6362]

I central Finland they are trying to force wind turbines without consultation with forestry owners and farmers. In general the people are not against turbines they just want to know who will pay for the infrastructure, how long it will last and what compensation will be offered to the owners, access to the turbines and removal of infrastructure once the turbines is removed or replaced.

[@InYourDreams-Andia]

@@thomasreilly6362 ah! So permits aren't a thing in this case? Surely, the Finns are very particular about paperwork, so why not (or how not) here I wonder

[@thomasreilly6362]

@@InYourDreams-Andia What do you mean by permits? Most but not all of the land where the turbines are proposed are leased and managed by the forestry company's. It looks like a back room arrangement between the energy companies and the forestry company's regarding any compensation or rent for the turbines. Nor has there been any local consultant regarding the infrastructure and access to the turbines. There has been no timeline regarding how long the turbines will be up and who foots the bill regarding decommissioning them. I know someone involved with it and the owners are being kept in the dark about the details regarding where the turbines being situated. Its very messy and the local print news has barely covered the story. There is a social media group of concerned residents and owners. It's been going on for 2,3 years. Usually there is sufficient documentation and public consultation in Finland but not in this case.

[@davmole]

Dave makes Sunday’s the best day

[@ppetal1]

Cycling through Somerset ten years ago, I came across multiple plastic placards campaigning against windfalls. I conscienciously removed these and disposed of them. A year later the whole area suffered extreme flooding. A coincidence?

[@julianshepherd2038]

Dave's head is a solar panel and his ears are wind turbines

[@JustHaveaThink]

@davmole Cheers mate :-)

[@scipdiddly]

​@@JustHaveaThink- Happy Monday, from the colony down blunder. Apologies for the embedded emissions in Australian fossil fuel exports that the current ALP government doesn't include in our emissions reduction target (if it's currently 43%, I have no idea what it really is given scope three emissions aren't included etc...). No idea what happened to community solar in NSW either, so thanks for reminding me to look into that. ✌️

[@scipdiddly]

​@@JustHaveaThink- not much going on in Australia as of February 2024 (www.dcceew.gov.au/energy/renewable/community-solar-banks). There was a lot of hope in 2017 though, but the big electricity generators have thrown community solar under the bus, along with the duopoly...

[@coastofkonkan]

I like this channel more than Undecided or Two Bit. More mature & less speculative & to the point

[@Sean720H]

Sometimes I feel they side far more on the naive optimism scale and don't really discuss the challenges that these new technologies face to become useful tools in the green energy transition. This channel is a great blend of here's how it works and optimism in the great work people do while also discussing why it didn't already exist and what challenges are yet to be overcome to make it fully feasible.

[@JustHaveaThink]

Thank you. I am older than Ricky and Matt, so I guess that's how it should be :-)

[@ambassadorfromreality1125]

Thank heaven for all three and more like Simon clark, climate town. All slightly different but you can rely on them, you can learn from them, you can trust them. They give me a lot of confidence on the occasion that I am obliged to put a few records straight. Dont forget the important like button

[@frequentlycynical642]

They all have value as great, objective sources of informaton.

[@leroyharder4491]

I'm a big fan of cooperative and community owned wind turbines. We have had failures in Canada letting big corporations build wind and getting outrageous prices for the electricity. Not only do consumers have to deal with the turbines, but are also getting gouged on their bills. Community ownership spreads the benefits and brings buy in. I'm looking for a small scale wind project suitable for our small property, but perhaps cooperative bigger scale ventures make much more sense.

[@5353Jumper]

A lot of the wind/solar in Canada (mostly Alberta) is not actually connected to the grid, instead powering petroleum facilities. Oil companies get the cheap electricity and greenwashing. While taking all the grants, tax breaks, talent and materials away from more genuine projects. Citizens get to pay for expensive natural gas generated electricity.

[@theairstig9164]

Community solar farms in Australia put feed in tariffs directly on to peoples power bills. That is to say id you buy in to community solar, you get paid by a deduction on your electricity bill

[@sailRichard]

Germany’s Renewable Ownership Society - the Green Middle Class "Want to know why Fox News and the Tea Party congress hates green energy? The most important reason is that renewable energy properly deployed is profoundly democratizing, devolves power and control away from the Exxon-Mobils and Koch Brothers of the world, and into the hands of states, counties, cities, communities, local businesses, and individuals. For the most part, Germany’s new energy producers are home owners, small and medium-sided businesses, and farmers, many of the latter who faced ruin only a decade ago. At the heart of Germany’s alternative energy bonanza is the country’s reputed Mittelstand: the nation’s well-situated, educated, conservative, entrepreneurial-minded middle class, which is the backbone of its economy. Germany’s environment ministry has compiled a fascinating graph that shows exactly who has invested in the country’s renewable energy production: Nearly three quarters of the investment came from small private investors." climatecrocks.com/2012/10/16/germanys-renewable-ownership-society-the-green-middle-class/

[@calamityjean1525]

In my area of the USA we have something called "community solar" which allows people to get shares of a solar park credited to their electric bill. The scheme described in this video sounds like it could be called "community wind". A good idea!

[@joewentworth7856]

Just purchased my share of ripples latest wind farm.

[@mattesla]

Have a share of 3 ripple energy projects so far have covered 84% of my power needs 🎉

[@2011ppower]

Just added another slice of Ripple to my renewable pie😀Now have invested in Derrile water Solar and the latest wind farm at Whitelaw Brae👍 everylittle helps!

[@simhedgesrex7097]

I bought into Whitelaw Brae yesterday, and Derril and Kirk Hill a while back. I was too late for Craig Fatha unfortunately. I wish I'd bought into Kirk Hill less, as that would have allowed me to buy more on the others (given that they limit you to 120% of your normal annual consumption).

[@stadsimkerijhengeloe.o.4300]

In the Netherlands we have the same problems with stories told by the "public" against windturbines. But we have more in common... Shell. They invented the word horizoen vervuiling. It means that they are against green energie, this was for years. When we had still natural gas. But knowadays shell is a big builder of offshore windfarms. Offshore because you need a 50million ship to be at the northsea. But they have the goal to be the dealer for hundreds of years and they will not allow normal markets. They want market dominance. And activily throwing sand in our eyes that we don't provide our self with solar.

[@jcgoedkoop]

Beautifully organized talk, Dave. I hope you government sees it.

[@JustHaveaThink]

Thank you. I hope so too :-)

[@theotherandrew5540]

The government might see it, but unless it Stops The Boats, they will ignore it. No votes, no progress.

[@brianmckeever5280]

Good luck GB! That sounds like a terrific possibility. Imagine, lifting all boats and not just a few?!

[@marsupialdungbucket]

Another first for this channel! I normally hate ads and intrusive sponsor segments, but the section about Ripple Energy was very welcome news to me - I'll definitely be looking into them further. Thanks for the good work, as always.

[@JustHaveaThink]

Thank you :-)

[@veritea9374]

Very inspiring bringing community into ownership of renewable power generation to address climate change. The urgency demands we move onshore and obligate government to connect upon construction. Here in the U.S. over 80% of new power generation is in solar and battery.

[@MichaelGustavsonArchitect]

Soooooo Sooooo Good to hear some good news every once in awhile.

[@harveytheparaglidingchaser7039]

Great shout out for Ripple. Anybody can now own a piece of renewable energy. Looking forward for Derril water to come online.

[@timothyclemson]

Ripple are great. Very excited for our power to soon be coming from a wind farm we helped fund.

[@maxvaessen]

Thanks for all you do Dave. It’s great you’re giving people like the guy from Ripple a platform to speak. His drive is inspiring. I loved the idea of hedging my power bill with a generator share.

[@JustHaveaThink]

Cheers Max :-)

[@nicevideomancanada]

From Calgary, Alberta, Canada. This year The Alberta Government Cancelled $33 Billion in Wind & Solar Farms. Look into it please. I'm British and have lived here since 1980

[@jaaklucas1329]

Disappointing.All the sun there for sure for solar definitely. Ive lived in Alberta before and there a lot of people there who are not forward thinking.

[@bengt_axle]

Danielle Smith calls it a "pause" and says that it is a moratorium. I think she is concerned about the renewable energy sources cutting into oil industry profits. Oil is still an important revenue generator for the province and prior to becoming Premier, she worked as an oil industry lobbyist.

[@mere_cat]

Interesting. In the US, off shore wind is nearly impossible to site due to opposition and out of date legislation like the Hatch Act. There is opposition to on shore wind too, but it hasn’t stopped us from siting wind on vast expanses of available land.

[@glike2]

I heard the Hatch Act needed updating already for shipping, but for off shore wind power was new to me. thanks

[@dalekrenegade2596]

Yeah I noticed an anti-windmill slogan on some motel sign when I was in New Jersey months ago and it's apparently part of a bigger movement.

[@100c0c]

How are wind power and Hatch Act related?

[@rogerphelps9939]

In the US you have almost limitless land suitab;e for wind turbines.

[@dalekrenegade2596]

@@rogerphelps9939 Yep, New Jersey maybe under a grifter's spell but the Northeast is not devoid of windmills. Saw some pretty big ones in the Poconos, it was a sight to see.😊

[@randomjasmicisrandom]

I invested in the Ripple Energy Derill Water solar farm in Devon, and a few days ago invested in the next Ripple Energy project, a wind farm in Scotland. Once these are both live they will mean reduced electricity bills every single month for about 30 years.

[@echelonrank3927]

as more renewable energy projects are coming online , there has been no such thing as reduced power bills

[@robinwhitebeam4386]

@@echelonrank3927 If someone invests in a wind Farm , they will have lower electricity bills.

[@randomjasmicisrandom]

@@echelonrank3927 all the members of the previous Ripple projects are proof that your statement is demonstrably false. They get a reduction of their energy bills in the form of a generation credit. All of the people (like me) on the Octopus Agile tariff are also proof that your statement is false. When the wind is good, the daily price of electricity goes down. My current average rate for electricity is 5 p/kWh. What are you paying for your electricity? The standard variable tariffs are around 28 p/kWh.

[@alicequayle4625]

​@@echelonrank3927 ripple members get reduced bills. Maybe watch the video again.

[@massoud999]

If only we had something like that here. Thanks for sharing.

[@MatthiasKrijgsman]

On the topic of involving consumers, here in the Netherlands we have a company that sells home batteries for grid balancing. They offer a battery (10-20kw) and basically pay you to automatically charge during sunny hours and discharge during greater demand. The return on investment is in the range of 4-5 years, after which you could use it for your own PV. I think this is an interesting development in decentralising the grid

[@simhedgesrex7097]

Yes. The same is available in the UK (but it would take longer than that to pay off the cost of the battery).

[@frequentlycynical642]

In the state of Vermont, the electric company realized that it was cheaper to install batteries in homes to meet peak demands than build a new power plant. We need more creative thinking like that.

[@MatthiasKrijgsman]

@@frequentlycynical642 Exactly! It also saves on new grid infrastructure/capacity, since releasing electricity from home batteries it often doesn't need to travel far. I believe decentralizing the energy grid this way could have many benefits

[@jaaklucas1329]

@@frequentlycynical642 Exactly, this is the beauty of renewable.

[@sfgoddard]

Another superb video. Comprehensive excellent broad view, but with a brilliant dive-down into Ripple as a great example of how we can progress - now! . Inspirational. Thanks.

[@aaronvallejo8220]

I support we rapidly build up to 100% renewables everywhere to power everything. Every town and city needs a wind farm and solar PV farm.

[@rogerphelps9939]

Solar PV can go on roofs practically anywhere. Wind is only useful if the wind speed is high enough and there are economies of scale so that big wind turbines are much better than small ones.

[@aliendroneservices6621]

No proof-of-concept.

[@OldScientist]

What happens if we get 56 days of "dunkelflaute" like the UK got in 2018? Projecting out to 2050 with increased demand from electrification of transport and heating etc, we would need to find something like 28TWh of missing electricity generated from wind power (but the wind won't be blowing!). Britain currently has 39.3 GWh of pumped storage. There are 4 pumped storage stations in Britain. No storage capacity has been added to the grid since the 1980s, and there is no other large scale energy storage in the country. To cover a cold dark still winter you would need to increase pumped storage capacity by a factor of about 1000 (taking into account pumped storage is about 75% efficient). So we would need to find 4000 suitable locations where a 300 to 400m dam can be built to hold back 10 million cubic metres of water, with a fall to the turbines below of about 400 metres. Then we would have to build 160 of these every year, year after year, for 25 years. The scale, and the massive cost of storage, by whatever method (pumped storage is one of the cheapest by the way), make it an impossible mission.

[@jaaklucas1329]

The beauty of renewable is its local, doesn't have to be shipped via transmission lines long distances.

[@johngrundowski3632]

" Tail wags the DOG " ,,,same here -in USA and your facts show the truth. NOT in my back yard breaks down when educated ! Good info & program. Thanks

[@shawnr771]

Thank you for the commentary and the intwrview.

[@donmcleod8307]

There's one town in Australia that has started to generate their own solar power, because supply from a local company was becoming too expensive

[@davidwatson8118]

And over 3 million homes in Australia now have solar PV and growing rapidly.😊

[@mcspaddencw]

Thank you as always for what you do.

[@JustHaveaThink]

My pleasure!

[@petersloan4967]

Very informative!!! Co-operation within the community is key bring back those values…. We’ll all benefit!!! On all the issues in this green and pleasant land

[@heronimousbrapson863]

I live in Alberta, Canada the province most conducive to wind power in the country. We are also the prime fossil fuel producer in the nation. Our ultra right wing provincial government just lifted a six month moratorium on wind and solar development, but has put so many restrictions on the development of renewables (arguing that wind turbines are ugly, etc.) that the future of the industry is in doubt.

[@rogerphelps9939]

How on earth can they argue that wind and solar are ugly when you have huge areas being mined for tar sands and extremely dirty massively polluting refineries doing goodness what to the groundwater?

[@heronimousbrapson863]

@@rogerphelps9939 Exactly.

[@rogerphelps9939]

@@heronimousbrapson863 Indeed, but I am not advocating that we cling on to gas and oil heating, just that we have to properly plan for the green transition.

[@benlamprecht6414]

You have produced very many wonderful videos in the past. The Policy section from minute 12.30 onward is in my opinion, by far the best of all. Please continue with many more of these, including case studies. Thanks very much

[@larslrs7234]

Yes, I also think the UK can do it. Great video.

[@JustHaveaThink]

Thank you :-)

[@OldScientist]

What happens if we get 56 days of "dunkelflaute" like the UK got in 2018? Projecting out to 2050 with increased demand from electrification of transport and heating etc, we would need to find something like 28TWh of missing electricity generated from wind power (but the wind won't be blowing!). Britain currently has 39.3 GWh of pumped storage. There are 4 pumped storage stations in Britain. No storage capacity has been added to the grid since the 1980s, and there is no other large scale energy storage in the country. To cover a cold dark still winter you would need to increase pumped storage capacity by a factor of about 1000 (taking into account pumped storage is about 75% efficient). So we would need to find 4000 suitable locations where a 300 to 400m dam can be built to hold back 10 million cubic metres of water, with a fall to the turbines below of about 400 metres. Then we would have to build 160 of these every year, year after year, for 25 years. The scale, and the massive cost of storage, by whatever method (pumped storage is one of the cheapest by the way), make it an impossible mission.

[@richardcorewin]

There are so many new kinds of vertical axis wind generators that are less obtrusive than the large bladed ones and could be added to existing solar farms to use the existing infrastructure.

[@jaaklucas1329]

Alot of brainpower is going into wind nowadays looking for options to the giant bladed operations.

[@ramblerandy2397]

I'd heard through Friends of the Earth earlier about their report, and so was aware of the "surprise" you were going to come up with, regarding the small percentage of acceptable land required and also that golf courses take up more space. Incidentally, golf courses aren't environentally fantastic, before anyone says how nice they are. Also, the output of two and a half times the electricity requirements gets close to Tony Seba's Re-ThinkX recommendation that if grids are built to provide for the depths of winter we end up with 4 times the electricity needs overall, which leads to Re-ThinkX's Super Power or super abundance, super cheap of electricity. Of course, if we pop solar panels on every domestic and industrial rooftop where suitable, we get to that 4X fairly easily. It's just infrastructure in the end, with present day technology. Bit of a no-brainer really, isn't it.

[@factnotfiction5915]

> Bit of a no-brainer really, isn't it. Yes it is. Building 4x the needed physical assets up front, carrying that finance load while dropping the price on the product, and expecting demand to rise, so we can make it up on volume, on a well known inelastic demand curve is complete insanity. Only an _original_ investor in the Iridium satellite network would think this is a great idea. The vendors made money, and once the company was reorganized with a bankruptcy, the next set of investors can make a truly modest return. Wow!

[@jocelynevkb5889]

Thanks for sharing latest research papers on 'How to address unprecedented Climate Heating' intelligently! In sun-drenched Australia, it's the grid which cannot cope with excess Green Power! Instead of investing in Gigawatt battery storage, the government is subsidising the largest Methan Extraction operation EVER in the Beetaloo Basin for short-sighted, mainly off-shore profit. Using the very precious water of ancient aquifers to boot - Free of Charge, of course!

[@cookingonthego9422]

Every wind turbine and solar panel is money that stays in your country. Stays and stays and stays as you dont buy oil, gas.. it is so valuable it is insane. People just dont think about it.

[@robertmarmaduke9721]

Wind turbines are made in Germany and wind towers are made in India and maintenance is so insanely expensive these can only be funded by Government taxation, then more taxation to pay for the power rebates. Ivan Boeski. Google 'bustout'. When the farm goes down your share is negative value to pay for dismantling it.

[@aliendroneservices6621]

Wind and solar absolutely rely on fossil-fuels. No fossil-fuels = no wind and solar.

[@timothykeith1367]

Solar panels come from China

[@OldScientist]

What happens if we get 56 days of "dunkelflaute" like the UK got in 2018? Projecting out to 2050 with increased demand from electrification of transport and heating etc, we would need to find something like 28TWh of missing electricity generated from wind power (but the wind won't be blowing!). Britain currently has 39.3 GWh of pumped storage. There are 4 pumped storage stations in Britain. No storage capacity has been added to the grid since the 1980s, and there is no other large scale energy storage in the country. To cover a cold dark still winter you would need to increase pumped storage capacity by a factor of about 1000 (taking into account pumped storage is about 75% efficient). So we would need to find 4000 suitable locations where a 300 to 400m dam can be built to hold back 10 million cubic metres of water, with a fall to the turbines below of about 400 metres. Then we would have to build 160 of these every year, year after year, for 25 years. The scale, and the massive cost of storage, by whatever method (pumped storage is one of the cheapest by the way), make it an impossible mission.

[@cookingonthego9422]

@@OldScientist there are emergency power plants. They are conservated. Now they exist for national security as power is traded from abroad. They ae inaficient as a rule and takes one to two weaks to start up. P.s. big things are made in smal steps.

[@timothydevries383]

A 100% solar and wind power system grid is not possible. About 40% is the limit. The closest thing is South Australia, which still requires interconnects to Victoria and NSW with large gas & coal supplies.

[@ricklines8755]

I love the co-op model!

[@chairmakerPete]

Buy shares in BP or shell. Simple.

[@rmar127]

Community owned assets is an idea that I’ve been thinking of for years. If businesses and residents band together to buy/build generation and storage infrastructure, then much more would be built. By including storage you basically get a two for one deal on the generation. Would love to see this model come Downunder

[@factnotfiction5915]

> Community owned assets is an idea that I’ve been thinking of for years. If businesses and residents band together to buy/build generation and storage infrastructure, then much more would be built. Yes, if we only had a way to gather up small amounts of cash and form capital to build things. I have an idea, we could have people exchange money for some sort of stock in a business. We need names for these things! We might call the exchanged money 'equity', and the share a 'stock certificate'. And we need a place for people to buy these shares and and the business to sell them, we can call that a 'stock exchange'. Then 100s, 1000s, perhaps millions of people could participate. While working, people can have their funds set aside for retirement invested in the these firms - some sort of fund, that people with a mutual interest in retiresment ... a 'mutual fund'. ( I am a freakin' genius. I better write Merriam-Webster and get these terms in the dictionary pronto! ) > By including storage you basically get a two for one deal on the generation. But you get a two for two deal on the costs. :(

[@EllieMaes-Grandad]

Why would I want to 'band together' with anybody? I pay the utility company . . .

[@chrisspanswick7312]

I live in Alberta, Canada. The provincial government is putting a lot of obstacles in the way of expanding solar and wind. Many of us feel we know why!

[@gavinmcinally8442]

Is it because you can't recycle the blades or the solar panels?

[@chrisspanswick7312]

@@gavinmcinally8442 Sadly you can't recycle oil and gas. There are companies that now recycle blades and solar panels and I guess that will increase over time.

[@ethanlamoureux5306]

​@@chrisspanswick7312You don't have to recycle oil & gas because they are fully combustible. And the "recycling" of wind & solar products is a joke!

[@chrisspanswick7312]

@@ethanlamoureux5306 That is the whole point. Full combustion of fossil fuels has lead us into the climate crisis. Recycling of solar and wind products is no joke. Check it out for yourself. There is a company inTexas doing just that for solar panels, also companies elsewhere are doing the same for wind turbine blades. Sadly, non of this is a joke but very serious.

[@emceeboogieboots1608]

Here in Australia we make 12 million tonnes of coal ash per year, and that is just piled up as waste. That's around 47% of the energy mix Wind is around 11% generating up to 4000 tonnes of blade composite waste per year by 2034. Even if it is all buried it is significantly less per MWh Solar,1.67 kg per MWh Wind, 0.16 kg per MWh Coal, 84 kg per MWh Very little time is spent talking about coal ash waste, so why is the solid waste of these renewables such a big concern? Especially as it is much more benign And as the wind farms of today are replaced in 20 to 30 years, we will likely see a market for the waste develop as the amount increases. As for the Alberta tar sands, the best data I could get on the proven reserves is 5 billion tonnes of petcoke waste

[@howtoappearincompletely9739]

I was impressed by Ripple Energy. I think grid access and capacity are the biggest hurdle to "100% wind and solar" remaining. In that context, the offshore electricity grid isn't as wastefully expensive as it might initially seem.

[@njanderson4342]

Thank you

[@bigbadthesailor5173]

Literally bought our shares in the new Ripple wind-farm at Whitelaw Brae whilst watching this ... been waiting over a year for the project to come to offer so happy days, and it's not to far away from us in the Borders. Happy Days.

[@EdSurridge]

Excellent show again. Informative interview and thr earleir presentation of important scripts

[@JustHaveaThink]

Thank you :-)

[@yggdrasil9039]

A great idea. Currently in Australia the narrative is of foreign large scale RE asset owners coming in on the taxpayer's coin, leaving people feeling exploited, since they are hosting the re farm but are not a direct beneficiary of it. This model of Community part ownership ensures not just community involvement but direct community benefit.

[@theproffessional9]

I would definitely not be against golf courses being shut down for more renewable energy installations 😂

[@johnseberg6989]

Why would they need to be shut down? Every golf course I've ever been has that windmill hole. 😄

[@adus123]

it would just make the golf more interesting Avoiding all them turbines haha

[@gavloft]

And house building; rather than building on nature.

[@texanplayer7651]

​@@johnseberg6989That's minigolf, smart guy

[@willm5814]

Lol! Absolutely! Although, if I wasn’t such a shitty golfer I might have a different point of view!

[@paulkramer4176]

I am 100% off the grid with just solar, but in the winter I do use a generator a couple times a week. But I'm old tech, with 12V batteries and inverters. 12V is good, but 48V is soOO much more power. I have old lead acid batteries. (big forklift batteries) I expect to change all that out to a 48V system within the next couple years. With new LI or Na batteries, I will easily quadruple my energy storage. I won't ever need the generator then. I do expect that for big industrial users, we might well need more energy, but if we can get better batteries, we should be able to even handle that.

[@TheKlink]

add wave to that for extra redundancy. really hope companies like gravitricity are successful too.

[@aliottoman1451]

Here in Turkey, it seems large projects are encouraged rather then home solar. You can only sell back to the grid as much as you have consumed. It's all about 'big' projects, which are growing in number. Large wind projects are quite common....

[@veden3383]

good talk

[@JustHaveaThink]

Thank you :-)

[@EileenDranchak]

A few years ago I watched a video on how Switzerland had developed flexible solar sheets that can be adhered to anything and are 100% more effective than the existing solar panels at the time. We could increase the production of energy produced by wind turbines if we wall papered them with the flexible solar sheets. That would be two energy sources in one.

[@EllieMaes-Grandad]

Are they expensive, or cheap as chips? It makes a difference.

[@benmcreynolds8581]

Serious question: it's 2024, we are very aware of the effort we must put in to achieve any kind of minute effect on our climate. So why isn't Nuclear energy right up there included with these mass projects focused on renewable energy? There is nothing more climate friendly, energy efficient & reliable resources than the advances we've made with modern nuclear energy options.. Yet these advancements aren't being utilized anywhere.. It's one of those things that once it is installed, we will be so grateful to have it incorporated in our grid.

[@stickynorth]

This really is a blueprint for everyone not just the UK and community solar and wind farms are probably the best way at achieving these goals not only for consumers but the world...

[@jfolz]

Re: "Why am I being told wind turbines are loud"? I very much wonder that as well. If they were so terribly loud, you'd imagine the internet being full of examples, but there's hardly any, mostly from people living essentially next to the turbines. What you do find a lot of is people spreading FUD about the noise.

[@LuisAldamiz]

Because they used to be one or two decades ago. Not anymore.

[@TaiViinikka]

@@LuisAldamiz Even in 2004, 20 years ago, a local example was quiet. Maybe the difference is scale? Small wind turbines have always tended to be noisy/buzzy, which is fine since they aren't usually installed where anyone except the owner is within earshot. ( Vestas model V80-1.8MW wind turbine in this case. )

[@jfolz]

@@TaiViinikka wind turbines did get massive awfully fast, so there may be something to it. Onshore models more than tripled in diameter within 20 years, but advanced flow simulations only became possible/commonplace recently. Could be an interesting topic for a video.

[@LuisAldamiz]

@@TaiViinikka - I made a course on renewable energies in 2022 and that's what we learned: that old turbines were noisy but that nowadays that problem has been solved for good. I don't remember the exact dates.

[@itekani]

Is there possibly any issue with subsonic sound waves with newer, bigger turbines?

[@johnbeeck2540]

Great fact sharing! Appreciate the lack of ads too!

[@LuisAldamiz]

Turbines are not noisy anymore. They used to be but that has changed. The main problem is "aesthetic" or also good choice of location (sometimes archaeological sites are destroyed, for example) and also of concentration in certain areas that can become overexploited also with green energies (in Spain for example Galicia has been a major target of overexploitation by wind farms).

[@jeremycole9158]

I would to correct you on that matter. I have just experienced a repowered wind farm. They were noise before and the repowered wind farm remains noisy with Enercon E53's. The wave length of the repowered win farm is longer and impacts properties that were previous unaffected. The noise penetrates properties and you can hear them n the right conditions for weeks at a time, 24 hours a day in our bedroom and outside in all areas of my property. Iam not against wind farm as they do have a role to play in the energy mix of the UK but there are occasions when their impact can be nothing less than catastrophic on a property. No free energy can compensate for this.

[@LuisAldamiz]

@@jeremycole9158 - I'm unsure about the details in Britain but there is also similar conflicts in Spain and nobody anymore mentions noise, while the pro-windmills publicity repeatedly shows peaceful herds of sheep ruminating under the white giants. This is AFAIK a real thing, unbiased sources also document that and opposition does not report noise anymore since at least a decade ago. The main anti-windmills arguments here are: overexplotation of some areas (notably windy Galicia), damage to archaeological sites occasionally and uglying of the landscape. There's a similar trend re. large solar panel "farms", which arguably destroy olive and other agricultural land in Andalusia, etc. (but otherwise cause no particular problem).

[@stevehewitt1151]

Land clearance, huge bird and bat mortality, ugly monstrous pylons that can be seen from many miles away, incredibly low energy density, short life span, inability to recycle resulting in gigantic volumes of waste going into landfill and leaching highly toxic chemicals into the groundwater. Unreliables are an absolute abomination and will collapse in a heap as soon as the subsidies dry up. Apart from that they are wonderful!

[@LuisAldamiz]

@@stevehewitt1151 - Surely your points are valid, I presume, however what's the alternative? I strongly prefer solar + green hydrogen, not a great fan of wind turbines myself (more so when solar is generally more efficient nowadays) but what is definitely not an option is to continue with the fossil fuels, which we barely produce in Europe at all and which are destroying our climate stability as we speak.

[@davethefab6339]

Just watched you and Robert on his podcast and absolutely loved it. Make sure you both get together again. 'Logic and laughs' all in one place. 👍👍👍

[@vonries]

It is the same problem as with the war in Ukraine. The very vocal minority stopped things in the US Congress even though the majority supported the war. I love the idea of including renters as owners. That has got to be the best idea I've heard in forever. Thanks. Glory to Ukraine. God Bless Ukraine and her people. 🇺🇦🇺🇸

[@mpart_woodlathe-stuff]

Yes, yes, yes to all your points !! ... and слава Україні ! героям слава ! 🇺🇸🤝🇺🇦

[@100c0c]

Pathetic

[@netgnostic1627]

Wind AND solar. That's an important key to this. When I watch videos about renewable energy, there are lots of nice-looking clips of turbines OR solar panels. Seems like a lost opportunity! I think we should intersperse wind turbines between rows of solar panels. With sheep grazing all over the area. Let's multipurpose the suitable land whenever possible.

[@HenkBronkhorst-c8c]

yep just have a think it is not a 24/7 energy product all the time.

[@jgreen9361]

Why not? The 24 part is a problem with fairly easy solutions. There are uses for energy that are not time critical. Instead of homes using expensive gas to heat hot water and storing it in a tank, cheap nighttime electricity to heat your water tank on a timer. Charging of Electric vehicles on cheap night tariffs is already with us. The 7 days a week is more challenging, but a broader range of renewables, pump storage schemes, hydrogen storage and other schemes are not too far away.

[@MultiMenvafan]

Yeah now we just need some sort of future magical technology that let's us charge and buffer energy for later use...

[@garysmith5025]

Even if we had no way of storing energy, isn't it better to be fully renewable for say 98% of the time and use a bit of gas when we really, really need it? If nothing else it would make electricity much cheaper as the price is currently set by the cost of using gas turbines.

[@HenkBronkhorst-c8c]

@@jgreen9361 the trut is nothing is expensive, but it is made expensive.. the basic is from earth.

[@HenkBronkhorst-c8c]

@@MultiMenvafan you say it magic is a elusion a real thing but you dont see it. if you know what you call magic it is not magic anny more it will be a fact, for some stealing a solar licht and tro it a way later just because inside there home the magic is not working any more.

[@SeanAltamurasalt]

Dear Just have a think Here in Italy solar is expanding greatly. One of the bottlenecks for companies that install PVs is that they don't have enough trained workmen to take on market requests. Many installers offer contracts that pay for themselves through savings on electricity bills, just like you pointed out, only for large industrial appliancations or public buildings. Sean from Naples

[@TheSometimeAfter]

BP, Shell, Exxon will no doubt lobby against this until they can profit from it. I'd imagine they are a strong component in the delayed uptake of renewables. Obviously Cameron, Johnson, Sunak are figureheads of these companies and those alike.

[@pin65371]

Exxon will be one of the largest producers of lithium within the next few years. They have been investing in it for a while now. One of the resources they have is worth half a trillion at current market prices.

[@squallloire]

BP and Shell are both pretty heavily invested in renewables at this point. That's not to say they're not still taking measures to protect their oil businesses, but they've already covered their bases when it comes to solar & wind.

[@johndoh5182]

@@pin65371 Right but Exxon would also want power generation from oil, that way they're running power plants AND that electricity is running BEV, so they're making money all around. And I'm sure they're also pushing Hydrogen for which I cannot fathom how in the WORLD that's green energy, considering it's made from fossil fuels and just the act of continually searching for more deposits, drilling, and for offshore oil running large tankers to get that oil to shore, and then the cost of refining, then conversion costs and a HORRIBLE infrastructure to deal with it. And all CRAZY money expensive.

[@dalekrenegade2596]

​@@squallloire Really, anywhere I can confirm this?

[@squallloire]

@@dalekrenegade2596 Honestly you can just plug "BP renewable energy" or "Shell renewable energy" into google and will get a slew of results, both from the companies themselves and reputable news outlets like Reuters. BP are definitely more "in it" than Shell, but both have made moves to ensure they stay in business as the world shifts to relying more on renewables.

[@mrbadkins007]

I operate three 50 Megawatt steam turbine generators. I think solar and wind energy have a good place in society. BUT, there’s this little problem with grid synchronization that I think needs to be addressed in more thoughtful ways. Those renewable energy sources are synchronized with the big massive spinning machines that have mass to them and keep the grid stable. Whenever there’s a switch to renewable energy, I believe it’s going to be a bumpy ride.

[@thewyj]

It's amazing to think that 100 years from now, when crops are failing and catastrophic weather is displacing and killing millions, our grandchildren will have to explain to their children: "We had the technology, but it was the planning regulations you see."

[@Jeremy-WC]

100 years is rather optimistic catastrophic weather is killing 10000s already and I imagine crop failure will take out billions before 2050.

[@jfolz]

When people complain about the cost of going net-zero, it's because they don't understand the future cost of delaying it.

[@marcgalle3529]

As a rough estimate, 1 GW of power is often cited as being sufficient to power around 750,000 average American homes.

[@Morning404]

A decade of wasted potential due to conservative leadership. I feel sick thinking how much we could have invested in green infrastructure while interest rates were so low. What a pity.

[@JustHaveaThink]

I agree.

[@-_James_-]

Norwegian research recently showed that you can reduce bird deaths from wind turbines by (I forget what it is) simply by painting one blade a different, contrasting colour to the rest.

[@fliprim]

Excellent study. Excellent pitch from Ripple. It seems crushingly stupid that Tories don't see this as a best source of income from energy, free of global manipulations. But they are not concerned with the UK's economic interest, only their own ability to retain power.

[@niclasevaldsson1467]

A positive development is the build out of electric cables between the UK and the Nordic countries. That storms and other weather patterns often travel west to east. So that wind power is often produced the most during different times in those regions. Norway and Sweden also have a lot of hydropower that can help to balance the grid.

[@TheCraterGames]

My question is... If the solar, wind and others eco friendly net zero power generators are geting cheaper and cheaper, why is cost of electricity in houses getting more expensive every year...

[@IronmanV5]

Because a good portion of current generation is from natural gas. Thanks to Putin, natural gas prices have gone up.

[@MultiMenvafan]

Exactly. Petrolpopulists have a hard time keeping two thoughts in their head at the same time.

[@JohnR31415]

@@IronmanV5and because of archaic pricing policies the price of electricity is tied to gas

[@mostevil1082]

It's still quite a bit more expensive than the alternatives, which have been getting more expensive.

[@adblocker276]

No, that’s because of the archaic system of pricing energy in the U.K. the price you pay for electricity is based on the cost of the most expensive source.

[@TheWorldRealist]

I have Solaredge pv panels and system. Solaredge seem not interested in integrating a wind turbine. Wyoming where we live is never short of wind. We have a 10kwh battery and it makes sense to have say a 1kw turbine to keep the battery topped off. Especially in the winter when the days are short and the wind blows every day.

[@Richard482]

A wind turbine sounds good, but I wouldn't have it attached to the house.

[@TheWorldRealist]

@@Richard482 we have 3 acres. I have a wind speed monitor on a pole.

[@Richard482]

@@TheWorldRealist Cool

[@martincotterill823]

Great video, Dave!

[@JustHaveaThink]

Cheers Martin. Glad you enjoyed it

[@s.m.7018]

The greatest impact our local wind farm has had was the reduction in the cost of electricity. I wish it had happened sooner.

[@kennethkaminski3438]

100% RE is a pipe dream. You either need tons of STORAGE, or a 100% backup by natural gas. Why is it difficult to comprehend that intermittent, unreliable electricity sources are not able to provide electricity 24/7? Just have a think about Germany, the most RE and the highest prices.

[@simhedgesrex7097]

You don't need a 100% backup even now (renewable provision in the UK never drops to zero). But you do, still, need a lot of backup - however, the more RE installations you have, the gas you burn. Long term storage will come along in the next few years, enabling gas backup plant to start being phased out.

[@philipwright6617]

Spot on. People forget that a blocking high pressure zone over the UK in Winter would cause wind power to virtually stop ,and as soon as gets dark solar vanishes as well -just in time for everyone to come home from work and put the heating/cooker on. Widespread blackouts could well become common in mid -Winter.

[@EllieMaes-Grandad]

@@philipwright6617 UK had them in the early 1970s - not good for homes or factories.

[@matthewhuszarik4173]

You don’t need ton of storage you just need the proper mix of sources and some storage. You will always need peaking capacity. You have always needed peaking capacity. That peaking capacity can be any type of generation. Economics and pollution goals are the only constraints. Here in California during the day our electricity is frequently 100% renewable while also pumping up pumped storage and batteries. Right now most of our peaking capacity is Natural gas. But more wind turbines are planned to give more generation in the evening and winter. Like I said you just need the proper mix of power sources and storage. We are steadily moving in that direction. You might have heard here in California we are keeping a nuclear plant open another five or so years to ensure adequate supplies.

[@kennethkaminski3438]

@@matthewhuszarik4173 so what do you do at night when the wind dies down? Of course you need a ton of storage, if you don’t have Solar and wind available, which happens every night. California has a ton of solar, that works well during midday, but when the sun goes down, the gas plants fire up to provide the required energy. Natural gas still provides over 30% of California’s electricity supply. I don’t think you understand the big picture of how the grid works. If you don’t think you’re gonna need tons of storage with 100% RE. And you’re gonna need that nuclear plant longer than five more years.

[@SisGuitarGAS]

Thanks Dave - brilliant content as always. Motivated me to buy the shares in the next ripple project. We’ve just got to crack on with this

[@alex.velasco]

The naysayers - most of them fossil fuel industry sponsored or inspired - said that it was impossible. Whereas, converting to 100% renewable electricity, and then, (virtually) 100% renewable power is technically the lowest hanging fruit of the urgent challenge of environmental sustainability. That’s not to say that it is ‘easy.’ The only real barrier is political - to overcome the fossil fuel industry disinformation, and most significantly: to circumvent the fossil fuel funded political class - e.g. Putin’s Russia, Saudi Arabia etc.. Whether those states will give up their addiction to fossil fuel money is another matter altogether, as so many of them are on the dysfunctional spectrum.

[@bobsaturday4273]

10X FULL OF CR@P ! "urgent challenge of environmental sustainability" , " fossil fuel industry disinformation" , "Putin’s Russia, Saudi Arabia etc." you are nothing but some climate cult moron blabbering rhetoric and talking point but know really NOTHING !

[@jamesgreig5168]

You're ignoring storage and reliability. Base load power and having sufficient energy 24 hours per day.

[@antonyjh1234]

I don't know why you would target naysayers that way, it doesn't allow any room for dissent. Renewables, or rather replaceables are about 3% of our total energy and Jevons Law efficiency means that just get's added to an increasing amount of total electricity used. While it might be 3 times cheaper in production there also needs to be 3 times as much capacity or we all have storage and that much extra plastic, well it come from the same barrel of oil that petrol does. When you talk about an oil addiction, try and remove it from your life. The real barrier is we will never replicate the amount of energy we waste and while renewables are great soon, decade wise, we will be post oil, the amount of copper needing to be mined for an electrification is equal to the last 500 years, post oil is going to happen way sooner, so converting 100% will never happen and converting the 20% of our energy that is coal might never happen making this far from low hanging fruit and if wind turbines don't replace themselves as you still need energy to melt steel, mine ore etc, then when does the last coal plant get switched off, when it's 100%, 200% 400% capacity? Have a look around you and see how much is there because of oil, from paint to rugs to threads in your clothes and the food in your belly, try and give that all up, it's not as easy as calling other states dysfunctional when it's literally the reason this conversation can function.

[@alex.velasco]

@@antonyjh1234 ‘Dissent’ is a nice word. But, it feels misused when you’re siding with capital and industry who got us into this mess in the first place by treating the biosphere as a externality. You’ve also subtly changed the subject. I wrote about 100% renewable energy (virtually - i.e. approximately). Yet that would be a huge improvement over today. We still may use petroleum for plastics production, after all, burning the stuff is truly a waste of a valuable resource. But we must end the appalling pollution associated with plastic.

[@alex.velasco]

​@@jamesgreig5168 The many countries around the world who are breaking records for renewable power are not. You’re ignoring human ingenuity.

[@andyl8055]

Here in Aus we now have over 10% of the country’s energy supply coming from rooftop solar and when it’s sunny it produces so much there’s overload. Yet still there is pushback and cries for nuclear from certain ratbag politicians. One thing that can be said though is that those that go solar never go hankering for removal of their panels and replacement with a full coal powered grid. Community engagement and all that.

[@JRattheranch]

Living here in Belarus, this argument is really interesting 🤔! We're building a new home in the forrest, well insulated to being passive! Electricity for heating and cooking and car charging is on a separate meter, costing..... Wait for it.... .005p per Kw 24/7! We discussed riday about buying a heat pump to heat the house! Its the "green thing to do!", but its simply not cost effective for us! Its like splitting hairs fir no payback for .... ! A heat pump will cost us $14,000.00 and a conventional heater $1000.00! You did ask for external views about this! 😢😢 Shows how perception changes with costs and challenges! The cost of maintaining a heat pump and its reliability and longevity,are no match fir a simple water heater!

[@rockyallen5092]

It doesn't change your argument, but did you mean £0.05 per kWh? Still ridiculously cheap though-is it because Russia sells you subsidised oil?

[@stuartwoodburn2653]

I live in Holland and have shares in on shore wind turbines and we have a very low energy bill. When the energy crisis happened we had no increase in our bill. We went all electric some years ago, so why is the UK so behind? It crazy keep up the good work.

[@rob19632]

So the cost has declined by 70% and we pretty much have the most expensive electricity ever.

[@LiamE69]

The maths ain't mathing.

[@garysmith5025]

Gas fuelled electricity generation sets the price, that will change when the renewable build out reaches the point of the gas power stations no longer being viable businesses. At that point they'll be nationalised and used as our back-up, National Grid stated last year that it would add 0.75p/kWhr to maintain such a capability, seems like a bargain.

[@fudhater8592]

Who's "we"?

[@devonbikefilms]

@@fudhater8592 United Kingdom. “We” have a mad pricing law where gas prices set the overall electricity price. If we had actual competition, the gas stations would be priced out of the market and renewables would move in at a fast rate.

[@fudhater8592]

@@devonbikefilms Fair enough. Here in the U.S. states with a lot of renewable energy tend to have lower prices

[@richarde.t.sadowski2208]

Thank You so much Dave, Awesome video: our area in Morro Bay California is poised for an Offshore Wind Farm, i really liked your guest's comment regarding climate change being a bigger threat to birds than wind farms, that goes for whales and other marine life, with Ocean Acidification compounding the global greenhouse effect. ...much apprieciated, richard