The multi-trillion dollar trend: Cheap energy will change everything | Chamath Palihapitiya

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GUEST BIO:
Chamath Palihapitiya is a venture capitalist, engineer, CEO of Social Capital, and co-host of the All-In Podcast.
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[@LexClips]

Full podcast episode: kzbin.info/www/bejne/oXe0hnd5nLKdiMU Lex Fridman podcast channel: kzbin.info Guest bio: Chamath Palihapitiya is a venture capitalist, engineer, CEO of Social Capital, and co-host of the All-In Podcast.

[@rogerstarkey5390]

WOW. A LOT of uninformed posts in the comments believing the FUD who haven't done the research. Chamath is right. Backing up the 10 years of work from a gentleman with the initials T.S (formally MIT) . Whenever I post his name and details I seem to get a YT ban for "guidelines" 🤔 "Clean disruption" is a good start.

[@kungfujoe2136]

i wander if energy cost goes down will living cost go up (housing food)

[@shaunt7301]

My electric company will not allow me to get off the grid when I got my solar panels. I have to connect with the company and I am not 1:1 reimbursed for what I generate. They control all aspect of what I generate. I am not the owner of the electricity generated from my roof. I won't install the battery because the battery is not charged by my electricity. What i generate goes into the grid and I have to buy it back to charge the battery. It is absolutely ridiculous. This is the state of Ca .... LOL.

[@benjamintryon813]

I'm confused. If that's the case, what was the incentive for you to get solar installed in your home? Why have solar panels if you have to buy the electricity back? Is this a law in California, or is it just some weird thing with your utility company?

[@diegoromero6137]

A newer system should charge your battery during the day using your solar, during peak solar time. It would be silly for you to charge on grid, or outdated.

[@antonpopov2480]

Lol if you actually abide by that. Pull the plug and install it yourself

[@shaunt7301]

@Benjamin Tryon i was getting a new roof and the rebate program they had gave me $1000 towards my roof and another $4000 to get an updated power box which i needed to run my 220 welder. They way i look at it i was $5000 ahead at the start. At the end of the year they do calculation subtracting my total use from what i generate and i owe the difference. If i generate more than i use i don't get any credit. If they didn't have the rebate programs not worth doing. The tax payers are subsidizing the power companies via gov rebates

[@kayjr9795]

Its called progress my friend

[@jesterlead]

Just came off the board of a renewable energy company, and have been in the O&G space for 25+ years - and I'd warmly disagree with his analysis. Renewable energy is not a zero cost source, no clue what he's citing there but that's bad information. Just for California to go green on Newsom's EV mandate by 2035 will require $4T in infrastructure (solar + storage) to account for 17M cars going EV. They have rolling blackouts today, no way they can support this initiative. How we "get away" from old infrastructure is via microgrids (which is powered by renewable, plus turbines, plus standby, plus storage for small communities of a few hundred homes / business parks, etc). This is really the fundamental shift we are seeing in the sector. And lastly, none of this works without nuclear (MSR would be ideal for all the free 'green' hydrogen production). The doubling of energy demand every 15 or so years FAR out-strips the efficiencies of renewable or their ability to keep up.

[@mike8383]

He doesn't need facts / it's social media 🎉

[@HocDolliday]

Seems like he’s a solar panel salesman

[@HR-yd5ib]

Exactly. Just look at Germany and Denmark. They have the highest electricty cost in the world thanks to switching to renewables.

[@mugnuz]

Yeh "green" nuclear. Filtering so many tons of dirt and not considering thr cost of endstorage lulz

[@mugnuz]

@@HR-yd5ib the energy will catch up and at mildering climate change comes on a cost for all the damage and money accumulated in the past

[@BlackAck90]

lets have a link to those panels that are efficient on cloudy days pls/ty. ;)

[@HR-yd5ib]

LOL --- was thinking the same! UV sensitive --- what a clueless shmuck.

[@johnoneill7450]

If you have to buy and maintain equipment to be able to produce the excess power the marginal cost might be zero, but the fixed costs have increased. This is not free. This is like me arguing that my car costs zero to run after I've filled it up, the only difference is timescales

[@randall172]

think bitcoin mining but instead of gpus its solar panels - 5:13 this also contradicts your analogy. for the bitcoin analogy, amazon will buy and maintain your gpu, as long as you promise to pool your excess energy through them

[@randall172]

@@sadface7457 well if its their equipment, i'd imagine they'd have the software to track usage etc.

[@letsburn00]

I've worked in energy for my entire career. He has no idea of what he's talking about. Opex and Capex are needed. You can't just plug into cables and it runs for centuries. An MCC bucket ages out every few decades. A motor does the same. I have the majority of my money invested into renewable storage and it will make money, but the cost isn't going to zero. Also, his entire concept of mini power stations is very much a wealthy persons perspective. I can afford it, but I'm smart enough to know that what happens to poor people is pretty critical in my life experience being good. If only poor people pay for power, it will make a worse society.

[@rujotheone]

He said marginal cost though

[@letsburn00]

@@rujotheone Even that is wrong. Per kW capacity and kWhr for renewables is far lower than for fossil fuels, but it's not trending to zero like compute is (even that isn't entirely true, since we're beginning to see the limits of flop/kW) Renewable storage for instance is still either batteries (which are largely recyclable, but its a labour intensive process) or pumped storage, which has wear like anything else.

[@rujotheone]

@@letsburn00 I see. Have we already reached the limits of energy like computation. That being said, no marginal cost is ever truly zero

[@letsburn00]

@@rujotheone When it comes to windmills, we are from an efficiency perspective. Its already above 90% of their theoretical best. The improvemens lately have largely been improving captial cost with large Machines. Photovoltaics, yes, there are improvements to go. But in the end, single axis trackers are still mechanical systems with mechanical needs. Electrical equipment exists out in the real world and the real world has weather and has wear. Its also something where you don't pull and Elon and cut your costs with cheap engineers. Fossil fuel generators are a mix. Since the balance of load balancing often is counteracting efficiency.

[@JakeAllen3]

What are you invested in? Or view as the most likely mass adopted forms of ‘renewable’ energy?

[@jasoncook9003]

If the cost is zero, why the F does it cost thousands to put solar panels on my roof? Stop speaking nonsense.

[@Allpurple_reign]

Energy generation not the labor

[@iakobkv271]

@@Allpurple_reign LOL

[@HocDolliday]

This guy is living in ideality, not reality.

[@LazerEyez]

He’s a Billionaire…. Most don’t empathise with the common man.

[@ash9x9]

My thoughts exactly! Here we call such people - paper tigers😊 All theories...

[@LazerEyez]

@@ash9x9 that’s the common issue amongst most policy makers, it’s all about them thinking they know what is best for everyday people without experiencing it themselves

[@jjreddit9216]

@@LazerEyez you obviously didn’t watch the podcast if you made this ignorant comment. He literally grew up dirt poor. How tf wouldn’t he know what it’s like on the bottom?

[@LazerEyez]

@@jjreddit9216 perhaps he’s forgotten a** hole !

[@n0madtv]

Zero cost my ass. It's like 50k to buy enough panels and equipment to run my house. That's almost 20 years of paying my normal electric bill.

[@littlematt349]

20 years of paying for normal energy bill if the cost didn’t rise at all. But that’s not the case is it, 6 percent increase a year minimum. You’ll be paying way more than 50k in 20 years to the monopoly

[@VaclavSlovacek]

The number will look better for sunny CA, TX and similar states in the US. Mostly due to no need for that much heating when it is not sunny. But taking a few numbers from the Czech Republic (Europe). Cost per kWh produced in the power plants: Nuclear: $0.04 - including building, fuel, "short term" storage, EXCLUDING long term storage of burned as newer reactors were expected to burn the fuel Solar: $0.13 - EXCLUDING backup power, buffer storage, infrastructure upgrades (to handle instability) The cost for distribution per kWh is roughly $0.04 per kWh (aka the costs of nuclear). So distribution makes roughly 1/2 of the cost of getting electricity to you when using nuclear (maybe shorter distances in the Czech Republic than in the US). Customer prices are significantly higher. Solar in winter (when electricity at home is most needed here for heating) is almost always below 10% of the installed capacity, very often below 5% and daylight is half the time compared to summer. This is also true for solar stats in Germany (they probably do not have the magic "no-sun-needed" panels mentioned in the video). Home solar panels with battery cost here roughly $20,000. At best you can expect it to cover 50% of energy needs because of the winter heating needs. You can do the math on how "zero" cost this is and what is the ROI.

[@williamforsyth6667]

"no need for that much heating" It is idiotic to spend so much energy on heating. It is no longer required. Heating energy requirement of buildings can be reduced near to zero with passive methods. There is a near to zero energy building directive for all new buildings in the EU effective since 2020. It will be enhanced soon. It is a different story, that many EU countries (including mine) is in delay localizing this directly and prefer depending on russian gas.

[@williamforsyth6667]

I agree, that Palihapitiya idea of near to zero cost energy is childes.

[@williamforsyth6667]

childes=childish

[@ErlendWilhelmsen]

@@williamforsyth6667 It is not. Distributed energy generation is real.

[@sloowhands]

every time I fly over the many many commercial flat top buildings I think how much space is wasted by not having it covered in solar

[@Delt4_Cr4wfish]

Its not practical, there isn't enough material. And even then why would you want to cover roofs in something that black. It absorbs more sunlight aka heat, aka what co2 is doing thats apparently bad. Fusion is the future, it will feed our energy demands of the future.

[@Delt4_Cr4wfish]

@@finlayson6868 ok, you should be forced to spend tens of thousands of dollars to update your house. And you should be required by law to have your house temp at 40°f in the winter and 80°f during the summer. Got to be responsible with your energy consumption. It should be made into law and you should be forced to do it.

[@DawidEstishort]

@Finlayson You do realise that putting any kind of vegetation on buildings requires a ton of expensive maintanance? It can only be done in certain places in a certain way and it had to be taken into consideration while designing a building. Otherwise it's going to ruin the building and make horrendous vegetation. Just put plants on the ground instead of looking for complex solutions to a simple problem that's been solved already.

[@pete1853]

The shrubs might be easy to maintain, but it would add a lot of coat to the building for all the weight and for maintaining the now less accessable roofing.

[@Delt4_Cr4wfish]

@@finlayson6868 i lived in a very cold room, i like the cold. When i went to bed i put blankets on and was fine. It was also a joke. So let me get this straight, you're proposing more laws. When the laws on the books now don't work. Createing more laws and forcing companies to do something that they cant afford. Will push them to moving to China. Cal has strick laws, its now a failed state where people are running from and many people are homeless because of. Punishing he owners is not a good idea, they already have enough to deal with and moat people cant afford upgrading there house. I dont know how you would convince people to do so on this fact.

[@marcdamiano8393]

im far from a scientist and this is a genuine question. If the cost of energy is free why would amazon need to go through the hassle of setting up solar panels for residential homes? Wouldn't they just be able to generate free energy for themselves?

[@antonpopov2480]

What he doesn’t mention is the long term investment of 30-80k to produce 10-15kW which isn’t even allowed in many areas due to the mentioned monopolies. Somehow Americans outside of major tech jobs with a median income of 50k a year are supposed to use 2-3 year salary to reduce their energy bills from 75-200$ a month to 0? Lol great logic

[@yftj4474]

we paid $3000AUD for a 6.6KW system here in Australia. Where are you getting your numbers?

[@bboybreezi2417]

those numbers are so off lol where are you getting these blown up prices?

[@clockradio989]

Actually he did cover it. I his fantasy this is free.

[@Angelthedog]

Not sure about the specific numbers cited, but when we priced solar systems for our house, they did not remotely pencil out. They used numbers which are confusing (like an insurance presentation), but the details didn't pan out. The provider admitted it didn't work generally in my area because cost of power was not so high.

[@bboybreezi2417]

@@Angelthedog sounds very convoluted your story doesn't even make sense at the end. Another liar.

[@michun72]

but if you want to transfer excess energy to, for example, AWS then you need a power grid, and this must be improved and supported, who is to pay for it?

[@Tripple_Threatt92]

Excellent point

[@RexKramerDangerSeeker]

How are people suppose to transmit power if there's no longer a power grid, but mini networks? How can you maintain a grid with no income? As cool as his futurist idea sounds, it's implausible. Not to forget that you have to go like $40K in the hole just to get started with a solar setup with a power bank. Most folks barely stay in the same house for 5 years, especially with rentals being more common.

[@HR-yd5ib]

How well moving away from classical power generation to renewables works can be seen in Germany and Denmark. They have the most expensive electricity in the World!

[@bugbreadbuns]

Why are they so expensive? To cover the costs of building that renewable energy infrastructure?

[@yoyoma17]

@@bugbreadbuns No, for a myriad of reasons, one because they're not efficient. This is a money grab... just like Covid.

[@jonathanbeam6898]

Don't forget Holland. My friends over there say their utilities have gone up 9-10x.

[@pjetrs]

@@jonathanbeam6898 but i think that is mostly because of no russian gas and gasoline flowing our way, which still powers most of german and dutch homes.

[@soccrplayr232]

Deciding to go all in on renewables without nuclear in some of the least sunny or windy places on the planet, what could go wrong.

[@thechosenwon6762]

Energy will never be zero they have been saying this for years it's totally nonsense

[@Tripple_Threatt92]

The input cost for production & raw materials will not be zero

[@LA-ic2op]

Solar does not cost $0!!! What about the cost to purchase, fit, remove and cleanly dispose of it at it's end of life (approx 20yrs)? And the elephant in the room is back up (base load) power for when the sun doesn't shine and your house solar battery is empty.....this needs to also be built into the cost of solar.

[@mikejazz3001]

People falling for the assumption that billionaire = genius, even worse is when someone like Chamath believes it about themselves.

[@Deadnature]

Marginal cost is different to total cost. Notice he uses the word marginal.

[@pjetrs]

what i miss in his logic is how on earth all these home owners are going to get their energy to these data centers, thats where you need those oldschool cables and infrastructure for. a nice example is germany, where there is a solar and wind energy surplus being created in the north (near the sea), but the energy is actually mostly needed in the south, some 600km from there. To get the energy from north to south is actually very difficult. On top of that is the problem that everyone who is creating their own energy is overflowing the infrastructure on sunny and windy days and also wants powreful socket to fuel their electrical car during the night. So during the day they produce more than they can use, overflowing the network, and at night the network has to deal with shortages. The ideas are great, but the infrastructural challenges are vast.

[@huntermarkey]

Your exactly right, to share power we would still need those cables that he said costed so much to fix. Not sure how he would respond to that but if the cost to make energy is almost zero, and the Bill you are paying is solely the price to fix the infrastructure, putting solar panels and batteries on everyone’s roof could only be as expensive (with full government subsidies) or more expensive given we still will need the underlining grid infrastructure. Maybe the cost of fixing the infrastructure is mostly the more difficult homes to get to and that’s what drives the price so high do most remote homes wouldn’t have grid access to sell their power just the ones near a city where it is easy and cheap to do?

[@MrRocksW]

@@huntermarkeythe speaker has a really dumb perspective on this IMO, his ideas are incredibly impractical

[@kingjtjt]

How about the raw Materials Required to Build Thema like Silver for example?? Silver would be very expensive is demand increases so much Right?

[@jimmybeans1175]

Energy = control

[@kurtsydavis7517]

Control of what?

[@jimmybeans1175]

@@kurtsydavis7517 civilization

[@kurtsydavis7517]

@@jimmybeans1175 what about the civilization in the wild that don't use energy?

[@MattMcKibbin]

It's not zero cost to generate power. What is he even talking about? It's not sunny everywhere and the solar panels cost $$

[@manonamission2000]

Dunning Kruger... he got started at Facebook... a social media company...

[@jasongodmere9882]

This is already happening in Hawaii. The local utility recently closed down a coal plant on the island of Oahu and has a contractual program for exporting a portion of generation and offering battery storage capacity to the grid for an up-front payment. There are hundreds of systems right now contributing to the public electrical service. HOWEVER, these systems are tens of thousands of dollars for even moderately sized installs and typically have a long ROI, even with energy prices over 30 cents/kWh. As those energy costs come down, the ROI actually gets worse, even going upside-down if longer than 5-10 years. Additionally, most energy is actually used after sundown so PV is just not viable without batteries which are often more expensive with a lower lifespan and having the highest labor, manufacturing and shipping costs of the entire system. He may be right about LOWER energy costs due to solar and wind utilization, but it is a fantasy to presume a net zero energy bill for the average homeowner even for sunny places like Oahu. This notion literally breaks the first law of thermodynamics, you cannot get something from nothing. Early adopters are the only ones who could potentially break even or make money.

[@roganmorrow]

Why are you talking about the first law of thermodynamics? The earth is not a closed system. More energy is transferred from the sun to the earth than the total amount of energy humans use.

[@jasongodmere9882]

​@@roganmorrow That's like saying ice-cream would be free if we had unlimited milk. It will always cost SOMETHING to convert energy into other sources, whether by sunlight, wind power or otherwise to make electricity. PV and battery systems have an average useful lifespan of 10-15 years which degrade and perform worse each year. Multiply 10 years by 100 million homes and you need 10 million new systems a year, JUST TO MAINTAIN OUTPUT. In addition to the utility lines and infrastructure we still need, whos going to pay for that if energy costs are zero? Until we have a device that can convert energy of other forms to electricity and then transfer and store that energy for free (literally impossible), energy will continue to cost money, and probably a lot.

[@tyrfree5733]

The guy in the video may be a billionaire, but he clearly forgot how this country will not let you get something for nothing. There is no way in the hell that these utility companies are going to sit back and watch themselves lose tons of money. The government is definitely not going to allow that to happen. As long as it's a capitalistic government that is. At least they will come up with some sort of solar regulatory commission in order to charge you for the fucking sunlight. You can bet your life on that. The same way they charge you for processing water on a planet that is mostly water. The other commenters are right as well, because it cost a lot of money to put these solar collection systems in homes and to maintain them over the years. This being a capitalistic government, the average homeowner is definitely going to have to pay some major money to upgrade as the years progress. The only way that somebody could actually walk away from a situation like this with more money in their pocket versus less, would be somebody that knows how to install and maintain all solar equipment. It would also help if they actually worked at the plant that makes the solar equipment because at least they could possibly get a rebate or steal the parts they need for their home :-) But again if the government comes out with a solar regulatory commission type situation, where you would charge for the sunlight, you can't win regardless.

[@sheasueda8210]

You are completely wrong, there is something called net metering. You get credited for the extra energy you generate during the day, and can effectively use that at night. Even in utilities that don’t practice 1:1 net metering you can just build a system that produces more than 100% of your energy usage to offset that fact

[@jasongodmere9882]

@@sheasueda8210 you're an early adopter, and the energy you get back is coal and fuel generated. Also, NET metering stopped being a thing 7 years ago, some places can't have any export at all.

[@morrolan]

If I go to Telsa solar site now, it shows that after rebates it will cost me $45K for solar panels plus 2 power walls. How long does this equipment last? Won't it cost another 45K+ again in 10-15 years assuming it works without issues that long? I am missing how this free is going to happen.

[@perobusmaximus]

marketing is always free. marketing is our only defense against communism socialists.

[@swelfie]

I have a question about this theory. So obviously in this scenario you are assuming that eventually if all American homes go Solar that they would essentially get free power and sell back excess energy generated back to the grid. Said energy could go towards a company such as Amazon I believe was the example given. However I’m not sure that logistically that’s possible and on top of that this theory would have a much tougher time in larger cities where density is high and rooftop square footage is low. Wouldn’t this best and only realistically be achievable in a suburb or smaller city. Also, if the grid operators (ISO’s such as PJM/Miso/Ercot to name a few) weren’t getting to tack on fees for delivery, (In a deregulated market these are split out from energy charges so I know they constitute roughly 1/3 off my bill each month) wouldn’t they not be incentivized to improve the grid or even operate it. The grid is really only for commercial use at that point and the balancing act would be a tall order to say the least.

[@rogerstarkey5390]

There's a former MIT expert who's been both predicting *and* documenting this for 10 years. His data is on the money. It's happening. Search clean disruption, go from there. (If I post his name, I get blocks..... Go figure?)

[@dankspain]

Prices go up in high renewable penetration regions because eventhough marginal pricing is 0 a lot of the time the system costs go up. This is to combat intermittency (very high marginal costs when not enough renewables), provide ancillary services, subsidies(in the past) and increased grid infrastructure requirements, simple as that. Renewables without a beefy grid do not work. California tech people need to stop thinking in terms of household consumers, big consumers are industrial players which require constant reliable energy.

[@rujotheone]

So is it right to say that intermittency is the cost of a renewable system

[@davidjohnson2001]

Wear layers of clothes in late fall/ Winter....I use Dish heater by bed 🛌 and use very little energy....Looking for dys Solar Panel and battery to charge EV next year and suggestions..

[@MV12267]

Solar isn't worth it even on a low cooperative energy company. The science isn't there yet.

[@cokechang]

For all his brilliance and contribution in the software industry, Chamath has very little clue on energy and hardware business, as shown in his answer here. For one, the maintenance cost of solar and wind are way higher than traditional electricity generation methods, not to mention the longevity of those are also way shorter, meaning it has to be replaced thus adding to the cost.

[@TansuTansu2]

Exactly what I was thinking - we need David Sacks to rebut what he has said.

[@rogerstarkey5390]

RethinkX Watch the main man from there, predicted this 10 years ago (plus the EV disruption)

[@Jedscorp]

What about making the panels . We would just fight about the rss to make the panels .

[@travis3371]

Money will still have to be paid to maintain the utilities aka fix power lines etc.

[@johnmolloy4878]

Lol zero cost energy and yet a solar roof plus storage is over $100k with a 30+ year payback.

[@kodekata]

In economics, the Jevons paradox (/ˈdʒɛvənz/; sometimes Jevons effect) occurs when technological progress or government policy increases the efficiency with which a resource is used (reducing the amount necessary for any one use), but the falling cost of use increases its demand, negating reductions in resource use. (Le Wik)

[@GregDubela]

Harvey Woods LLC is a solar company actively deploying emerging tech in a real-time environment with cash flow.

[@alishasethi5646]

Possibly stupid question but if marginal cost of energy is going to 0, how is it going to be monetarily accretive to people who install these solar panels which requires significant capex?

[@ryanfrost5179]

Chamath net worth will be zero if he bets on US marginal cost of energy being zero

[@robertaspindale2531]

Never trust those who use abstruse language to explain simple ideas.

[@curt685]

disruptors= uber, amazon, airbnb...and next solar power

[@tucowept]

Not in our lifetimes

[@coachb530]

John Stossel just did special on farce of Electric Vehicles and I'm sure most of what he says has gotchas he's neglecting.

[@samuelwestknee7134]

full ESG virtue signaling with peak confidence and complete disregard for any facts, mathematics and basic economics - this kind of attitude dominates today's greenwashing and it does result not only with +50%/per year electricity bills, but also with rolling blackouts at the same time

[@Tripple_Threatt92]

No wars is a huge stretch. Let’s not pretend like global trade doesn’t exist & that you can’t power everything with solar panels🥴

[@FrostKing04]

Is he the guy from Venom?

[@dmitrijsbeliks9090]

Just like SpaceX was new Facebook.

[@jteau2239]

Smart dude

[@fritsgerms3565]

There is a lot missing here. Infrastructure is much more complicated, regulated and expensive than developing IT products. The electrical infrastructure must be maintained. And batteries normally have around 8 hours of storage capacity (during the night) - which means houses are far from being selfreliant. We will always pay for energy and for the infrastructure.

[@supamatta9207]

5000w solar on a car would be undisruptable countries maneourism s that you can never incline. But why is grid a disaster !!

[@SkepticalTiger]

Sounds great but not hearing a lot about who controls what and their intentions, it sounds like a great way for corporations and governments to really gain control.

[@ssecretsauce]

I paid 0 for my house electricity

[@lylestavast7652]

Simplistic and unrealistic view. General direction, not too bad... but it's not going to anywhere near zero. What it comes down to is whatever you can do to allow people to install solar and battery at their home without the involvement of the power companies, that's your best shot. On the growth of power demand for EVs, similar - maybe we see some charger sites that are self storing what they charge with, over time.

[@allenyaboi846]

If what he is talking about ever happens and that's a big IF people will still fight over natural resources like lithium and other materials needed for solar panels and batteries also all that mining will be done for the foreseeable future by huge diesel powered heavy equipment in countries who's government care little if at all about pollution or the climate all in all I'd say solar panels on every roof in America is a pipe dream maybe you will see that in like 100 years but not anytime soon

[@matiasishere1487]

You want hundreds of millions of batteries to get manufactured??? 🤦‍♂️

[@markanderson3788]

This guy is living in fantasy land. Somebody has to pay to maintain the power grid, and 100 million home batteries would he awful for the environment

[@mikebalentine]

Could do something like a rust battery which is could easily use recycled materials

[@Tripple_Threatt92]

@@mikebalentine what’s the cost & efficiency of something like that?

[@Tripple_Threatt92]

This will work for some parts of the country but the sun isn’t bright everywhere. You will get much worse efficiency in these states, therefor it will produce far less energy per kilowatt hour. This drastically changes the cost on certain areas. The raw materials mostly come from other counties like Russia & China. China is either collapsing, they might invade Taiwan or there will probably be a trade war/ Cold War with the west in the next decade. The mining process for the raw materials for technologies is very hazardous for the environment.

[@mikebalentine]

@@Tripple_Threatt92 efficiency is not a problem it’s weight and space where those might be concerns.

[@rjbullock]

What is this guy talking about? Costs nothing to make energy? So solar and batteries are now free? Plus, good powering your home off of solar in Upstate New York… you need a huge system. The payback on that system is 20-30 years.

[@castletown999]

He talks in a very persuasive manner, but what he says makes little sense. Where to start? First installing enough solar and batteries to go off the grid would cost a minimum of $50,000. How can that be called free? That would pay for a lot of utility bills. Second you cannot sell surplus power if you don't have a grid to sell it to. Third You would need a generator to cover those times when it is stormy for a whole week. Add another $30k Fourth There are many homes that cannot have solar. Apartments, no sun exposure etc. I will stop there. So you have to retain a grid, but it is falling apart and generates declining revenue due to rooftop solar. The result is a rickety old grid that is unsafe, unreliable and expensive to run while having less and less revenue to fix. This is a recipe for eventual collapse. That is the real problem and nobody seems to care. Edit: But you are right that the marginal cost of generating power is in decline. This results in the distribution costs dominating. But you cannot solve that by everyone going off grid.

[@GunnyWombat]

A £1400 iPhone 14 isn't essential. Plenty of people quite happily run their lives on a £200 landfill android. Only those looking for brand clout spend on the top tier handsets.

[@chakradocta8883]

Looking forward to efficient, safe and cost effective hydrogen furnaces/generators. Just add water 💧.

[@mahbubhossainshamol9362]

Solar means freedom 💪🏻

[@MisterAvila]

He’s a billionaire for a reason. If it sounds too good to be true, it usually is. If there’s a buck to be made, government will have their hands in it and drive up cost.

[@davidbobo9740]

It's not so simple. I have water heater solar panel on my roof. The power it generates is min.

[@fakeyououtdotcom2409]

I'm not the sharpest tool in the shed, but I smell intellectual arrogance. The kind that never repents when unintended consequences surface and people suffer, especially poor people. The story is almost always the same. The "noble, wise and caring" implement ideas that prove their foolishness, and hurt the people they claim to care for.

[@rof8200]

He's only thinking about homes. Renewables for industry and transport seems incredibly naive.

[@Tripple_Threatt92]

You can’t power everything with solar panels🥴not energy dense enough.

[@mzrts9333]

Yes you can. A little patch of the desert will do it

[@JorgeRamos-xw6dy]

Where is he getting one hundred million homes from in the USA? That would be about 100% of the homes in the USA.

[@andre34485]

This makes no sense.

[@ryanlynch5401]

Tell that to tesla

[@realryder2626]

The resources needed to produce solar panels is limited... solar panels only last 3 - 10 years... they cost $45 per sqm to recycle to get 30 cents in materials.. the amount of coal, fuels etc you need to ship to China for them to produce it, ship it back, installation of 100m units outweighs the green benefits because you spent more energy than it will create... also the fact you have to replace it.. again it's a finite resource, like lithium so what about the rest of the world, 3 billion solar panels?? This is laughable.. the technology isn't there.. they have 6 - 18% efficiency at best. You are simply handing over control of your energy to China and everyone else instead of being self sufficient.. the technology needs to be adopted organically as it grows, forcing it is also causing serious problems with the budget like printing trillions.. there is too much to even mention why this is such a bad idea I'll be here all week If I don't stop myself now..

[@brob9995]

This guy has to come up with real facts to support such a claim, nothing cost 0$, and he knows it.

[@Dylan_Marshall]

I’m not buying this at all. One important factor for having rooftop solar panels is actually having a roof. And about 70% of the US population lives in urban areas - multi story apartment buildings or condos. Where are these people going to mount their solar panels? Also electricity companies don’t send you a check for extra energy made, that give you ‘energy credits’ which can only be used with that utility company. Solar panels also only have a lifespan of 20/30 years, require maintenance, and are still relatively expensive (especially the energy storage part). Please stick to software lol

[@pooochiemoomoos2150]

SPAC king!! what a joke

[@ammochief]

Already there - Tesla solar and two Powerwall units. Monthly bill to stay connected to the grid is less than $20 / mos.

[@YamatoTre]

Yeah but at your already presumably exorbitant income which you needed to get the point that you could purchase/build such things, it kind of falls flat for 90% of the world.

[@davidshaw3374]

@@YamatoTre 99.9% of the world would be more accurate

[@ammochief]

pity party? No thanks

[@YamatoTre]

@@ammochief nobody here asked for pity. I was scoffing at your solution which is one for rich old men. It’s okay, I’m sure you worked suuuper hard for it. But not everyone is suuuuch an amazing worker as you to be able to afford their own way to generate power lmao. It’s a bit like Marie Antoinette and “Then let them have cake”

[@ammochief]

@@YamatoTre glass half empty much? Instead be happy I could do it for my family. Also for the rest of you, it helps reduce my use of the grid and carbon rules. It helps drive down the cost for others. You’ll be rich to some day - keep at it. 😉

[@RussellBentleyoz]

Industry. 😂

[@utubedude2842]

Ooooor we just transition to nuclear and be done with it

[@msabedra1]

Solar fn Roadways!

[@kaihammon7321]

Wtf Texas ain’t progressive and as a native Texan we’d trade for their system 😅

[@Scriobh]

Nice idea but then we don't have the resources to build 100 million 12Kwh - 20Kwh batteries for home storage. I can understand now why Chamath has lost so much money. He's an idealist but that's all.

[@rogerstarkey5390]

Research it. The data is there

[@Scriobh]

@@rogerstarkey5390 I have. The amount of lithium and copper required for "energy to go to zero" doesn't exist. And none of it is in North America. Energy will go to zero in the future but not because of massively inefficient renewables.

[@yungteach]

"... even though it costs nothing to make energy..." yeah aside from all the costs for the supply chain from mining through to manufacturing of equipment to make energy from renewable resources lel Chamath is the biggest Energy troll.

[@sebastiangl9540]

Los argumentos de canosa son muy pobres. Esta más para volver a los chimentos que para opinar de politica

[@clockradio989]

Today in nonsense ideas…

[@patrikjohansson5939]

Why is Fridman talking to a telemarketer?

[@haileyr.s8107]

Good one, there's NO possible way that a solar powered house will produce enough power to even charge that EV that your being forced to buy. Don't forget about electric heat pump your to put in your house too.

[@andyfeimsternfei8408]

Really? Gosh don't tell my power company that! I generate enough solar electricity to power my two homes, office and welding shop as well as charge 20k miles per year in my EVs. I guess their KWH meter must be defective! I spent $44k on my system 3 years ago (no tax incentives) and its already paid for itself.

[@Allpurple_reign]

Geo is a good use In some situation

[@Noumenon4Idolatry]

@@andyfeimsternfei8408 What state do you live in? Not everyone has the same sun in the sky. If you live someplace often overcast that would be interesting. Do you deal with cold temperatures as well? Im next to the Canadian border far from the coast. Thanks for any info on this.

[@haileyr.s8107]

@@andyfeimsternfei8408 if there was any truth to this everyone would already be converted

[@andyfeimsternfei8408]

@@haileyr.s8107 so you are calling me a lier?

[@Ai-immo]

I usually like listening to chamath, but this time it really sounds like he’s over simplifying a complex problem. I don’t think it’s that easy. He’s a smart guy… I’m sure he’s knows it himself…

[@KarmaSwiss]

The cost is going to zero. He knows about the WEFs plan.