I’ve read an article about VW going 80% electric by 2030. Does it have to be a considered as a concern for young professionals/college grads who accept offers? (especially from refining/downstream)
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How can energy professionals so utterly fail to grasp the rapid and dramatic changes in the business? Who moved my cheese?
@1cyr, You cannot build solar and wind in a population center because they require too much land. Storing and transmitting the power is the bigger challenge. Building interstate power lines takes up to 10 years if you clear the regulatory hurdles and lawsuits. The other challenge is the variability. They simply are not the answers for bulk power. Everyone will realize this in 10 years when we are still getting most of our power from nat gas.
@1cy, Uhh, Incorrect. 100% False .
But of course you probably know that and are just trolling, assuming that you have a clue.
Solar and wind have been the cheapest electricity sources for more than six years now. Nobody will ever build another gas power plant.
The Germany issue is a very temporary supply upset due to the war. Non event.
Renewable energy is the fastest-growing energy source in the United States, increasing 42 percent from 2010 to 2020 (up 90 percent from 2000 to 2020).
Renewables made up nearly 20 percent of utility-scale U.S. electricity generation in 2020, with the bulk coming from hydropower (7.3 percent) and wind power (8.4 percent).
Solar generation (including distributed), which made up 3.3 percent of total U.S. generation in 2020, is the fastest-growing electricity source.
Globally, renewables made up 29 percent of electricity generation in 2020, much of it from hydropower (16.8 percent).
A record amount of over 256 GW of renewable power capacity was added globally during 2020.
"These are "goals" meant to impress Wall St. and the woke crowd. The actual number will follow actual sales (i.e., what people can afford). Expect the actual number to be maybe 10-15%."
Hit the nail on the head. It's all to grab headlines and appease investors. Just look at forecasts ... fossil fuel consumption continues to climb and there's no sign of that changing in the next 10+ years. Even if you look to mid-February, fossil fuels will be the predominant source of the world's energy. Anyone who tried to argue otherwise is either not informed, pushing their own agenda devoid of the facts or a tree hugger.
https://quillette.com/2022/07/14/germanys-energy-catastrophe/amp/
@ttn, Germany’s energy policy is the laughing stock of Europe right now - caught with their pants down. They are now facing a very long winter due to their short sightedness.
https://techstartups.com/2021/02/11/germanys-green-energy-failure-germany-turns-back-coal-natural-gas-millions-solar-panels-blanketed-snow-ice/
Solar and wind suffer from intermittency. Both also are real estate intensive. While they may be nice supplement sources of power, they will never be a full replacement for fossil fuels.
Texas Monthly; Getty
At last count, there were 214 wind farms and 111 solar farms in Texas. Dozens more are under construction, and hundreds more under consideration. Those in operation generate about a quarter of the state’s electricity, and both wind and solar broke electrical output records this year. Solar, in particular, has emerged this summer as a breakout star in preventing blackouts.
So after Texas leaders created an advisory committee last year and charged it with devising a “comprehensive state energy plan” to fix what ails the power grid, you would think someone on that committee would have a substantial history of developing renewable energy in Texas. You would be wrong.
Not only that, but the only member of the committee with any experience at all in renewable energy (mostly in China) has raised unorthodox ideas that veer into the realm of conspiracy theory.
On a mild Sunday afternoon, California set a historic milestone in the quest for clean energy. The sun was shining, the wind was blowing and on May 8th, the state produced enough renewable electricity to meet 103% of consumer demand. That broke a record set a week earlier of 99.9%.
Renewable power installations covered more than half of Germany’s power consumption in the first two months of 2022. Figures released by energy industry association BDEW and the Centre for Solar Energy and Hydrogen Research Baden-Wurttemberg (ZSW) showed that wind turbines, solar panels and other renewables contributed 54 percent of power consumption in January and February. These installations produced about 25 percent more electricity than in the same period one year before.
Connect the dots, Sherlock.
And where will the electricity for those electric cars come from? Ask Germany how well their investments in wind and solar have turned out.
These are "goals" meant to impress Wall St. and the woke crowd. The actual number will follow actual sales (i.e., what people can afford). Expect the actual number to be maybe 10-15%.
Yes, everything will be electric. If you need to be somewhere, the government will take you there for part of your monthly food allowance.
All cars will be electric by 2030. Young grads should avoid dying industries, like non-renewables.