(C) Daily Kos
This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered.
. . . . . . . . . .
Renewable Tuesday: Solar Beats Nuclear [1]
['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.']
Date: 2025-06-03
Solar power is beating out nuclear power for the first time—not just in rated power of installations, but actual generation. Solar goes up and down with the seasons and thus the length of daylight hours, so this is a temporary peak. It will take a bit longer, between 1 and 2 years, for the solar power curve to be above nuclear power all year long, of course, perhaps with about 50% greater production. Coal is still about 4 times as much as that, but declining rapidly while renewables grow rapidly. We can expect wind and solar to be #1 and #2 within 10 years.
The world produces about 30,000 TWh of electricity annually, or 30 PWh. We would like solar power to supply about half of that, or maybe 7 or 8 times present production. Tripling twice more would do it, including covering growth in demand for EVs, heat pumps, and developing nations. Then add in wind, geothermal and the rest, plus storage to even out daily fluctuations.
x Wow! 🔆Solar🔆 is now the 4th largest source of electricity in the world, generating more than ☢️nuclear☢️. I'm sure it won't take long before solar is in the number 1️⃣ position.
[image or embed] — Shaun Rumbelow (@shaunrumbelow.bsky.social) June 2, 2025 at 10:01 AM
I thought that when I went back to two Renewables posts a week that I could catch up with the news, but it turns out that news about combating Global Warming is increasing faster than I can keep up with it. An excellent problem to have, amirite?
The good news: Cheaper batteries mean cheaper EVs. The bad news: China's battery costs are still dropping faster than ours.
No, no, that’s really, really good news. Nothing other than serious competition can possibly wake up Detroit. Just like Adam Smith and the rest of the genuine economists taught us.
Be afraid, Detroit. Be very afraid.
x @mark-carney.bsky.social this is the reason why we should not have tariffs on Chinese EVs. We should not be afraid of BYD, rather invite them to import cars that no north american manufacturer is interested in building. insideevs.com/features/761...
[image or embed] — improvingwetware.bsky.social (@improvingwetware.bsky.social) June 2, 2025 at 7:12 PM
x The U.S. Department of the Interior said on Friday it was implementing emergency permitting procedures to accelerate reviews of geothermal energy projects www.reuters.com/business/ene...
🔌💡
[image or embed] — Jesse D. Jenkins (@jessedjenkins.com) May 31, 2025 at 4:52 PM
The MAGA forces can go pound sand.
This next technology is one of several that can go deeper than any solid rock, down to where the Earth gets really hot.
Denial & Obstruction
Doug Burgum says Biden order that banned drilling in 23m-acre National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska will be reversed. Just as we are about to reach Peak Oil due to EVs, even without Chinese imports.
Oh, I don’t know about that. We’re in court, and pushing back in the streets, and getting ready for the midterms.
Don’t obey in advance.
Timothy Snyder
[END]
---
[1] Url:
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2025/6/3/2325308/-Renewable-Tuesday-Solar-Beats-Nuclear?pm_campaign=front_page&pm_source=more_community&pm_medium=web
Published and (C) by Daily Kos
Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified.
via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds:
gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/
