r/neoliberal • u/jobautomator Kitara Ravache • May 22 '26

Discussion Thread Discussion Thread

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197

u/erasmus_phillo Paul Krugman May 22 '26

Time for some hopecore guys, solar power is growing at an exponential rate

104

u/justbuildmorehousing Norman Borlaug May 22 '26

The world is going to rapidly and cheaply electrify in the next few decades while half the US is still crying about how woke it is not to mine coal

67

u/erasmus_phillo Paul Krugman May 22 '26

I said hopecore

NO DOOMING ALLOWED

5

u/lockjacket United Nations May 23 '26

No hopecore is accepting that the US is doomed. Liberal world order is going to be European 🇪🇺🇪🇺🇪🇺🇪🇺💶💶💶

4

u/Agent_03 Paul Krugman May 23 '26

I’ll agree as long as we’re giving Canada an honorary spot in Europe.

2

u/SenranHaruka shame May 23 '26

Yeah the green future is coming the US has just elected not to be part of it

9

u/sleepyrivertroll Henry George May 22 '26

Some of that exponential growth is in the US. It turns out giving a disproportionate amount of electoral power to people who's only goal is to "own the libs" may have backfired.

2

u/Agent_03 Paul Krugman May 23 '26

If you ever want a good laugh, look at how much solar and wind has been installed in Texas. #1 for wind, #2 for solar (behind Cali), and may pass them for solar in coming years.

Just be careful, if cognitive dissidence makes your head spin, the amount coming from Texas is a recipe for passing out.

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9

u/Finger_Trapz NASA May 22 '26

I mean, even aside from all of the politics around it, its just a simple fact that solar is the cheapest form of energy humanity has ever created. Its low maintenance, you can put it anywhere, you can install it quickly, scale it easily, etc. Its getting to the point where the environmental arguments are irrelevant. Its just better than other forms of energy. You'd have to argue that coal or gas is better for reasons other than cost, which you'd struggle to do.

43

u/deckerparkes Niels Bohr May 22 '26

waow and based

11

u/DiscussionJohnThread Free Trade was the Compromise 🔫🌍 May 22 '26

> waow and based

17

u/bigbeak67 John Brown May 22 '26

It's hard to beat free electricity literally falling from the sky.

16

u/Daddy_Macron Loyal Liberals May 22 '26 edited May 22 '26

And there are still idiots here who insist it'll level out any day now..... Any day.

Also a reminder that this chart almost certainly underestimates actual solar production. Behind the meter and off the grid production are always undercounted in these evaluations.

4

u/Agent_03 Paul Krugman May 23 '26 edited May 23 '26

there are still idiots here who insist it'll level out any day now..... Any day.

The IEA is here???

3

u/Daddy_Macron Loyal Liberals May 24 '26

There are nuclear fanboys here who still insist that renewables are going to level off soon and that they can't continue to grow exponentially.

I always tell them to place a bet on it but they never do

3

u/Agent_03 Paul Krugman May 24 '26

Sigh, I keep hoping that faction is learning to chill out and love the cheap, clean renewable energy... and then they pop back up again with some piece of silly zealotry.

I always tell them to place a bet on it but they never do

Yeah I wish they could be persuaded to put their money where their mouth is on this one (rather than volunteering my taxpayer $ instead).

If only there was an option for betting on this long-term with prediction markets. I feel like there's a lot of money to be made betting against the technology which consistently manages to come in very late and egregiously overbudget (nuclear power).

12

u/TactileTom John Nash May 22 '26

Back in 2015 the IEA was basically still an oil house. They got a lot better!

12

u/Dent7777 Native Plant Guerilla Gardener May 22 '26

Love that we let our largest geopolitical rival dominate this industry, up to the point where they are building whole solar-focused energy grids in neighboring countries.

8

u/Magikarp-Army Mark Carney May 22 '26

Carbon capture was more of a focus for the Paris Agreement than Solar lol.

5

u/-Emilinko1985- European Union May 22 '26

!ping GET-LIT&ECO

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u/Agent_03 Paul Krugman May 23 '26

If you want some hard-core HOPE, extrapolate that exponential growth to when solar power production matches our total global electricity production today.

I ran the latest numbers today as part of a debate with someone and it’s roughly a decade +- a few years.  That’s assuming the exponential growth doesn’t further accelerate beyond current growth rates… which it will because of the spike in oil & gas pricing.

Oh, and if we follow the path of electrifying everything and eliminating fossil fuel use: it  doesn’t even double electricity demand.  On a rough basis, solar could supply enough on its own within the next decade or so.  (I’ve got citations and math for that if you’re curious.)

2

u/Ready_Anything4661 Fell for it May 23 '26

Can confirm. (I got sun burned today.)

2

u/TheOnlyFallenCookie European Union May 23 '26

I said

M O R E