If you like (VERY) long form videos, you might enjoy the recent video about renewables from Technology Connections: https://youtu.be/KtQ9nt2ZeGM
Some of the interesting take ways for me, as someone who was already pretty hung ho about solar and batteries:
* Solar has gotten so cheap that it's still profitable in the shady northlands
* The amount of land it would take to run the US primarily on solar is "a lot" in absolute terms. But it pales in comparison to the amount of land we currently use to grow corn for feeding gas cars.
Another important takeaway: the "we need to mine for batteries" argument against renewables is complete bunk and always has been. Because:
1. Battery recycling will eventually provide all the minerals we need for new batteries. This is already true for lead-acid car batteries. We just don't have enough old lithium batteries around for lithium battery recycling to be a big industry yet.
2. We burn fossil fuels, which means we constantly need to dig out more and more. Any amount of mining we will do for batteries and panels is a small fraction of what we do for oil and coal.
If you like (VERY) long form videos, you might enjoy the recent video about renewables from Technology Connections: https://youtu.be/KtQ9nt2ZeGM
Some of the interesting take ways for me, as someone who was already pretty hung ho about solar and batteries:
* Solar has gotten so cheap that it's still profitable in the shady northlands
* The amount of land it would take to run the US primarily on solar is "a lot" in absolute terms. But it pales in comparison to the amount of land we currently use to grow corn for feeding gas cars.
Another important takeaway: the "we need to mine for batteries" argument against renewables is complete bunk and always has been. Because:
1. Battery recycling will eventually provide all the minerals we need for new batteries. This is already true for lead-acid car batteries. We just don't have enough old lithium batteries around for lithium battery recycling to be a big industry yet.
2. We burn fossil fuels, which means we constantly need to dig out more and more. Any amount of mining we will do for batteries and panels is a small fraction of what we do for oil and coal.