this post was submitted on 28 Dec 2023

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118

One country dominated clean energy growth this year, and it isn't the US, UK, or Germany. It's China, by a landslide. (www.businessinsider.com)

submitted 10 months ago by intelshill@lemmy.ca to c/world@lemmy.world

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[–] Newtra@pawb.social 40 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (2 children)

China is also still building new coal plants at a truly alarming rate.

Don't let heavy carbon emitters steer the narrative this way. Building renewables is just the cheapest way to keep expanding your energy grid at there moment, but if you're not actively taking power plants offline to reduce carbon emissions, you're not actually getting greener.

EDIT: LMAO I'm being mass-downvoted. This is why it's important to think critically about every headline about China - there is an army of propagandists trying to make sure you only see the good stuff.

[–] Dyf_Tfh@lemmy.sdf.org 4 points 10 months ago (2 children)

People really tend to forget that natural gas + variable renewable energies is the current cheapest/more profitable option, but is overall non sustainable.

Storage + VRE is barely existent because energy provider aren't incentivised to build it.

[–] Newtra@pawb.social 2 points 10 months ago

That's why I'm excited for non-Lithium batteries coming via consumer tech.

Energy providers haven't been incentivized to invest in R&D because any new tech will also be available to their competitors, and they're all fighting over pieces of the same pie.

With all the alternative battery chemistries out there, there should be one that could make storage + VRE cheaper than gas. However it takes a lot of money to turn them into a mass-producible product. If energy providers aren't motivated and governments aren't making big investments, it seems like R&D from consumer tech is our only hope at the moment, at least until grid battery storage becomes a big enough industry to fund its own R&D.

[–] Newtra@pawb.social 1 points 10 months ago

Arg, my first reply was completely off topic. I thought this was a reply in another post.

Yeah, it's great that VRE is cheaper now, but we shouldn't celebrate companies/countries for just taking the cheapest option. It drowns out the legitimate celebration of the companies/countries that are actually making hard decisions by funding renewables when they aren't the cheapest option, investing in long-term R&D, taxing carbon, fixing bureaucratically-entrenched perverse incentive structures, etc.

[–] test113@lemmy.world 2 points 10 months ago

Please, you are so right - but please do not engage further with this kind of posts in the future, just report them - the OP of this post is 1 day old, most likely a bot account - Lemmy needs better moderation, and that fast, it's getting worse and worse, day by day.

[–] HootinNHollerin@slrpnk.net 23 points 10 months ago (2 children)

How bout all them coal plants they built

[–] baldingpudenda@lemmy.world 23 points 10 months ago (1 children)

They did, but they also produce twice as much as america between the two they account for 45% of global electricity. If they can get renewables to make the majority of their power that's a win.

[–] Newtra@pawb.social 6 points 10 months ago

An increasing proportion of renewables doesn't necessarily mean a decrease in overall carbon output. Our per-person electricity consumption keeps rising. AI, electric cars, crypto, air conditioning to mitigate climate change, etc. all demand more electricity each year as they become more popular.

Wins don't come from new growth being sustainable. We need to be actively shutting down the existing unsustainable energy production. It doesn't matter whether this is done by replacing it with renewables, or by reducing our consumption with e.g. efficiency standards for AI and cars.

[–] Hooverx@lemm.ee -2 points 10 months ago

coal capacity is going up, but utilization is going down

it's a cool ass trend

[–] Viking_Hippie@lemmy.world 6 points 10 months ago (1 children)

But the US can't expand renewable energy because China and India aren't doing it! People who were DEFINITELY arguing in good faith and not acting as paid or unpaid shills for the fossil fuel industries said so!

[–] jimbolauski@lemm.ee -1 points 10 months ago

If I recall correctly it was more about the US giving money to China to build renewable energy while there were no restrictions on how many coal plants China could build.

[–] autotldr@lemmings.world 4 points 10 months ago

This is the best summary I could come up with:

Led by new solar power, the world added renewable energy at breakneck speed in 2023, a trend that if amplified, should help Earth turn away from fossil fuels and prevent severe warming and its effects.

Both state and federal incentives had a large influence on US solar growth, said Daniel Bresette, president of the Environmental and Energy Study Institute, a nonprofit education and policy organization.

China is on track to surpass its ambitious 2030 target of 1,200 gigawatts of utility-scale solar and wind power capacity five years ahead of schedule if planned projects are all built, the Global Energy Monitor said.

The cost of key battery raw materials, including lithium, also dropped significantly, Benchmark senior analyst Evan Hartley said.

"The battery cost is now on that trajectory that most Americans will be able to afford an EV," said Paul Braun, a University of Illinois professor of materials science and engineering.

Health and safety violations were found at a joint venture plant between General Motors Co. and LG Energy Solution in Ohio.

The original article contains 1,262 words, the summary contains 171 words. Saved 86%. I'm a bot and I'm open source!

[–] CabbageColonialist@iusearchlinux.fyi 2 points 10 months ago

They have a lot of catch-up to do, even after this

[–] hh93@lemm.ee 0 points 10 months ago

Let's see where the "bUt ChInA1!1!" People move the goalpost next to not have to change

[–] ElderWendigo@sh.itjust.works 0 points 10 months ago

It's easy to lead in growth of a sector when that sector has been practically non-existent and you start growing. I can lead in acceleration on a bicycle from a dead start vs. a car already cruising down the highway, but that doesn't mean much does it?