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Mike Shellenberger
@ShellenbergerMD
, 3 tweets, 2 min read Read on Twitter
Solar & wind make electricity expensive everywhere both because of their unreliability & their low energy return on energy invested (EROEI)

Minimum EROEI for economic viability is ~8x. Hydro & nuclear return 35x & 75x. Solar & wind return 2x & 4x

festkoerper-kernphysik.de/Weissbach_EROI…
A high-energy economy can produce solar panels & wind turbines, but solar & wind can't produce a high-energy economy.

Imagine solar panels powering factories to make solar panels. It would be like a snake eating its tail until there is nothing left.

forbes.com/sites/michaels…
Greens have long wanted solar & wind precisely because they are low EROEI.

It is only recently that renewables have gained a high-tech & high-energy luster.

The real purpose of renewables was always to return humankind to low-energy agrarian living.

forbes.com/sites/michaels…
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Mike Shellenberger
@ShellenbergerMD
Germany & California are held up as models for action on climate change, but had they invested $680 billion into new nuclear plants instead of renewables, they would already be generating 100% of their electricity from carbon-free energy sources. forbes.com/sites/michaels…
Had Germany spent $580 billion on nuclear instead of renewables it would have had enough energy to replace all fossil fuels and biomass in its electricity sector AND replace *all* of the petroleum it uses for cars and light trucks.
Most climate policy experts view decarbonizing transportation as a major technical & economic challenge.

The electricity consumed by electric cars could grow ~300x between now & 2040 and must come from carbon-free sources if it is to mitigate climate change.
Read 3 tweets
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Mike Shellenberger
@ShellenbergerMD
Germany’s renewables experiment is over.

By 2025 it will have spent $580B to make electricity nearly 2x more expensive & 10x more carbon-intensive than France’s.

The reason renewables can’t power modern civilization is because they were never meant to. forbes.com/sites/michaels…
It gets worse. In order to prevent electricity prices from rising further, or becoming overly dependent on Russian natural gas, Germany will next year destroy the ancient Hambach forest in order to mine the dirty brown coal underneath it.

reuters.com/article/us-rwe…
Now, it is threatening to destroy “a mystical place full of giant, gnarled, centuries-old trees, rare animals and fabulous castles... the home of the Brothers Grimm's fairy tales & the oldest nature reserve in Germany.”

Why? To throw up wind turbines:

worldcrunch.com/green-or-gone-…
Read 6 tweets
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Mike Shellenberger
@ShellenbergerMD
The only “Green New Deals” that have ever worked were done with nuclear, not renewables.
How do I know? Well, for starters, I helped create one of them.

Here’s what happened: forbes.com/sites/michaels…
Germany will spend $580B on renewables by 2025. Its emissions are flat; its electric prices rose 50%

Calif. electricity prices rose 5x more than rest of US

Had California & Germany spent on nuclear what they spent on renewables, both places would already have 100% clean power
Read 3 tweets

Related threads

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💧 Tim Buckley
@TimBuckleyIEEFA
So China's MacMines shelves its decade long development of its Galilee Coal project, China Stone. A $6.7bn high ash, low energy (HALE) thermal #coal export proposal. abc.net.au/news/2019-05-2… by @LGartry
Why? 🇨🇳 is moving to decarbonise & transition its economy as fast as it can. China is the world's biggest producer, consumer & importer of coal. But China's coal consumption peaked in 2014. 🇨🇳 will probably cease thermal coal imports medium term, relying on their domestic mines.
China just announced a 21GW subsidy free wind & #solar tender, for construction completion by next year. Grid parity for renewables in China by 2020. That is well ahead of target. Zero pollution, zero emissions domestic production. bloomberg.com/news/articles/… by Feifei Shen @business
Read 10 tweets
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Jenny Chase
@solar_chase
It's 9am on a Sunday morning and time to update my #unpopularopinions on #solar thread from a year ago*. I've mellowed in some respects, so only some will be unpopular. I'm not gonna wait for likes in case nobody does.

*
1. #Solar wafer, cell or module manufacturing is a terrible business to be in, with vicious price competition and last mover advantage. Most well-known manufacturers are saddled with heavy debt they took on to build their rapidly-becoming-outdated factories.
2. Crystalline silicon technology is good enough. Another great module technology, either making a multiple junction cell with c-Si or replacing c-Si, would be nice and make money for the company that does it, but not fundamentally alter the dynamics of the industry.
Read 32 tweets
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Jordan Shoesmith
@jordanshoesmith
Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection has released the public redacted bids submitted under its 12 TWh/year Zero Carbon Energy RFP. Going to sift through them today and provide some highlights. #procurement #cleanenergy #offshorewind #nuclear #hydro #solar
1/ Background: On July 31, 2018, DEEP issued the final RFP for Zero Carbon Energy, soliciting proposals for up to 12 TWh/year of qualified zero carbon energy and associated environmental attributes. Proposals were due September 14. dpuc.state.ct.us/DEEPEnergy.nsf…
2/ Background: Eligible resources included New England nuclear power generating facilities (i.e., Millstone and Seabrook), existing and incremental hydropower, zero carbon Class I resources (i.e., solar, onshore/offshore wind), and paired & co-located energy storage.
Read 16 tweets
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JesseJenkins
@JesseJenkins
With legislation committing California to 100% carbon-free electricity sitting on Gov. Brown’s desk, I wanted to share a timely new peer-reviewed article out today in the journal, @Joule_CP: cell.com/joule/fulltext…
In the paper, @nsepulvedam, @FdeSisternes, Prof. Richard Lester and I use detailed power system modeling to identify strategies that lower the costs and increase the odds of reaching a zero-carbon electricity grid. Check out MIT News coverage of the paper: technologyreview.com/s/611987/how-c…
After ~1,000 cases covering possible future tech cost, regional diffs in renewables quality & demand, and different limits on CO2, our study consistently demonstrates the best way to zero out electricity emissions is to deploy a balanced mix of low-carbon electricity sources.
Read 52 tweets
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Michael Powers
@TerraWatts2010
Reminder: While U.S. is arresting adults and abusing kids from Central America, China is pledging to invest $38 Billion to rebuild SA power grid, incl new #solar, #wind generation - goo.gl/uTx2VV #climatechange
Money quote: "We can install a (transmission line) that can send (#solar and #wind power) where it needs to go. We could even send it all the way to the U.S." goo.gl/uTx2VV - #renewables
Ironically, this was precisely the strategy of "Connect the Americas 2022" program launched by Secy State @HillaryClinton under @BarackObama in 2012 - goo.gl/A9htzY - #climatechange #RenewableEnergy
Read 5 tweets
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Jenny Chase
@solar_chase
Since everyone is doing it: if you want an #unpopularopinion *about #solar power, give me a like.
* not guaranteed unpopular
1. Solar PV is too simple, the barriers to entry too low, for almost any large company to grow profitably over a long period.
2. Utilities & regulators need to start considering power tariffs that disincentivise consumer solar, and encourage power use at midday.
Read 29 tweets

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