@@anaroman1499 LOL. Not anymore. You can buy panels by the pallet retail now for less than 50 cents a watt. I know a few people living right in Henderson and most of their houses are being run off grid on DIY systems.
@@anaroman1499The cost of solar and wind has dropped so much, it's actually cheaper to install new solar or wind generation than it is to keep fueling and maintaining existing gas fired power plants. This is the main reason why solar and wind are increasing so much all over the country. The battery storage adds some cost, but batteries are very effective at stabilizing the grid. Over the long term they are way more reliable than gas fired plants. They also need way less maintenance and don't require constant refueling. So there are a lot of upsides to the energy transition.
The Texas government talked badly about solar before as if it was not a legitimate and sustainable source but it looks like they are using it anyway. That state has some serious issues and that governor is crazy wicked
Solar is good for a portion of energy use. But the thought that it will replace fossil fuels completely is naive. Our extensive energy needs require an “all of the above” strategy. Solar can be part of it, but a limited role.
@@SpanishKnight1 Solar, hydroelectric, and nuclear should be more than enough without coal, oil, or gas-burning power plants. You're right, though, solar alone can never cut it.
@@sightline4004 It can reduce our need for them, but will never 100% replace. Now if we crank up nuclear energy production, we could greatly reduce it. Still, we will need fossil fuels for jet fuel, plastics, and a million other things.
lol. TX isn't California. Just cause the governor doesn't like it doesn't mean you cant build solar. 😂 I, an individual can become a power supplier with enough land and panels. No govt approval needed.
The heat this year is intense. In the past two weeks I have called Emergency Services 22 times on my lifeguarding shifts due to heat related illnesses and given treatment 30+ times.
Except they exaggerate and lie. We were supposed to run out of oil in 2010, the north pole would be entirely gone by 2013 according to Al Gore. And recently nasa had to fact-check media misreporting temperatures around the world. They were measuring the ground temperature and not the air.
Climate change is caused by human behavior. Industrialization and pollution. This is a fact, endorsed by the vast majority of scientists as well as people with common sense. I'm almost 40 and even in my lifetime, it is much hotter than it used to be. Lived in NOLA, multiple cities in Texas, then the Pacific Northwest. Disasters in all areas: two major hurricanes, drought, and the new annual fire season. It's getting worse, and we need our governments and communities to do everything they can to reduce the damage.
construction workers should work at night for their safety. solar panels can be used to shade public spaces like side walks. ranches can have solar systems on elevated platforms allowing cattle to graze in the shade.
@@mtorres3097and we have caused almost a thousand years worth of climatic change in less than a hundred Not to mention that the built up, urban environment is very different from the environment in which humans were created, civilization itself was worth public health disaster in human history
Build taller houses. They will be able to shade the street. If the heat is above you, it is not that big of a deal. It will rise and go away. Just make sure that the windows can be shaded during the day.
Last summer, my HVAC technician worked 60 straights day, 12-15 hours per day because of the heat/broken AC units. Here in Southern Nevada/greater Las Vegas area it can take up to three days to get a tech at your house unless you know the secret to getting same-day service. Why? HVAC tech shortage and many HVAC companies quit doing residential work in favor of commercial - read new housing construction - because of the increased population. Many homeowners do not have their AC units inspected, cleaned and tested in late spring/early summer. This is called preventive maintenance versus remedial maintenance. PM costs much less than when you have a broken AC unit plus the tech is on-site.
Texas for energy security should connect with East, West and Southern grids. A Canadian US Mexican transmission line for renewables is a great strategy too.
Remember, Texas has a Senator who fled the country during a winter season in order to enjoy Mexican weather while his supporters were suffering with freezing conditions. DISGRACE!
@@javtimestwo Cruz works in DC. Congress was in recess and Texas state capitol was closed. What were Texas politicians supposed to do, when more than half the state was shut down? 🥱
If every homeowner had solar panels providing their electricity, when there's such high demand because of air conditioning, the strain on the grid is much less, alleviating the need for mandatory temporary shutdowns to prevent a total system failure. If everybody does their part, everybody is helping their own neighbors.
Looking at the US as a whole - as of 2021 only 3% of homes had a PV system, and each year from 2014 - 2021 5.4M MWH of domestic generating capacity was added giving a total of 49M MWH (that's enough for 4.4 million homes). So far it's been a fairly flat rate of increase - but there's plenty of room for growth. @CHMichael - absolutely. Requiring new builds (or roof replacements) to include a PV system (and a solar water heater) should be a no-brainer. As should be requiring the wiring to include provision for a car charger to be added in future. These should apply to apartment buildings too - every parking space should have the facility to fit a charger. Why wouldn't anybody want the provision for future requirements to be included?
@malcolmrose3361 solar water - I'm in Florida and nearly everyone was using them for their pool . Strangely enough they are disappearing in the last 10y. ( I put 2 small water heaters in the attic - works great)
@@CHMichael I'm in Southern Spain. I installed a cheap solar water heater when I was refurbishing the place. It has a small electric heater if we have some consecutive cloudy days (I maybe run it two or three times a year), and a small PV system. I'm a net contributor towards the Grid by a few hundred KWH per year. My pool is currently 33C (that's 90 degrees F) so I don't really see the need!!
@malcolmrose3361 Florida is winter escape and we do get around 14 really cold days per year ( 50s) And even on 70 deg days people want their 85 " pool ( I don't have a pool) The nice thing in summer is that if you let it run at night you can also cool it back down to a refreshing 85 . .... from 95. Spain is nice - like the food. Really smart architecture when it comes to staying cool .
As a texan ive gotten daily emails asking me to conserve electricity from noon to 8 pm. Not sure why your going after CA but praising TX when we have the exact same issue
I wonder how many people realize with temperatures like these the only thing keeping you alive is your air-conditioning system. If there is a blackout you could see many many fatalities.🙏
@@Royale_with_Cheeze Air Conditioners don't send carbon into the ozone layer. Air Conditioners use energy which is often derived from fossil fuels and emit green house gases. If you're going to make an argument, at least do it right. The function of the Ozone Layer is UV protection from solar rays.
It’s funny, how a two-sided approach can actually be beneficial as opposed to a one-sided, all or nothing proposition. At the end of the day, there’s no reason why you can’t have both.
You mean fossil fuels vs renewables? There really is only one side and cannot have both. The US and world is moving to drastically cut fossil fuel emissions due to emissions and effects of climate change. The US has set 2035 goal for a net-zero grid. The EU has similar goals. Then 2050 complete net zero (not just grid) and onwards to essentially zero fossil fuels in short order after that. The planning is happening now because a global energy transition does not occur overnight.
@@beyondfossilsorry but we won’t get to zero fossil fuels you realize that net zero does not mean no fossil fuels right. I use diesel for my farm but I’ll bet I’m net negative in emissions!
@@jlkkauffman7942 Those carbon credits well known to be scams. There's going to be a huge crackdown on that activity. There are some programs that work and others (like yours) which are pure baloney. The problem stems from _woefully_ inadequate accounting. Just look up "carbon credit scam" for some really good videos on the subject. Furthermore, we have a huge milestone coming in less than 12 years (starting 2035) with both ban of new sales of internal combustion engine vehicles and a net-zero grid. Fossil fuels vehicles will become increasingly rare, their upkeep will become increasingly expensive because decreasing number of parts and lack of technicians and businesses to service them. All while EV will become increasingly cheaper, more choices, and longer range. Ground transportation is just one segment of the total energy market but it has huge implications to supply chain and overall economics including sociological mindshare. The simple fact is that wind and solar are the _least expensive_ forms of energy and yet still getting cheaper. Fossil fuels are finite and take millions of years to form. Also, we'll never be able to extract _all_ fossil fuels from the Earth's crust. The remaining bottom-of-the-barrel amounts will become so deep (20+km) or so remote that it will cost more money to extract them than they could be sold for profit. The crossover point will happen sooner than you think with the plummeting cost of renewable energy.
@@beyondfossil It doesn't occur at all. You can set all the goals you like but climactic and resource limitations prevent universal adoption. Use what makes the most sense where it makes the most sense. Another thing to consider is air conditioning is a small percent of energy use. By far the largest use is heating. Oh and the climate change crisis is a hoax.
I read a long time ago that a tree is worth a ton of AC ( a ton is a measurement of AC, it means it removes 12,000BTU's from the air per hour ). If it is shading concrete then the concrete (or the roof of your house) will cool down faster at night. Be grateful for trees that shade streets and parking lots; we need more of them because they will help reduce the heat island effect in cities.
@@lestermarshall6501Most of the cooling capacity of trees comes from evaporation which consumes water. Reflective white roof paint works better and can defray the annual air conditioning costs in hot climates.
The size of all Megapack installations in the US is ... miniscule and would only augment a couple hours. I'm all for them (and an investor in Tesla too) but there'd need to be several hundred like they're installing right now at GigaTexas to really help much keeping the "power on" any time of day. Mostly those packs are good for a couple hours to shutdown in a catastrophy, and to assist in ancillary support like frequency regulation and to level out site demand and solar production before it ever leaves for the grid - if, it ever leaves to the grid. When they are on the grid, they basically can offset some of the fast ramps of demand that happen early in the daylight hours.
Especially in winter and the shoulder seasons...night time too. Imagine waking up to electric heated floors, full residential and grid batteries and vehicles topped up:)
@@ScottGrammer No, those turbines are in fact the best currently available way to harness wind energy. Nothing else has proven remotely close, and that's why they're not dominating the scene.
Why isn't the country overbuilding the electric grid to keep up with the demand. Open land should be filled with solar panels to generate more energy to be stored.
It doesn't really count for much if Texas is using a lot of Solar but still drilling and refining Oil for use elsewhere. You have to decrease GHG emissions not just increase you Solar and Wind output.
Texas economy is fairly diversified. It needs to start exiting oil and gas. Some gasoline stations around the world are dropping gas pumps and going to all electric chargers. When cell phones came out- they had slow adoption for 10 years, then the next 10 years their uptake was fantastic and took them over 90%. It's been 8 years since Tesla sold the first Roadsters. 100 Watt Solar has dropped in price from $700 to $125 while shrinking from 32sqft to 16sqft. I bought a Kilowatt battery recently for $499. That would have cost me $2000 only 4 years ago. They are projected to be 40% cheaper by 2025 (so $299). Change is coming. Range anxiety is on the way for gasoline cars. Fewer kids are becoming ICE car mechanics.
@@TinLeadHammer "I bought a Kilowatt (hour) battery recently for $499. That would have cost me $2000 only 4 years ago. They are projected to be 40% cheaper by 2025 (so $299)." I bought two 100 watt panels for $125 each so 1000 watts of panels would be around $1,250. I have seen cheaper panels at harbor freight ($89?) so that would be $890. I'm backing them up with a 2000 watt propane generator and 3 days of propane. I have a friend whose power has gone out for about 8 hours and 12 hours this year so the 1kwh battery will keep them from losing the contents of their refrigerator.
Transition to solar and battery storage is expensive - better to pay with petro $$$ than no $. Texas Petro industry also supports its school system through petro lease wealth funds. Hope you are doing your part to make petro obsolete.
"the more sunlight" - well, in hours of a day and ability to keep them close to perpendicular to the sun's rays - yes. As temperature goes about 75F, there's a steady decrease in production related to the associated heat - so you have to somehow cool the panels (fins, water on back etc.) or plan installations much larger to account for the net decrease during hottest times. (Conversely you generate very efficiently when it's cold and sun is shining). It's not unusual in really hot areas for a 15-25% reduction in generation of power due to elevated heat.
if you have a water buffer with a few thousand liter, you can use the excess solar energy during the day to not only cool the house but also cool the water buffer. when the sun is going down the cold water buffer is still there to cool the house. this thermal buffer is much cheaper that batteries.
Depends. Also batteries aren't as expensive anymore as they used to be though there is a lot of room to go before they're at grid parity with baseline loads.
If you do the math, chilled or heated water storage has a very low energy density, so it's not feasible to cool a whole house for the night that way. The answer is external thick insulation.
@@tbggaming4385A few cubic meters of ice would satisfy the cooling needs to a family home. It's probably the cheapest method of small scale energy storage proposed in this comment section. But I agree with more insolation. And reflective white roof paint.
@@gregorymalchuk272 Yes and no. It takes 100 calories/g to go from boiling-but-not-steam (100C) to freezing-but-not-ice (0C). At 100C it takes an additional 540 calories/g to get past the phase change and go from boiling to steam. And at 0C it takes an additional 80 calories/g to get past the phase change and go from 0C to solid ice. So. going from a heat-wave temperature of 35C to freezing stores about 80+35 = 115 calories/gram. An 80 gallon tank is 290299 grams. So 33.384 million calories. Converting that to kWh, x 1.16222e-6 = 38 kWh, roughly. A respectable amount, but since this is not a heat pump the equivalent A/C power is roughly divide by 3, or 12 kWh worth of electricity running an A/C. Still respectable and it might be enough to get a room or two through a night in comfort with 95F overnight temps outside. 12 kWh worth of LiFePO4 batteries is around $3500. Assuming all else is equal, one can imagine there must be a cheaper way (cheaper than batteries) to freeze and store ice and then run air through it overnight to get the cool back out. But there are some problems. Ice expands, and even if you leave the top open it won't take very many cycles before you destroy a large 80-gallon tank. So actually going through the phase change will work but it will probably destroy the equipment after a limited number of cycles whereas batteries will last 3000 cycles / 15+ years.
Actually, Texas residences have been asked to conserve as well. Official Message: "ERCOT is calling for the conservation period due to several factors: Most of Texas is experiencing extreme heat for a prolonged period, Texas is seeing record energy demand due to the heat, forced thermal generation power plant outages are higher than normal, solar energy generation is declining in the evening hours ."
I was looking for a comment like this. If we can have a healthy mix of nuclear and renewable energy then we should be able to hold off more possible unreversable affects on our planet. But with the current state of most people of the general public and how they see/speak about nuclear then it seems like we are gonna get nowhere and then on top of that you have all of politics and stuff which I just wont get into
We really need even more solar. Because in extrem heat they still provide a lot of power but are not as efficent, because the panels have to be protected from over heating.
@@user-rs3lm1ci6n because heat is very bad for conductivity. wires and the silver in the panels are still vulnerable to this and will produce less if it gets too hot.
@@beyondfossiltbh everything after 3:30 sounds like a solar sales pitch. The implication being that solar is the solution for all the hot days because it can power all those A/C units that the grid demands. That's really not true at all. A/C's are absolute energy hogs and you would need not only an unbelieveable amount of solar arrays to satisfy that kind of demand you would also have to have an unbelieveable amount of deep cycle battery storage and that technology is incredibly immature, costly and dirty. If you have millions of A/C's to run night and day the only option is something like nuclear or something else pushing enormous steam turbines or just move underground altogether. Solar is good for current loads that arent very large. If you start covering the earth in solar panels to satisfy demand you get all kinds of albedo feedback loops that make everything hotter and other environmental issues. The ideal physical solution we could have would be something that could just harness the kinetic energy of gases directly from the atmosphere and ground which would simultaneously cool and produce electricity.
@@daviddickey9832 Sure, but we should put some quantities and context to these values you're discussing. The average whole home central A/C is around 3500W for a single family home. The max will be around 10,000W as that current draw is close to 50A breaker limit on a 240VAC dedicated circuit. The average solar rooftop installation size is some 6000W. Larger homes may need more A/C but they will also tend to have larger roof areas. If you're on a farm, you'd likely have a lot of land for ground mounted solar. A mall, big box store, campus would use a humungous amount of A/C but they also have a humungous amount of rooftop and parking lots. The context of the video was about solar and heatwaves. But solar _excels_ during heatwaves as heatwaves always come with a large amount of sunshine during the hottest hours of the day. Rooftop solar directly *unloads* the grid because every watt generated locally is a watt that doesn't stress a distant powerplant nor the grid to transmit that watt - it’s the most efficient watt you're gonna get. When there are thousands or even planned millions of homes & businesses with solar then that will take a huge load off the grid especially at a time when the grid experiences its maximum levels of stress. Solar is the only form of energy that blends so seamlessly into the urban landscape with silent solid state electronics. The cost of solar has dropped a massive 90% since 2010 and continues to fall. Commercial solar is now the least expensive form of energy at some 3¢/kWh unsubsidized. Basically, the world has not seen electricity production cost this low before and the price continues to fall. This is a big reason solar is the most rapidly growing form of energy in the world - including a oil-friendly state like Texas which tripled solar capacity in the last 3 years. Texas actually leads the US in wind power but its solar is coming up fast.
@@daviddickey9832 The cosmically large power of the sun means we do *not* need to "cover the Earth" in solar panels to power the world's grids. Remarkably, the entire US electrical grid can be powered by just 0.7% of its total continental land area! Calculation: The US uses 4-trillion kWh of energy annually and the average output of a solar farm in sunny south western region of US 181GWh/mi² per year - this includes seasonal and daily weather patterns. The US has some 3.1-million square miles so 0.7% of that about 22,000 sq.mi! That's just the top "hat" part of Texas. This would be spread over the US probably mostly in the SW but no reason to limit it there. There are solar farms all over the US. In fact, powering the *entire world's grid* is somewhere along the same 0.7% since the US is a high per-capita energy user. Just expand the 0.7% to 1.0% to provide a 43% margin of error still is a surprisingly small area of land. This doesn't include rooftop & parking lot solar. It also doesn't include water based solar. Any solution to wholly replace fossil fuels obviously needs to be based on the sun. Right now that is wind & solar as they are most direct forms of it. The above calculation used only solar but realistically there would be wind power involved as well. But that just makes a renewable energy solution all the more achievable. There is enough offshore wind energy to power the world several times over as well. Look at the basic science: The sun is 99.9% the mass of the solar system while the remaining 0.1% is mostly Jupiter and Saturn. So the Earth is like a speck of sand next to a bowling ball. The sun provides an absolutely immense 173,000-terawatts non-stop continuous to the Earth. Another way to view is about 1000W/m² peak ground and its always peak somewhere on Earth. All the *combined* fossil fuels on Earth past and present is literally like a bucket of water in an ocean when compared against the sun. There is no need look further than renewables based on both availability and cost. Consider also that the raw input resources of sunshine and wind cannot be sanctioned, tariffed, embargoed or taxed neither. Can that be said about any other form of energy?
@@beyondfossil : Undecided with Matt Ferrell, covers geothermal as part of the solution (net zero home). Plus lead-acid is pretty mature as a technology, and recyclable. It just takes more of it compared to other technologies.
larry; as noted below Texas and Oklahoma were experiencing blackouts and brown outs in sweltering heat. The wind and solar systems purchased were running far below their rated capacities; solar though mid summer was only producing 50% of it's rated capacity; and wind 25%. Had these been achieving a higher output these folks would not have had these outages. The outages meant airconditioning didn't work, it meant people were experiencing potentially deadly tempratures. The only reason the problem was not far more severe was the State still has signficant fossil fuel electrical generation; had they been depending on wind and solar alone; most of the state would have had major trouble.
I mean yeah Texans have the lights and air-conditioning on but at what cost? When the lights don't go out, energy companies are not allowed to charge premium prices and don't have record breaking profits like in prior years.... won't somebody (besides the governor) please think of the the poor energy corporations 😢
Yea but neo-communists don't like that. It allows people to maintain their current lifestyles without adding to the "climate crisis". We need "climate crisis" to bring about redistribution and centralized power to politicians.
@@tudorjason Lol, no. I'd be shocked if a meltdown ever happened again because the risk is so low and it has always been low. And if it did happen it would be contained fairly quickly and not cause significant radiation leakage. All of these previous accidents that people think have are one-off incidents that will basically never or at least in our life time not happen again. Oh yeah and waste? Well if you'd know anything about the waste you have 3 types of main types of radioactive waste LLW, ILW, and HLW. The HLW is the one that most people are concerned about which are the used fuel rods that can be extremely radioactive for months and years. Even after they are still not safe so they are put in long-term storage facilities that are underground. Do you want to know what percent of radioactive waste is HLW? Only 3% of all total radioactive waste is HLW. Nuclear energy has a lower carbon footprint than solar panels and is about on level with wind turbines. A healthy mix of both nuclear and renewable energy is what we really need. However as the public keeps fearing the worst, then the best for us for the meantime will not be happening.
Texas is not "leading the way" (@3:39) or "a leader" (@5:47) in terms of renewable energy. This misleading narrative leans on raw/non-contextual data to claim that they're at the head of the pack when in reality, the metrics that matters in terms of leadership are PER CAPITA use of renewable energy, and the PERCENTAGE of a state's total energy usage provided by renewable resources. For example, about 32.6% of Texas' total energy production is via renewables, which is lower than the national average of 38.7%, and the state only ranks 33rd in the nation (for comparison, California is #16 at 49.4%). In terms of solar installations per capita, Texas is in the middle of the pack, ranking #24 at about 312 installations per 100,000 people (for comparison, Hawaii is #1 at around 6,400 installations per 100K, and California ranks #2 at around 3,070...nearly 10 times that of Texas). If one looks at the metric of solar megawatts installed, Texas is indeed #2...but it is a VERY distant second place; if one combines the solar megawatts installed in the #2 through #6 states (TX @ 6,751, NC @ 6,486, FL @ 5,748, AZ @ 4,820, & NV @ 3,643), they only add up to 94% of the leading state's solar megawatts installed (CA @ 29,218).
Why is there ever any attention given to the temperature at Death Valley? It is often the hottest place on earth. No one lives there. Are we trying to suggest the temperature in L.A. is any where near 120+ degrees? It’s almost as ridiculous as saying “I live in Las Vegas and I wasn’t ready for this heat!”…..so what were you ready for?
My 3.35 KW SunPower system generates 22 kilowatt hours on sunny days. At noon with full sun it generates 3,000 watts while when cloudy at noon it generates 700 watts...of 3,350 watts (3.35 KW). Now imagine millions of homes, garages and buildings having comparable solar PV systems...connecting to grid batteries.
It seems like it wouldve been smarter to focus on changing one thing from oil and gas. Instead of permoting electric vehicles you could've promoted flex fuel vehicles and put your main focus on changing the power grid to renewables and updating it. This should be done before you switch to electric vehicles. You're Kinda putting the cart before the horse here.
At this point, we need all of the above, ASAP. Time is really of the essence. And besides, even if the grid never changed, EVs generate about half the lifetime emissions of comparable ICE vehicles. The oil companies want you to think otherwise, but there are dozens of studies now that confirm the emissions advantages of EVs.
And now, starting in September, Texas is taxing EVs $200 annually. $400 if new. I understand that they need to pay their share in the road tax, which is about 15 cents per gallon of gas sold, but they’re charging $200 outright. Imagine if you own more than one, AND only travel 5,000 miles a year. With a gas car, you’re paying that road use through how much gas your vehicle needs, but with an EV, estimated at 115 mpg, you’re paying for 153,295 miles of road use EACH YEAR… …PER EV! That means that less people will want an EV, and instead drive a gas guzzler because it’s cheaper. And the only reason they’re not driving a physical car, is because the government already taxed those, exempting trucks and SUVs, incentivizing that purchase. It’s just going to keep getting hotter.
If by that you mean geothermal heat pumps, which are twice as efficient as air to air heat pumps, it is because the cost of installation is much higher. Texas is too far from the ring of fire to have regular steam out of the ground geothermal energy. For that try California. Geyserville or the Salton Sink for example.
Whaaaat 😱 green energy is helping Texas, last time I heard their Governor saying green energy was causing winter blackout. Where is that governor today, with teddy bear cruz in Mexico 🍹🥂
$0.52/kWh 4-9pm, roughly, in summer. Not sure where you got $0.78 from. Off-peak is $0.40. During winter peak is $0.39 and off-peak is $0.35 (E-TOU-B schedule, PG&E). Of course, since I have solar panels and I load-shift 4-9pm, and charge my EV across noon, my monthly bill so far this summer has typically been less than $50.
Charge your BEV in the morning - and bake your casseroles then too. Consider cooking a pizza then, and eating it cold - it's better that way in the evening anyway.
The best thing about Texas is that it has access to the great Gulf. The only down side is that one of the largest refiners in the world boarders a vast majority of it. Texas coast line is constantly under a air quality hazards. The wind blows the garbage air south to the north. Maybe Texas is t as great as everyone Thinks. …not to mention you spend a majority of your life in a vehicle if you live in that state
There are a whole lot of upsides to the energy transition that you never hear much about. Those refineries take a big toll on people's health. All those engines idling do too. When all that stuff is gone, life expectancy will go up by a couple of years, and quality of life will improve a lot. Add to that the benefits of getting your legislatures back. Oil companies own them all right now. Ok I guess there will still be banks and big pharma and all that. But taking veto power away from big oil will allow democracy to work better.
We have the largest fusion reactor in the center of our solar system, why wouldn't we capture that energy? Oh right, it cuts in to the bottom line of billionaires.
The financial incentives will only increase and the Governor will backtrack or be replaced. Young people want to see action on the transition to clean fuels.
The electric vehicle was invented 50 years before the gas vehicle. Companies and big pharma an insanely amount of money as the result of gas vehicles and plants. Green energy is freedom from money and health. I run my entire home using 💯 solar. This includes running by heat pump hvac 24/7 365 days. My stove is induction cooktop, my washer/dryer is all in one on a 110V. I spend $2 Dollars a month charging my car at home. THIS ONE TRICK BIG CORPORATIONS DON'T WANT YOU TO KNOW!
I was aware of the fact that solar power was the second most used power source in Texas. It was still eclipsed by fossil fuels, but not by much, quite surprisingly. By that measure, I thought California was using much more solar than the most conservative, oil company friendly, state in the union. Come on, Cali. Get with the program.
Hundreds of acres cleared of trees and foliage for solar. Trees and foliage remove carbon out of the atmosphere. How can this be green? As the temperature rises, the output voltage of a solar panel decreases, leading to reduced power generation. For every degree Celsius above 25°C (77°F), a solar panel’s efficiency typically declines by 0.3% to 0.5%.
Solar panels lose efficiency when it's hot out it's called summer and winter time it's worthless I installed solar on my property in 2010 it isn't an investment and it looses 10 percent year one.
Renewables, the energy source republicans love to hate. Right now (Jul 18, 2023 11:29 CT) solar is 14.4% and wind is 29% of the grid. Natural gas is 37.5% and coal is 11.5%. Its free market vs fossil fuel money-power-influence.
Are people upset that the school tax incentive is ended. I think it's a great thing that they're paying school taxes now because schools need money to hire new teachers. And repair schools.
If the power grid fails in Texas Greg Abbott will blame wind and solar. Wind turbines can't turn in the heat. 🤡 Solar doesn't work in the sun. Hahaha 🤡
Yeah. Just like how he blamed it on wind and solar during their last deep freeze. They didn't want to follow federal guidelines for winterizing power equipment. Texans just have to show everyone else how independent they are. Until a disaster hits.
Texas' business model is to use solar and wind internally, so more oil and gas can be exported / sold to other States and countries. Hence why Texas publicly criticizes renewable energy while extolling the virtues of fossil fuels. Texas also criticizes electric vehicles but just announced a $1.6 billion public investment for charging stations on interstate highways and local roads.
Solar is a Band-Aid. Would love to see Texas go with more Nuclear. I've always advocated 'Hydrocarbon +' energy policy (continue to develop hydrocarbon, but phase in alternative energy as vilifying hydrocarbon is simply idiotic). Solar panels and wind turbines are largely imported from China and they don't provide a reliable energy source. This is not how to build a modern society.
Their governor tried to bury the alternative energy sector even blaming them for the failure of the grid in the winter.
Solar power unreliable in the summer?? 🌞
@fjbatyoutube1681 I'm pretty sure it was natural gas pipelines that froze.
@fjbatyoutube1681no it wasnt
Solar power was not the reason the grid failed in the winter in texas
@fjbatyoutube1681 you're drinking the conservatives kool aid instead looking at the facts and numbers
How is AZ not all solar power? Its sunny all the time there.
It's run by Republicans, who are programmed to hate solar.
It is very costly for solar and the cap is 1k from the state. Terrible.
@@anaroman1499 LOL. Not anymore. You can buy panels by the pallet retail now for less than 50 cents a watt. I know a few people living right in Henderson and most of their houses are being run off grid on DIY systems.
@@davefroman4700 they may equal net zero on their power consumption but they are not "off grid".
@@anaroman1499The cost of solar and wind has dropped so much, it's actually cheaper to install new solar or wind generation than it is to keep fueling and maintaining existing gas fired power plants.
This is the main reason why solar and wind are increasing so much all over the country.
The battery storage adds some cost, but batteries are very effective at stabilizing the grid. Over the long term they are way more reliable than gas fired plants. They also need way less maintenance and don't require constant refueling. So there are a lot of upsides to the energy transition.
The Texas government talked badly about solar before as if it was not a legitimate and sustainable source but it looks like they are using it anyway. That state has some serious issues and that governor is crazy wicked
Solar is good for a portion of energy use. But the thought that it will replace fossil fuels completely is naive. Our extensive energy needs require an “all of the above” strategy. Solar can be part of it, but a limited role.
@@SpanishKnight1 Solar, hydroelectric, and nuclear should be more than enough without coal, oil, or gas-burning power plants. You're right, though, solar alone can never cut it.
@@ScottGrammer If we expanded nuclear I would agree. That’s the direction we should be moving in.
@@SpanishKnight1 Looks like it's replacing fossil fuels to me.
@@sightline4004 It can reduce our need for them, but will never 100% replace. Now if we crank up nuclear energy production, we could greatly reduce it. Still, we will need fossil fuels for jet fuel, plastics, and a million other things.
and yet Governor Abbot signed an order cancelling farm and construction workers water breaks and shade
Just as RE is saving the day, Texas politicians want to make it more difficult for RE!!! What leadership!!
It clearly goes to show how much of an unabashed fossil fuel industry _lapdog_ that Greg Abbott is. No shame whatsoever.
Texas is building much more RE than California.
they dont care since they are owned by big oil.
lol. TX isn't California. Just cause the governor doesn't like it doesn't mean you cant build solar. 😂
I, an individual can become a power supplier with enough land and panels. No govt approval needed.
That's because it's a red state. The people there are responsible for the politicians. It's their fault.
The heat this year is intense. In the past two weeks I have called Emergency Services 22 times on my lifeguarding shifts due to heat related illnesses and given treatment 30+ times.
I’m guessing you’re in Texas?
Damn, if only there had been 10s of thousands of scientists that had warned the world about this over and over and over again for decades.
Except they exaggerate and lie. We were supposed to run out of oil in 2010, the north pole would be entirely gone by 2013 according to Al Gore. And recently nasa had to fact-check media misreporting temperatures around the world. They were measuring the ground temperature and not the air.
Maybe we should see where they're living.
Damn, if only billions of years of earth’s existence hadn’t existed.
@@JamesDavis-mb1jw They marketed wrong. Earth's gonna be fine. WE are not.
Climate change is caused by human behavior. Industrialization and pollution. This is a fact, endorsed by the vast majority of scientists as well as people with common sense.
I'm almost 40 and even in my lifetime, it is much hotter than it used to be. Lived in NOLA, multiple cities in Texas, then the Pacific Northwest. Disasters in all areas: two major hurricanes, drought, and the new annual fire season. It's getting worse, and we need our governments and communities to do everything they can to reduce the damage.
construction workers should work at night for their safety. solar panels can be used to shade public spaces like side walks. ranches can have solar systems on elevated platforms allowing cattle to graze in the shade.
Humans have been working outside for hundreds of years.
@@mtorres3097and we have caused almost a thousand years worth of climatic change in less than a hundred
Not to mention that the built up, urban environment is very different from the environment in which humans were created, civilization itself was worth public health disaster in human history
Build taller houses. They will be able to shade the street. If the heat is above you, it is not that big of a deal. It will rise and go away. Just make sure that the windows can be shaded during the day.
@@placeholdername0000 Buildings make the surrounding temperatures hotters we need to plant trees to cool down the surrounding air and provide shade
@@mtorres3097 You are right. Humans used to die early like in 40s or 50s. I don't think anyone want to go back to stone age.
Last summer, my HVAC technician worked 60 straights day, 12-15 hours per day because of the heat/broken AC units. Here in Southern Nevada/greater Las Vegas area it can take up to three days to get a tech at your house unless you know the secret to getting same-day service. Why? HVAC tech shortage and many HVAC companies quit doing residential work in favor of commercial - read new housing construction - because of the increased population. Many homeowners do not have their AC units inspected, cleaned and tested in late spring/early summer. This is called preventive maintenance versus remedial maintenance. PM costs much less than when you have a broken AC unit plus the tech is on-site.
AC in home without proper insulation is dumb idea. I do not have AC but proper insulation and exterior reflective blinds and reflective roof.
Agreed. I see lots of old homes with no insulation with refrigerator air where I'm at.
The People gotta maintain it themselves
OH NO TEXAS!
DON'T DO ANYTHING SENSIBLE!
Texas for energy security should connect with East, West and Southern grids. A Canadian US Mexican transmission line for renewables is a great strategy too.
@@aaronvallejo8220 you ask to much of them and their common sense
Remember, Texas has a Senator who fled the country during a winter season in order to enjoy Mexican weather while his supporters were suffering with freezing conditions. DISGRACE!
@javtimestwo No one needs to freeze or over heat if we ALL invest in interconnected grids, renewables, high insulation and high efficiency.
@@javtimestwo Cruz works in DC. Congress was in recess and Texas state capitol was closed.
What were Texas politicians supposed to do, when more than half the state was shut down? 🥱
If every homeowner had solar panels providing their electricity, when there's such high demand because of air conditioning, the strain on the grid is much less, alleviating the need for mandatory temporary shutdowns to prevent a total system failure.
If everybody does their part, everybody is helping their own neighbors.
I'm in Florida and would like to see that for new construction you need solar in the amount of your ac use ( projected)
Looking at the US as a whole - as of 2021 only 3% of homes had a PV system, and each year from 2014 - 2021 5.4M MWH of domestic generating capacity was added giving a total of 49M MWH (that's enough for 4.4 million homes). So far it's been a fairly flat rate of increase - but there's plenty of room for growth.
@CHMichael - absolutely. Requiring new builds (or roof replacements) to include a PV system (and a solar water heater) should be a no-brainer. As should be requiring the wiring to include provision for a car charger to be added in future. These should apply to apartment buildings too - every parking space should have the facility to fit a charger. Why wouldn't anybody want the provision for future requirements to be included?
@malcolmrose3361 solar water - I'm in Florida and nearly everyone was using them for their pool .
Strangely enough they are disappearing in the last 10y.
( I put 2 small water heaters in the attic - works great)
@@CHMichael I'm in Southern Spain. I installed a cheap solar water heater when I was refurbishing the place. It has a small electric heater if we have some consecutive cloudy days (I maybe run it two or three times a year), and a small PV system. I'm a net contributor towards the Grid by a few hundred KWH per year. My pool is currently 33C (that's 90 degrees F) so I don't really see the need!!
@malcolmrose3361 Florida is winter escape and we do get around 14 really cold days per year ( 50s)
And even on 70 deg days people want their 85 " pool ( I don't have a pool)
The nice thing in summer is that if you let it run at night you can also cool it back down to a refreshing 85 . .... from 95.
Spain is nice - like the food.
Really smart architecture when it comes to staying cool .
As a texan ive gotten daily emails asking me to conserve electricity from noon to 8 pm. Not sure why your going after CA but praising TX when we have the exact same issue
I wonder how many people realize with temperatures like these the only thing keeping you alive is your air-conditioning system. If there is a blackout you could see many many fatalities.🙏
@@Royale_with_Cheeze Air Conditioners don't send carbon into the ozone layer. Air Conditioners use energy which is often derived from fossil fuels and emit green house gases.
If you're going to make an argument, at least do it right. The function of the Ozone Layer is UV protection from solar rays.
Home battery backups are a godsend!
You have to fill your tub with cold water and lay in it . Or wet towels and put them on you if it did
It’s funny, how a two-sided approach can actually be beneficial as opposed to a one-sided, all or nothing proposition. At the end of the day, there’s no reason why you can’t have both.
You mean fossil fuels vs renewables? There really is only one side and cannot have both. The US and world is moving to drastically cut fossil fuel emissions due to emissions and effects of climate change. The US has set 2035 goal for a net-zero grid. The EU has similar goals. Then 2050 complete net zero (not just grid) and onwards to essentially zero fossil fuels in short order after that. The planning is happening now because a global energy transition does not occur overnight.
Elon Musk's Tesla and Starbase influence in Texas may be doing some good.
@@beyondfossilsorry but we won’t get to zero fossil fuels you realize that net zero does not mean no fossil fuels right. I use diesel for my farm but I’ll bet I’m net negative in emissions!
@@jlkkauffman7942 Those carbon credits well known to be scams. There's going to be a huge crackdown on that activity. There are some programs that work and others (like yours) which are pure baloney.
The problem stems from _woefully_ inadequate accounting. Just look up "carbon credit scam" for some really good videos on the subject.
Furthermore, we have a huge milestone coming in less than 12 years (starting 2035) with both ban of new sales of internal combustion engine vehicles and a net-zero grid.
Fossil fuels vehicles will become increasingly rare, their upkeep will become increasingly expensive because decreasing number of parts and lack of technicians and businesses to service them. All while EV will become increasingly cheaper, more choices, and longer range.
Ground transportation is just one segment of the total energy market but it has huge implications to supply chain and overall economics including sociological mindshare.
The simple fact is that wind and solar are the _least expensive_ forms of energy and yet still getting cheaper. Fossil fuels are finite and take millions of years to form. Also, we'll never be able to extract _all_ fossil fuels from the Earth's crust. The remaining bottom-of-the-barrel amounts will become so deep (20+km) or so remote that it will cost more money to extract them than they could be sold for profit. The crossover point will happen sooner than you think with the plummeting cost of renewable energy.
@@beyondfossil It doesn't occur at all. You can set all the goals you like but climactic and resource limitations prevent universal adoption. Use what makes the most sense where it makes the most sense. Another thing to consider is air conditioning is a small percent of energy use. By far the largest use is heating. Oh and the climate change crisis is a hoax.
Don't yell for the heat to go away yell at your governor to plant more native trees and other native plant life to reduce the heat add shade.
I read a long time ago that a tree is worth a ton of AC ( a ton is a measurement of AC, it means it removes 12,000BTU's from the air per hour ). If it is shading concrete then the concrete (or the roof of your house) will cool down faster at night. Be grateful for trees that shade streets and parking lots; we need more of them because they will help reduce the heat island effect in cities.
@@lestermarshall6501 didn't realize it was that high on btu thank you for the information.
@@lestermarshall6501Most of the cooling capacity of trees comes from evaporation which consumes water. Reflective white roof paint works better and can defray the annual air conditioning costs in hot climates.
Batteries are complementing solar and wind. Tesla's Megapak's keeps power on at night.
The size of all Megapack installations in the US is ... miniscule and would only augment a couple hours. I'm all for them (and an investor in Tesla too) but there'd need to be several hundred like they're installing right now at GigaTexas to really help much keeping the "power on" any time of day. Mostly those packs are good for a couple hours to shutdown in a catastrophy, and to assist in ancillary support like frequency regulation and to level out site demand and solar production before it ever leaves for the grid - if, it ever leaves to the grid. When they are on the grid, they basically can offset some of the fast ramps of demand that happen early in the daylight hours.
The wind turbines help too.
Especially in winter and the shoulder seasons...night time too. Imagine waking up to electric heated floors, full residential and grid batteries and vehicles topped up:)
Yes, but the big three-bladed "windmill" rigs need to go. They have far too many problems. There are better ways to harness wind energy.
@@ScottGrammer Those wind turbines are big business now with 5 MW onshore units...offshore other magnitude bigger and more powerful!
@@ScottGrammer No, those turbines are in fact the best currently available way to harness wind energy. Nothing else has proven remotely close, and that's why they're not dominating the scene.
But the GOP has ignorant leaders that are anti-wind turbines because they pretend to be concerned about, "birds" 🤦🏽♂
Why isn't the country overbuilding the electric grid to keep up with the demand. Open land should be filled with solar panels to generate more energy to be stored.
Live underground.. Under 10 ft the temps stay around 60 to 70
They do that in coober pedy. Eating at a Pizza Hut underground is weird.
@@MH-eu1dr Mexico City planning a underground building
Definitely an intelligent long term strategy. Start digging property owning citizens.
@@aaronvallejo8220 Only concern is mental health at not having natural light. Doing research in cost of building underground..
@@jamesstpatrick8493also vitamin D deficiencies
It doesn't really count for much if Texas is using a lot of Solar but still drilling and refining Oil for use elsewhere. You have to decrease GHG emissions not just increase you Solar and Wind output.
Texas economy is fairly diversified. It needs to start exiting oil and gas. Some gasoline stations around the world are dropping gas pumps and going to all electric chargers. When cell phones came out- they had slow adoption for 10 years, then the next 10 years their uptake was fantastic and took them over 90%.
It's been 8 years since Tesla sold the first Roadsters.
100 Watt Solar has dropped in price from $700 to $125 while shrinking from 32sqft to 16sqft.
I bought a Kilowatt battery recently for $499. That would have cost me $2000 only 4 years ago. They are projected to be 40% cheaper by 2025 (so $299).
Change is coming. Range anxiety is on the way for gasoline cars. Fewer kids are becoming ICE car mechanics.
@@macmcleod11881 kWh battery or 1 kW panel?
@@TinLeadHammer "I bought a Kilowatt (hour) battery recently for $499. That would have cost me $2000 only 4 years ago. They are projected to be 40% cheaper by 2025 (so $299)."
I bought two 100 watt panels for $125 each so 1000 watts of panels would be around $1,250. I have seen cheaper panels at harbor freight ($89?) so that would be $890.
I'm backing them up with a 2000 watt propane generator and 3 days of propane.
I have a friend whose power has gone out for about 8 hours and 12 hours this year so the 1kwh battery will keep them from losing the contents of their refrigerator.
Transition to solar and battery storage is expensive - better to pay with petro $$$ than no $.
Texas Petro industry also supports its school system through petro lease wealth funds.
Hope you are doing your part to make petro obsolete.
@@macmcleod1188 great setup - and get a window ac so you don't have to run the big one ( part of my hurricane kit)
the more sunshine you have, the more power you get from solar panels to run the aircon.
makes perfectly sense. solar panels are pretty cheap.
"the more sunlight" - well, in hours of a day and ability to keep them close to perpendicular to the sun's rays - yes. As temperature goes about 75F, there's a steady decrease in production related to the associated heat - so you have to somehow cool the panels (fins, water on back etc.) or plan installations much larger to account for the net decrease during hottest times. (Conversely you generate very efficiently when it's cold and sun is shining). It's not unusual in really hot areas for a 15-25% reduction in generation of power due to elevated heat.
Why are they making solar farms? There are so many parking lots and government buildings they could place solar panels on.
if you have a water buffer with a few thousand liter, you can use the excess solar energy during the day to not only cool the house but also cool the water buffer. when the sun is going down the cold water buffer is still there to cool the house. this thermal buffer is much cheaper that batteries.
Depends. Also batteries aren't as expensive anymore as they used to be though there is a lot of room to go before they're at grid parity with baseline loads.
That's an interesting idea.
If you do the math, chilled or heated water storage has a very low energy density, so it's not feasible to cool a whole house for the night that way. The answer is external thick insulation.
@@tbggaming4385A few cubic meters of ice would satisfy the cooling needs to a family home. It's probably the cheapest method of small scale energy storage proposed in this comment section. But I agree with more insolation. And reflective white roof paint.
@@gregorymalchuk272 Yes and no. It takes 100 calories/g to go from boiling-but-not-steam (100C) to freezing-but-not-ice (0C). At 100C it takes an additional 540 calories/g to get past the phase change and go from boiling to steam. And at 0C it takes an additional 80 calories/g to get past the phase change and go from 0C to solid ice.
So. going from a heat-wave temperature of 35C to freezing stores about 80+35 = 115 calories/gram. An 80 gallon tank is 290299 grams. So 33.384 million calories. Converting that to kWh, x 1.16222e-6 = 38 kWh, roughly. A respectable amount, but since this is not a heat pump the equivalent A/C power is roughly divide by 3, or 12 kWh worth of electricity running an A/C.
Still respectable and it might be enough to get a room or two through a night in comfort with 95F overnight temps outside.
12 kWh worth of LiFePO4 batteries is around $3500. Assuming all else is equal, one can imagine there must be a cheaper way (cheaper than batteries) to freeze and store ice and then run air through it overnight to get the cool back out.
But there are some problems. Ice expands, and even if you leave the top open it won't take very many cycles before you destroy a large 80-gallon tank. So actually going through the phase change will work but it will probably destroy the equipment after a limited number of cycles whereas batteries will last 3000 cycles / 15+ years.
Conserve for what? If the grid can't handle the summer heat how are they going handle going all electric for vehicles.
One charges a lower price for power off peak. Consumers aren't stupid. They will (and do) charge their cars off peak.
@@danielcarroll3358 "Consumers aren't stupid" I don't suppose you've seen any news stories about the US' student loan situation huh?
They aren't charged all at the same time. Most charge them at home via solar or at night.
Less ac running.
Didn't Abbot try to blame solar panels for his inadequate grid?
wind turbines freezing actually
Actually, Texas residences have been asked to conserve as well. Official Message: "ERCOT is calling for the conservation period due to several factors: Most of Texas is experiencing extreme heat for a prolonged period, Texas is seeing record energy demand due to the heat, forced thermal generation power plant outages are higher than normal, solar energy generation is declining in the evening hours ."
This is also what happens when you rip up all the grass and replace it with rocks or concrete. Urban heating.
We need more nuclear power everywhere to go along with wind and solar energy.
I was looking for a comment like this. If we can have a healthy mix of nuclear and renewable energy then we should be able to hold off more possible unreversable affects on our planet. But with the current state of most people of the general public and how they see/speak about nuclear then it seems like we are gonna get nowhere and then on top of that you have all of politics and stuff which I just wont get into
Thank God I live in Texas. Out power is stable and has been for years. We only had one major incident.
We really need even more solar. Because in extrem heat they still provide a lot of power but are not as efficent, because the panels have to be protected from over heating.
@@user-rs3lm1ci6n because heat is very bad for conductivity. wires and the silver in the panels are still vulnerable to this and will produce less if it gets too hot.
There are panels that integrate water coils for hot water heating.
I can't believe every house doesn't have a few solar cells on the roof, battery and a generator..... just to run ac.
It's expensive to setup and the governor doesn't believe in it
@bl00dkillz government 0 intrest loan for every new construction mandatory. ( ac only)
Pay what you save . Could be so easy
Solar and wind have been my only energy source on my farm for several years now, and it has its pros and cons but this is laying it on pretty thick
Interesting. But just out of curiosity, what exactly is being mis-represented here?
@@beyondfossiltbh everything after 3:30 sounds like a solar sales pitch. The implication being that solar is the solution for all the hot days because it can power all those A/C units that the grid demands. That's really not true at all. A/C's are absolute energy hogs and you would need not only an unbelieveable amount of solar arrays to satisfy that kind of demand you would also have to have an unbelieveable amount of deep cycle battery storage and that technology is incredibly immature, costly and dirty. If you have millions of A/C's to run night and day the only option is something like nuclear or something else pushing enormous steam turbines or just move underground altogether. Solar is good for current loads that arent very large. If you start covering the earth in solar panels to satisfy demand you get all kinds of albedo feedback loops that make everything hotter and other environmental issues. The ideal physical solution we could have would be something that could just harness the kinetic energy of gases directly from the atmosphere and ground which would simultaneously cool and produce electricity.
@@daviddickey9832 Sure, but we should put some quantities and context to these values you're discussing.
The average whole home central A/C is around 3500W for a single family home. The max will be around 10,000W as that current draw is close to 50A breaker limit on a 240VAC dedicated circuit. The average solar rooftop installation size is some 6000W. Larger homes may need more A/C but they will also tend to have larger roof areas. If you're on a farm, you'd likely have a lot of land for ground mounted solar. A mall, big box store, campus would use a humungous amount of A/C but they also have a humungous amount of rooftop and parking lots.
The context of the video was about solar and heatwaves. But solar _excels_ during heatwaves as heatwaves always come with a large amount of sunshine during the hottest hours of the day. Rooftop solar directly *unloads* the grid because every watt generated locally is a watt that doesn't stress a distant powerplant nor the grid to transmit that watt - it’s the most efficient watt you're gonna get. When there are thousands or even planned millions of homes & businesses with solar then that will take a huge load off the grid especially at a time when the grid experiences its maximum levels of stress. Solar is the only form of energy that blends so seamlessly into the urban landscape with silent solid state electronics.
The cost of solar has dropped a massive 90% since 2010 and continues to fall. Commercial solar is now the least expensive form of energy at some 3¢/kWh unsubsidized. Basically, the world has not seen electricity production cost this low before and the price continues to fall. This is a big reason solar is the most rapidly growing form of energy in the world - including a oil-friendly state like Texas which tripled solar capacity in the last 3 years. Texas actually leads the US in wind power but its solar is coming up fast.
@@daviddickey9832 The cosmically large power of the sun means we do *not* need to "cover the Earth" in solar panels to power the world's grids.
Remarkably, the entire US electrical grid can be powered by just 0.7% of its total continental land area!
Calculation: The US uses 4-trillion kWh of energy annually and the average output of a solar farm in sunny south western region of US 181GWh/mi² per year - this includes seasonal and daily weather patterns. The US has some 3.1-million square miles so 0.7% of that about 22,000 sq.mi! That's just the top "hat" part of Texas. This would be spread over the US probably mostly in the SW but no reason to limit it there. There are solar farms all over the US.
In fact, powering the *entire world's grid* is somewhere along the same 0.7% since the US is a high per-capita energy user. Just expand the 0.7% to 1.0% to provide a 43% margin of error still is a surprisingly small area of land. This doesn't include rooftop & parking lot solar. It also doesn't include water based solar.
Any solution to wholly replace fossil fuels obviously needs to be based on the sun. Right now that is wind & solar as they are most direct forms of it. The above calculation used only solar but realistically there would be wind power involved as well. But that just makes a renewable energy solution all the more achievable. There is enough offshore wind energy to power the world several times over as well.
Look at the basic science: The sun is 99.9% the mass of the solar system while the remaining 0.1% is mostly Jupiter and Saturn. So the Earth is like a speck of sand next to a bowling ball. The sun provides an absolutely immense 173,000-terawatts non-stop continuous to the Earth. Another way to view is about 1000W/m² peak ground and its always peak somewhere on Earth.
All the *combined* fossil fuels on Earth past and present is literally like a bucket of water in an ocean when compared against the sun. There is no need look further than renewables based on both availability and cost.
Consider also that the raw input resources of sunshine and wind cannot be sanctioned, tariffed, embargoed or taxed neither. Can that be said about any other form of energy?
@@beyondfossil : Undecided with Matt Ferrell, covers geothermal as part of the solution (net zero home). Plus lead-acid is pretty mature as a technology, and recyclable. It just takes more of it compared to other technologies.
Texas should be the leader in solar energy generation.
Imagine choosing to live where it's hot 🤡. Maxing out the power grid like it's a one-off event, but this is just the beginning.
Crazy since they blamed solar and wind for their power grid failing for winter and killing several people.
larry; as noted below Texas and Oklahoma were experiencing blackouts and brown outs in sweltering heat. The wind and solar systems purchased were running far below their rated capacities; solar though mid summer was only producing 50% of it's rated capacity; and wind 25%. Had these been achieving a higher output these folks would not have had these outages. The outages meant airconditioning didn't work, it meant people were experiencing potentially deadly tempratures. The only reason the problem was not far more severe was the State still has signficant fossil fuel electrical generation; had they been depending on wind and solar alone; most of the state would have had major trouble.
Texas uses a less robust electric grid that also has failed in the recent past. Texans have also been asked to conserve.
Yeah, dang those NG guys for not freeze protecting their pumps and transmission gear like they were told to in 2011...
I mean yeah Texans have the lights and air-conditioning on but at what cost? When the lights don't go out, energy companies are not allowed to charge premium prices and don't have record breaking profits like in prior years.... won't somebody (besides the governor) please think of the the poor energy corporations 😢
"Helping" is the key word here. Solar and wind can't handle the load by themselves
They are just protecting profits
im seeing a lot of diesel generators powering electric charge stations, WTF?
Where?
Hypocrisy has no limits, I thought those people drank oil and breath smoke?!
What they need are more electric cars!
Zero-carbon nuclear power works pretty well, too.
Yea but neo-communists don't like that. It allows people to maintain their current lifestyles without adding to the "climate crisis". We need "climate crisis" to bring about redistribution and centralized power to politicians.
Yes, except it could cause a meltdown and then there's matter of waste.
@@tudorjason Lol, no. I'd be shocked if a meltdown ever happened again because the risk is so low and it has always been low. And if it did happen it would be contained fairly quickly and not cause significant radiation leakage. All of these previous accidents that people think have are one-off incidents that will basically never or at least in our life time not happen again. Oh yeah and waste? Well if you'd know anything about the waste you have 3 types of main types of radioactive waste LLW, ILW, and HLW. The HLW is the one that most people are concerned about which are the used fuel rods that can be extremely radioactive for months and years. Even after they are still not safe so they are put in long-term storage facilities that are underground. Do you want to know what percent of radioactive waste is HLW? Only 3% of all total radioactive waste is HLW. Nuclear energy has a lower carbon footprint than solar panels and is about on level with wind turbines. A healthy mix of both nuclear and renewable energy is what we really need. However as the public keeps fearing the worst, then the best for us for the meantime will not be happening.
@@Astrobucks2 If anything it's capitalist elites that want more centralized power, we could still solve climate issues while having socialized labor.
LOL. Ask Georgia about building a nuclear plant.
Don't let the TX Governor find out about this. If the power grid fails, he will blame the solar component.
4:48 Texas is not just behind California, Texas is about 5 times behind California on solar energy
Texas is not "leading the way" (@3:39) or "a leader" (@5:47) in terms of renewable energy. This misleading narrative leans on raw/non-contextual data to claim that they're at the head of the pack when in reality, the metrics that matters in terms of leadership are PER CAPITA use of renewable energy, and the PERCENTAGE of a state's total energy usage provided by renewable resources. For example, about 32.6% of Texas' total energy production is via renewables, which is lower than the national average of 38.7%, and the state only ranks 33rd in the nation (for comparison, California is #16 at 49.4%). In terms of solar installations per capita, Texas is in the middle of the pack, ranking #24 at about 312 installations per 100,000 people (for comparison, Hawaii is #1 at around 6,400 installations per 100K, and California ranks #2 at around 3,070...nearly 10 times that of Texas). If one looks at the metric of solar megawatts installed, Texas is indeed #2...but it is a VERY distant second place; if one combines the solar megawatts installed in the #2 through #6 states (TX @ 6,751, NC @ 6,486, FL @ 5,748, AZ @ 4,820, & NV @ 3,643), they only add up to 94% of the leading state's solar megawatts installed (CA @ 29,218).
Why is there ever any attention given to the temperature at Death Valley? It is often the hottest place on earth. No one lives there. Are we trying to suggest the temperature in L.A. is any where near 120+ degrees?
It’s almost as ridiculous as saying “I live in Las Vegas and I wasn’t ready for this heat!”…..so what were you ready for?
Its still pretty impressive to reach 120 degrees
not of lot of places in the world can reach that level
BTW clouds came into the hottest part of Calif. where I live, and the expected 105F turned into 90F and there is minimal sunlight.
And yet GOP can often be seen as against solar.
Unplug your Tesla
Just charge it when demand is lowest on the grid.
Helping. No way solar carries the whole load. It can help though.
Definitely not a physics major, amirite?
@@VoteForBukele
State with coal plants have better power output than solar. Clouds don't hurt them. Lol😂
@@VoteForBukele I just don’t buy everything they are selling.
@@VoteForBukele And no, I’m a double major Accounting/Finance. 😁
My 3.35 KW SunPower system generates 22 kilowatt hours on sunny days. At noon with full sun it generates 3,000 watts while when cloudy at noon it generates 700 watts...of 3,350 watts (3.35 KW). Now imagine millions of homes, garages and buildings having comparable solar PV systems...connecting to grid batteries.
People like to ride stationary bikes can they not attach a generator to the bike and make electricity?
Solar, wind, and batteries no longer need tax breaks. It is the cheapest energy to produce. It wins on economics.
Can you imagine, a Star is a source of energy.
We don't have to imagine. It is the main source of energy
It’d be cool if they developed a concentrated solar power plant in TX.
Lol!
Watch texas power grid go OFF and cRUZ goes to Cancun………..again.
It seems like it wouldve been smarter to focus on changing one thing from oil and gas. Instead of permoting electric vehicles you could've promoted flex fuel vehicles and put your main focus on changing the power grid to renewables and updating it. This should be done before you switch to electric vehicles. You're Kinda putting the cart before the horse here.
Exactly, if you have an electric car but the electricity is generated by fossil fuel power plants, you just shifted the problem elsewhere.
@@ziploc2000 Although that combination is more efficient than an ICE car. This is because fossil fuel power plants are more efficient than ICE cars.
At this point, we need all of the above, ASAP. Time is really of the essence.
And besides, even if the grid never changed, EVs generate about half the lifetime emissions of comparable ICE vehicles. The oil companies want you to think otherwise, but there are dozens of studies now that confirm the emissions advantages of EVs.
It is the same case when Northern Germany had lots of reserve power while the whole of Southern Germany was told to conserve electricity.
But Governor Abbott said solar is woke
Solar is still less than 4% of Texas total grid. Really poor video.
The good old boys of the Texas Power Grid are still sleeping on Teslas energy division.
And if you look up they aren't spraying the clouds either..👍
Homeless in 110f heat? Omg. Misery
Or, a way to cull the criminal drug-addled population increasingly infecting our cities like a spreading plague. Wait, it *is* a spreading plague!
We have angered the climate gods with our hubris.
And now, starting in September, Texas is taxing EVs $200 annually. $400 if new. I understand that they need to pay their share in the road tax, which is about 15 cents per gallon of gas sold, but they’re charging $200 outright. Imagine if you own more than one, AND only travel 5,000 miles a year. With a gas car, you’re paying that road use through how much gas your vehicle needs, but with an EV, estimated at 115 mpg, you’re paying for 153,295 miles of road use EACH YEAR… …PER EV! That means that less people will want an EV, and instead drive a gas guzzler because it’s cheaper. And the only reason they’re not driving a physical car, is because the government already taxed those, exempting trucks and SUVs, incentivizing that purchase. It’s just going to keep getting hotter.
Solar panel are inefficient when there is too much heat.
But it's still better than nothing
Maybe we shouldn't live in deserts? It has been a nice 80 degrees in Wisconsin and haven't had to turn on the AC that much.
Then if everyone moved to WI, you'd be trying to keep them out.
Why would anyone want to live in a desert??
Why are the houses not on geothermal energy?
If by that you mean geothermal heat pumps, which are twice as efficient as air to air heat pumps, it is because the cost of installation is much higher. Texas is too far from the ring of fire to have regular steam out of the ground geothermal energy. For that try California. Geyserville or the Salton Sink for example.
Texas doesnt have active fault lines
@@thankyou9085 had an earthquake 10+ years ago in Irving when I lived there...
Expert states a ton of solar is helping. How much solar is required to make a ton?
So, it’s hot out in the desert?! Imagine that! Maybe…..don’t build giant cities in the middle of the hot, arid desert!
Whaaaat 😱 green energy is helping Texas, last time I heard their Governor saying green energy was causing winter blackout.
Where is that governor today, with teddy bear cruz in Mexico 🍹🥂
Texas needs a different governor.
How does it do at ....what do they call that rare state in nature....night
78 vents a KWH for electricity in Ca. during peak hours of 4pm to 9 pm
$0.52/kWh 4-9pm, roughly, in summer. Not sure where you got $0.78 from. Off-peak is $0.40. During winter peak is $0.39 and off-peak is $0.35 (E-TOU-B schedule, PG&E). Of course, since I have solar panels and I load-shift 4-9pm, and charge my EV across noon, my monthly bill so far this summer has typically been less than $50.
Charge your BEV in the morning - and bake your casseroles then too. Consider cooking a pizza then, and eating it cold - it's better that way in the evening anyway.
@@lylestavast7652 It is the AC is the problem, 95 to 115 in the summer. it does not cool down to 90 degrees by 9PM
Why use your oil when you can sell it to anyone else?
The best thing about Texas is that it has access to the great Gulf. The only down side is that one of the largest refiners in the world boarders a vast majority of it. Texas coast line is constantly under a air quality hazards. The wind blows the garbage air south to the north. Maybe Texas is t as great as everyone Thinks.
…not to mention you spend a majority of your life in a vehicle if you live in that state
There are a whole lot of upsides to the energy transition that you never hear much about.
Those refineries take a big toll on people's health. All those engines idling do too. When all that stuff is gone, life expectancy will go up by a couple of years, and quality of life will improve a lot.
Add to that the benefits of getting your legislatures back. Oil companies own them all right now.
Ok I guess there will still be banks and big pharma and all that. But taking veto power away from big oil will allow democracy to work better.
We have the largest fusion reactor in the center of our solar system, why wouldn't we capture that energy? Oh right, it cuts in to the bottom line of billionaires.
The financial incentives will only increase and the Governor will backtrack or be replaced. Young people want to see action on the transition to clean fuels.
The electric vehicle was invented 50 years before the gas vehicle.
Companies and big pharma an insanely amount of money as the result of gas vehicles and plants.
Green energy is freedom from money and health.
I run my entire home using 💯 solar. This includes running by heat pump hvac 24/7 365 days. My stove is induction cooktop, my washer/dryer is all in one on a 110V. I spend $2 Dollars a month charging my car at home.
THIS ONE TRICK BIG CORPORATIONS DON'T WANT YOU TO KNOW!
I was aware of the fact that solar power was the second most used power source in Texas.
It was still eclipsed by fossil fuels, but not by much, quite surprisingly.
By that measure, I thought California was using much more solar than the most conservative, oil company friendly, state in the union.
Come on, Cali. Get with the program.
So what happens when we don't have enough electricity for air conditioners yeah we're forced to have electric cars
Still Abbot. Cancelled water breaks and shade for construction workers.
Hundreds of acres cleared of trees and foliage for solar. Trees and foliage remove carbon out of the atmosphere. How can this be green? As the temperature rises, the output voltage of a solar panel decreases, leading to reduced power generation. For every degree Celsius above 25°C (77°F), a solar panel’s efficiency typically declines by 0.3% to 0.5%.
And this is why electric vehicles and electric ovens have no business being on our grid as of yet. Come on we all saw this coming.
Solar panels lose efficiency when it's hot out it's called summer and winter time it's worthless I installed solar on my property in 2010 it isn't an investment and it looses 10 percent year one.
I’m so glad I left mexifornia
And Abbott said Renewable energy is the cause of blackouts.
Greg Abbott: "Solar bad"
Time for Ted Cruz to go on vacation!
Permanently
Renewables, the energy source republicans love to hate. Right now (Jul 18, 2023 11:29 CT) solar is 14.4% and wind is 29% of the grid. Natural gas is 37.5% and coal is 11.5%. Its free market vs fossil fuel money-power-influence.
Thank god we have that mandate for electrical cars. Lol.....
Are people upset that the school tax incentive is ended. I think it's a great thing that they're paying school taxes now because schools need money to hire new teachers. And repair schools.
If the power grid fails in Texas Greg Abbott will blame wind and solar. Wind turbines can't turn in the heat. 🤡 Solar doesn't work in the sun. Hahaha 🤡
Yeah. Just like how he blamed it on wind and solar during their last deep freeze. They didn't want to follow federal guidelines for winterizing power equipment. Texans just have to show everyone else how independent they are. Until a disaster hits.
We call it as Powergrid balancing Renewable Power Supply.
Until is isn't......
Texas' business model is to use solar and wind internally, so more oil and gas can be exported / sold to other States and countries. Hence why Texas publicly criticizes renewable energy while extolling the virtues of fossil fuels. Texas also criticizes electric vehicles but just announced a $1.6 billion public investment for charging stations on interstate highways and local roads.
Wait! So in California they want you to conserve electricity when they want everyone to drive an electric vehicles???
So wait California produces 5 times the solar power as Texas, so wait !!!!!
When life gives you lemons, make a lemonade. It is just as the same. Excess sun heat? Solar panels can help!
Solar is a Band-Aid. Would love to see Texas go with more Nuclear. I've always advocated 'Hydrocarbon +' energy policy (continue to develop hydrocarbon, but phase in alternative energy as vilifying hydrocarbon is simply idiotic). Solar panels and wind turbines are largely imported from China and they don't provide a reliable energy source. This is not how to build a modern society.
I’m waiting for them to beam energy from space. They just did it on a small scale.
Nuclear plants cost to much to build and maintain. Look at France. You also need massive water reserves to cool them down.