Renewables will not cover your usage.
False. Multiple countries are already able to run on 100% renewables for prolonged periods of time. The bigger issue is what to do with excess power. Battery solutions can cover moments where renewables produce a bit less power.
100% renew
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_renewable_electricity_production
All the countries that manage 100% renewable power use high levels of hydropower. Which is not an option for many countries and has itโs own ecological problems associated with it.
Also, these 100% renewable countries have very little electricity requirements.
The United States produces at least produces four million Gigawatt hours of electricity per year. Compare that to some of these โ100% renewableโ countries.
Sure, most countries that already made it use hydro. But Denmark is already up tp 80% without hydro, and the UK and Germany are already nearly halfway there without any meaningful hydro. And thereโs still so much solar and wind that can still be installed. Theyโre nowhere near their maximum production capacity yet.
100% from renewables is clearly feasible and achievable. Of course it takes time and investments, but nuclear energy will takre more time and investments to get going again.
Oh noes, facts. The bane of all renewables evangelicalsโฆ
Just wait till you have to tell them theyโre looking at irrelevant data. Not only are they using specific usecases that are not applicable to a large majority of countries, but theyโre also using data that doesnโt support the long term fossil fuel goals.
Just wait till you tell them how much the electricity requirements will skyrocket once weโre transitioning to EV, dropping fossil fuel heating, cooking, cargo trucks switch to EV, etc etc.
Sorry to report, hydrogen is also hopeless. Itโs cool tech, but making it work in practice is hopeless because it diffuses straight through every container you try and keep it in, and achieving reasonable energy densities requires cryogenic storage.
Also, developments have been stalling out relative to electrical solutions because of this and because of the heavy investment in electrics.
I can only see it really working in practice in niche applications where you will be close to cryogenic facilities.
Locking hydrogen up in ammonia is what the industry looks to be moving to to avoid the problem you describe.
Also, look up the 7 Hydrogen Hubs in the US as an example of this market getting started. There are no downsides to developing a hydrogen market if weโre going to have oodles of excess renewable energy.
In the summer. In ideal conditions. Lets talk again once youโve tried 12 continuous months in the heavily populated northern hemisphere. ๐
Weโre nowhere near the potential capacity for energy production from renewables, and already weโre capable of doing 100% renewable power production.
Potential capacity is really not the issue.
