solar
How cheap does solar get, and what does that change?
FilterEveryone, all time74 from 28 people
- EM
Elon Musk quoted
Founded SpaceX in 2002
Their wordsSpaceX will provide connectivity throughout the solar system and beyond
- 5 days earlier
- BD
Brad DeLong quoted
Economics professor at the University of California
Their wordsGlobally, solar's rise is a supply-side story: Chinese overcapacity, panels at $0.12/W, households and businesses defecting from the grid.
↗Rooftop Solar Rules Elsewhere!: CHART OF THE DAYbraddelong.substack.com
- BD
Brad DeLong quoted
Their wordsin the U.S., policy and plumbing now matter more than the price of a panel
↗Rooftop Solar Rules Elsewhere!: CHART OF THE DAYbraddelong.substack.com
- 2 weeks earlier
- EM
Elon Musk quoted
Our readingSolar power's exponential growth will continue until all other energy sources are far below 0.1%.
Their wordsThe solar power exponential will continue until all other energy sources are <<0.1%
- 1 day earlier
- NS
Noah Smith quoted
Economics writer; author of the Noahpinion newsletter
ChinaAmericaclimate changebatteries
Their wordsChina scaled solar and batteries when America refused to, because the CCP got scared of climate change.
- 7 days earlier
- BM
Bill McKibben quoted
Writer and climate campaigner
Their wordsthere is actually one thing we do know how to do, and that is build out lots of cheap solar, wind, and batteries.
↗Facts on the groundbillmckibben.substack.com 2nd of 3 in this piece
- JC
Jack Clark quoted
Co-founder and head of policy at Anthropic
Our readingHow to approach space colonization will become one of the next major topics of human discussion.
Their wordsit seems like the next area of major discussion for humanity will be how to approach space colonization, including beyond the solar system.
↗Import AI 472: DeepMind’s cheating math agents; populist AI policies; and Forethought theorizes a nightwatchmanjack-clark.net 3rd of 3 in this piece
- 3 days earlier
- BS
Bruce Schneier quoted
Security technologist and author
Their wordsThis kind of thing will be exploited. Think Solar Winds–style supply chain attacks.
↗AI Coding Agents Are Installing Unknown/Untrusted Code on Corporate Networksschneier.com
- 1 day earlier
- NS
Noah Smith quoted
Their wordsBecause solar has, broadly speaking, won the technological race. Intermittency was the last big problem, and batteries have gotten good and cheap enough to make solar reliable.
- 4 days earlier
- BM
Bill McKibben quoted
energyAmericaphysicsclimate change
Their wordsBut physics is giving us very little time now, and so the next set of elections in this country will be, I think, our last real chance to make the sea change-replacing oil and gas with sun and wind-that is our best hope for limiting warming.
↗The growing rumblebillmckibben.substack.com 2nd of 3 in this piece
- 2 weeks earlier
- IT
Isaiah Taylor quoted
Founder and CEO of Valar Atomics
Their wordsNuclear energy is the safest form of energy empirically. If you look at the amount of power generated versus the amount amount of deaths, um it's even safer than solar, which is very strange because how does someone die from solar? that actually most solar is installed on roofs and people sometimes die falling off of a roof installing solar and if you add those deaths up it is actually a higher death per energy than the totality of nuclear energy in the world.
↗How Nuclear Will Unlock Energy Abundance with Valar Atomics Founder Isaiah Tayloryoutube.com 6th of 18 in this recording
- 2 days earlier
- BM
Bill McKibben quoted
Their wordsBatteries are the transformative technology for the second half of this decade, as sun and wind were for the first half
↗Fun with numbersbillmckibben.substack.com 2nd of 3 in this piece
- BM
Bill McKibben quoted
Their wordsthat charge long leveled at sun and wind-that they provide "intermittent power"-is probably truer now of other energy sources
↗Fun with numbersbillmckibben.substack.com 3rd of 3 in this piece
- 6 weeks earlier
- CS
Chris Smaje quoted
Social scientist turned smallholder
Their wordsAgriculture is the only major sector that at present is significantly energised directly by zero cost and zero carbon sunlight.
↗Saving the world from bad ideas: the continuing failure of food ecomodernismchrissmaje.com 3rd of 7 in this piece
- CS
Chris Smaje quoted
Their wordsbut I do think that in a future of probable energy constraint there will be a need for a more peopled agriculture, with populations spreading out to tap diffuse solar energy input.
↗Saving the world from bad ideas: the continuing failure of food ecomodernismchrissmaje.com 4th of 7 in this piece
- 5 months earlier
- TY
Tynan quoted
American writer and long-term traveller
Their wordsI believe this is the watch great watchmakers would make today, given that back in the 1800s they were using all available technology.
- 4 weeks earlier
- JH
Jensen Huang quoted
Co-founder and CEO of NVIDIA since 1993
Their wordsWe need, you know, natural gas. We need to be, of course, we need more energy on the grid. We need more energy behind the meter. Uh we're going to need nuclear. Uh wind is not going to be enough. Solar is not going to be enough.
↗NVIDIA’s Jensen Huang on Reasoning Models, Robotics, and Refuting the “AI Bubble” Narrativeyoutube.com 17th of 20 in this recording
- 4 weeks earlier
- CH
Casey Handmer quoted
Physicist, formerly at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Their wordsOn the flip side, these captive solar power plants will be curtailing approximately 75% of their generated power and will be able to provide net power on all but a few days per year.
↗Energy Predictions 2025caseyhandmer.wordpress.com 2nd of 6 in this piece
- CH
Casey Handmer quoted
Their wordsThe only highly populated industrial country unable to trivially meet its electricity and synthetic fuel needs with solar alone is the United Kingdom, due primarily to a high population density and high latitude. The Nordic and Baltic countries are tiny by comparison. Among other problems, the UK needs to decide if it wants the future where energy is cheap and it is rich, or the future where energy is expensive and it is poor. If the former, it is time to get serious about large scale deployment of wind power, using home-grown vertically integrated technology at prices as low as $10/MWh.
↗Energy Predictions 2025caseyhandmer.wordpress.com 6th of 6 in this piece
- 5 weeks earlier
- CH
Casey Handmer quoted
Their wordsIt’s also a capsule to nowhere, designed without reference to any mission architecture that resembles our actual solar system.
↗NASA’s Orion Space Capsule Is Flaming Garbagecaseyhandmer.wordpress.com 3rd of 4 in this piece
- 3 months earlier
- CH
Casey Handmer quoted
Their wordsIt absolutely asymmetrically helps China. We're not currently working with China. They don't plan to, but like the physics is very obvious, you know, and synthetic fuels have been around for 100 years.
↗China is killing the US on energy. Does that mean they’ll win AGI? — Casey Handmeryoutube.com 3rd of 24 in this recording
- CH
Casey Handmer quoted
Their wordsso the mainstream view would say, well, China has cheaper labor, which is no longer true, uh, say compared to Mexico, and it's got lower environmental regulations, uh, which is true, and that it is more businessfriendly, which is absolutely crazy.
↗China is killing the US on energy. Does that mean they’ll win AGI? — Casey Handmeryoutube.com 4th of 24 in this recording
- CH
Casey Handmer quoted
Their wordsAnd I think the United States could probably do that in 2 years or less if you started today. Like it's currently 11:00, so like we're going to start cutting checks by noon.
↗China is killing the US on energy. Does that mean they’ll win AGI? — Casey Handmeryoutube.com 5th of 24 in this recording
- CH
Casey Handmer quoted
Their wordsThey're focused on the chips, right? Because they understand like the key bottleneck is the chips, not the solar power, right?
↗China is killing the US on energy. Does that mean they’ll win AGI? — Casey Handmeryoutube.com 6th of 24 in this recording
- CH
Casey Handmer quoted
Their wordsIt is not only the case that solar adoption, production, price decreases are continuing. They're accelerating. And the rate that they're accelerating is still accelerating.
↗China is killing the US on energy. Does that mean they’ll win AGI? — Casey Handmeryoutube.com 10th of 24 in this recording
- CH
Casey Handmer quoted
Their wordsYou you also don't know like in order to make that money back, you have to then operate that plant at that capacity for 20 years, right? And if I was looking at the same charts as they're looking at right now, I'd say what are the odds that in 25 years time we can produce gas turbines at a price that is relevant in a world where solar is already at its current price and batteries at a price where they're already like you cannot win.
↗China is killing the US on energy. Does that mean they’ll win AGI? — Casey Handmeryoutube.com 11th of 24 in this recording
- CH
Casey Handmer quoted
Our readingWithin a few years, the majority of newly broken-ground data centres will be mostly solar-powered.
Their wordsSo I think within a few years we'll probably see that like the majority of new DCs that are going in will be mostly solar
↗China is killing the US on energy. Does that mean they’ll win AGI? — Casey Handmeryoutube.com 12th of 24 in this recording
- CH
Casey Handmer quoted
Their wordsactually it turns out that you can significantly decrease power consumption with a very small reduction in overall compute. So if you if you've got like three really bad days in a row or something, you can actually just like you can dial back your power usage quite a lot without compromising your inference or or um or training.
↗China is killing the US on energy. Does that mean they’ll win AGI? — Casey Handmeryoutube.com 14th of 24 in this recording
- CH
Casey Handmer quoted
Their wordsAnd the impact of solar array on desert is arguably positive because it shades the ground and improves like soil moisture retention. Um there like if you wanted to reverse desertification, you would basically just deploy solar panels on it and that would pay for the process.
↗China is killing the US on energy. Does that mean they’ll win AGI? — Casey Handmeryoutube.com 17th of 24 in this recording
- CH
Casey Handmer quoted
Their wordsYou can revisit a bunch of legacy industrial processes that are have been optimized for efficiency and say, well, what if we just like use twice as much power and we just want to do them faster and cheaper, right? Like less capex, less lead time, more power, right?
↗China is killing the US on energy. Does that mean they’ll win AGI? — Casey Handmeryoutube.com 24th of 24 in this recording