AFAIK China has regulations that now require solar to be installed in dual land use ways, where the land used for solar gets simultaneously used for something else. Agrivoltaics, floating solar on fish ponds, solar over canals, rooftop solar, etc. Combating desertification is just one of the many dual land use ways that solar is being put to use. Incidentally, this means losing farming land to solar is becoming a myth in China.
@@tilapiadave3234 imagine without solar...everyones just using more electricity. Also heat pumps and ecars. so less gas and oil used. but no, because oil is up, 50% of oil goes to make plastic, and more people.more plastic. solar can barely keep up. its not even keeping up, not yet. But at least It's already got its jogging pants on.
@@mikemotorbike4283 The answer will always be a MIX of generation and usage. one of the major problems is channels such as this one that continually lead people in the wrong direction. We should NEVER have started EV cars until AFTER we have the grid and generation sorted
@@tilapiadave3234 You said that ALREADY-give it a rest will ya!! Yes-1.they are still providing power to remote areas and improving standard of living across the country.2.They are displacing fossil fuel in transportation-cars trains trucks etc and lessening dependence on importing fossil fuels for that (SMART!!!) WE,the (a lot) less smart country are 100% dependent on imported fossil fuels from far away for transportation....go figure!!!
In the countryside where I live (Southern Alps), many people, including myself, installed PV systems about 10-15 years ago, either grid-connected or stand-alone. I have never heard anyone complain, when something fails (rarely) it is simply replaced or repaired. Now, thanks to low prices, we are buying electric cars and battery storage systems.
I constantly tell my fellow Australia’s the same thing. No one wants to hear it, but I just show them the facts. Once coal exports start to plummet perhaps they will start to believe the truth about what is going on…
Earth to Sam; earth to Sam (and everyone else). Capacity is NOT the same as output. Solar and wind only produce about 20% of rated output, because the sun doesn't always shine and the wind doesn't always blow. Coal can be turned on at will. China still burns more coal than the rest of the world COMBINED, and that is not going to change soon.
In 2023 China added almost 50 GW of coal power plants (roughly the total coal power capacity of Germany or Japan), but the capacity factor of their coal plants has been dropping over the last 15 years: in the early 2000s, plants were running around 70% of the time; now they're running around 50%. If utilization rates continue to drop, China's coal use will fall despite it adding more capacity. Essentially, the Chinese are using them as peaker plants, turning them on and off or ramping up and down when they're needed. Oddly enough, China could build more plants while burning less coal.
China need to add energy storage capacity. That will eliminate all peaker plants as a power source. Storage is way cheaper than construction of any peaker plant.
What is often forgotten is that most of the pollution is used to make goods for the west. In the past companies like Mercades, and GM used to make goods at home now they make vast amounts in China and then ship them to the west.
The more EV users than ICE vehicles on the road helps alot in the everyday emissions. US and Canada with very little factories but still heavily polluted in the makor cities.
@@kenbehrens5778 the filters got much better also they replaced Mao era coal plants with modern ones... so not a lot of smoke anymore, but CO2 emissions are higher than ever today in China.
For people wanting to dig further into how the new battery technologies work, and other climate and power generation info, the channel Just Have A Think does a great job.
Batteries for storage don't need to be high performance. For ev's batteries need to be able to release a lot of amps really quickly. For storage batteries need to release energy relativly slowly over longer periods of time.
It's rarely mentioned in the West, but China pioneered the use of passive solar hot water decades ago. Some of you might remember there was a passive solar craze in the US a number of years ago which was unsuccessful. China was working with renewable energy that far back. When you travel around China you will see large water tanks with multiple manifolds protruding on rooftops of homes and apartment/office buildings. These are passive solar hot water collectors. They are vary inexpensive to build and fairly easy to install. 25+ years ago my wife's uncle owned a factory manufacturing these units in Chongqing. Really cool to watch them made. BTW, it's also seldom mentioned that China also pioneered electric vehicles liike bikes, mopeds, scotters, even "tiny 3, 4 wheel cars" (almost bought one for my visits - $1,500 USD) decades ago. They were powered by lead acid batteries. In cities you had to step over people's extension cords across the sidewalks from their homes and apartments (some dangling down from the third floor for example) charging their vehiclees batteries! Americans and the West refuse to admit it because of thier exceptualism, but China has been inventing and innovating for milenia. Inventions that later became central to indiustrialization in the UK and Euirope, later in the US. China's history tells the story.
If you are in US , UK, EU Europe and Canada, the governments promised everyone and everything under the Christmas 🎄 tree. Yet delivered only sad and lousy jokes to the voters.
I had a summer job at Newcastle University many years ago, it's a great place. But yes it was dependent on coal and steel. It reminded me of my native South Yorkshire.
I used to read that whenever they build a solar or wind power plant, they also need to build a coal or oil power plant nearby as a backup. When there are enough renewable energy from solar or wind plant, the coal or oil plant will run at its minimal output. You can't shut it down as it also takes time for them to get online. I'm not sure if battery is good enough to store enough energy to skip those backup coal and oil power plant now
Battery Storage, Colocated with Coal Fired Plants, would allow them to operate also as "Peaker Plants", so long as the Battery could "Carry the Extra Load" for a few Hours, allowing the Coal Plant to Start Up. Natural Gas "Peaker Plants" (in Ontario, as I'm Told), actually don't "Fire up" to carry over the peak loads, but run as "Spinning Reserves", to Sync with the Grid, quickly, (1-2 Minutes) as needed! Batteries colocated with them, would allow them to actually shut down, using the Battery System for Faster "Rapid Response" to changing load demands!
China is also helping Europe transition to renewables faster with cheap solar panels. Electricity is so cheap in spain, for example, due to cheap renewable energy. It is almost free in spain. Look it up. And most of Spain and Europe,s Solar Panels come from China. However, Spain has an advantage over other European countries when it comes to Solar in particular. It is the most Sunny County in Europe. Xinjiang in China is also Sunny but it also has a large land area and is sparsly populated. France uses mostly nuclear and their electricity prices are more expensive than in Spain.
People always confuse China’s approval vs what gets built. A lots more gets approved that doesn’t built. Especially in coal. But solar/ wind/ batteries are the bulk of what is getting actually built.
I agree. China will not import any fossil fuel after 2030 (might still use existing pipes from Russia a little bit longer). Batteries is good for EV and the batteries in EV can store some energy from daytime to nighttime but the main thing to store solar energy from day to night is: 1. Hydro pump/turbine systems. China are building large systems for pump water 500m up during daytime and then use it during nighttime. (90% effectivity) 2. Transform coal power plants to graphite "batteries". Solar power heat the graphite during daytime and are then used for run the power plant during night time. Low cost to transform power plants but to get high effectivity you need to have a need for hot water (40% only electricity storage 80% electricity+hot water).
If you really want to offend someone, just tell the raw uncomfortable truth about them. If you're Aussie neighbors are offended by this truth about China's overwhelming renewable energy revolution, oh well! Cheers, Sam!
@@tilapiadave3234 The Chinese government tried their best for improvements, while the WEST cries and beating war drums 🥁 with tax payers money to offshore. That's the fact.
Integrating renewable energy into their bad managed power grid is going to be a nightmare. And the cost of coal powered electricity is much cheaper due to the none existent environmental guidelines in the third world countries. Developed world need to generalize renewable energy and further bring down the cost and develop more robust integration technologies. Before countries like India and Indonesia can widely implement it.
Integrating renewable energy into their bad managed power grid is going to be a nightmare. And the cost of coal powered electricity is much cheaper due to the none existent environmental guidelines in the third world countries. Developed world need to generalize renewable energy and further bring down the cost and develop more robust integration technologies. Before countries like India and Indonesia can widely implement it.
In China over the last year renewables were 52% of plated capacity. However renewables only provided 12% of total demand (Wind 9%, solar 3%). Coal is 42% of plated capacity, but delivered 70% of demand.
@@dzcav3 Filthy air, children choking, hospitals overflowing, polluted rivers and oceans, radioactive waste piling up everywhere, oil slicks as far as the eye can see. The reality is so much sweeter, ain’t it, troll?
Of course the Chinese are moving away from dirty and expensive coal - why would you stick with something that costs a lot more and has dirty/dangerous health impacts when you could get your energy clean and cheap elsewhere?
What people fail to realize in their argument about China still building coal plants? Is that all of the ones they have been building for the last 7 years are far cleaner and more efficient than the old coal fired plants that they replaced. They all have advanced carbon capture technologies.
Nothing wrong to have backup source of energy power plants. Actually it's smart. Especially the WEST is capable to sabotage energy supply line, like Germany's Nordstream pipeline blown by joe blows and Charlie the Vampire King.
China will buy about $9 Billion USD worth of coal from Australia this year. When China fully electrifies with renewables and nuclear, say by 2030, those sales will plummet. Australia found other buyers in 2020 when China banned Aussie coal over a political scuffle. But with a new PM that's forgotten. Australia sell coal everywhere, Japan is a huge customer. But long term, 10-15 years, that industry is dead. I often wonder why Australia doesn't develop it's own photovoltaics and wind turbine industry. It's a sun and wind powerhouse and could easily go 100 percent renewable, compared to other nations. But why not make some of the systems, too?
The answer is cost and time, china is comunist country they keep doing what have been in plan, australia goverment cannot do that, they need something short term have fruit if want elected again.
I was looking up information that relates to this video today... weird. According to the Canadian Federal Government, our coal exports have declined 32% in the last decade, AND most of that decline was what they call "thermal coal" which is used in electricity plants. I think that's some solid proof that the people who produce electricity are moving away from (expensive) coal. Keep in mind that 10 years ago coal was 58.08/ton, and today it is: (as of Aug 16 2024) $146.75/ton. Would you want to pay that much more in just 10 years? I know I'd be looking for alternatives! As a comparison gasoline in 2014 was around $2.75/gallon, it is now: $2.31/gallon (US).
Wind and solar haven't overtaken coal in terms of total energy contribution coz a huge part of the coal used in China is for heat. Wind and solar are a long way behind.
another thing to re,member is the price of solar panels, i am able here in the UK to buy Aiko 620w panels for £107 each, obviously the seller has a markup say 20% (£21), then the importer has proably the same(£17.20p), shipping costs from China (£2 per panel), customs duties (20%/ £13.56p), that leaves give or take margin of error £54.24p, now if your in China and your Aiko & you supply a solar farm you will proably be charging out the door for £40 ish per panel 5-10,000 panels per order BIG economys of scale for Aiko :) plus theses Aiko panels are circa 23% efficent & you can now get 750w panels with the same or better efficencies for a slightly higher price so a multi gw solar farm now becomes a much better investment especially if you change the panels out every 2/3 years to stay @ the peak of progress, the 2/3 yr old panels would proably fetch the same on the secondhand market, after all no moving parts nothing to wear out, even if you rebrand them as grade b you will recoup your original investment ,and so it goes on and on :), free electric constant best in field panels more power for less panels or even greater power for the same amount of panels :)
China can mothball their older plants from the 70-80s and work with more modern ones. And they need to install seas of panels to cover for coal, we are not there yet.
What is the average lifespan of a wind turbine and a solar array? I'm not challenging the need for solar or wind energy, but I'm wondering what you think about nuclear power? Can you make a video on these subjects? If you have already done this and I missed it, can you make an updated new video?
I reckon a Wind Turbine is 30yrs up from 25yrs and Solar was 30yrs but I think will be closer to 40yrs. Batteries are another product which are getting longer and longer life times from a conservative 10yrs to the now 20yrs guarantees for the grid scale batteries.
Solar lasts 30 years, some manufacturers even offer 40 year warranty. The forty year overhaul of a European reactor costs as much as installing solar. Nuclear is way too expensive and takes too long to build. Nuclear is only suitable for regions that lack sufficient renewable resources.
@@dzcav3 beggging your pardon ,i have 12 turbines in a line right in sight of my house on the seafront, the have already been operating for 27 years(i have lived here 22 yrs), and there has been no blade changes YET, they are licensed now for another 20 & a bit years and still havent needed blades, your facts are mispoken :)
@@mikemotorbike4283 I get that... Production only happens After the Prototyping! Which brings me full circle back to my question, modified: What's the reason tesla gives for not even working on a sodium battery?
@@loktom4068 Thanks! Speculation? I was wondering what they've said. Also whether they've been asked. What they say and why haven't they are the follow up! Speculation?? Why not build them here? At least do their own R&D here?
@JorgeLausell Elon and his team of financial experts already have their mathematics equation done for his company's profits. It is not feasible in North America.
Would be interesting to know the amount of actual heat is created comparing all fossil fuel nuclear power and i c e to all renewable energy and hydro global warming is heat after all NEVER SEEN ANY COMPARISONS REGARDING ACTUAL HEAT CREATED PER KILOWAT
The difference is, the heat with electricity generation is localized only and has absolutely no impact on the entirety of the world's atmospheric heat retention. Some very smart engineers are even trying to capitalize on said heat for further generation. There are great example of this in New Nuclear Power Plant designs. I.C.E and all other forms of emission based energy generation adds to the planet's ability to retain solar radiation, this heating the entirety of the world. 🫠
Hydropower has a power efficiency of above 99%, meaning almost no heat is generated. The same goes for wind. Solar actually reduces the amount of heat because it turns part of the light that would create heat into electricity instead. Anything that burns a fuel, on the other hand, has a power efficiency of roughly half or lower, so for every KW of power generated from fuels - both fossil and renewable fuels - it generates about one KW of heat. And it's even worse when the fuel-burning engine is small or has to vary its speed, as in a car, where energy efficiency is usually of about 25%, meaning for every KW of power generated a car's engine creates 3KW of heat. This, incidentally, is why electric cars don't have radiators like those of ICE cars. They generate so little heat that their cooling is more akin to a PC's cooler than a regular car's radiator.
@@peterwilson8512 It's the issue with burning things to extract energy; doing that always throws out most of the energy, no way around it. Recently that has been the case even for heating. When burning things for heat you have close to 100% efficiency; an electric heat pump, though, moves heat from somewhere you don't mind cooling (like outside your house during winter) to somewhere you want to heat, and in doing so not only gives you a lot more heat for the same energy spent, much of that heat is "reused" heat, as opposed to "brand new" heat that would be heating the planet.
Great news china's first SMR nuclear reactor is nearing completion and should be operational next year proving SMR Technology works hopefully Australia gets on the band wagon We need reliable baseload power renewable cannot provide
So what are the real costs of recycling wind and solar? What can and can't be recycled? What is the actual cost? What do you think about molten salt nuclear reactors? Battery tech is getting better all the time. Where do you see battery tech going in the next 5 years? Can you stretch that out to a 10 year projection?
Keep in mind, that in 40 years, when they will want to replace these panels - the panels will still have 70% or so of original power rating - third-world countries would love to pick these up for the cost of extracting them and shipping them - which would be about 10% of the cost of new panels
It can all be recycled, we just need to mandate it. If that's your real concern then lobby for recycling to be mandatory. Have you ever raised concerns that oil, coal, gas can't be recycled?
@@willm5814 Way better than the countries have little renewable energy plans and lifeline. Those countries heavily consuming non renewable fossil fuel are still standing still and bragging jokes. When the jokes are on themselves down the road. As they never see it coming.
So, it sounds great to have all these renewables installed. Have they installed a load of battery banks too? All this stuff cost megamoney to build and now the investment has to be paid back. If the turbines wear out quicker than expected or underperform this will be a financial disaster. Coal is polluting but it is reliable. Renewables are not as reliable and far more expensive. Difficult times ahead.
China has out paced the rest of us by far. The West has failed miserably in addressing the climate crisis. I’m Canadian and our response has been shamefully slow.
This is cool but LFP lasts longer and is just as safe or safer than Na-ion and they also have no considerable raw material supply constraints. There's plenty of lithium, right? Sodium doesn't last as long, right? I mean if it does, then by all means (unless it has thermal issues). Can Na-ion be made with iron/phosphate? If so, and if they last as long (or even longer) then I would be glad to be proven wrong!
For new construction likely. But China has so many active coal-fired power plants that urban air pollution are still significant issues. Small wonder why as a medium term solution, they will import natural gas from eastern Siberia so those coal-fired power plants can be permanently shut down.
Eventually, 5% of the oceans could be covered with solar to help offset the extra heat in the oceans caused by the extra radiative forcing caused by the excess CO2. Both solar and the ocean have the same reflectivity, they only reflect some 5%, but 20% of that gets diverted (as electricity) from the ocean to land (or above the ocean in ocean cities) which releases, rather than traps the heat. I believe this is the ONLY way an advanced civilization could have "unlimited" energy without worry about decay heat. All other sources including most land based solar, nuclear (and I believe, wind) add heat by converting motion or light striking dark colors into extra heat energy in which only part of that is used for electricity, as the other part (up to 2/3rds, or so from thermal generation) is extra heat. Bringing in sunlight from space would also be a "no no" once our energy requirements exceeded a safe passive heat decay limit, as would be with any type of (massive amounts of) nuclear. In the meantime, we use so little energy that this decay heat issue is still very trivial (mass produce advanced little nuclear reactors, if we must, to make all the solar/LFP in the meantime, instead of using _whole cubic miles of the valuable hydrocarbons_ to make all that PV/LFP). So, only ocean covered solar is the source that has, perhaps _a negative_ heat decay... *The more energy from ocean based solar, the cooler the planet!*
As long as the bottom line $$$ is less cost, the capitalism should push renewables? Eh the capitalistic push from oil is the equal and opposite reaction? Ughh
الصين هي الدولة الأولى المسؤولة عن تلوث الهواء في العالم كله وهي تسير في الطريق الصحيح وهذا جيد ليس لها بل للعالم كلة. اما في أمريكا الدولة الثانية المسؤولة عن تلوث في العالم دونلد ترنب تم دفع له من قبل شركات النفط ليعيد تشغيل محطات الفحم النظيف الرائع 😂
Correction, Western countries are first responsible for air pollution/greenhouse gas emissions in the late19th through late 20th centuries. China and rest of the world are responsible for the subsequent pollution/greenhouse gas emissions in late 20th and early 21st centuries.
Trump promised US coal minors to restart it mines. He then watched more coal mines close than any president. That trend has not stopped. Now a US company, Tesla, is the largest producer of utility sized batteries for solar and wind energy and the US is rapidly building out its renewable energy manufacturing capabilities as China’s economy is starting to stumble.
@@KennyL0009 This is the power of the media. China always comes up as the worse offender if anyone does a google search despite U.S. and EU remain the largest cumulative emitters to date, bearing responsibility for most CO2 in the atmosphere. United States has the highest emission per person. Per capita emissions in the U.S. are double those of China and 8 times those of India. It will take another 30 years or more for China to even come close assuming it never switched to renewable. At this rate China is going to renewable, US will remain number 1 per capita, accumulated total and annual amount.
It was tried. They poured about a hundred million of taxpayer money at it. It failed just as wave and tidal energy failed after the taxpayer money ran out.
هو فقط يتلكم عن موضوع الطاقة المتجددة في الصين لانها الدولة الأولى المسؤولة عن تلوث الهواء في العالم كله وهي تسير في الطريق الصحيح وهذا جيد ليس لها بل للعالم كلة ولكن كلنا نعرف أنها دولة شيوعية دكتاتورية مجرمة
The savings for consumers through increase SWB is redirected toward other uses. Lowering inflation, amongst other positive impacts. These emerging goods and services will require workers to produce and service. What those in power now are attempting is to redirect all that future profits back toward them, before they "allow" for the transition. A horrid example of that equally horrid (and perfect) line in that movie. To paraphrase: Industrialists and their financiers are like monkeys, they can't let go of a branch until they've gotten their grip on the next one. That was delivered in an Aussie accent too, right? ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-WZca_EmpkOE.html
Very few jobs in Australia are dependent on the coal industry - a tiny fraction of 1%. Sam, you're parroting fossil fuel industry propaganda by claiming otherwise.
The mini increased coal output is not due to China is building more coal power plant. China is actually closing more coal plant than building new. They close more old generations coal plant with less efficiency and heavier pollution to the most up to date over 50% efficiency plant, even they close more old plant, the output is still increasing.
That's not quite correct. A field of 200x200 km in the Sahara receives the world's needed energy (if they calculated this correctly). But solar panels have only an efficiency of 20%, so you would need a 1000x200 km solar farm (with no gaps between the panels), and that's a massive area. As is already the 200x200 km area BTW, it's much bigger than it sounds if you have to cover it completely with solar panels.
The mini increased coal output is not due to China is building more coal power plant. China is actually closing more coal plant than building new. They close more old generations coal plant with less efficiency and heavier pollution to the most up to date over 50% efficiency plant, even they close more old plant, the output is still increasing.