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posted by martyb on Sunday June 28 2015, @03:55PM   Printer-friendly
from the but-using-same-old-approach-for-non-humans dept.

The renewable-energy boom is here. Trillions of dollars will be invested over the next 25 years, driving some of the most profound changes yet in how humans get their electricity. That's according to a new forecast by Bloomberg New Energy Finance that plots out global power markets to 2040.

Here are six massive shifts coming soon to power markets near you:

  1. Solar Prices Keep Crashing
  2. Solar Billions Become Solar Trillions
  3. The Revolution Will Be Decentralized
  4. Global Demand Slows
  5. Natural Gas Burns Briefly
  6. The Climate Is Still Screwed

 
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  • (Score: 2, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday June 28 2015, @04:36PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday June 28 2015, @04:36PM (#202448)

    Solar Prices Keep Crashing
            Solar Billions Become Solar Trillions
            The Revolution Will Be Decentralized

    All true, but there are pressures to slow/stop this. It started with reductions / elimination of incentives. Now it is moving into charging for the interconnect to reduce distributed solar. It is not inconceivable that connecting more solar to the grid will be made illegal. And, wind farms have already been legislated against (at least in the US), as "eye sores".

    I have a friend who works for the Public Utilities Commission in California, who is about as anti-renewable as you can get (especially distributed). The reason is that this power source is feast / famine, and destabilizes the grid. Of course they could create incentives for folks to use power during peak solar periods, but that is not how government regulators wholly owned by industry, work.

    Global Demand Slows

    Yeah, we are still deep in a long-going recession. In spite of the economists' claims to the contrary. Folks are not working. And, those that are are getting shitty wages, that leave little discretionary income.

    Natural Gas Burns Briefly

    Apparently the author has never heard of Russia? And, fracking is a global phenomenon. In New Zealand, they are fracking with even fewer environmental controls than in the wild west US-- NZ frackers just dump the waste water into the streams.

    The Climate Is Still Screwed

    Yup. But, it is no where near as rosy a picture as the author paints.

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  • (Score: 5, Informative) by sjames on Sunday June 28 2015, @06:39PM

    by sjames (2882) on Sunday June 28 2015, @06:39PM (#202474) Journal

    Now it is moving into charging for the interconnect to reduce distributed solar.

    Power companies in Australia tried that and ended up blowing their foot off. People started adding batteries and connecting the solar output directly to various appliances (sometimes with a switch to go from grid to solar. Some were ticked off enough that they went off the grid entirely [reneweconomy.com.au].

    • (Score: 2) by kaszz on Sunday June 28 2015, @08:09PM

      by kaszz (4211) on Sunday June 28 2015, @08:09PM (#202491) Journal

      Another possibility is alternative grids such that neighbors could trade energy with each other and eliminate the need to have a batteries and solar panels for every need possible at anytime. It would at least do wonders with peak loads for anything that contains motors like fridges.

      On top of that, such grid may even be utilizing HVDC to do away with cumbersome conversions. Arcing can be controlled by electronics and if it were to occur, transmission lines like this usually are outside of homes that can burn down.

      The main problem with cutting the cord to the electrical grid is a cost efficient energy storage. Batteries wear out..

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 29 2015, @11:11AM

      by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 29 2015, @11:11AM (#202729)

      Just FYI,
      In Spain it is being legislated to make it illegal to produce your own energy, (unless you still pay for it more as if the government sold it to you)

      • (Score: 2) by davester666 on Tuesday June 30 2015, @08:35AM

        by davester666 (155) on Tuesday June 30 2015, @08:35AM (#203244)

        Of course you have to pay for it. The gov't owns the sunlight hitting your property.

    • (Score: 2) by urza9814 on Monday June 29 2015, @05:12PM

      by urza9814 (3954) on Monday June 29 2015, @05:12PM (#202897) Journal

      Some were ticked off enough that they went off the grid entirely.

      Thankfully, here in the US, they've already made that illegal...

  • (Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 29 2015, @12:39AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 29 2015, @12:39AM (#202556)

    NZ frackers just dump the waste water into the streams.

    Got a source on that? I live in NZ and haven't heard a peep about it.

  • (Score: 1) by Absolutely.Geek on Monday June 29 2015, @12:53AM

    by Absolutely.Geek (5328) on Monday June 29 2015, @12:53AM (#202563)

    NZ frackers just dump the waste water into the streams.

    Sources? As someone who works around the O&G industry in Taranaki NZ...the place where all of the O&G is here; I have to say I have never heard of this happening.

    I'm a control systems engineer; and have worked on many different O&G sites; along with other industries. Doing automation and control work. So I am not directly involved with the drilling and fracking groups. But news like that tends to get around. Especially since a lot of the guys on those teams are hunters and go bush frequently and would be very unimpressed if their hunting grounds were getting messed up.

    Environmental incidents get reported here quite quickly.

    So if you could post some sources I would be very keen to look at them and if the claims are relevant I know many people and groups that would be very interested in this.

    --
    Don't trust the police or the government - Shihad: My mind's sedate.
  • (Score: 2) by Non Sequor on Monday June 29 2015, @03:48AM

    by Non Sequor (1005) on Monday June 29 2015, @03:48AM (#202615) Journal

    Home batteries might round out the difference. The game changes if it saves people money to buy batteries to store enough energy during the day to last all night.

    Alternatively, it might start to make sense to have some sort of storage in the grid itself. Buying excess solar from a neighboring area could make this happen.

    --
    Write your congressman. Tell him he sucks.