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National Geographic published an interesting article about renewable energy myths.
Still, myths about renewable energy are commonplace, says Andy Fitch, an attorney at Columbia Law School's Sabin Center for Climate Change Law who coauthored a report rebutting dozens of misconceptions. This misinformation, and in some cases, purposeful disinformation, may lead people to oppose renewable projects in their communities. Support for wind farms off New Jersey, for example, dropped more than 20 percent in less than five years after misleading and false claims began circulating.
"It's easy to prick holes into the idea of an energy transition," because it is a new concept to many people, Fitch says.
Myth #1 Renewable energy is unreliable.
There will always be days when clouds cover the sun or the wind is still. But those conditions are unlikely to occur at the same time in all geographic areas. "There's always a way to coordinate the energy mix" to keep the lights on, Fitch says.Today that coordination generally includes electricity from fossil fuels or coal. In California, where more than half the state's power now comes from solar, wind, and other renewables, natural gas and other non-renewables generate the rest.
Improvements in storage technology will also increasingly allow renewable energy to be captured during sunny or windy days. Already, some 10 percent of California's solar-powered energy is saved for evening use.
Myth #2 Rooftop solar is super pricey.
Back in 1980, solar panels cost a whopping $35 (in today's dollars) per watt of generated energy. In 2024 that figure fell to 26 cents. Solar has become so cost-efficient that building and operating the technology is now cheaper over its lifespan than conventional forms of energy like gas, coal, and nuclear power.Homeowners also save a significant amount of money after rooftop solar is installed, according to the U.S. Department of Energy. (The method remains cost effective, even after federal subsidies to purchase the panels ceased late last year.) A family who finances panels might save close to a thousand dollars a year in their electric bills, even taking into account payments on the loan.
Myth #3 Wind power inevitably kills wildlife.
With hundreds of thousands of turbines in operation, wind power now makes up eight percent of the world's energy. But alongside these sprouting modern windmills has come stories of birds, whales, and even insects and bats killed or injured in their presence.In some cases, wind energy can cause a small fraction of wildlife deaths, but they "pale in comparison to what climate change is doing to [the animals'] habitat," says Douglas Nowacek, a conservation technology expert at Duke University. "If we're going to slow down these negative changes, we have to go to renewable energy."
When it comes to whales or other marine mammals, "we have no evidence—zero" that any offshore wind development has killed them, says Nowacek, who studies this as lead researcher in the school's Wildlife and Offshore Wind program. (Most die instead from ship strikes and deadly entanglements in commercial fishing gear.)
Myth #4 Electric cars can't go far without recharging.
Electric vehicles are an important element of the transition to renewable energy because, unlike gas-powered cars, they can be charged by solar and wind energy. EVs are also more energy efficient, since they use nearly all of their power for driving, compared with traditional cars' use of just 25 percent. (Most of the rest is lost as heat.)Concerns that EVs can't make it to their destination likely spring from early prototypes, when cars developed in the 1970s got less than 40 miles per charge. Today, some 50 models can go more than 300 miles, with some topping 500.
Worries about the longevity of EV batteries are also unfounded. Only one percent of batteries manufactured since 2015 have had to be replaced (outside of manufacturing recalls, which have been negligible in recent years). Studies done by Tesla found the charging capacity in its sedans dropped just 15 percent [PDF] after 200,000 miles.
Myth #5 Renewables are on track to solve the climate crisis.
The world is in a better place than it would be without renewables. Before the 2015 Paris Agreement called for this energy transition, experts had forecast 4°C planetary warming by 2100; now they expect it to stay under 3°C, according to a recent report by World Weather Attribution, a climate research group. But even this target "would still lead to a dangerously hot planet," the report states. Last summer Hawaiian observatories documented carbon dioxide concentrations above 430 parts per million—a record breaking high far above the 350 PPM Paris target.To sufficiently slow climate warming, experts say wind generation must more than quadruple its current pace by 2030, and solar and other renewables must also be more widely adopted. Yet while global investments for renewable energy rose 10 percent in the first half of last year, it fell by more than a third in the U.S.
(Score: 4, Informative) by ledow on Monday January 12, @10:40AM (8 children)
Solar is getting stupid-cheap.
I live in the UK (not the best place for solar) and started with a small "hobby" project 3 years ago when I bought a small house.
It's an all-electric house and I now own the roofspace so... why not have a tinker and understand this stuff.
Started with a small 12V system with an old car battery, a 160W 12V inverter I had in the back of my car and the cheapest panel I could find. And, you know, it was enough to keep some lights in the shed without having to wire the shed.
So I started buying more and more bits for it and then some more panels, and then a proper battery, and then a bigger inverter, and then...
And now I have something that - just from bits I've bought and put together - could easily run my house. Without compromise. Not just "oh it works fine so long as I don't turn anything heavy on" but literally... the solar controller I have could now service the entire house up to the highest peak power draw that it's ever drawn while I've lived in it (smart meter). Enough battery power to run the house for 24 hours (again... smart meter).
At the moment I'm running it as an isolated system (it sits behind an ATS and the other source of the ATS plugs into a wall-socket in my house. So when the solar's working, whatever's connected to the ATS is powered by the sun, when it stops, it flips over to be powered from the normal household socket. This saves a LOT of electrical certification, etc. work). And you know what... you can see the huge dent it makes on my electricity bill. I know because, again, smart meter. And smart plugs. I literally know how much power I save - AT THE PLUG - after conversion, storage, inversion, etc. It has also provided several times where a power cut takes out the local grid and I don't even NOTICE... my Internet, router, networking, laptop, NAS, projector, etc. all just carry on working. I've been sitting there watching a movie, not realising that the neighbours have all been plunged into darkness for hours.
Over Christmas a deal came up and I picked up enough panels to double my capacity for a pittance. Literally every time I buy a panel, or every time I buy a battery, the exact SAME product is vastly cheaper, or I can get a far SUPERIOR product for the same price. And I've only been doing this 3 years and make a lot of purchases (I have been spending the savings / surplus that I get back from the electricity as a refund - because they overestimated my usage - on something to go on the solar each month, which makes it cheaper, which means a bigger refund, which means more spent, etc.), but it's literally cheaper every time I look at buying something.
The plan was that, before retirement (which is 20+ years away), I'd try to make myself utility independent. And I did not expect solar to make it THIS easy. I was expecting to spend ten times what I have just to get a system which saved me money, rather than eliminated my need for the grid. What started as a hobby project is basically a fully automated solar system capable of running my entire house. And there's still more to go. I have a tiny roofspace, I don't have a lot of space to dedicate to solar controllers/batteries/etc. and yet in the summer I'm there worrying about going over the fuse rating for several strings of panels, and trying to work out the maximum voltage/current/power that the system can handle at all points. And I'm due another upgrade. I fear the new panels I just got (but haven't put up yet) will take me over a certain limit (at least in theory, but in practice probably not) and I like to cover myself. So that might mean a capacity upgrade, rerouting the strings to balance them out, more fusing, monitoring very carefully in the summer, etc. etc. etc.
I'm also looking at a water heater that can take direct connection to the solar / battery... and to be honest, that might well just be a "sink" for all the power I'm generating.
The next "big" step is obviously tying it into my actual house electrics so the whole house switches over, but that requires professionals and a lot of expense. But I'm about 20 years ahead of schedule, and things are getting better and cheaper all the time.
Honestly... if I can do that in the UK, with cheap commodity hardware, on a tiny roofspace, and it's as powerful and reliable as it is... I judge governments for not being able to just roll this out at scale and running entire countries entirely from solar.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by janrinok on Monday January 12, @11:35AM (7 children)
In fact, that is what some countries in Europe are now doing. They are giving subsidies to those who want to add solar/photovoltaic panels to their home supply with no repayment necessary. It will probably never completely replace large scale generation, well not until they have developed better storage capabilities for excess power that is generated when not needed. I live on the northern coast of France - the weather is similar to a line joining southern Wales to Norfolk, so not too dissimilar from much of England. I have 6 panels and although they are not generating very much excess electricity at the moment they are sufficient to keep much of my home powered up thus reducing my overall annual electricity bill. Summer is a different story, any excess power that I generate is sold automatically to the national grid generation companies.
I was impressed by your story - I know I wouldn't have ever got round to installing a system myself, but I didn't mind using professionals to do the job which of course included the big-boy stuff like connecting to the national grid. However, I am now tempted to produce a stand-alone system to provide power for some external buildings, and I will look at it again as a project in Spring.
[nostyle RIP 06 May 2025]
(Score: 1) by khallow on Monday January 12, @01:38PM (4 children)
(Score: 3, Insightful) by janrinok on Monday January 12, @03:40PM (3 children)
You are so far behind the technology. The latest development is that the tiles themselves are individual photovoltaic panels which all 'plug and generate' automatically. It is currently undergoing long-term trials in a handful of regions where they are being included in new-build homes - at no cost to the would-be home owners for either repair or replacement if the trial is unsuccessful.
[nostyle RIP 06 May 2025]
(Score: 2) by wirelessduck on Tuesday January 13, @09:17AM
Indeed. Over a year ago, Australia was hitting rooftop solar rates of over 33%. More than 1 in 3 houses in Australia has rooftop solar.
https://www.energy.gov.au/news/australia-hits-rooftop-solar-milestone [energy.gov.au]
https://www.abs.gov.au/articles/household-solar-electricity-generation-australian-national-accounts [abs.gov.au]
https://cleanenergycouncil.org.au/news-resources/rooftop-solar-and-storage-report-january-to-june-2025 [cleanenergycouncil.org.au]
(Score: 2) by ledow on Thursday January 15, @08:28AM (1 child)
Yes, all I have to do is replace all of my 1960's concrete tiles that are so waterproof it barely even needs an underlying felt with some cheap piece of Chinese plastic panel and I'm good to go!!!
Er... no. That's not the solution and, if anything, adds even more ridiculous professional-labour costs into the equation.
(Score: 2) by janrinok on Thursday January 15, @09:50AM
It is not being proposed for upgrading existing homes, but for new builds. The price of constructing a roof using the tiles under test should not be significantly different from that of building a roof currently, and certainly less than building a roof and then install solar panels on top of it.
This is one of the things that the current trials are expected to validate.
[nostyle RIP 06 May 2025]
(Score: 2) by ledow on Monday January 12, @01:43PM (1 child)
I don't think governments should be expecting people to do it in their own houses, or subsidising "feeding back" to the grid.
I think that if I can cover my energy costs with a tiny area of land, that the government should be able to do EVEN BETTER and far more reliable with just a handful of large solar farms, and they should be abandoning traditional energy generation in its favour (of course it will take decades but still... everything is still too slow).
One of the reasons I don't bother to hook up to the grid is because I have no intention of using such schemes to sell any excess. Why should I be doing the job and then helping government, for a FRACTION of the cost of what that unit "apparently" takes to generate? No. I see no reason to help them. I'll generate what I can, use what I need, and then any excess will either go to waste or I'll put it into something else (e.g. heating hot water) and I won't even consider giving it back to the grid.
And in the UK, we're charged based on the MOST EXPENSIVE method of generation. No matter how much solar we put in, the consumer is charged based on whatever is the most expensive price of CCGT (gas), coal, nuclear etc. That extra is supposed to go towards investment in the grid, but it clearly doesn't.
And when feedback tariffs are a tiny fraction of the grid consumption costs... we're just being conned. I'm done with it. So my energy bills have dropped by 2/3rds since I moved into this house. That's partly the solar. Partly heatpumps (self-install). Partly sorting out the house (removing 1.5KW of lightbulbs! Filling gaps, sorting the existing insulation, etc.). This year I will have enough power to start looking at heating water. Beyond that... and maybe one more year of upgrades, I see no need for grid electric in my life.
It's one of the reasons that I'm not just "installing some solar" but actively considering a retirement where I have absolutely zero reliance on utilities whatsoever.
(Score: 2) by janrinok on Monday January 12, @03:41PM
The pay me at an entirely different rate than you seem to be offered.
[nostyle RIP 06 May 2025]