[redpoint5]

Originally Posted by aerohead

Y...Solar...probably competitive by 2051.'p.136 (it's competitive in 2018)
...He says that we're going renewable,it's just a matter of when.(I'll get that citation soon.)

...We'll just leave it to the market to sort it our for us.
What I hear from Lomberg's 2001,comments though,is that as renewables reach competitive pricing,the days of internal combustion will quite naturally,over time,fade into the dustbin of history.It's a timing issue as Lomberg points out.

Which is it? Are renewables price competitive now, or later in 2051? If they are price competitive now, then what is the explanation for it not replacing current energy production while reducing electric bills?

Any country that takes drastic measures to mitigate fossil fuel consumption without worldwide participation puts themselves at a competitive disadvantage. As my wife always says "I'll go first after you."

Originally Posted by NeilBlanchard

I think your numbers are off. It will take 0.6% of the US land to power ALL the US:

https://www.good.is/infographics/sol...all-of-america

Here's the estimate to power the WORLD:

Total Surface Area Required to Fuel the World With Solar | bLAGI

191,817 square miles - to power all humans on earth. Just from solar.

Is that based on nameplate generation, or real world generation? We need something like 10x nameplate generating capacity to not only cover local energy needs, but provide other regions with energy when their local weather isn't producing enough... and that all assumes that a totally intertied grid is already solved.