Except that electricity is not being used for large scale industrial processes like firing cement, bricks, glass, producing steel from ore, ferrosilicon or nitrogen fertilizer, etc.
One problem at a time. The way forward is to replace fossil wherever we can ASAP. That means some replacements happen earlier than others.
Also, recycling steel/aluminium/glass are easier to switch to electric furnaces than production from raw materials, so as production shifts towards reuse it will provide a double benefit.
We’re not replacing fossil anywhere right now. Absolute fossil energy use grows and the renewable energy grows, while the fossil fraction remains effectively constant at about 80%
Many people are, including me. You can too.
I make most of my net electricity demand. But there is no energy transition visible in the world primary energy use.
Show your numbers.
It’s a lot harder to see in primary energy use because fossil fuel use involves wasting 35% to 90% of the available energy. The impact of renewables is far larger when you look at useful energy
We might actually be at or near the point where fossil fuel use starts to fall, but that outcome is far from guaranteed
I am hoping that hydrogen can fill that gap. There is a lot wrong with it, but it can burn like gas and Europe has been building a bunch of infrastructure for it. I don’t think it is suitable for consumers like they tried to push with hydrogen car ideas, but it seems like it would have its place with large electrolysis solar stations on industrial rooftops and compressors inside.
Unfortunately, the EU is only talking about hydrogen infrastructure, not building it. And they are also planning to kill off natgas edge infrastructure, which is suitable at least for hydrogen-natgas blends.
Not used gas in years now, it’s great. Heat pump didn’t even cost that much really.
Great it works for you personally. It doesn’t work for most of energy-intensive industrial processes.
Its all about energy. Why should not it work? In engineering you can combine many different plants for processing
Energy is not fungible. For starters, look at EROEI (or ECOE) and differences in fluctuating and dispatchable power, and also price, e.g. hydrogen via water electrolysis from surplus renewable generation. In theory, a very high EROEI renewable source of cheap electricity could power a complex technological culture. In practice, existing sources fall wide of the mark. While we’re already in the tail end of the fossil energy and resource age.
Then we should probably reserve what we have for those processes rather than just burning it for heat.
Those shortages, combined with the effect of energy-related inflation on garment worker wages, will erode Bangladesh’s longstanding cost advantage over rival apparel factories elsewhere in the region.
Going to call this:
“Getting the renewablues.”
Do they not watch the news? Oil is skyrocketing and it’s time to double down on fossil fuels.
Read the headline again…
