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Solar power has begun to transform the world’s energy system

(www.newyorker.com)
353 points dmazin | 1 comments | 09 Jul 25 12:31 UTC | HN request time: 0.001s | source
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thomascountz ◴[10 Jul 25 04:37 UTC] No.44517231[source]▶
> ...people are now putting up a gigawatt’s worth of solar panels, the rough equivalent of the power generated by one coal-fired plant, every fifteen hours.

This is amazing! Whether you believe photovoltaics are the most efficient form of green energy production or not, you cannot argue the impressive economics behind them. Successful engineering has to meet the market at the end of the day.

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pfdietz ◴[10 Jul 25 04:54 UTC] No.44517332[source]▶
> are the most efficient form

What does this even mean?

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1. thomascountz ◴[10 Jul 25 07:07 UTC] No.44518169[source]▶
You got me. It was a honeypot of a term, "efficiency."

The point is, it depends on how you define it. Engineers may say efficiency is determined by the properties of the photovoltaic cells themselves. Economists may argue it's cost per kilowatt. Politicians may say it's how quickly we can construct solar farms...