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

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353 points dmazin | 4 comments | 09 Jul 25 12:31 UTC | HN request time: 0.001s | source
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jonplackett ◴[10 Jul 25 08:19 UTC] No.44518605[source]▶
> Instead of relying on scattered deposits of fossil fuel—the control of which has largely defined geopolitics for more than a century—we are moving rapidly toward a reliance on diffuse but ubiquitous sources of supply. The sun and the wind are available everywhere

I’m all for solar - but does it really solve the geographical / geopolitical issues of oil, as it’s currently rolling out?

China produces pretty much all the solar panels - That’s quite a big concentration of power, even more so than oil.

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pshirshov ◴[10 Jul 25 08:25 UTC] No.44518646[source]▶
> China produces pretty much all the solar panels

Why didn't other countries build up solar industries? Were busy with fossils? Were too greedy to subsidise?

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1. netsharc ◴[10 Jul 25 08:45 UTC] No.44518776[source]▶
Man, Paul Krugman (here's a trigger for people who know they know better than him to respond that he's a hack!) was writing about the US giving up lead of solar tech to China back during the G. W. Bush admin... (which makes me feel old as hell)
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2. mrspuratic ◴[10 Jul 25 10:00 UTC] No.44519257[source]▶
In 1979 Jimmy Carter installed solar (thermal) panels on the White House roof as part of his fairly progressive environmental and fuel efficiency policies.

Now I feel old :/

And also angry that it's been 40 years and electricity generation is still >50% fossil fuels, never mind world energy use overall.

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3. tstrimple ◴[10 Jul 25 19:23 UTC] No.44524569[source]▶
And Reagan tore them down. If you want to look at why we as a country suck at green energy, you don't have to look further than the Republican party behavior over the decades. The party explicitly responsible for why we can't have any number of Good Things.
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4. mrspuratic ◴[10 Jul 25 22:30 UTC] No.44526418{3}[source]▶
Yes, but maybe not "tore" since they got reused elsewhere. Solar was (quietly) reinstated by GW, but not on the Whitehouse itself until Obama, I think. https://americanhistory.si.edu/collections/object/nmah_13562...

I don't get the two party system where there's such acrimony involved in trashing and undoing anything accomplished by the opposition .