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

(www.newyorker.com)
353 points dmazin | 7 comments | 09 Jul 25 12:31 UTC | HN request time: 0.993s | source | bottom
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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. buckle8017 ◴[10 Jul 25 08:56 UTC] No.44518853[source]▶
China builds solar panels using electricity produced by burning coal.

China is by far the world largest producer of green house gases.

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2. chopin ◴[10 Jul 25 09:37 UTC] No.44519090[source]▶
For goods we consume, though.
3. kukkukb ◴[10 Jul 25 10:06 UTC] No.44519281[source]▶
Surely, at some point in the near future, they'll be producing solar panels using solar energy?
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4. mrspuratic ◴[10 Jul 25 10:28 UTC] No.44519391[source]▶
Per-country yes China is #1, but per-capita, oil producing countries are most of the top 10 (with island nation Palau #1, inefficient transport skewed by low population).
5. pjc50 ◴[10 Jul 25 10:48 UTC] No.44519514[source]▶
China is also one of the top two countries by population. The other is India, at almost exactly the same number of 1.4bn.
6. pshirshov ◴[10 Jul 25 12:17 UTC] No.44520151[source]▶
> China builds solar panels using electricity produced by burning coal.

Source? From everything I can find, at this moment China has around half of the generation coming from clean/renewable sources.

7. marcosdumay ◴[10 Jul 25 16:18 UTC] No.44522659[source]▶
Well, in some 2 years their solar production trend will reach their electricity consumption trend...

So either that or they'll deploy electric-arc sculptures all over the country for the population to see, listen, and smell.