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

(www.newyorker.com)
353 points dmazin | 6 comments | 09 Jul 25 12:31 UTC | HN request time: 0.315s | source | bottom
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ErigmolCt ◴[10 Jul 25 06:53 UTC] No.44518081[source]▶
While the US is busy trying to revive the oil-soaked 20th century, places like Namibia are leapfrogging straight into a distributed, solar-powered future with YouTube tutorials... It's like watching the fossil era get out-hustled in real time.
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1. seydor ◴[10 Jul 25 09:30 UTC] No.44519054[source]▶
To be fair the US is leading the world in solar and wind per capita

EDIT: energy consumption from renewables, not installed capacity

https://ourworldindata.org/explorers/energy?tab=chart&hideCo...

https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/per-capita-solar?tab=char...

https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/wind-electricity-per-capi...

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2. svantana ◴[10 Jul 25 09:57 UTC] No.44519244[source]▶
What is your source for that statement? According to [1], countries like the Netherlands, Germany, Spain and Denmark are way ahead of the US in those respects.

[1] https://app.electricitymaps.com/

3. ludwigschubert ◴[10 Jul 25 10:03 UTC] No.44519269[source]▶
The US is at half the per capital levels of Sweden, and seems to lag behind most of Europe:

https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/per-capita-electricity-ge...

Do I misunderstand?

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4. aa-jv ◴[10 Jul 25 10:23 UTC] No.44519364[source]▶
This is false.

On solar - China installed 93 GW in May 2025 alone - this exceeds the US' combined solar additions over the three years from 2022 to 2024.

The US' total solar additions, even over 10 years (92.7 GW), would still be lower than China’s cumulative capacity additions in recent years. China installed 277 GW in 2024 alone.

The US simply does not lead the world in solar and wind per capita, trailing countries like Denmark, the Netherlands, and Australia in both generation (10th at 1,889 kWh) and capacity (~957–1,125 watts).

5. ◴[10 Jul 25 10:33 UTC] No.44519408[source]▶
6. lentil_soup ◴[10 Jul 25 14:38 UTC] No.44521620[source]▶
those are interesting links, but it doesn't account for the amount of energy each person consumes in each region. Probably this one is better? it's the share of the electricity from renewables

https://ourworldindata.org/explorers/energy?tab=chart&hideCo...