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Capitalism Can't Solve Climate Change
(time.com)
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this post was submitted on 22 Mar 2024
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This article is a very partisan read of the source material. https://iea.blob.core.windows.net/assets/6b2fd954-2017-408e-bf08-952fdd62118a/Electricity2024-Analysisandforecastto2026.pdf
Yes, China is ahead of the West in production of renewables, but it's also skyrocketing (along with India) in energy demands, while the EU and the US remain flat or are going down. Renewables production will offset growth on both the US and China, according to the linked report. China's forecast for reduction in coal energy generation is actually lower than in the EU and the US.
China
US
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Oh, that makes a ton of sense, actually. Replacing capacity is almost always going to be more expensive than just building new capacity.
The US numbers are a fucking joke. All the US is doing is replacing coal with natural gas, moving electricity for export, and reporting domestic consumption numbers that completely ignore the blend of input resources.
US natural gas electricity generation skyrocketed from 1687TWh to 1802TWh (+6.8%) from 2022 to 2023: https://www.eia.gov/electricity/monthly/epm_table_grapher.php?t=table_1_01
This matches with the 6.8% increase in natural gas consumption for electricity generation from 2022 to 2023: https://www.eia.gov/electricity/monthly/epm_table_grapher.php?t=table_2_04_a
Through accounting hacks, the US is able to claim that the vast majority of its consumption is actually not from the natural gas it's burning at obscene quantities to replace coal, but from renewables (and to please ignore skyrocketing energy export numbers).
This is, mind you, with the consideration that natural gas is methane, that natural gas leaks into the atmosphere, and methane is something like a 85x more potent greenhouse has over a 20-year time frame. This switch from coal to gas has been rather recent, and so it's expected that we should start seeing the effects of these short-term GHG emissions aroundabout... Today?
Cool.
Not the point, though.
Again, the original article is about China is outperforming the west because it doesn't have to deal with all that pesky free enterpriese, and it's based on rephrasing data from a report in a misleading way.
I don't care about the underlying argument, I'm clarifying what the report actually says.
If you must know, I'm all for decarbonizing energy generation through renewables and more than willing to consider boosting nuclear power. But that has nothing to do with deliberate misrepresentations for political reasons being misleading.
Your report claims US gas-fired generation decreased in 2023. It is wrong, and I've described why. Your interpretation is even more misleading.
It's not my report.
It's the report linked in the article that is misquoting it.
I don't know if it's right or not. I know that it doesn't say what the article says it says. It doesn't support claiming the Chinese political system is the only one that can fix climate change.
That's as far as I can take it.
So no, I don't think my interpretation is "even more misleading".