China’s exports of batteries, electric cars and solar panels hit record highs last year, underlining its dominance of key green industries — and driving a global price slump that’s adding to alarm in developed economies.
Until you realize that they’re a) very centralized and b) require a lot of empty space in a suitable location that isn’t better used for something else and c) consequently cockblocked by various regulations & NIMBYs. Meanwhile we have cities full of rooftops, facades, balconies, parking lots, and much much more other surface areas that are just sitting there without being utilized. It’s right there where the energy is also consumed, lowering bills and creating massive interconnected energy storage in the process.
Not meaning to add anything super meaningful to the conversation.
I think its funny that for what feels like since the beginning of humans, we’ve been debating centralised solutions vs distributed solutions. Its like a universal constant source of debate and will probably still be discussed long after were all gone.
Large solar stations are vastly better because they are cheaper and a much better use of limited resources.
Until you realize that they’re a) very centralized and b) require a lot of empty space in a suitable location that isn’t better used for something else and c) consequently cockblocked by various regulations & NIMBYs. Meanwhile we have cities full of rooftops, facades, balconies, parking lots, and much much more other surface areas that are just sitting there without being utilized. It’s right there where the energy is also consumed, lowering bills and creating massive interconnected energy storage in the process.
Not meaning to add anything super meaningful to the conversation.
I think its funny that for what feels like since the beginning of humans, we’ve been debating centralised solutions vs distributed solutions. Its like a universal constant source of debate and will probably still be discussed long after were all gone.
I just think that’s neat.
Both can have their pros and cons depending on type, use case and circumstances which need to be weighted against each other.