<story><title>The De-Electrification of the U.S. Economy</title><url>https://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2017-04-12/the-de-electrification-of-the-u-s-economy</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>sandworm101</author><text>&amp;gt;&amp;gt; they would most likely even out 24-hour usage patterns rather than overstressing the grid.&lt;p&gt;Take a look at exactly how much power goes into an electric vehicle.  I once worked out how many solar panels one would need to charge a tesla once per day in my local.  The math pointed to something like a solid acre of land dedicated to sustaining a single car.  (not an acre of panels, at my latitude you need proportionally more land on which to mount panels).  A shift to all-electric transport would produce a demand for which LEDs could never compensate.  Only the very wealthy would ever own enough land to actually self-sustain through renewables.  Cities will need power grids for a long while.&lt;p&gt;Take electric transport out of the equation and things start looking much better.  Hydrogen-powered vehicles would imho at least allow the possibility of &amp;quot;de-electrification&amp;quot; in north america.</text></item><item><author>flyinghamster</author><text>The first thing I noticed about the article was the complete non-mention of energy efficiency. In the span of a decade (maybe less?) LED lighting has made huge advances.&lt;p&gt;Electric vehicles would certainly provide some growth potential, though overall they would most likely even out 24-hour usage patterns rather than overstressing the grid.</text></item><item><author>sxates</author><text>LED and CFL lights, SEER ratings, LEED certifications, Energy Stars all are having an impact.&lt;p&gt;Just in computers there have been huge advances. My MacBook Pro requires about 1&amp;#x2F;6 the electricity of my 2007 Desktop, and my LCD monitor is about 1&amp;#x2F;6 a CRT.&lt;p&gt;Transition to EVs may start to soak up all the gains we&amp;#x27;re making in efficiency so the usage may start to tick back up. But we&amp;#x27;re building Solar and Wind sources at an increasing rate that will effectively start trading oil for renewable electricity.&lt;p&gt;These are all positive trends.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>samcheng</author><text>Do you drive 200 miles a day?  I don&amp;#x27;t.  You rarely need to charge an electric car from empty.&lt;p&gt;I agree that solar is significantly less attractive in high-latitude, cloudy locations, though.  All of those panels that Germany installed would have been much more useful in Arizona.&lt;p&gt;Hydrogen, of course, is a boondoggle:  it&amp;#x27;s primarily a fossil fuel, needs a whole new distribution system, is less efficient than pure electric, and requires very expensive vehicles.</text></comment>
<story><title>The De-Electrification of the U.S. Economy</title><url>https://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2017-04-12/the-de-electrification-of-the-u-s-economy</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>sandworm101</author><text>&amp;gt;&amp;gt; they would most likely even out 24-hour usage patterns rather than overstressing the grid.&lt;p&gt;Take a look at exactly how much power goes into an electric vehicle.  I once worked out how many solar panels one would need to charge a tesla once per day in my local.  The math pointed to something like a solid acre of land dedicated to sustaining a single car.  (not an acre of panels, at my latitude you need proportionally more land on which to mount panels).  A shift to all-electric transport would produce a demand for which LEDs could never compensate.  Only the very wealthy would ever own enough land to actually self-sustain through renewables.  Cities will need power grids for a long while.&lt;p&gt;Take electric transport out of the equation and things start looking much better.  Hydrogen-powered vehicles would imho at least allow the possibility of &amp;quot;de-electrification&amp;quot; in north america.</text></item><item><author>flyinghamster</author><text>The first thing I noticed about the article was the complete non-mention of energy efficiency. In the span of a decade (maybe less?) LED lighting has made huge advances.&lt;p&gt;Electric vehicles would certainly provide some growth potential, though overall they would most likely even out 24-hour usage patterns rather than overstressing the grid.</text></item><item><author>sxates</author><text>LED and CFL lights, SEER ratings, LEED certifications, Energy Stars all are having an impact.&lt;p&gt;Just in computers there have been huge advances. My MacBook Pro requires about 1&amp;#x2F;6 the electricity of my 2007 Desktop, and my LCD monitor is about 1&amp;#x2F;6 a CRT.&lt;p&gt;Transition to EVs may start to soak up all the gains we&amp;#x27;re making in efficiency so the usage may start to tick back up. But we&amp;#x27;re building Solar and Wind sources at an increasing rate that will effectively start trading oil for renewable electricity.&lt;p&gt;These are all positive trends.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>llukas</author><text>How often you need to load Tesla from 0% to 100%? Everyday?&lt;p&gt;Current gas infrastructure would also be overwhelmed if everybody filled up from 0% everyday.</text></comment>