<story><title>Solar is now ‘cheapest electricity in history’, confirms IEA</title><url>https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2020/10/solar-cheap-energy-coal-gas-renewables-climate-change-environment-sustainability</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>cbmuser</author><text>Except that solar power isn’t an effective measure to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the energy sector. Nuclear is far more effective as the comparison between France and Germany shows with Germany emitting _seven_ times the emissions as France in their energy sector.</text></item><item><author>civilized</author><text>It might be the cheapest if you factor in the costs of climate change, as responsible economists have insisted for decades &amp;amp; the fossil fuel industry has spent billions fighting</text></item><item><author>travisoneill1</author><text>&amp;gt; The rise of variable renewable sources means that there is an increasing need for electricity grid flexibility, the IEA notes. “Robust electricity networks, dispatchable power plants, storage technologies and demand response measures all play vital roles in meeting this,” it says.&lt;p&gt;Which is why it&amp;#x27;s not really the cheapest.  Fossil fuel and nuclear power don&amp;#x27;t have these associated costs.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>throwaway2245</author><text>Because Germany burns seven times as much fossil fuel as France.&lt;p&gt;This tells us that France has a cleaner energy mix than Germany, but I don&amp;#x27;t think this cherry-picked example contributes much to the discussion otherwise, no matter how many times you repeat it.</text></comment>
<story><title>Solar is now ‘cheapest electricity in history’, confirms IEA</title><url>https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2020/10/solar-cheap-energy-coal-gas-renewables-climate-change-environment-sustainability</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>cbmuser</author><text>Except that solar power isn’t an effective measure to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the energy sector. Nuclear is far more effective as the comparison between France and Germany shows with Germany emitting _seven_ times the emissions as France in their energy sector.</text></item><item><author>civilized</author><text>It might be the cheapest if you factor in the costs of climate change, as responsible economists have insisted for decades &amp;amp; the fossil fuel industry has spent billions fighting</text></item><item><author>travisoneill1</author><text>&amp;gt; The rise of variable renewable sources means that there is an increasing need for electricity grid flexibility, the IEA notes. “Robust electricity networks, dispatchable power plants, storage technologies and demand response measures all play vital roles in meeting this,” it says.&lt;p&gt;Which is why it&amp;#x27;s not really the cheapest.  Fossil fuel and nuclear power don&amp;#x27;t have these associated costs.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>Jweb_Guru</author><text>That&amp;#x27;s an incredibly disingenuous comparison; Germany gets just 10% of its power from solar, while France gets about 75% of its power from nuclear.  Once again, this is not some sort of demonstration that &amp;quot;solar doesn&amp;#x27;t reduce greenhouse emissions,&amp;quot; it&amp;#x27;s an indication that people need to start building pumped storage.</text></comment>