The Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems (Fraunhofer ISE) reports that Germany generated 72.2 TWh of solar in Germany in 2024, accounting for 14% of total electricity generation.
I am so frustrated by the discourse around renewables and climate change. Everybody online seems to be treating it like a puzzle or a board game, where you “win” at climate change when you find the “right” solution.
That’s not how it works. I don’t care about the “carbon neutrality” of Germany any more than I care about the “carbon neutrality” of a patch of the Atlantic Ocean. It’s a global process that is never going to end. We’re always going to need energy, it’s always going to come from a mix of sources and we need to eventually find a global equilibrium we can strive to maintain.
Data is data, but taking issue with news, and particularly positive news, as if they were propaganda in a campaign where eventually people will have to elect the one source of energy they consume is kind of absurd. Yes, renewables are gaining ground, solar is moving faster than expected and no, that doesn’t make the issue go away and we still need to accelerate the process and remove additional blockers to that acceleration. There are no silver bullets and there never will be.
[edit] don’t upvote me, read their reply. They clarified their argument and I was wrong
I feel like you agree with the person you’re replying to but don’t see it.
You hate when people/media describes it as a winnable scenario. They are saying that the chart misrepresenting energy gives people the impression that the “fight” is almost “won” and the government has it covered - no need to keep it part of the conversation.
Kinda, but I’m frustrated with both sides of the argument. There is a cohort of very online people at the ready to clarify how whatever initiative or proposal is “not it” or “greenwashing” and will not “fix” things.
The activist argument is not so much that this is an ongoing thing we’re going to be considering forever, it’s that this or that solution is a corporate trap or a fake solution or whatever else. Often there isn’t even an agreement on what the “real” answer is supposed to be, just a willingness to be the savvy, jaded one that calls out the latest snake oil handwavy solution.
So yeah, we probably don’t disagree on the first part, but that post really tickled my sensitivity to the second part.
t’s that this or that solution is a corporate trap or a fake solution or whatever else.
Or on the other hand “the ultimate solution to all problems”. There are a number of solutions to cut emissions, giving people options is what makes the difference. Also, simply cutting emissions isn’t enough in many cases but get’s painted as “the solution”.
It’s an article telling you that inflation wasn’t as high as intitially expected. Doesn’t mean prices went down, but it’s still good news against the alternative.
We’ve looped back around to arguing about the meaning of “positive”, which mostly tells me this is entirely a discussion about vibes, and maybe that’s the best takeaway anybody can get from it.
Not doing nearly enough isn’t “positive news”. But thanks for proving my point. This is literally not going to do anything for us as a species with the current trajectory we’re on, because, again, it’s not enough, not even close to it.
I mean, obviously this is at least an intermediate state towards whatever survivable endgame we want to reach. We need to be at this stage at some point to get to where we want to go.
Should this stage have happened sooner? Probably. Was it possible? Maybe.
But we’re here now, so… what’s your take? Because you seem concerned about good news discouraging people from something, but you also seem to be claiming there is no valid path forward, which seems way less productive to me.
Nihilism isn’t the same as realism. We need to make great leaps, not babysteps. We were on our way to a catastrophic 3 degrees Celsius globally already, and that was before the result of the US election. Do you seriously believe the rest of the world, who already failed to do their own part, is going to now also compensate for the addition of the US emissions under Trump? That’s not happening, especially not if we continue to delude us with misleading headlines like this. Toxic positivity is absolutely not helpful when the world needs a serious reality check.
I will note, though, you haven’t met the brief. The closest thing to a target I see there is “great leaps, not baby steps”. I’m gonna need something slightly more specific than that.
I want to hear the counterpoint to the progression being made. By all stats I can see, the adoption of solar power specifically is actually beating projections across the board. Overall CO2 reductions are not, and heating targets are out of the question, but this is the one element that is going better than expected, with the relevant asterisks.
You are out here raging virulently at the notion of acknolwedging that, so there must be a specific thing you want out of that process. Or, hell, at least some sort of mental model for what it is that acknowledging the reality of the changes in the energy mix towards renewables is doing to hamper the rest of the climate goals.
I just find it aggressively unproductive when purported climate activists make their online persona into outright denial of any and all possible steps towards curtailing climate change short of… well, I don’t even know short of what, which is my point. The implication here is that there is some silver bullet or a switch that we can flip to be done with the problem, as opposed to… you know the foreseeable future being some mix of increasingly sustainable generation and mitigation of the near-inevitable human cost of the processes that have started and can no longer be stopped.
You are out here raging virulently at the notion of acknolwedging that
I’m “raging” (nice delusions / projections btw) about the literal fake news bullshit claim of equating energy with electricity to make people feel good about us doing way too little - and nowhere near enough to prevent a climate collapse, which means ultimately it’s leading us straight to the same result.
It’s data. Valid data, at that, that captures an important metric.
It’s a weird, paradoxic stance to claim that you are deeply motivated to push for genuine climate action while actively and publicly being mad at any report that may hint at progress because anything short of absolute doomerism is automatically a distraction tactic. By that standard you’ll have to be dragged kicking and screaming towards energy transition, complaining all the way that nothing is enough until the issue is entirely solved.
Which, of course, is never. Because again, this isn’t a problem to solve, it’s a situation to manage. Forever.
Man, there’s tons of bad news for you to latch on to when it comes to climate change. You really don’t need to spend your days actively mad at the few bits showing actual progress. Taken to the extreme, and this is close, it honestly feels just as much like a disinformation tactic, very much in line with the “climate change is real but there’s nothing we can do to change it” deflection.
The hell is “doing okay”?
I am so frustrated by the discourse around renewables and climate change. Everybody online seems to be treating it like a puzzle or a board game, where you “win” at climate change when you find the “right” solution.
That’s not how it works. I don’t care about the “carbon neutrality” of Germany any more than I care about the “carbon neutrality” of a patch of the Atlantic Ocean. It’s a global process that is never going to end. We’re always going to need energy, it’s always going to come from a mix of sources and we need to eventually find a global equilibrium we can strive to maintain.
Data is data, but taking issue with news, and particularly positive news, as if they were propaganda in a campaign where eventually people will have to elect the one source of energy they consume is kind of absurd. Yes, renewables are gaining ground, solar is moving faster than expected and no, that doesn’t make the issue go away and we still need to accelerate the process and remove additional blockers to that acceleration. There are no silver bullets and there never will be.
[edit] don’t upvote me, read their reply. They clarified their argument and I was wrong
I feel like you agree with the person you’re replying to but don’t see it.
You hate when people/media describes it as a winnable scenario. They are saying that the chart misrepresenting energy gives people the impression that the “fight” is almost “won” and the government has it covered - no need to keep it part of the conversation.
Kinda, but I’m frustrated with both sides of the argument. There is a cohort of very online people at the ready to clarify how whatever initiative or proposal is “not it” or “greenwashing” and will not “fix” things.
The activist argument is not so much that this is an ongoing thing we’re going to be considering forever, it’s that this or that solution is a corporate trap or a fake solution or whatever else. Often there isn’t even an agreement on what the “real” answer is supposed to be, just a willingness to be the savvy, jaded one that calls out the latest snake oil handwavy solution.
So yeah, we probably don’t disagree on the first part, but that post really tickled my sensitivity to the second part.
Fair enough! Thanks for elaborating.
For the record, see the guy’s response below for exactly what I’m talking about.
Or on the other hand “the ultimate solution to all problems”. There are a number of solutions to cut emissions, giving people options is what makes the difference. Also, simply cutting emissions isn’t enough in many cases but get’s painted as “the solution”.
The point is that it’s not positive, not more than an article telling you that tomorrow it will be sunny.
It’s at best mild.
Now who is confusing weather with climate?
It’s an article telling you that inflation wasn’t as high as intitially expected. Doesn’t mean prices went down, but it’s still good news against the alternative.
We’ve looped back around to arguing about the meaning of “positive”, which mostly tells me this is entirely a discussion about vibes, and maybe that’s the best takeaway anybody can get from it.
Not doing nearly enough isn’t “positive news”. But thanks for proving my point. This is literally not going to do anything for us as a species with the current trajectory we’re on, because, again, it’s not enough, not even close to it.
Okay, so beyond nihilism, what’s your point?
I mean, obviously this is at least an intermediate state towards whatever survivable endgame we want to reach. We need to be at this stage at some point to get to where we want to go.
Should this stage have happened sooner? Probably. Was it possible? Maybe.
But we’re here now, so… what’s your take? Because you seem concerned about good news discouraging people from something, but you also seem to be claiming there is no valid path forward, which seems way less productive to me.
Nihilism isn’t the same as realism. We need to make great leaps, not babysteps. We were on our way to a catastrophic 3 degrees Celsius globally already, and that was before the result of the US election. Do you seriously believe the rest of the world, who already failed to do their own part, is going to now also compensate for the addition of the US emissions under Trump? That’s not happening, especially not if we continue to delude us with misleading headlines like this. Toxic positivity is absolutely not helpful when the world needs a serious reality check.
No toxic positivity here.
I will note, though, you haven’t met the brief. The closest thing to a target I see there is “great leaps, not baby steps”. I’m gonna need something slightly more specific than that.
Trolling much? We’ve globally agreed to specific targets, so the actual fuck do you want to hear from me?
I want to hear the counterpoint to the progression being made. By all stats I can see, the adoption of solar power specifically is actually beating projections across the board. Overall CO2 reductions are not, and heating targets are out of the question, but this is the one element that is going better than expected, with the relevant asterisks.
You are out here raging virulently at the notion of acknolwedging that, so there must be a specific thing you want out of that process. Or, hell, at least some sort of mental model for what it is that acknowledging the reality of the changes in the energy mix towards renewables is doing to hamper the rest of the climate goals.
I just find it aggressively unproductive when purported climate activists make their online persona into outright denial of any and all possible steps towards curtailing climate change short of… well, I don’t even know short of what, which is my point. The implication here is that there is some silver bullet or a switch that we can flip to be done with the problem, as opposed to… you know the foreseeable future being some mix of increasingly sustainable generation and mitigation of the near-inevitable human cost of the processes that have started and can no longer be stopped.
I’m “raging” (nice delusions / projections btw) about the literal fake news bullshit claim of equating energy with electricity to make people feel good about us doing way too little - and nowhere near enough to prevent a climate collapse, which means ultimately it’s leading us straight to the same result.
It’s data. Valid data, at that, that captures an important metric.
It’s a weird, paradoxic stance to claim that you are deeply motivated to push for genuine climate action while actively and publicly being mad at any report that may hint at progress because anything short of absolute doomerism is automatically a distraction tactic. By that standard you’ll have to be dragged kicking and screaming towards energy transition, complaining all the way that nothing is enough until the issue is entirely solved.
Which, of course, is never. Because again, this isn’t a problem to solve, it’s a situation to manage. Forever.
Man, there’s tons of bad news for you to latch on to when it comes to climate change. You really don’t need to spend your days actively mad at the few bits showing actual progress. Taken to the extreme, and this is close, it honestly feels just as much like a disinformation tactic, very much in line with the “climate change is real but there’s nothing we can do to change it” deflection.