The Big Red Pill Renewable Fans Need To Take

[ronwagn + 6,174]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_energy_consumption

 

World total primary energy consumption by fuel in 2018^[2]

  Coal (27%)

  Natural Gas (24%)

  Hydro (renewables) (7%) Hydro is old tech but is great when there is enough rainfall. 

  Nuclear (4%)

  Oil (34%)

  Others (renewables) (4%) That include biomass. 

 

 

[Dan Warnick + 6,100]

You go, Ron!

[NickW + 2,513]

12 hours ago, ronwagn said:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_energy_consumption

 

World total primary energy consumption by fuel in 2018^[2]

  Coal (27%)

  Natural Gas (24%)

  Hydro (renewables) (7%) Hydro is old tech but is great when there is enough rainfall. 

  Nuclear (4%)

  Oil (34%)

  Others (renewables) (4%) That include biomass. 

 

 

That chart under estimates the % contribution of renewables because most renewables are electricity.

If compared against gas you can assume 1 unit for every 2 units of gas

With Coal its more like 3 

Oil somewhere in between depending on how its being used. 

 

[Meredith Poor + 809]

23 hours ago, ronwagn said:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_energy_consumption

 

World total primary energy consumption by fuel in 2018^[2]

  Coal (27%)

  Natural Gas (24%)

  Hydro (renewables) (7%) Hydro is old tech but is great when there is enough rainfall. 

  Nuclear (4%)

  Oil (34%)

  Others (renewables) (4%) That include biomass. 

 

 

Where's the chart for 2020?

[BenFranklin'sSpectacles + 762]

On 1/16/2021 at 11:01 PM, ronwagn said:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_energy_consumption

 

World total primary energy consumption by fuel in 2018^[2]

  Coal (27%)

  Natural Gas (24%)

  Hydro (renewables) (7%) Hydro is old tech but is great when there is enough rainfall. 

  Nuclear (4%)

  Oil (34%)

  Others (renewables) (4%) That include biomass. 

 

 

Can liberal arts majors read graphs? I'm not sure they take enough math for that.

[markslawson + 887]

On 1/18/2021 at 4:46 AM, NickW said:

That chart under estimates the % contribution of renewables because most renewables are electricity.

If compared against gas you can assume 1 unit for every 2 units of gas

With Coal its more like 3 

Oil somewhere in between depending on how its being used. 

Nick - sorry but that makes no sense at all. I think the point you are trying to make is that because all energy consumption is converted to units of electricity that somehow unfairly disadvantages renewables which are mainly about producing electricity.. I think you've also become confused about consumption of raw materials versus output. The basic take away from the graph is that the contribution of renewables to the world demand for energy remains tiny.. just 4 per cent for wind and solar with another 7 per cent for hydro (which counts as a renewable). If you did the same graph for electricity supply the contribution of wind and solar would be higher, maybe, but not that much higher.   

[NickW + 2,513]

10 hours ago, markslawson said:

Nick - sorry but that makes no sense at all. I think the point you are trying to make is that because all energy consumption is converted to units of electricity that somehow unfairly disadvantages renewables which are mainly about producing electricity.. I think you've also become confused about consumption of raw materials versus output. The basic take away from the graph is that the contribution of renewables to the world demand for energy remains tiny.. just 4 per cent for wind and solar with another 7 per cent for hydro (which counts as a renewable). If you did the same graph for electricity supply the contribution of wind and solar would be higher, maybe, but not that much higher.   

How many joules of gas needed to make a a joule of electricity?

How many joules of coal are needed to make a joule of electricity?

How many joules of heat can you produce from a joule of electricity (via heat pump)?

The point is electricity (of which most renewables make) has much higher utility than raw fuels. 

[markslawson + 887]

Nick - again you're looking at the point made in the original post from the wrong end.. the point was the small contribution wind and solar made to the overall supply of energy .. you are saying that if you adjust for the energies in the raw materials used then you get something different .. nope .. the point is how much energy is SUPPLIED TO USERS.. Now that I look at it you want to make a different point that the renewables are produced with far less consumption of raw materials .. that doesn't have much to do with the topic .. in any case, a large share of oil in the diagram above is due to transport consumption.. anyway, leave it with you..