this post was submitted on 19 Aug 2025
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[–] AA5B@lemmy.world 14 points 2 months ago (2 children)

That graph has a really optimistic looking downturn on fossil fuels as a percentage of energy production … until you look at the labels on the y axis. Dropping most of the way would be a damn huge improvement. Dropping from 80 to 75 is a nice improvement but too little too late unless we speed it up.

I’m calling lying by statistics

[–] Thedogdrinkscoffee@lemmy.ca 10 points 2 months ago

It is also meaningless as fossil fuels are growing, just not as fast as renewables and nuclear are. Things are getting decidedly worse as all the clean energy coming on line is only supplementing fossil fuel use, it is not displacing any of it.

Shit getting wild and is going to get wilder.

[–] BlackLaZoR@fedia.io 6 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Moving 5% of fossil energy to renewables in a year is absolutely massive

If you look at Wikipedia articles about photovoltaics growth, you'll see 25-27% growth per year. Compounding. This is insane rate.

[–] AA5B@lemmy.world 4 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Yes 5% is still big but we needed it a decade ago. We’re running late and need to make up for lost opportunity

….. and I live in a country that seems determined to reclaim our place as the top polluter, and to throw away any hope of building for the future

[–] BlackLaZoR@fedia.io 1 points 2 months ago (1 children)

and I live in a country that seems determined to reclaim our place as the top polluter

If you mean the Trumps policy "Drill Baby Drill", then let me tell you this: Trump is pissing against the wind. Oil extraction will only get more expensive while solar power will only get cheaper.

No matter what he does, the economy will push towards cheaper energy source.

[–] AA5B@lemmy.world 4 points 2 months ago

While I agree on the basic economics and even taco can’t hold back time…

  • he can and has slowed down EV adoption
  • he can and has slowed down buildout of renewables, costing thousands of jobs
  • his lack of enforcement certainly means some polluter will pollute more
  • if he succeeds in permanently neutering EPA, we’ll all suffer for a generation
  • he can and has blocked renewables, battery, EV manufacturing in the US
  • he can and has invented automakers to backtrack to yesterdays technology, leaving them with a precarious future unable to compete that will potentially cost hundreds of thousands of jobs and a regional economic base