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Just a reminder that energy use and electricity use are not the same thing --- about 2/3 of all energy is used for heating and transport, and electricity can't be used for that. (Because it's too hard to store, and because the electrical grid simply can't transport that much.)

Sure, solving renewable energy is a really valuable thing to do, but it's still only solving 1/3 of the problem.



The electrical grid will be upgraded, it's not static. Heat is easy to switch to electric. Short transport will move to electric. Longer haul transport is more difficult, but liquid fuels can be generated from CO2 in the air or water (at somewhat large expense). However, if there is large amounts of overcapacity, then liquid fuel generation via electricity might become economical.


Isn’t the solution to long haul transport electrification of the rail network? An alternative would be a swap and go battery network for the road system. The nice thing about a swap and go battery network is we have storage to even out demand and production.


> 2/3 of all energy is used for heating and transport, and electricity can't be used for that

Well, here in the Netherlands, the majority of the trains will soon (2018) be powered by 100% wind energy. 50% since this year.

So it's categorically (and I would think obviously) incorrect to say "you can't use electricity for transport".

http://www.ns.nl/over-ns/campagnes/maatschappelijk-betrokken...

Heating is another question entirely. You have more of a point there -- it's hard to find an alternative to natural gas for heating.


> Heating is another question entirely.

It's actually a comparatively easy problem to solve. Have a large boiler, heat that with electricity while you have an abundance of energy and keep it moderately well insulated. Drawing the heat off that is simple.

Storing electricity for usage as electricity is the primary problem.




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