I'm reminded of the cartoon that circulated some years back where a climate denier asks the speaker "what if we built a better world for nothing?", or something along those lines.

The way these past few years have shown the absolute precarity of fossil fuel systems just proves that, preserving a comfortably liveable climate aside, renewables just make more sense across pretty much every axis.

You still get people fear mongering about Chinese solar, as if we shouldn't make the most of the oversupply subsidised by a supposed geopolitical foe. Like, no, they're not going to turn it off, once you have the panel, the light hits it and the electrons jump the gap. Oil/gas can be turned off yet the speaker is somehow glossing over that.

▲

theK 37 minutes ago | parent | next [-]

> The way these past few years have shown the absolute precarity of fossil fuel systems

I agree with you but wasn't the primary takeaway of these past years that there is so much corruption anywhere even remotely related to burnable fuel that one needs not one but two actual wars (key to the fossil rich world) to provide a somewhat level playing field?

▲

neves an hour ago | parent | prev | next [-]

And China didn't need to bomb any country to sell solar for us.

▲

encom an hour ago | parent | prev [-]

>the light hits it and the electrons jump the gap

Yes, but the circuit is way more complex than that. You're dependant on the OEM for spare parts, support, software and whatever else, not to mention the problems inherent in putting this junk on the internet (which it will be). I am not fond of the idea of giving the CCP access to our infrastructure.

▲

Guid_NewGuid 44 minutes ago | parent | next [-]

For battery storage systems sure, but for panels, not really. The panel breaks you just throw it away and buy another. And sure China can cut us off from buying another, but we have 15 years with most panels to use them while we build out local manufacture if needed. (even beyond that point you likely get usable output)

A panel is just a dumb slate of crystals that shoots out electrons, the wires and inverters and rest-of-system are up to us to design if we're indulging our China-panic. But we're basically being paid to take as many dumb panels as we can warehouse. Whether you believe that oversupply is a weapon, a mistake, or just normal industrial strategy is basically irrelevant.

▲

mattlondon an hour ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Software? For a solar panel? Likewise spare parts? What?

I am pretty sure a solar panel is just a solar panel, a frame and some wires?

The inverters and all that sure whatever just buy local. Those have not been the bottleneck - the panels have been what has been enabling the boom.

	▲	overfeed 16 minutes ago \| parent \| next [-]
		Sadly, this is not the first time someone on HN ignorantly assumed solar panels come bundled with scary Chinese firmware in their comment. It's a failure-mode only those not familiar with the basics of solar can come up with, but are readoning it out from "first principles".
	▲	encom 42 minutes ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		[dead]

▲

triceratops an hour ago | parent | prev | next [-]

> You're dependant on the OEM for spare parts, support, software and whatever else

China also manufactures and exports ICE vehicle parts and fossil fuel extraction equipment. No one thinks that's a dangerous dependency.

▲

cyberax an hour ago | parent | prev [-]

You can have completely autonomous systems.

Also, really? You think that Internet-facing software in inverters is a big deal?