There are no "pressing dangers” about climate change, and the ‘weaning’ has to be off the renewables madness. Climate conferences need to cease. They are all “insipid”, expensive, and have people travelling and consuming and emitting carbon dioxide in ways they nag the plebs not to do.

The Iranian war shows how dependent we are on fossil fuels, and highlights the utter nonsense about renewables replacing them.

Hi ttbn,

You seem to be content with maintaining the status quo on energy supply, a nothing to see here attitude, she'll be right, its all a con job belief. It abundantly clear that there are dangers within the present system of over reliance on fossil fuels, the Iranian War is testimony to that. Clearly there must be a shift away from that over reliance to a more sustainable alternative, and that alternative for Australia at least, is renewable energy.

Hi Paul,

You speak of renewable energy like it's a lifestyle choice, when the reason it's not replacing current energy at a rate of knots is because of the high cost and lack of reliability. China has wind and solar generation equating to about sixty percent of average demand, yet they supply less than ten percent of China's power, a capacity factor of about sixteen percent. And the situation in Spain is one of constantly avoiding grid collapse from the wild power fluctuations that wind and solar generation entail.

Hi Fester,

I don't think your facts support the reality in China.

"China is the world's largest investor in renewable energy, investing over $625 billion in clean energy in 2024, nearly double its 2015 levels. China is leading globally in wind and solar installations, achieving its 2030 capacity targets six years ahead of schedule. This investment is driving economic growth while simultaneously increasing energy security."

"China installs more solar panels and wind turbines than the rest of the world combined. Investment is expanding rapidly in battery storage and upgrading power grids to handle, intermittent renewable energy. Over 90% of China's investment growth in 2025 was driven by the green energy sector. The latest five-year plan reinforces continued, massive investment in renewable infrastructure."

Are you claiming all the above is simply China pissing in the wind? A lot is spoken about the Chinese, but no one says they are mugs.

Hi Paul,

There is a German physicist I often view who gave a talk on the subject.

https://youtu.be/Ff0AYRWrnGY?si=66f_ByZdae6U4nrE

China's renewable energy rollout is not as spectacular as some are suggesting.

Hi Fester,

Are you disputing what I have posted about China? If so where are the errors.

I do think the present 'Oil Crises' is demonstrating the vulnerability of the whole world because of our heavy reliance on oil, and fossil fuels in general. Its a wake up call that action needs to be taken to reduce that vulnerability. Do you agree?

Hi Paul,

I just pointed out that wind and solar provide less than ten percent of China's power with a capacity factor of about sixteen percent. I think that China is also building more coal and nuclear generation than wind and solar. I would guess that wind and solar work with hydro.

Hi Fester,

What you think is not borne out by the reality;

"No, China is not building more coal and nuclear capacity combined than wind and solar. While China leads the world in new coal construction—responsible for 95% of global new projects in 2023—it is installing far more capacity in wind and solar, which often outpaces coal additions by 3-4 times in recent years. While 25 GW of new coal was approved in early 2025, this is lower than the massive surge in new renewable capacity in the same period."

Regardless of what anyone thinks, its inevitable that fossil fuels have a finite life, millions of years in the making, yet it has taken less than 200 years to consume half of known reserves. Now, oil and gas have another 50 years of supply, and coal about 100 years, but with the exponential growth in energy demand, and depending on alternatives, that time frame could be a lot less, and the economic impact could be be far greater than anticipated.

A question; How do you see the energy future for the world?

Hi Paul,

"What you think is not borne out by the reality;"

Hossenfelder is no dummy. I checked with the IEA data for China. Still less than 10% from wind and solar for total energy. That is not bad, as on a world scale wind and solar amount to a couple of percent.

How long do you think it would take to power the world with wind and solar, especially when it only lasts a couple of decades and world energy consumption has been doubling every 50-70 years?

Hi Fester,

We can go around in circles for infinitum, one saying this, the other saying that. I did put a question to you; How do you see the energy future for the world?

Its disingenuous to answer a question by posing another question.

To answer your question, in my view no one can tell the future, but the hope is, and its a reasonable hope, that there will be technological improvements, coupled with energy efficiency use improvements, that the world will be able to support humanity.

The other question is the impact fossil fuels are having on the environment. For me that is a no-brainer, its real, its undeniable. No argument