... and, while the people I called out were overstating matters, so was I: www.nytimes.com/2025/11/06/u...

To rephrase: solar PV has grown to the point that it is no longer primarily an energy industry concern. It is global economic news of the most positive and exciting kind.

Consider cooling. A large fraction of humanity suffers from hot living and working environments. Mining, manufacturing, distributing, and running HVAC systems can all be scaled and made much cheaper by abundant cheap electricity. Billions of lives can be happier, healthier, and longer. Let’s go!

So please invent new ways to turn 10 or 100 or 1,000 GW of nameplate solar into human well-being. The power should be there, if only we can do the “easy” part of making people’s lives better with it.

First, China continues to produce the panels. Second, the world can adopt them at ever-increasing pace. Electricity is an extraordinarily productive means to an incredible variety of ends — lighting, HVAC, any service powered by an engine. We will be *so* rich if we harness this prosperity engine.

The ~800GW of panels shipped this year will produce as much electricity as Japan uses, *every year for the next three decades*, at *even cheaper cost*. If the curve continues, in '26 it will be 1,100GW / India, reaching 5TW/China around 2031. We’ll be awash in incredibly cheap electricity if ...

This was excellent; thank you Renée and Rachel

Lots of excitement over SB 79—understandably. I would add, every single bill California YIMBY sent to the governor was signed today. www.gov.ca.gov/2025/10/10/g...

I would also note that nobody really knows, when they install a residential solar and battery system, what the economics are going to be. In the days of feed-in tariffs you had a good idea, but nowadays it really does depend on future power price structures.

Pass state laws rescinding local ability to prevent infill housing. All other improvements will be marginal.

www.slowboring.com/p/theres-ple...

If solar continues at its growth rate, it will dwarf wind and take us into uncharted territory. Ember calculates solar's recent CAGR as double wind's: ember-energy.org/latest-insig... 24% vs 13%. At that rate, solar generation added between now and 2031 will equal total electricity generated in '24