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WanderingEng · 2845 days ago · link · · parent · post: Solar electricity generation employs more people in the US than coal, gas, oil and nuclear combined
That can work on paper, and the technology exists to do it (compressed air, pumped hydro, batteries). The challenge is the cost. It's surprisingly cheap to dig up coal and burn it for energy. There are a million terrible side effects of fossil fuels, but faced with them consumers almost exclusively will pick the cheaper option.
As long as the general public continues to pay for all the side effects of the "cheaper" option. It's only "cheaper" because the majority of the costs are subsidized by the public. Make coal producers pay for the FULL cost of the product - probably with a carbon tax - and I think the math pencils out very differently.