Comments by "Withnail1969" (@Withnail1969) on "Peter Zeihan || China's Competitive Edge: Solar Exports" video.

  1. Thinner panels are also much better for putting solar on roofs.
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  2. Or perhaps Peter doesn't really know what he is talking about?
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  3. Are we really so advanced? Most of our 'progress' just seems to be more powerful silicon chips for computers that we don't really need.
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  4.  @Meton2526  why do we need more powerful processors in our home computers?
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  5.  @SoloRenegade  thats not about labour. its about lower prices for exports. as i said, labour is a trivial part of it all. its about energy, materials, machinery and transport.
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  6.  @SoloRenegade  the number one reason was cheap energy from coal. but China's coal production is becoming too expensive now. I expect Chinese exports to the rest of the world to decline.
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  7.  @internationalinvesting4336  We can't really say that. It's also a lot more complicated than that. There are gas fields all over the world, the problem is most of them can't be used due to being hopelessly uneconomic to operate. By that I mean that more energy would be used drilling for and transporting the resulting gas than you would get from the gas.
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  8.  @evancourtney7746  you dont need drones to be high speed. sounds like something nobody needs. meanwhile everyone continues to buy DJI drones.
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  9. Electric cars too.
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  10.  @mercster  we had robots in factories 40 years ago that worked fine. you dont need the latest Intel chips to operate them. the only thing the latest chips are used for is to make more powerful home computers that we dont need.
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  11.  @Plainsburner  i dont need to do increasingly complex tasks. nor do 99.999% of people with home computers.
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  12.  @Plainsburner  industries dont use home computers.
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  13.  @Plainsburner  no it doesnt. you dont need high end chips to produce the vast majority of stuff.
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  14. The civil service and paper were also invented in China. Oh and silk. Peter sounds pretty racist to be honest when he talks about China. I suppose its what his audience wants.
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  15. No it cant.
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  16. I don't know who in America he thinks is going to somehow find billions of dollars and unlimited cheap coal to start manufacturing silicon wafers and make them affordable.
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  17.  @abrahamevangelista4215  its never a choice, dont believe the garbage about stopping it for the environment. its always economics. America's production of high quality coal (anthracite) has been falling for a century. America's remaining coal is trash coal and its a long way from industrial centres. The economics probably wouldnt work out.
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  18.  @nox5555  The silicon crystals come from China.
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  19.  @Senshidayo  The US long ago used up its best coal in the east.
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  20.  @abrahamevangelista4215  actually it is a problem. if coal is needed to produce silicon, it cant be used for other purposes such as power generation. it is never a choice to give up a cost effective source of energy no matter what lies the government tells you about it.
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  21.  @nox5555  but without their silicon there can be no panels.
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  22.  @abrahamevangelista4215  coal is used both directly and in power stations. to make silicon wafers you need both applications.
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  23. Its not quick and easy to start manufacturing millions of solar panels and make a profit.
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  24.  @SoloRenegade  but how much does the consumer have to pay for US made solar panels?
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  25.  @SoloRenegade  labour costs are trivial and unimportant.
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  26.  @SoloRenegade  The cost of energy is THE factor. Human input is unimportant.
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  27.  @SoloRenegade  oh i wlll because i know it to be true. i am literally living in an area of a city that only exists because there was coal here. the bricks of my house could not have been made without it.
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  28. They arent replacing it. It is just that they are now the largest supplier. It doesnt mean all the Russian gas has been replaced.
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  29.  @internationalinvesting4336  it hasnt been replaced. Germany has simply cut its overall consumption of gas. That's why Germany is now in a recession. There is no prospect of significant new gas reserves in Norway.
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  30.  @internationalinvesting4336  No such reserves exist.
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  31.  @internationalinvesting4336  if it hasnt been explored you cant say there are any reserves there
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  32.  @internationalinvesting4336  Don't count chickens then.
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  33.  @tonyburzio4107  China makes and exports a lot more armed drones than the US
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  34. Tesla is a joke.
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  35. it is simply impossible to build that.
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  36. Labour costs are unimportant compared to energy costs in this field.
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  37.  @gregfreemyer  Some flows out across the border to Mexico, some flows in from Canada. It's cheap in North America for now, yes.
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  38. Industries like fertiliser plants and aluminium smelters have shut down in Europe.
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  39. Powered by solar panels?
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