“£1B with a b”: turning waste into clean air, cheap kilowatt-hours, and a future that builds itself
We hang Clean Air signs but fund pollution; we talk about progress while permits and purchases press the pause button. Here is a straightforward, visual, funny-but-true audit of absurdities, followed by a practical plan on how one billion pounds unlocks gigawatt-scale solar, saves lives, and builds the tools that build everything else.
Tone note: sometimes sharp, sometimes wild. Always based on evidence.
TL;DR in three numbers
People who died from air pollution in 2021—mostly due to fine particles and ozone formed by burning fossil fuels. “Clean air” signs don’t clean the air; fuel switching does. [SOGA 2024]
FOB China price for widely used n-type utility solar modules (mid-2025)—about 6.4–7.6 pence per watt. That's roughly £64–£76 million for a whole gigawatt of modules. Assuming $1≈£0.80.
£1 > $1.25. [OPIS, pv-mag]
Recently ~13–16 GW of modules, or about ~1.8 GW of fully built capacity according to the latest global installation costs. One clear billion can move mountains, if only we allow it. [IRENA]
"Trash: why progress looks like it's 'on pause'"
We subsidize the problem while hanging “no smoking” signs for the whole planet. Governments allocated $1.2+ trillion clear fossil fuel consumption subsidies in 2022–23 (and $7 trillion if including unpriced pollution and climate damage). It's like burning money and then buying fancier smoke detectors. [IEA, IMF]
Dirty air still kills people—today. WHO and the Global Air Quality report show about 7–8 million deaths annually are attributed to air pollution. These are heart diseases, strokes, COPD, cancer—the whole silent killer list. [WHO, SOGA 2024]
Heat, amplified by rising CO₂ concentrations, is already deadly. In Europe, the summer of 2025 saw an estimated 24,400 heat-related deaths across 854 cities; long-term analyses show heat mortality among older people has tripled since the 1990s. We still call this “unusual.” In reality, it's physics. [Guardian, Lancet]
And we are still planning to extract more fossil fuels than climate goals allow. Several major producers plan to expand extraction until the 2030s, making the 1.5 °C target unreachable if plans don't change. [SEI/IISD/CA review]
Meanwhile, commercial solar power is often the cheapest new capacity, but permits and grid connection bottlenecks slow construction. (Yes, the queue for grid connection is longer than the queue for free donuts.) [IEA Solar]
Electric vehicle humorous interlude: Some fast chargers in city centers cost like a “handmade espresso”—let's call it "£1 per kWh" on the same day you're late. Not driving an EV—you pay for clean air/congestion; driving an EV and—surprise!—you still face road tolls, parking, and “green” surcharges waving from the sidewalk. Political plot twist: let's make clean energy cheap, not just dirty—expensive. (Yes, rates vary a lot; it's a joke—but we've all seen that creepy screen.)
"Math: clean energy is ridiculously cheap now"
"1) Module prices—in the cheap goods box"
Spot and forward prices for widely used utility n-type TOPCon modules in mid-2025 held at £0.064–£0.076/W (FOB China)—6.4–7.6 pence per watt. That's £64–£76 million for a full gigawatt of modules—about 1.6–1.7 million modules in the 600–670 W class. [OPIS and pv-mag price indexes; Trina/Jinko/LONGi]
"2) 'Installed' still wins over everything"
For the modules themselves, the overall (all‑in) 2024 commercial solar power plant installation global weighted average was about ~£553/kW (≈$691/kW). That's ~£0.553 billion per gigawatt of fully built capacity (modules + inverters + structures + EPC + balance of system). [IRENA 2024 costs]
3) On scale—let's compare with modern mega nuclear construction
Hinkley Point C (UK)—still under construction—now valued at £41.6–47.9 billion for ~3.26 GW. That's about £12.8–14.7 billion per GW. [EDF/Reuters]
Relative cost per GW (larger bar = more expensive):
This is not a comparison of uniform service (manageability, etc.) technologies, but it is a level playing field to compare how much it really costs in money to build a new 1 GW nameplate capacity. And it shows how much "room" we have to rebuild solar + add storage where needed.
A billion-pound thought experiment (a.k.a. “£1B with a b”)
Option A — Buy modules as if there is no tomorrow
- At £0.064–£0.076/W, £1 billion buys about ~13–16 GW of utility modules. Yes, about fifteen gigawatts of glass and silicon. Still need inverters, structures, labor, and grid—that's the "skin," not the "skeleton." [OPIS, pv-mag]
- Land planning: commercial PV is often planned at ~5–7 acres per MW (depends on location). That's ~5,000–7,000 acres per GW. Dual use (sheep, biodiversity corridors) is common. [UK Parliament Library; SEIA]
Option B — Build commercial PV to completion
Using IRENA's global installation cost (~£553/kW), £1 billion allows fully building about ~1.8 GW of commercial solar (depends on location; some places more expensive, some cheaper). [IRENA]
Option C — Let's split the atom of progress (no reactor needed)
£500 million — Giga-factory
Robotics, construction/tracking systems, prefabricated platforms, power electronics assembly and quality labs. Let's use it to make things that make clean energy. Raw materials: steel, aluminum, glass, silicon. Output: speed.
£350 million — PV construction
Deploy ~600–900 MW of fully built capacity (depending on the market). Where possible, offer community ownership to turn NIMBY into NIMBYE ("Yes, in my backyard, electricity").
£150 million — Storage and grid
Batteries, grid connections, transformers, protection and control systems. 4 hours. BESS now often costs less than ~£150–£160/kWh (global average); depends on the specific site. [IRENA regarding storage]
Joke interlude: If "innovation" meetings generated electricity, the grid would already be decarbonized. Unfortunately, they mostly generate pastries.
Life and air: what really changes for people?
Air that doesn't hurt to breathe. Air pollution kills millions every year; it's not an abstraction. Let's replace combustion with electrons and health outcomes will change. [WHO, SOGA 2024]
Carbon dioxide not entering the atmosphere. Suppose you direct £1 billion to ~13–16 GW of modules in sunny locations. With a moderate ~20% capacity factor, that's about ~23–28 TWh per year. If this replaces average grid energy with an intensity of ~400–480 gCO₂/kWh, you'd avoid ~9–13 million tons of CO₂ annually—and so for decades. [Ember global intensity]
The deadly heat curve doesn't have to rise forever. Better grids + electrified cooling + efficient buildings + urban shade = fewer deaths in future summers. We can't negotiate with thermodynamics, but we can build for it. [Lancet; Guardian rapid analysis]
"It's practically free"—not a hyperbole. Compared to mega-projects costing £13–15 billion per GW, ~£0.55 billion/GW commercial solar (and ~£0.064–0.076 billion/GW for the modules themselves) is ridiculously cheap. The difference is not a rounding error. It's a policy choice. [EDF/Reuters; IRENA; OPIS/pv-mag]
FAQ and objections
"But the sun sets."
Yes. That's why we design systems, not slogans: rebuild the sun, add batteries, use grids, and coordinate with wind and reliable low-carbon generation when needed. Today's storage has radically dropped in price (-93% since 2010), and portfolios beat any single technology. [IRENA]
"Permits and grids are slow."
True—and this is being addressed. Let's standardize connections, pre-approve zones, expand transmission, and run rhythmic auctions that accept mature projects. IEA directly names permits as one of the biggest large-scale solar bottlenecks today. [IEA Solar]
"Isn't this too optimistic?"
On the contrary: this is arithmetic. Module prices are public. Installation costs are tracked. Health impacts are measured. If anything, optimism would be believing that doing the same thing will yield different results.
History "hack" note: The easiest way to "rewrite future history" is to build things that make the future obvious. Imagine a chapter title: "In 2026 they bought cheap solar light and accidentally fixed everything." Future historians will be angry that you can't make a three-season docuseries from a spreadsheet and a purchase order.
Final note
You can call it yeet if you want—but the idea is serious: self-accelerating cycle: clean energy → machines → more clean energy → more machines. No need to start a “mission to the Moon”; need to stop burning money and start building. One billion pounds, well targeted, is not much. It's a starting pistol.
Let's rise and shine
So many trillions of money.... millions died....
And just one tiny speck of air dust, simply the number 1 with b, built the space age for all of us
From mother's hands to the cashier, to the person who created the internet
We all did it
Rise and shine, people
Sources and notes
- Module prices: OPIS Solar Weekly (mid-2025) and pv‑magazine spot/forward assessments show TOPCon modules FOB China around $0.080–0.095/W. Converted here $1≈£0.80 → £0.064–£0.076/W. OPIS; pv‑mag (2025‑07‑25); pv‑mag USA (2025‑08‑29).
- Typical module power: manufacturer datasheets in the 600–670 W class. Trina 670 W; Jinko Tiger Neo 610–635 W; LONGi Hi‑MO 7.
- Installation cost: IRENA, Renewable Power Generation Costs in 2024, commercial PV LCOE global weighted average ≈ $691/kW (used ≈£553/kW). IRENA (2025).
- Nuclear levelized cost: Hinkley Point C recalculated to £41.6–47.9 bln. (2024 prices); ≈3.26 GW. [EDF/Reuters]; HPC summary.
- Fossil fuel subsidies: IEA topic page (consumption subsidies ≥$1 trln. in 2022; ~$620 bln. in 2023); IMF total amount (explicit+implicit) ≈ $7 trln. in 2022 IEA; IMF.
- Air pollution mortality: WHO summaries (environmental + household ≈6.7–7 million/year); State of Global Air 2024 (8.1 million in 2021). WHO; SOGA 2024.
- Heat mortality trend and 2025 Europe: Lancet Countdown 2024 (deaths from heat in 65+ age group ↑~167% vs 1990s); rapid 2025 summer Europe analysis (~24,400 deaths; ~⅔ attributed to climate change). Lancet Countdown 2024; The Guardian, 2025‑09‑17.
- Extraction plans vs 1.5 °C: SEI/Climate Analytics/IISD “production gap” analysis reviews. Publication, 2025‑09‑22.
- Global grid CO₂ intensity: Ember Global Electricity Review 2024 (~480 gCO₂/kWh; decreasing). Ember.
- Permitting—the narrowest bottleneck: IEA review on falling prices and rising permitting constraints. IEA Solar PV.
- Land use heuristics: UK House of Commons Library cites ~6 acres/MW; SEIA—5–7 acres/MW. UK Parliament Library; SEIA.
- Storage costs: IRENA 2024 shows utility-scale battery price around ~$192/kWh (‑93% since 2010); converted ≈£150/kWh. IRENA.
Currency note: for convenience, we convert USD→GBP at $1≈£0.80 (rounded), matching mid-2025 benchmarks. Rates vary; adjust to your chosen spot rate.