Here are some things that jumped out at me as I watched:
-If you told me this was produced 15 years ago I would have believed you. The solar efficiency numbers they cite (sub 8%, 10 year lifespan) are extremely outdated -- PV cells produced today are 2-3 times more efficient than that and last at least 2-3 times longer.
-The electric vehicle segment trotted out a very old argument: that EVs are practically as dirty as gas-powered vehicles because you have to mine for battery components and hook up them up to a fossil fuel-powered electric grid. Even when you take the production process into account, an EV that's hooked up to the *dirtiest* grid in America is still as clean as a 40 mpg ICE vehicle. On cleaner grids, EV emissions are equivalent to a >100 mpg gas-powered car. Those numbers will continue to go up as grids become cleaner and batteries get recycled, reducing the need for additional mining. And companies like Tesla are developing batteries that eliminate the need for cobalt altogether.
-The film really fixates on biomass and solar thermal (rather than solar PV), which supplied 1.4% and 0.1% of America's energy last year, respectively. They are indeed problematic and inefficient, but they are also not big players in the clean energy game at all.
-Energy storage capacity is very low right now, as they point out. But as R&D into battery tech has increased, the price of storage has begun to fall dramatically. Renewables + storage are on pace to quickly become cost competitive with fossil fuels -- this is actually a very promising area.
-Renewable energy experts were noticeably absent from this film about renewable energy. I counted zero climate scientists, zero renewable energy engineers.
Overall, it's true that environmental activists are imperfect. Some do the movement a disservice by claiming that all we're missing is political will, that we could snap our fingers and hit our emissions targets if only we could just try harder. There are some thorny issues w/r/t energy storage, transmission, and reliability that are being worked on by people in the clean energy field right now. I don't think it's realistic to shoot for 100% renewables, nuclear will still be needed in the future. We could use way more clean energy R&D, as many of these technologies aren't perfect yet. But instead of taking up some of these nuanced debates that are happening in the clean energy world, Moore throws up his hands and declares renewable energy to be a sham. He really wanted this to be an anti-capitalist film, but it ended up being a huge gift to the fossil fuel industry.
