Wind and Solar Power...

[Blansky]

Hope posting this won't be controversial, but I'm guessing it still will be....

What's interesting is the thinking and re-thinking of ideas for alternative energy sources as they evolve......Obviously not everything will work as hoped for, but it's great to see work on so many levels and fronts to get us on track to slowly replacing fossil fuels...

Of course all the nay-sayers laughed at Nikola Tesla too and now he has his own car company......just kidding..............https://www.smithsonianmag.com/trave...rly-180958881/

https://newatlas.com/energy/wind-cat...89858-93122952


https://www.architecturaldigest.com/...gest-floating-
solar-park

https://newatlas.com/materials/kaust...89858-93122952

[Cru Jones]

This and that plus natural gas or nuclear to manage gaps in renewables availability for a cleaner world.

[brandrea]

Interesting post.

On a micro level, we are just going through the process of analyzing solar panels for our home. It’s sort of a rabbit hole ….

Our home is nat gas powered but we may need a new furnace in 5 years. Then you start looking at all your appliances, addition of PHEV’s or EV’s and all of a sudden it becomes a complicated math equation

Funny, but 40 years ago the push was on to convert everyone from electric to nat gas here. Now it seems the pendulum is swinging back the other way.

[TheVTCGuy]

Originally Posted by Cru Jones

This and that plus natural gas or nuclear to manage gaps in renewables availability for a cleaner world.

Absolutely! I am not an expert on any of the energy sources but if it helps the envirnonment and pollutes less, I am all for it.

[Brenngun]

Adapt and Evolve. It's the way we all got here in the first place. No surprise it continues in all facets of our existence. Everything we current enjoy and rely on for survival, comfort and security is a result of this process. It's a good thing and always will be in every way.

[77T]

Wind and Solar require conversion of a natural resource with new technologies that require total replacement over time. That is, the wind turbines & blades or in the case of solar, the panels.

Nuclear has a longer investment lifecycle but has harsher consequences for any accidents (plus the toxic spent fuel storage).

What I foresee is a gain in Geo-thermal efficiency to yield a cost effective and renewable resource.

The key will be economically tapping resources globally - current tech is focused on areas where tectonic plates meet because it is cheaper to tap geo-thermal there.

It is globally inexhaustible in the coming century and beyond - the Earth has an internal heat content of 10,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 joules, yes 10 to the 31st power - or about 100 billion times the 2010 worldwide annual energy consumption.[1] (see Wikipedia)

It has the long-term investment benefit of nuclear without the risks, and uses current tech in steam turbines. Local depletion can be an issue as over-extraction can actually cool an area of the Earth’s crust thereby reducing geyser output. (You sacrifice beauty for energy if you aren’t careful)

It’s more reliable than wind and solar without the need for power storage to meet overnight power demand when neither sun nor winds are strong.


Note 1.
“The possible role and contribution of geothermal energy to the mitigation of climate change”
Presented at: IPCC Scoping Meeting on Renewable Energy Sources conference (PDF)
https://web.archive.org/web/20100308...0May08_000.pdf


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[BNA/LION]

Anything that is good for Planet Earth and the Future of Humanity is Good By Me! Technological improvements welcome here!

[logo]

I look forward to nuclear fusion (not the current uranium fission stuff). I'm talking star power! I saw a news article recently that a lab in China was able to create the requisite plasma and maintain it at a temperature of 120 MILLION degrees Celsius (216M in Fahrenheit) for 101 seconds, and 160 MILLION degrees Celsius 288M in Fahrenheit) for 20 seconds. Imagine, one day having a little star in your city to power everything you see. Not to mention having a star powered rocket ship for space exploration.

https://interestingengineering.com/c...un-sets-record

[Blansky]

Originally Posted by logo

I look forward to nuclear fusion (not the current uranium fission stuff). I'm talking star power! I saw a news article recently that a lab in China was able to create the requisite plasma and maintain it at a temperature of 120 MILLION degrees Celsius (216M in Fahrenheit) for 101 seconds, and 160 MILLION degrees Celsius 288M in Fahrenheit) for 20 seconds. Imagine, one day having a little star in your city to power everything you see. Not to mention having a star powered rocket ship for space exploration.

https://interestingengineering.com/c...un-sets-record

I don't really know much about nuclear reactors but Bill Gates has been working on something first with the Chinese then this one going up in Wyoming.

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/trave...rly-180958881/

[904VT]

Originally Posted by Blansky

I don't really know much about nuclear reactors but Bill Gates has been working on something first with the Chinese then this one going up in Wyoming.

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/trave...rly-180958881/

Gosh the man that can't implement stolen operating systems without viruses and malware 30 years later is the last person I'd trust with something unknown and nuclear. I wonder what would happen to that during a Carrington event.

If Gates really cared about the environment, he would focus on proper disposal of and consumption limitations on both plastics and lithium ion batteries. He cares more about the spotlight though imo at least. Think about all the e waste his Windows PCs generated over the years, largely because of faulty operating systems. Solar panels at the house level would be interesting if we as a society could deal with not having massive houses, and investing in panels instead.

[AzPaul]

Originally Posted by Blansky

Of course all the nay-sayers laughed at Nikola Tesla too and now he has his own car company . . .

Pretty sure the car company is named after the rock band

[Speedbird-1]

Never understood why Geothermal isn't developed more.

Kind of related: No plastics should be made that aren't recyclable or bio-degradable.

[Brew]

Originally Posted by Speedbird-1

Never understood why Geothermal isn't developed more.

At the risk of further derail, this was in the news locally recently.

[austinp]

Originally Posted by AzPaul

Pretty sure the car company is named after the rock band

Lol


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[DonRickles]

Interesting thread!

I installed a 3 zoned Geothermal HVAC system in our house way back in '92. I had a accountant run some figures a few years ago. At that point, we had saved 157,000 vs. oil/ gas costs over the period of 25 years!

I'm a huge fan!