@Nabuquduriuzhur – not so much efficiency as energy availability. Photovoltaic depends heavily on intensity so even thin high clouds can cut output in half, and storage is necessary to make anything useful out of solar generation.
Solar power satellites.Full powerNearly never in Earth’s shadow
No dustNo rainLow structural loadMicrowave energy transmission efficiency around 90%..Department of Energy decided it would be economically viable back during the Carter administration, but Jimmy rejected their report; he liked coal too much.
Storage is a genuine problem. No one wants to live near huge solar arrays, any more than they want to live near major electrical transmission equipment (or sewage lift stations that are aromatic as well as being less than visually uplifting)…
And for those who hope to make use of high wind areas to generate power: some of the strongest opponents of ‘windmill farms’ are environmentalists who fear the impact on birds…
There have been great strides in energy storage tech. Super Capacitors are solid state devices that can store large amounts in small spaces. The challenge is getting them cheap enough. The Geeks are working on solar power tech to use more of the Sun’s light spectrum. That’s promising too.All that is promising but “it ain’t ready for prime time” just yet.
Nuclear has a bad rep from the hysterics. Their are reactor designs coming along in foreign countries that automatically shut down if they overheat. Thorium based reactors seem to be safer but the US based Uranium lobby is firmly entrenched.
“f we ever develop fusion as a source of energy maybe we’ll be on to replacing fossil fuels. Even then there will be a lot of opposition to implementing it.”.“You wanna put an H-bomb in my backyard??”(chuckle).Actually, though, even fusion produces radioisotopes..Liquid metal breeder reactors.The spent reactor fuel on hand is enough to supply over a thousand year’s worth of electrical energy using breeder reactors and reclamation via pyrometalurgical electrlysis processes, separating the fissile materials for reuse until they are all used up from the highly radioactive waste which will have dropped down to background level in less than two hundred years. (and can be used for other things while transmuting)
“sending the power back to earth it could be used as a weapon instead of a power source ".Power in any form can be used as a weapon.Obviously the best use of solar power satelites would be to manufacture finished goods in space as well as electromagnetically launch and capture space craft. In the short term, though, lighting homes around the world would be nice..By shutting down reprocessing, Carter made nuclear seem more dangerous, more polluting and more expensive. In return, the switch back to coal was more dangerous, more polluting and more expensive. if it is causing climate change, it might be the beginning of disasters killing billions. The waste is toxic and radioactive from coal. Coal mine deaths are definite. Breathing problems are enhanced. Transportation demands assure us there will be more deaths due to derailments or train wrecks..(The most dangerous potential weapon source is biological and can be developed in a small back room, impossible to locate until a pandemic which kills billions has already been released.)
@Nun’Ya Bidness“If those gizmos, that you stick on your car’s bumper, for running off deer work, they should be able to figure out how to put a ‘scare off the birds’ gizmo on the blades of the windmills.”.Or just any kind of noise maker. Birds have small minds so they focus on what they are attacking and don’t notice the blade they are about to hit. The sound of predator or prey would make them notice the approaching danger.The other thought is to simply gather the birds at the end of the shift and eat up.
rshive almost 10 years ago
Slow on the uptake today, eh Wiz?
phineas81707 almost 10 years ago
And could you please close the window? It’s really drafty in here, and I can’t think!
Space_cat almost 10 years ago
The Wiz must work for Exxon,
flagmichael almost 10 years ago
@Nabuquduriuzhur – not so much efficiency as energy availability. Photovoltaic depends heavily on intensity so even thin high clouds can cut output in half, and storage is necessary to make anything useful out of solar generation.
David Huie Green AmericaIsGreatItHasUs almost 10 years ago
Solar power satellites.Full powerNearly never in Earth’s shadow
No dustNo rainLow structural loadMicrowave energy transmission efficiency around 90%..Department of Energy decided it would be economically viable back during the Carter administration, but Jimmy rejected their report; he liked coal too much.
Argy.Bargy2 almost 10 years ago
Storage is a genuine problem. No one wants to live near huge solar arrays, any more than they want to live near major electrical transmission equipment (or sewage lift stations that are aromatic as well as being less than visually uplifting)…
Argy.Bargy2 almost 10 years ago
And for those who hope to make use of high wind areas to generate power: some of the strongest opponents of ‘windmill farms’ are environmentalists who fear the impact on birds…
Doug Taylor Premium Member almost 10 years ago
Didn’t the Wiz invent 6Up ?
yeahbutt almost 10 years ago
Yeah…except….how much sunlight does it take to replace a gallon of gas?
dzw3030 almost 10 years ago
There have been great strides in energy storage tech. Super Capacitors are solid state devices that can store large amounts in small spaces. The challenge is getting them cheap enough. The Geeks are working on solar power tech to use more of the Sun’s light spectrum. That’s promising too.All that is promising but “it ain’t ready for prime time” just yet.
dzw3030 almost 10 years ago
Nuclear has a bad rep from the hysterics. Their are reactor designs coming along in foreign countries that automatically shut down if they overheat. Thorium based reactors seem to be safer but the US based Uranium lobby is firmly entrenched.
David Huie Green AmericaIsGreatItHasUs almost 10 years ago
“f we ever develop fusion as a source of energy maybe we’ll be on to replacing fossil fuels. Even then there will be a lot of opposition to implementing it.”.“You wanna put an H-bomb in my backyard??”(chuckle).Actually, though, even fusion produces radioisotopes..Liquid metal breeder reactors.The spent reactor fuel on hand is enough to supply over a thousand year’s worth of electrical energy using breeder reactors and reclamation via pyrometalurgical electrlysis processes, separating the fissile materials for reuse until they are all used up from the highly radioactive waste which will have dropped down to background level in less than two hundred years. (and can be used for other things while transmuting)
David Huie Green AmericaIsGreatItHasUs almost 10 years ago
“sending the power back to earth it could be used as a weapon instead of a power source ".Power in any form can be used as a weapon.Obviously the best use of solar power satelites would be to manufacture finished goods in space as well as electromagnetically launch and capture space craft. In the short term, though, lighting homes around the world would be nice..By shutting down reprocessing, Carter made nuclear seem more dangerous, more polluting and more expensive. In return, the switch back to coal was more dangerous, more polluting and more expensive. if it is causing climate change, it might be the beginning of disasters killing billions. The waste is toxic and radioactive from coal. Coal mine deaths are definite. Breathing problems are enhanced. Transportation demands assure us there will be more deaths due to derailments or train wrecks..(The most dangerous potential weapon source is biological and can be developed in a small back room, impossible to locate until a pandemic which kills billions has already been released.)
David Huie Green AmericaIsGreatItHasUs almost 10 years ago
@Nun’Ya Bidness“If those gizmos, that you stick on your car’s bumper, for running off deer work, they should be able to figure out how to put a ‘scare off the birds’ gizmo on the blades of the windmills.”.Or just any kind of noise maker. Birds have small minds so they focus on what they are attacking and don’t notice the blade they are about to hit. The sound of predator or prey would make them notice the approaching danger.The other thought is to simply gather the birds at the end of the shift and eat up.