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Isn't that like saying a lightbulb doesn't use any energy because its output of heat and light equals the energy input? Or that I didn't use any money shopping
by paulsutter 10y ago
Isn't that like saying a lightbulb doesn't use any energy because its output of heat and light equals the energy input? Or that I didn't use any money shopping because the cash all stayed in the economy?
- Retric 10y agoSure, a light-bulb does not destroy any energy, it uses electricity and increases Entropy. If you want to say it consumes something then a light bulb consumes the potential to create Order by transforming electricity into heat and light.
- chriswarbo 10y agoIt sounds like the argument is considering what the output energy might be used for. If you want a fusion device to power your heating and lighting, then the "waste" heat and light from the device may actually be useful. It's like replacing the radiators in your house with servers or bitcoin miners; you still pay for electricity, and it's still warming up your house, but you get compute cycles or bitcoins "for free". If the waste heat/light of a fusion device is of comparable efficiency as conventional heaters/lighting, then we're "breaking even"; if the device manages to perform any fusion, that liberated energy would be a "net positive". Of course, a fusor doesn't seem like a particularly good idea for household heating or lighting, and that argument is completely inapplicable to things like power plants.
- jfoutz 10y agoNot many people have turned one element into another. That alone is pretty cool.
- floatrock 10y ago> that argument is completely inapplicable to things like power plants Actually, it's not unheard of for waste heat from power plants to be used as residential heating. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cogeneration https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cogeneration Some of the nordic countries use local power plants to create municipal steam for heating homes, I believe.