4 ms·
> but if you use renewables to power your things, it doesn't really matter how much heat you generate. Thermodynamics should really be emphasized in schools. Y
by outworlder 6y ago
> but if you use renewables to power your things, it doesn't really matter how much heat you generate.
Thermodynamics should really be emphasized in schools. You are getting some amazing responses that are completely ignoring the fact that our renewable energy solutions are not increasing the overall heat in our planet. They are just moving energy around.
The only thing that really matters is how are the emissions going to look like when we are manufacturing renewable energy equipment (either new capacity or replacing faulty ones).
- jacquesm 6y agoThat's faulty. Solar installations change the albedo of the planet. That's not a problem if the fraction is a very small one and it is spread out. But if it is concentrated or relatively large it certainly could have an effect.
- outworlder 6y ago> Solar installations change the albedo of the planet They do. And so does every single thing we build that's exposed to the outside - bulding, cars, even you when you are out and about. The effect is minuscule unless we are turning the planet into Coruscant or this is a gray goo scenario.
- pbhjpbhj 6y ago>The effect is miniscule // The effect of a human on the planet is miniscule, but we're still in the bad state we are. We're looking at covering the planet in solar panels, worth considering how the albedo changes will effect things on a planetary scale.
- jacquesm 6y agoWe thought much the same when we introduced the automobile. Plastic for packaging purposes. Freon to help with the Carnot cycle in refrigerators. These things don't matter when you do them once or twice. But when you start doing them on an industrial scale it changes the equation from 'no effect' to 'unknown effect'. And unknown effect might be anything from negligible to planet wide catastrophe. It would be nice to know where we land before taking off. Oceans warming up is a big thing, and local effects can be substantial even if global average change is negligible.
- StavrosK 6y agoIsn't increasing the albedo cooling the planet down?
- jacquesm 6y agoYes, an increase in reflectivity would cool the planet down. But solar panels actually absorb a lot more than they reflect (they would have to). The ideal solar panel would be utterly black.
- StavrosK 6y agoAh, yes, that makes sense. The reflective cover they have made me think they reflected more than they absorbed (which, yes, doesn't make sense).