3 ms·

The article was singing the praises of wind and solar though which are much simpler to construct, won’t blow up, and you can simply plop down in a lot of places

The article was singing the praises of wind and solar though which are much simpler to construct, won’t blow up, and you can simply plop down in a lot of places. Honestly the nut we should be cracking is putting solar in our deserts and figuring out how to transmit the electricity. Tons of land with really not current uses and a whole bunch of sun shine.

_Microft 4y ago
> Honestly the nut we should be cracking is putting solar in our deserts and figuring out how to transmit the electricity. We have figured out the latter already. High-voltage direct-current transmission has losses in the low single digit percent per 1000km. China is transferring several nuclear power plants worth of power over thousands of kilometers already today. Edit: Wikipedia says that the Chinese connection I remembered has a capacity of 12GW over 3300km. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-voltage_direct_current https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-voltage_direct_current
jchw 4y ago
Actually though, I do agree with that bit: you really can't do much better than solar and wind for simplicity. And I believe since this article was written, it has only gotten better. But, battery technology has been at a standstill for a while. New battery technology seems as far away as cold fusion some days. And without battery storage, I don't think you could really serve the world's power needs with just wind and solar. (But I'm also 100% a layperson, so hell if I know.)
- moloch-hai 4y ago
  Battery technology has been as far from a standstill as it would be possible to be. New chemistries, new electrolytes, new anodes and cathodes. Batteries are improving faster than almost anything else. But most of the world's energy storage is not and will not be chemical batteries.
- slt2021 4y ago
  people forget hydro - the most sustainable and cheap energy source. you can use hydro power as energy storage as well, just pump some water back uphill into water reservoir and use it later to generate electricity when you need it. that way you can store energy in form of potential energy of water
pitaj 4y ago
Has everyone forgotten that deserts are unique natural ecosystems as well?
- pfdietz 4y ago
  So are prairies. That doesn't mean we have an ethical obligation to starve.
moloch-hai 4y ago
Deserts are the dumbest place to put solar farms, but ignorant investors love the idea, so in the desert they go. Deserts are hot, reducing conversion efficiency and panel lifetime, and dusty, blocking sunlight at the surface unless cleaned frequently.

_Microft 4y ago

> Honestly the nut we should be cracking is putting solar in our deserts and figuring out how to transmit the electricity. We have figured out the latter already. High-voltage direct-current transmission has losses in the low single digit percent per 1000km. China is transferring several nuclear power plants worth of power over thousands of kilometers already today. Edit: Wikipedia says that the Chinese connection I remembered has a capacity of 12GW over 3300km. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-voltage_direct_current https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-voltage_direct_current

jchw 4y ago

Actually though, I do agree with that bit: you really can't do much better than solar and wind for simplicity. And I believe since this article was written, it has only gotten better. But, battery technology has been at a standstill for a while. New battery technology seems as far away as cold fusion some days. And without battery storage, I don't think you could really serve the world's power needs with just wind and solar. (But I'm also 100% a layperson, so hell if I know.)

moloch-hai 4y ago
Battery technology has been as far from a standstill as it would be possible to be. New chemistries, new electrolytes, new anodes and cathodes. Batteries are improving faster than almost anything else. But most of the world's energy storage is not and will not be chemical batteries.
slt2021 4y ago
people forget hydro - the most sustainable and cheap energy source. you can use hydro power as energy storage as well, just pump some water back uphill into water reservoir and use it later to generate electricity when you need it. that way you can store energy in form of potential energy of water

pitaj 4y ago

Has everyone forgotten that deserts are unique natural ecosystems as well?

pfdietz 4y ago
So are prairies. That doesn't mean we have an ethical obligation to starve.

moloch-hai 4y ago

Deserts are the dumbest place to put solar farms, but ignorant investors love the idea, so in the desert they go. Deserts are hot, reducing conversion efficiency and panel lifetime, and dusty, blocking sunlight at the surface unless cleaned frequently.