3 ms·

Wind turbines have a higher potential power density. Wind is sun energy concentrate.

• klysm 3y ago
  Where can I find the math for this?
  • engineer_22 3y ago
    Vaclav Smil's book Power Density is quite good
• Terr_ 3y ago
  That's even more true for oil and coal, but doesn't necessarily make them great choices. Plus "concentrate" doesn't quite capture how there are inefficiencies in conversion: A lot of that sunlight gets wasted. A concentration of a portion of a portion.
  • theteapot 3y ago
    Even more true of Nuclear but I wasn't making an argument about oil and gas versus solar. > Plus "concentrate" doesn't quite capture how there are inefficiencies in conversion. Jeez.
    • Terr_ 3y ago
      > I wasn't making an argument about oil and gas versus solar. I know, I'm mentioned them to demonstrate how "it's indirectly from sun energy" isn't automatically positive. > Even more true of Nuclear That seems like a stretch from "steady irradiance like with solar power" over to "stars death-sploding." It's a good thing the stuff we use in nuclear power wasn't formed from our sun, we aren't done with it yet.
• gabereiser 3y ago
  Potential and realized are different things. I could potentially run at light speed…