3 ms·
Ok, how often does California (or the US as a whole if we were going to do a nationwide system, or North America, or The Americas, etc....) go for weeks without
by hotpotamus 3y ago
Ok, how often does California (or the US as a whole if we were going to do a nationwide system, or North America, or The Americas, etc....) go for weeks without sun or wind? I would think those could be known via historical data and used to model a system that works except in extreme situations.
- s1artibartfast 3y agoThat data is known and we don't have any practical solutions for making a system that works under the expected conditions. This is what bothers some people.
- hotpotamus 3y agoI don't know the data - I was surprised to learn that half of California can run on batteries for 4 hours; that's actually impressive at present. I keep hearing about how we need some sort of dues ex machina innovation to save us from climate change. Given the impressive improvements on renewable energy and battery storage, doesn't it seem likely that they are the best hope for such innovation? To be clear, when I look at the data regarding carbon emissions and the implications there, I'm reasonably sure human civilization is boned, but is there any better hope than renewables? It doesn't seem like we ever really figured out nuclear. I've been hearing about how thorium reactors are some magic solution for maybe 20 years now, but you'd think that there would have been some progress on them somewhere in the world if they were really so helpful.
- adrianN 3y agoOf course we have practical solutions. A combination of batteries and hydrogen is a well known and practical solution to the storage problem.