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Everyone with a functional understanding of thermodynamics knows that you cannot extract energy from a system and expect there to be the same energy in the sour
by DocTomoe 1y ago
Everyone with a functional understanding of thermodynamics knows that you cannot extract energy from a system and expect there to be the same energy in the source after the extraction.
I do wonder if - in 20 to 50 years - we find out that we somehow screwed up the ecosphere with renewable energy production in a subtle and catastrophic way, much like we did with coal-powered or nuclear plants.
- chii 1y agoThe wind and solar energy would've merely heated up the earth, then get radiated back out. Us capturing some of it, using it, and then re-radiate it back out (at a later date) won't have made any difference. Unless/until the day we paved the entire earth with solar panels and capture the entire atmosphere of their wind, this will continue to be the case. Hopefully, we reach a dyson swarm before that occurs...
- DocTomoe 1y agoI am old enough to remember when similar statements were made about other - now out of favour - energy production methods. NPPs had a "Once in a thousand years" failure rate. Gas was fossil, sure, but the CO2 would be absorbed into the ecosphere (to make plants grow). In the end, all energy eventually dissipates again. That does not mean that we do not have immediate or near-immediate phenomena to consider (like: global warming). Let's take solar ... we now have begun to replace agricultural areas with solar farms. For example: How does this affect biodiversity in that area (the things look not green, but gravel under it)? I'm not even saying it is necessarily a bad thing - just a change. And we should be careful to change running systems, especially considering the stakes. Instead, what I see is proponents of one tech over the other happily shouting down any attempt at critical consideration.