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Also small-scale fossil fuel, hydropower, wind, geothermal, etc. What solar does differently than those is be directly usable and not have significant negatives
by acdha 1y ago
Also small-scale fossil fuel, hydropower, wind, geothermal, etc. What solar does differently than those is be directly usable and not have significant negatives which made it undesirable to have near non-industrial users because it doesn’t make noise, air, or water pollution.
- bluefirebrand 1y agoBatteries are significant amounts of "nearby risk" that is being handwaved away imo They are fire/explosion hazards, heavy metals, etc.
- acdha 1y agoThey’re a fire risk but have you tried fossil fuels and power lines? The newer battery technologies have significantly minimized the heavy metal needs and especially the sodium-ion batteries really reduce the fire and explosion risk.
- bluefirebrand 1y agoWe aren't talking about installing coal power plants in people's houses the way we're talking about installing solar and batteries in people's houses
- acdha 1y agoPeople use gas generators, though, and it’s not like you have to go back further than my grandfather’s lifetime to have factories or other industrial buildings with oil/coal plants on-premise or directly powering machinery. Pollution and logistics pushed away but we didn’t start with a pervasive power grid.
- BobaFloutist 1y agoI have a gas line directly into my apartment building, as do the vast majority of buildings in my area.
- hvb2 1y agoGenuine question, what do you mean by small-scale fossil fuel What power output in megawatt are we talking about here? I'm struggling to think of a fossil power source efficient at small scale
- acdha 1y agoWell, if you go back far enough there were a ton of factories and other buildings which had their own small plants but the main thing I was thinking of was stuff like that xAI data center in Memphis with the methane-powered turbines where they’re avoiding grid limits and transmission losses at the expense of pollution.