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I don't mind things like huge cooling towers or massive dams. They're majestic in the same way ancient pyramids are majestic. On top of being useful infrastruct

I don't mind things like huge cooling towers or massive dams. They're majestic in the same way ancient pyramids are majestic. On top of being useful infrastructure and not just oversized landscaping pieces.

thelastgallon 1y ago
[flagged]
- Forbo 1y ago
  ACCount37 expressly left out the coal smoke stacks from their description, so I'm not sure why you chose to focus solely on that and throw it back in?
  - thelastgallon 1y ago
    What are cooling towers for if not for coal smoke stacks?
    - ascorbic 1y ago
      Nuclear
  - hinkley 1y ago
    [flagged]
    - Forgeties79 1y ago
      > I don't mind things like huge cooling towers or massive dams. ^That’s not “cherry picking.“ They are saying the two things that they would not mind seeing in the distance. It is reasonable to assume that it was not an omission to avoid hurting their point, but rather that coal power smoke stacks are not on list. It strikes me as the much more obvious reading. “Of the things you listed, these two don’t really bother me.”
      - hinkley 1y ago
        [flagged]
        squigz 1y ago
        [flagged]
        hinkley 1y ago
        [flagged]
        tomhow 1y ago
        We need you to avoid perpetuating or escalating flamewars on HN. Energy/climate topics are among the most predictable flamebait topics, and as a longtime user we need to see you being circumspect and making your contributions de-escalatory rather than escalatory. We've had to ask you several times before respect the site's guidelines and purpose. Please try harder.
        tomhow 1y ago
        > This is a truly bizarre comment chain. > And since you're so keen on pointing out that this is public: you don't come off looking very great. Might wanna work on that. Please edit out personal swipes from comments on HN. The guidelines ask us all to aim for better than this. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
        squigz 1y ago
        I'm the one who gets warned? It gets even more bizarre!
        Forgeties79 1y ago
        You and I can disagree about interpretation all day long but there’s no misinterpreting your incredibly condescending tone. Have a good rest of your Sunday man.
- cultofmetatron 1y ago
  the clouds comming off nuclear towers is literally just steam. not radioactive steam. just.... steam
  - hvb2 1y ago
    That's not even unique to nuclear. Gas and coal can have them too. Typically they're only used if the other source of coolant is not sufficient. For example, you take in cooling water from a river. When the river gets too hot in summer you want to use that cooling tower to evaporate water to provide additional cooling. Which also explains why it's steam
- wakawaka28 1y ago
  What about the billions of tons of solar panels that turn to toxic garbage every 20 years or so, and can't yet be recycled? Not to mention the huge amount of land consumed by solar farms.
JoeAltmaier 1y ago
Trivial national production compared with a single dam.
- bobthepanda 1y ago
  The problem with dams is that for the most part in the West all the good sites near population centers have been taken. In developing countries you have the issue of new dams potentially making older downstream ones less useful, which is now a real conflict point with Egypt vs Sudan vs Ethiopia, Afghanistan vs Iran, China vs India and SEA, etc. In addition, because silt will back up in reservoirs there are an increasing amount of old dams where removal makes more sense than spending more money on dredging and maintaining the dam; and with droughts becoming more common hydro is not as reliable for baseload anymore.

thelastgallon 1y ago

[flagged]

Forbo 1y ago
ACCount37 expressly left out the coal smoke stacks from their description, so I'm not sure why you chose to focus solely on that and throw it back in?
- thelastgallon 1y ago
  What are cooling towers for if not for coal smoke stacks?
  - ascorbic 1y ago
    Nuclear
- hinkley 1y ago
  [flagged]
  - Forgeties79 1y ago
    > I don't mind things like huge cooling towers or massive dams. ^That’s not “cherry picking.“ They are saying the two things that they would not mind seeing in the distance. It is reasonable to assume that it was not an omission to avoid hurting their point, but rather that coal power smoke stacks are not on list. It strikes me as the much more obvious reading. “Of the things you listed, these two don’t really bother me.”
    - hinkley 1y ago
      [flagged]
      - squigz 1y ago
        [flagged]
        hinkley 1y ago
        [flagged]
        tomhow 1y ago
        We need you to avoid perpetuating or escalating flamewars on HN. Energy/climate topics are among the most predictable flamebait topics, and as a longtime user we need to see you being circumspect and making your contributions de-escalatory rather than escalatory. We've had to ask you several times before respect the site's guidelines and purpose. Please try harder.
        tomhow 1y ago
        > This is a truly bizarre comment chain. > And since you're so keen on pointing out that this is public: you don't come off looking very great. Might wanna work on that. Please edit out personal swipes from comments on HN. The guidelines ask us all to aim for better than this. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
        squigz 1y ago
        I'm the one who gets warned? It gets even more bizarre!
      - Forgeties79 1y ago
        You and I can disagree about interpretation all day long but there’s no misinterpreting your incredibly condescending tone. Have a good rest of your Sunday man.
cultofmetatron 1y ago
the clouds comming off nuclear towers is literally just steam. not radioactive steam. just.... steam
- hvb2 1y ago
  That's not even unique to nuclear. Gas and coal can have them too. Typically they're only used if the other source of coolant is not sufficient. For example, you take in cooling water from a river. When the river gets too hot in summer you want to use that cooling tower to evaporate water to provide additional cooling. Which also explains why it's steam
wakawaka28 1y ago
What about the billions of tons of solar panels that turn to toxic garbage every 20 years or so, and can't yet be recycled? Not to mention the huge amount of land consumed by solar farms.

JoeAltmaier 1y ago

Trivial national production compared with a single dam.

bobthepanda 1y ago
The problem with dams is that for the most part in the West all the good sites near population centers have been taken. In developing countries you have the issue of new dams potentially making older downstream ones less useful, which is now a real conflict point with Egypt vs Sudan vs Ethiopia, Afghanistan vs Iran, China vs India and SEA, etc. In addition, because silt will back up in reservoirs there are an increasing amount of old dams where removal makes more sense than spending more money on dredging and maintaining the dam; and with droughts becoming more common hydro is not as reliable for baseload anymore.