4 ms·

"Common sense" might also mean "do the simple thing" which, given how cheap it is to invest in renewable energy sources like solar farms, and how much room we h

by smolder 2mo ago

"Common sense" might also mean "do the simple thing" which, given how cheap it is to invest in renewable energy sources like solar farms, and how much room we have to build daytime capacity that way without large scale storage, might mean installing a lot more solar. Don't pretend the current US admin is anything but corrupt and stupid.

throwaway173738 2mo ago
Don’t overthink it. Burgum means “don’t disagree with me I’m always right” when he says it.
perpetuallunch 2mo ago
Day time. And what of the night? Freeze in the dark.
- andrecarini 2mo ago
  > And what of the night? Nuclear.
- bryanlarsen 2mo ago
  Night can be handled by whatever currently handles day time generation, be it nuclear, natural gas, hydro, whatever.
- benj111 2mo ago
  Wind, hydro, some kind of storage? Nuclear? Gas and coal peaked plants? We can at least plan for an eventuality that is likely to happen. How much planning is/was there when gas suddenly gets cut off?
- freeone3000 2mo ago
  Batteries. Or pumped storage. Or lifting a really heavy thing and letting it fall slowly. Or retaining an amount of fossil fuel capacity to be turned on during peak consumption and sun and wind dips while still focusing on renewables and storage with the goal to reduce the duty cycle of peaker plants to zero.
  - perpetuallunch 2mo ago
    > Or lifting a really heavy thing and letting it fall slowly. I challenge you to run the numbers on this. Or at least read or watch someone who has. Whenever you’re certain you know the answer, it behooves to try to prove yourself wrong. Unsurprisingly, gravity is an extraordinarily weak force. It merely appears otherwise because the total mass of the Earth is literally astronomical at around the 5.9722×10^24 kg mark. Concrete blocks hanging from a crane, much less so. Don’t believe me. BIY - Believe It Yourself here: https://youtu.be/iGGOjD_OtAM?si=FXjjxz4NLbA-oj7U https://youtu.be/iGGOjD_OtAM?si=FXjjxz4NLbA-oj7U Pumped hydro is a nonstarter: do you see any suitable geography anywhere? Yep, they’ve already been dammed damn it. So approximately no one^ can have their existing hydro upgraded to pumped hydro retro fitted to pumped, and have the surrounding landscape covered in solar and wind. How helpful! Chemical batteries? South Australia has a decent sized one. I think it can power some of the state for about 12 seconds.^^ ^okay, not no one: Hydropower accounts for approximately 15%, but you have to choose pumped hydro sites where it also makes sense for wind and / or solar, so it’s clearly not an answer for everyone everywhere. Not even close. ^^hyperbole! I know. Look, it’s actually around 1–1.5 hours, which is statistically closer to my estimate of 12 seconds than anything actually useful like a day or a week.
    - defrost 2mo ago
      Mini hydropower on gentle farm hills are sufficient to store and stabilise small town power - such topography is relatively widespread. eg: (old page, project is now complete and working as planned): https://www.westernpower.com.au/resources-education/network-improvements/network-upgrade-projects/walpole-mini-pumped-hydro/ https://www.westernpower.com.au/resources-education/network-...
    - freeone3000 2mo ago
      I’m powered by the James Bay project and live about three hours from Niagara Falls, so I’m a believer in hydro. Niagara Falls, to the unaware, uses pumped hydro during night and off-season to account for power dips for when tourists want to look at the waterfall. For the chemical batteries section, that’s an endorsement: Australia built a system that can handle grid-scale charge and discharge! At this point it’s a matter of buying more batteries and sticking them in, a resourcing problem rather than an engineering one.
- raisedbyninjas 2mo ago
  Wind or solar + batteries have similar cost to natural gas and hydro. They are much cheaper than coal or nuclear.

by smolder 2mo ago

throwaway173738 2mo ago

Don’t overthink it. Burgum means “don’t disagree with me I’m always right” when he says it.

perpetuallunch 2mo ago

Day time. And what of the night? Freeze in the dark.

andrecarini 2mo ago
> And what of the night? Nuclear.
bryanlarsen 2mo ago
Night can be handled by whatever currently handles day time generation, be it nuclear, natural gas, hydro, whatever.
benj111 2mo ago
Wind, hydro, some kind of storage? Nuclear? Gas and coal peaked plants? We can at least plan for an eventuality that is likely to happen. How much planning is/was there when gas suddenly gets cut off?
freeone3000 2mo ago
Batteries. Or pumped storage. Or lifting a really heavy thing and letting it fall slowly. Or retaining an amount of fossil fuel capacity to be turned on during peak consumption and sun and wind dips while still focusing on renewables and storage with the goal to reduce the duty cycle of peaker plants to zero.
- perpetuallunch 2mo ago
  > Or lifting a really heavy thing and letting it fall slowly. I challenge you to run the numbers on this. Or at least read or watch someone who has. Whenever you’re certain you know the answer, it behooves to try to prove yourself wrong. Unsurprisingly, gravity is an extraordinarily weak force. It merely appears otherwise because the total mass of the Earth is literally astronomical at around the 5.9722×10^24 kg mark. Concrete blocks hanging from a crane, much less so. Don’t believe me. BIY - Believe It Yourself here: https://youtu.be/iGGOjD_OtAM?si=FXjjxz4NLbA-oj7U https://youtu.be/iGGOjD_OtAM?si=FXjjxz4NLbA-oj7U Pumped hydro is a nonstarter: do you see any suitable geography anywhere? Yep, they’ve already been dammed damn it. So approximately no one^ can have their existing hydro upgraded to pumped hydro retro fitted to pumped, and have the surrounding landscape covered in solar and wind. How helpful! Chemical batteries? South Australia has a decent sized one. I think it can power some of the state for about 12 seconds.^^ ^okay, not no one: Hydropower accounts for approximately 15%, but you have to choose pumped hydro sites where it also makes sense for wind and / or solar, so it’s clearly not an answer for everyone everywhere. Not even close. ^^hyperbole! I know. Look, it’s actually around 1–1.5 hours, which is statistically closer to my estimate of 12 seconds than anything actually useful like a day or a week.
  - defrost 2mo ago
    Mini hydropower on gentle farm hills are sufficient to store and stabilise small town power - such topography is relatively widespread. eg: (old page, project is now complete and working as planned): https://www.westernpower.com.au/resources-education/network-improvements/network-upgrade-projects/walpole-mini-pumped-hydro/ https://www.westernpower.com.au/resources-education/network-...
  - freeone3000 2mo ago
    I’m powered by the James Bay project and live about three hours from Niagara Falls, so I’m a believer in hydro. Niagara Falls, to the unaware, uses pumped hydro during night and off-season to account for power dips for when tourists want to look at the waterfall. For the chemical batteries section, that’s an endorsement: Australia built a system that can handle grid-scale charge and discharge! At this point it’s a matter of buying more batteries and sticking them in, a resourcing problem rather than an engineering one.
raisedbyninjas 2mo ago
Wind or solar + batteries have similar cost to natural gas and hydro. They are much cheaper than coal or nuclear.