hwillis

42 ms·

421.
by hwillis 4y ago
I'll note that neodymium is, and is used in very small amounts (much less even than lithium) in most EV electric motors (specifically, the reluctance types that are currently most popular). It's not essential, but it does increas
422.
by hwillis 4y ago
Elements and chemicals are very different things. Silicon is the #2 most common element on earth and if you smash a bunch of solar panels, they turn into sand when they get wet. Or if you just wait. Even pure silicon metal is totally beni
423.
by hwillis 4y ago
> Solar modules contain lead for soldering Not all of them, and lead is also non-essential. Most solder in other contexts is already lead-free. It's also pretty minor compared to the other sources of lead in our lives already. &gt
424.
by hwillis 4y ago
one would usually consider a waveguide and a medium to be very different, but good job! You've managed to be condescending while also remaining completely opaque to anyone who does not already completely understand both cases.
425.
by hwillis 4y ago
Well. Significantly more than that due to latency from switches etc and also because of the fact that there's so little land along the equator, meaning there's only one cable that travels roughly equatorially. It's from Fort
426.
by hwillis 4y ago
That's clearly incorrect. 43% of Americans think global warming will pose a serious threat in their lifetime[1]. If they could just "vote with their dollars" then the US would have seen immense changes in renewable energy a
427.
by hwillis 4y ago
> Everyone has always had the option to vote with their dollars. Imagine for a second that this was an actual election. To vote for fossil fuels, people just have to call a phone number or drive to a polling place (gas station). To vote
428.
by hwillis 4y ago
Turkmenistan produces ~2.2% of global natural gas. Scaled across all producers, the result would be 20.2 MT/yr. Also, this is from a tiny part of Turkmenistan. > In Turkmenistan, EMIT identified 12 plumes from oil and gas infrastr
429.
by hwillis 4y ago
It's certainly not straightforward. You know how 90% of crashes occur within whatever many miles of home? People don't use autopilot while they're cruising around their suburbs or cities. Companies would have to disclose no
430.
by hwillis 4y ago
> Why is LiDAR still expensive enough for the cost to be a problem for anyone? Because economy of scale is not the only reason things are expensive. Lidar with 2cm distance resolution has to detect light and measure time to less than 60
431.
by hwillis 4y ago
To illustrate this: Asbestos is only banned in spray-on insulation, pipe insulation, paper, flooring, and new uses. The actual reason its not used as much (and it certainly is still used) is because of the public opinion and threat of laws
432.
by hwillis 4y ago
> The mining process provides network security all on its own, transactions or no transactions. The mining process provides a fixed amount of network security. $125,000 per 15000 transactions. The fact that it would still cost that m
433.
by hwillis 4y ago
$60 (or, more currently, ~$83) is the block reward, at the current price, divided by the average number of transactions per block. It does not even include the added incentives from fees.
434.
by hwillis 4y ago
> I think once all the externalities are factored in, doing it all on a computer makes more sense even if POW is energy intensive. No, it's not even close. Bitcoin currently uses as much electricity as 31 million US residents. On
435.
by hwillis 4y ago
> Blocks can be completely full or utterly empty and still use the amount of power. It has been steady around 1500 tx/block for years. > You're also missing the point of the power consumption. Its not used to move capital fr
436.
by hwillis 4y ago
https://climateer.substack.com/p/methane-lifetime > Methane emissions decay gradually, with an average lifetime of about 12 years (“perturbation lifetime”, which is what matters for climate purposes). > This will
437.
by hwillis 4y ago
> Blockchain allows for anonymous participation, so to say. No, different agents are voting . Democracy could be totally anonymous, in principle- get a secret key, generate a valid public one-time key, and your vote is verifiably valid
438.
by hwillis 4y ago
> The switch to PoS is a non-issue from my perspective: a centralized system changed from using method A to method B, I don't understand why I should care. Because every bitcoin transaction costs $60 in electricity. That is a monum
439.
by hwillis 4y ago
> There's a very important difference in not emitting carbon into the atmosphere and actively removing carbon from the atmosphere. The phrase "removing a megaton of carbon from the atmosphere every week" is globally syntac
440.
by hwillis 4y ago
You also (almost always) try to preserve anonymity in a democracy. When was the last time you voted in person outside a booth?
441.
by hwillis 4y ago
> > Heat pumps don't go where the furnace is. > They certainly can. I am responding to what you said.
442.
by hwillis 4y ago
Then put it on the roof, or put it in a little hut, or put it next to your electricity meter or trash cans, which are already ugly. You don't actually care, you're just moving goalposts.
443.
by hwillis 4y ago
Air handlers are not heat pumps. An air handler can be put in place of a furnace, but it certainly does not have to. If you have a furnace, it's trivial to have it left in place.
444.
by hwillis 4y ago
> and now in the early months leading into the absolute winter of hell for hundreds of millions in Europe they decide to use this kind of rhetoric at the podium You're referring to natural gas shortages? If you used the natural gas
445.
by hwillis 4y ago
15 F is 47 F below freezing , which is what I meant to say.
446.
by hwillis 4y ago
Okay? They virtually always are outside, because it's far more difficult to put a unit in a basement. Heat pumps need outside air and a furnace typically has a single 2" PVC pipe to the outside. That's very far from suffic
447.
by hwillis 4y ago
> Snow that comes in 1 foot lifts day after day. Put it on a stand. https://www.arcticheatpumps.com/images/2021/03/31/standinact... Put it just under your roofline, if you like. There's no reaso
448.
by hwillis 4y ago
47 F below freezing, not below zero. > We spend most of the winter night below 0F so these heat pump options don't look viable. The heat pump does not stop working or turn off at -15 F. It reaches COP=1. It still warms your house,
449.
by hwillis 4y ago
So you'd buy a heat pump, but you don't want to buy the radiators for the heat pump? Why? If you like the look of steam radiators (and all of the burn/leak hazards that come with that), just keep the radiators and lose the
450.
by hwillis 4y ago
Then the people who think that are hysterical. Nobody is going to be forced to freeze to death over CO2 emissions.

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