I recently drove 5,250 miles from the West Coast to the East Coast and back, and I couldn't help but be struck by how unattractive these massive wind turbines are.
Most of them were stationary, worst of all they mar the beautiful mountain, farmland, and valley landscapes that once defined cross-country driving.
As many of us have recognized for years, wind turbines don't produce enough energy to justify the substantial costs associated with their engineering, manufacturing, transportation, installation, and ongoing maintenance (leaving hoards of them motionless across the countryside).
Furthermore, the electrical grid isn’t capable of efficiently capturing and distributing the energy they generate. Wind power is highly intermittent, fluctuating as wind speeds change or go to nil.
There is currently, and never will be imo, an efficient and effective technology to store energy for use when the wind isn’t blowing or blows too much—produces more that the system can distribute.
Battery storage, which some think may resolve the issue, is similarly inefficient. It also comes with its own significant costs—ranging from the engineering, manufacturing, and installation—and suffers from short life spans and high risk safety issues—further limiting its practicality as a solution.
Fusion is just a liberal slush fund. Seriously, countless billions of dollars spent building giant metal donates. "Just give us a few hundred more billion and a decade or two". We are all getting taken for a ride. Notice how fusion is always promoted by the climate change people? Yeah, that right there should tell you everything you need to know about fusion.
Same for the superconductors that u/brennywaffle mentioned. It sounds awfully convenient that you have this exciting, revolutionary new technology, but it is expensive and can only be tested in a lab with our special cooling equipment. No, your freezer at home won't work, you need a special freezer that costs millions of dollars. The best thing so-called "superconductors" are good for is conducting money from the government and into the hands of the liberal elite.
The scientists dont control where the money goes (corruption could be all throughout it), and these reactors are suuuch a complicated feat of engineering that ITER (the largest experimental fusion reactor worldwide, under construction) has atleast a hundred PhD's chugging at it. And its still progressing slowly.
Superconductors arent new.
CERN's been using them in their particle accelerator. Proven largescale engineering feat, not only labscale. It needs liquid helium which is realllllly expensive.
What IS new and IS labscale is superconducting material (under very high pressure). The temperture it needs is only with liquid nitrogen, waaay cheaper. But the high pressure is impossible to have anything useful yet. Only labscale.
Life on earth is possible because of FUSION from the sun. Just like with birds and flying: we can see it, so it can be done.
I'm really glad to hear this.
I recently drove 5,250 miles from the West Coast to the East Coast and back, and I couldn't help but be struck by how unattractive these massive wind turbines are.
Most of them were stationary, worst of all they mar the beautiful mountain, farmland, and valley landscapes that once defined cross-country driving.
As many of us have recognized for years, wind turbines don't produce enough energy to justify the substantial costs associated with their engineering, manufacturing, transportation, installation, and ongoing maintenance (leaving hoards of them motionless across the countryside).
Furthermore, the electrical grid isn’t capable of efficiently capturing and distributing the energy they generate. Wind power is highly intermittent, fluctuating as wind speeds change or go to nil.
There is currently, and never will be imo, an efficient and effective technology to store energy for use when the wind isn’t blowing or blows too much—produces more that the system can distribute.
Battery storage, which some think may resolve the issue, is similarly inefficient. It also comes with its own significant costs—ranging from the engineering, manufacturing, and installation—and suffers from short life spans and high risk safety issues—further limiting its practicality as a solution.
Not "never" a way, but a long ways off. Superconducting loops already house currents which are permanently in motion without loss.
Theyre seen in tokomak reactors. Today they require supercold temps, but evidence is suggesting it can be done without it eventually.
Loooong way off, we'll have fusion power well before then and the storage issue wont matter
I agree... fusion is most likely the future. Can we tap into the EM waves around the earth, per N. Tesla? That sounds like the ultimate energy answer.
Fusion is just a liberal slush fund. Seriously, countless billions of dollars spent building giant metal donates. "Just give us a few hundred more billion and a decade or two". We are all getting taken for a ride. Notice how fusion is always promoted by the climate change people? Yeah, that right there should tell you everything you need to know about fusion.
Same for the superconductors that u/brennywaffle mentioned. It sounds awfully convenient that you have this exciting, revolutionary new technology, but it is expensive and can only be tested in a lab with our special cooling equipment. No, your freezer at home won't work, you need a special freezer that costs millions of dollars. The best thing so-called "superconductors" are good for is conducting money from the government and into the hands of the liberal elite.
The scientists dont control where the money goes (corruption could be all throughout it), and these reactors are suuuch a complicated feat of engineering that ITER (the largest experimental fusion reactor worldwide, under construction) has atleast a hundred PhD's chugging at it. And its still progressing slowly.
Superconductors arent new. CERN's been using them in their particle accelerator. Proven largescale engineering feat, not only labscale. It needs liquid helium which is realllllly expensive.
What IS new and IS labscale is superconducting material (under very high pressure). The temperture it needs is only with liquid nitrogen, waaay cheaper. But the high pressure is impossible to have anything useful yet. Only labscale.
Life on earth is possible because of FUSION from the sun. Just like with birds and flying: we can see it, so it can be done.