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I'm not a "tech guy." I don't understand the science of things, especially when it gets into equations and such. But I love learning about science as long as it's dumbed down enough for me to understand it (like in Portal, when Glados describes momentum and dumbs it down to "speedy thing goes in, speedy things comes out").

Anyway, I thought I'd make a thread and post videos sometimes from channels I follow. Some I follow discuss latest findings or new research into renewable energy, something I'm constantly fascinated by.

To start, here's one talking about tidal energy. Which is more costly to set up and maintain due to salt water and other factors, but it creates far more reliable energy than solar and wind combined. Not a new technology, but it's that's constantly researched. In fact, there's one here in Nova Scotia that reportedly generates around 80-100 MW of power.

I'm always wondering if there some way to combine some of these various generators into a single unit. Something like, say, a wind turbine but with solar panels built into it. Or an offshore wind turbine with a tidal turbine below sea level. Of course, I know nothing about science and have no idea if such a thing is practical.

Something else I just learned today: there's a power plant just near my place here in Dartmouth. It's right on the harbour. And I was under the impression that it was purely a coal powered planet (as with about 50% of Nova Scotia's power). But it turns out they've been slowly converting to natural gas power, instead. Coal use has been reduced by 34% in the last 20 years, and they're looking to phase it out entirely by 2030.

Obviously, natural gas still emits greenhouse gases, but it's nowhere near as high as coal. I'd be happier if any greenhouse gas emitting power was phased out, but phasing out coal is at least a good step in the right direction. At least until Nova Scotia can get more renewable energy projects going.

ThatNickGuy said:

I'm always wondering if there some way to combine some of these various generators into a single unit.

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There tend to be splits between solar and wind, because many of the places that don't have sunlight have wind, and vice versa. Many places also have sunlight during the day and wind at night, so it's not uncommon to see someone's mountaintop hideaway have a bit of both to try and maintain power generation around the clock. But they are normally not combined into a single unit, since the service/maintenance of each are different enough that it is probably more convenient to keep them separate.

--Patrick

Sand batteries!

People have been burning natural gas bubbled up through sand as an efficient radiant heat source (gas burns, heats sand, hot sand then radiates), so this seems natural for Finland--it's just a giant sauna with very tiny rocks.

--Patrick

ThatNickGuy said:

Sand batteries!

Innovative ‘Sand Battery’ is Heating Small City, Storing Green Energy for Months at a Time

Storing heat in a giant "sand battery" may be the key feature to northern countries' energy needs, as one goes online in Finland.

www.goodnewsnetwork.org

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Beware that website downloaded a .zip file to my computer and wanted me to "update my Firefox."

Another one of those "I don't really understand any of this, but it's super neat" for me: graphene and all its potential applications.

Micropyramids!

Sort of like a retroreflector, but in reverse.

--Patrick

ThatNickGuy said:

Micropyramids!

Stanford-designed pyramid lens boosts solar panel efficiency

Stacks of teeny lenses that look like inverted pyramids could juice up solar panels, helping them capture more light from any angle on both sunny and

techcrunch.com

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Illuminati confirmed!

This is neat, but it all sounds way too good to be true.

I never really jumped on the "TeamSeas" bandwagon when it came to the Ocean Cleanup project. On paper and visually, it looks great. But as this video describes, it doesn't stop the fundamental problems behind plastic getting into rivers and oceans.

Mark Rober has said (in his Hot Ones interview, actually) that collecting the trash is only a stop gap. They went up the river to examine some of the villages where the trash is entering the river and found virtually no infrastructure there for garbage. So he definitely knows that the cleanup efforts are not a long term solution.

I thought the point behind Team Seas was that it was better than the nothing being done before, and that it would raise awareness of the whole problem?

Tress said:

I thought the point behind Team Seas was that it was better than the nothing being done before, and that it would raise awareness of the whole problem?

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Getting tens of millions of pounds of trash out of the water is definitely a worthy goal on its own. Better infrastructure is always the best, if utterly unsexy, solution, IMNSHO.

Tress said:

I thought the point behind Team Seas was that it was better than the nothing being done before, and that it would raise awareness of the whole problem?

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I think it's because many people see it as a quick, sexy solution when the real solution is far wider reaching and more complicated than that.

See also: current heavy investments in carbon capture technology, while there's already a perfectly cheap and easy solution... But planting trees and seeding krill just isn't very sexy.

ThatNickGuy said:

I think it's because many people see it as a quick, sexy solution when the real solution is far wider reaching and more complicated than that.

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It is at least a good reminder that we need to do more.

Just as an aside only tangentially related to what's being discussed: man I hate (organized) religion. Mark Rober seems like a cool dude, but I can't in good conscience support anything he does, because I know he's a Mormon in good standing with the church. And being in good standing means 10% of all of his income goes to the church, which is then used to oppose things like gay rights.

This might be a no ethical consumption under capitalism type scenario.

CO2 energy storage domes. This is really cool, and certainly more than a little ironic.

I honestly don't know why we aren't growing forests of bamboo, baking them down into charcoal, and then somehow sequestering the more or less pure carbon that is the result. Seems like it would take up less room than CO2 gas. The only drawback I can see is finding someplace where you can store all of it without worrying about whether it will catch on fire.

--Patrick

I'd assume they can more heavily pressurize the gas, fitting it in a smaller volume. Charcoal isn't the densest of carbon forms. But I'm not sure, of course.

I assumed the resulting charcoal would be processed by crushing/powdering/grinding it in order to remove the honeycomb of void left behind after the other, more volatile materials are driven off by pyrolyzing it in the kiln. Apparently, charcoal made from bamboo is especially porous (suggesting bamboo does not trap as much carbon as I thought), which may make it a poor choice for this process. The only reason I suggested bamboo was because of its famously fast growth rate (compared to, say, hardwood trees) which I assumed would also mean that it could "scrub" carbon out of the air faster than, say, poplar or willow. I suppose some research would be needed to measure which plants have the highest scrubbing efficiency/speed.

--Patrick

Vanadium Reflux Flow Batteries are apparently better than Lithium.

The rest of the story...

Solar Company Gets Bright Idea to Cover Storage Facilities in Solar Panels—Brings Power to 1,400 Homes


This seems like one of those "Sure, that seems obvious, why aren't more companies doing this?" kind of things. They have access to all those solar panels. Why NOT put them all over their storage facilities?

A couple of YouTubers that I follow posted about this. Rooftop air foils, basically motionless wind power. Best installed on the edge of rooftops and using the building's for the wind power.

What's doubly interesting in this video is the invention of power nests, which combine these technology with solar power. I've often dreamed of seeing some kind of hybrid system of the two, and this seems like a promising first step.

ThatNickGuy said:

A couple of YouTubers that I follow posted about this. Rooftop air foils, basically motionless wind power. Best installed on the edge of rooftops and using the building's for the wind power.

What's doubly interesting in this video is the invention of power nests, which combine these technology with solar power. I've often dreamed of seeing some kind of hybrid system of the two, and this seems like a promising first step.

Click to expand...

I like where they are headed with this. I wonder if there is a way to get it to move to face changes in wind direction.

Whatever decentralizes electricity supply, I'm all for.
Partially because fossil fuel and CO2, partially because of the massive amount of real estate and maintenance required for transmission.

--Patrick

I'm about 3 weeks late to the party, but I learned Tom Scott was in my neck of the woods to talk about the Bay of Fundy's tidal power. It's interesting hearing about the ongoing attempts to harness the Bay of Fundy's tides for energy, but so far, as he points out in this short video, it's not so easy.

Cheap, renewable energy generated by THE MOON. Oh boy, wait until the conspiracy nuts get a load of this.

—Patrick

PatrThom said:

Cheap, renewable energy generated by THE MOON. Oh boy, wait until the conspiracy nuts get a load of this.

—Patrick

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The Moon Spirit is a gentle, loving lady! She rules the sky with compassion and... lunar goodness!

WITCH

I don't have any gardening experience, but if I could ever afford my own home and have a small yard, I would love to grow a garden of vegetables. This video about a guy who grows vegetables with no watering, tilling, or weeding is extraordinary.

Iron-Air Batteries 10 Times Cheaper Than Li-Ion Will Start Mass Production in 2024

Iron-air batteries ($20/kWh), about 1/5th-1/10th cost of lithium-ion batteries ($100-$200/kWh) for grid elec storage, set for commercial production in 2024.

As the article points out, these batteries would be far too heavy to use in EVs, but they could pave the way for "grid-level energy storage, especially as they excel at long-term energy storage."

They don’t even have to be grid-level, so long as they can be residence-level.

—Patrick

I would love to have a power pack in a house that can cover central AC and fridge for a day. Besides having solar. Like having bad freeze or thunderstorm but it is too dark for solar you could still have enough for a full day without Solar or the Grid working.

Full article is paywalled, so I haven't read it, but it's a fun headline:

Putting solar panels in grazing fields is good for sheep
"Sheep living among rows of solar panels spend more time grazing, benefit from more nutritious food, rest more and appear to experience less heat stress, compared with nearby sheep in empty fields."

The sheep also keep weeds from overgrowing the panels, and somehow reduce wildfire risks (because the fields aren't as dry without full sun exposure, maybe? The full article probably says more.)

figmentPez said:

Full article is paywalled, so I haven't read it, but it's a fun headline:

Putting solar panels in grazing fields is good for sheep
"Sheep living among rows of solar panels spend more time grazing, benefit from more nutritious food, rest more and appear to experience less heat stress, compared with nearby sheep in empty fields."

The sheep also keep weeds from overgrowing the panels, and somehow reduce wildfire risks (because the fields aren't as dry without full sun exposure, maybe? The full article probably says more.)

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I don't know if it's the exact same article, but it's a non-paywalled source that coves the same ground

NC town rejects solar farm, fearing it would suck up all the energy from the sun

"One resident, a retired Northampton County science teacher, reportedly said she was concerned that photosynthesis would not happen after she said she observed areas near solar panels where plants were brown and dead because they did not get enough sunlight.

"Another resident reportedly questioned the high number of cancer deaths in the area, saying no one could tell her that solar panels didn't cause cancer."

The stupid, it burns!

Home solar schill site: "In Texas, solar installations can range from $7000 to $25,000, with $11,000 being typical. Click here to get quotes!"

Me: Ok, that sounds doable... *click*

Quote 1: "$27,000."
Quote 2: "$27,500."
Quote 3: "$28,750 plus more if you want a battery and also fuck you and your stupid haircut, bitch."

Guess I won't be getting solar after all.

figmentPez said:

NC town rejects solar farm, fearing it would suck up all the energy from the sun

Click to expand...

What, again?
<checks article date>
Oh thank goodness (I guess(?), that) it's the same stupid and not fresh stupid.

--Patrick

PatrThom said:

What, again?
<checks article date>
Oh thank goodness (I guess(?), that) it's the same stupid and not fresh stupid.

--Patrick

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I should have paid more attention to the date on the article. Thanks for alerting me that this was from 2015.

figmentPez said:

Thanks for alerting me that this was from 2015.

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To be fair, even though I suspected before clicking (that it might be a repeat), I was fully prepared to believe people were fomenting this particular flavor of dumbness AGAIN.

—Patrick

Well, this is disappointing. For all the strong tides we have in Nova Scotia, tidal energy seems to be a real struggle to get a foothold around here.

GasBandit said:

Scientists Successfully Transmit Space-Based Solar Power to Earth for the First Time

Caltech's recent breakthrough has moved us closer to achieving the transformative potential of space-based solar power.

gizmodo.com

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Subtitle: "Coming in second place to the sun, which has been doing it for billions of years"

Snark aside, that's awesome

Neat!

GreenCleaner Tech
Energy Startup Says It Has Achieved Geothermal Tech Breakthrough

"An enhanced geothermal system expands the range of sites able to be tapped for geothermal energy, and Fervo’s demo is the first time a company has shown it can be done on this kind of commercial scale."

...huh.

--Patrick

PatrThom said:

...huh.

--Patrick

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Huh.