There’s this really neat thing called nuclear reactors that produce an enormous amount of energy. It’s only been around for ~70 years but they look promising.
Comment on Trump Is Obsessed With Oil. But Chinese Batteries Will Soon Run the World
jof@lemmy.world 4 weeks ago
Not that Trump is right but, how will we charge said batteries…?
Atomic@sh.itjust.works 4 weeks ago
SaveTheTuaHawk@lemmy.ca 4 weeks ago
But they can’t work at night!
gandalf_der_12te@discuss.tchncs.de 4 weeks ago
solar is Big Nuclear In The Sky - nuclear without the hazard
jof@lemmy.world 4 weeks ago
Right. And how many countries currently use or are planning to use this In a large scale capacity besides France? Oh yea.
No need to be a dickhead.
RamRabbit@lemmy.world 4 weeks ago
Works pretty damn well for France. Maybe we should follow their lead.
jof@lemmy.world 4 weeks ago
I wholeheartedly agree with that. Doesn’t seem like anyone is though unfortunately.
Asfalttikyntaja@sopuli.xyz 4 weeks ago
Works great in Finland.
InFerNo@lemmy.ml 4 weeks ago
There was even a car that charged itself with solar, they only ran out of money because there was little interest for an unknown new brand
RamRabbit@lemmy.world 4 weeks ago
The cars with solar panels on them are a gimmick. There isn’t enough surface area on a normal car to meaningfully charge the battery.
Bytemeister@lemmy.world 4 weeks ago
I think you would be surprised. The problem really comes from the car not being a good shape to put solar panels on. I did the math a while back, and I only needed 200w of panels to cover my weekly driving.
SaveTheTuaHawk@lemmy.ca 4 weeks ago
There was never a car that charged itself with solar because it’s practically impossible unless you put the car on a turntable at the equator in July.
jjlinux@lemmy.zip 4 weeks ago
I charge my BYD Han and my wife’s Tang with Solar. No issues there.
jof@lemmy.world 4 weeks ago
That is excellent and cost effective, however what then when there’s no sun out or it’s cloudy? Will you not travel?
AA5B@lemmy.world 4 weeks ago
This is one of the concerns I have watched with interest ……
- with the first mass market push to wind “grid won’t be stable with any significant amount”
- as wind and solar became more popular “renewables can only be 30% without destabilizing the grid
- this past summer “with today’s renewables and storage technology, the cheapest most stable option is 95% of the grid”
Your concern may be technically and historically valid but is rapidly disappearing
jjlinux@lemmy.zip 4 weeks ago
That’s about right. I have product tío and storage at a 115% of my consumption, which translates to actually using some grid because the sun is not always out (although you would think it is where I live, lol). That allows me to finish the year with an excess credit of about 200 dollars with the electric company, but I still use some of the grid during hurricane season and very rainy periods of 3 or more days, which rarely happens.
UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world 4 weeks ago
however what then when there’s no sun out or it’s cloudy?
You’re not going to believe this, but solar panels will still work even when the light is reflected or partially blocked by clouds. Rain actually helps to keep your panels operating efficiently by washing away any dust or dirt. If you live in an area with a strong net metering policy, excess energy generated by your panels during sunny hours will offset energy that you use at night and other times when your system isn’t operating at full capacity.
jof@lemmy.world 4 weeks ago
That’s crazy. I never would’ve guessed. Did you also know solar panels have a theoretical limit of 33%, which is diminished even more when sunlight is further blocked? Wow! That means they’re horribly inefficient and even more so when less light comes in! Who knew! So really we’re talking about pennies on the dollar at the end of the day when something like supplying a grid at a larger level would mean nuclear.
Bytemeister@lemmy.world 4 weeks ago
That’s what the batteries are for?
Source : I drive and EV on cloudy days.
bluGill@fedia.io 4 weeks ago
In my case wind turbines. My local utility produces more wind power in a year than customers use.
UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world 4 weeks ago
Funny thing. Cloudy and rainy days tend to be windier than sunny days. So, with a bit of battery reserve or net metering, it all balances out.
jof@lemmy.world 4 weeks ago
Wind turbines can’t meet the energy demand of the infrastructure unfortunately. Nuclear is the most feasible option however, with the exception of France, no country has really committed to an energy source that can adequately support charging all these batteries albeit oil, natural gas, renewable energy etc. Oil and natural gas still continue to be the cheapest
gandalf_der_12te@discuss.tchncs.de 4 weeks ago
source: some study from 1990 i assume?
jof@lemmy.world 4 weeks ago
Source: logic