Yes you can, using batteries, but in most cases it makes more sense to just run cables between the power grids and transmit power that way, since you expend hardly any energy just transporting it.
Yes you can, using batteries, but in most cases it makes more sense to just run cables between the power grids and transmit power that way, since you expend hardly any energy just transporting it.
MrFinnbean@lemmy.world 5 hours ago
How do you propose you make those power cables from lets say USA to Australia? And if suddenly some other country wants to make a better deal for that energy you cant just redirect those cables to lets say Italy.
Or with batteries. What happens to those expensive batteries containing rare-earthminerals after whom ever has used them? Do you just let them have those or do you buy them back and transport them empty or what?
Im not advocating for fossil fuels here. Im just stating why its more convinient for big oil to sell easily transportable oil barrels that can be packed in to basically free steel sheets or plastics and are easy to redirect towards whom ever pays the best.
this@sh.itjust.works 4 hours ago
Well yes I agree running power cables between continents is generally unviable(I was thinking more along a neighboring country/state scale). For your example, it would make the most sense to just build seperate infrastructure and have both countries be energy independent imo.
Allow me to address the battery concerns though. There are batteries that do not require rare earth minerals, and even if you do use ones that require them, once they’ve been used past their lifespan(which is still 1000s of times more uses than gas, which is single use), those rare earth minerals don’t just vaporise and go away(like gas), they can be recycled into newer batteries, and for a fraction of the overall effort of mining new rare earth minerals.
In any case, my original point is that you can in fact “bottle” and transport renewable energy, even across continents, even if it makes no sense to do so.
And honestly, If every country had enough oil reserves, it probably wouldn’t make much sense for oil either
MrFinnbean@lemmy.world 4 hours ago
Well the cant was more in the terms of “you cant have a viable business” than “its physically impossible”. I mean in a theory it would be possible to create moonbase and power it up with AA-batteries, but its just not something that can be done.
Also with batteries you did not say anything about what would happen to the empty ones. There would be logistical hurdle to overcome with those. Even the cheapest industrial sized battery would still be leagues more expensive than the sheetmetal used to transport oil.
Again, not talking trying to defend fossilfuels. Just making points why big companies are fighting against the change.
this@sh.itjust.works 3 hours ago
All fair points, though I would argue that the main reason we transport oild sint because it’s cheap, it’s because we kind of have to. You can generate electricity pretty much anywhere, oil has to come from specific holes in the ground.
But yea, I don’t think we transport oil just because it’s cheap, it’s also nessisary, at least to an extent, as long as we depend on it. Gas stations, tanker trucks, oil pipelines, ect were all originally built because we needed those things in order to make the things that use them go, including most of the things that bring the finished oil products to us.
And yes, it would be costly and impractical to move uncharged batteries back to where they are charged.
If anything, I think this comversation highlights the absurdity of modern oil infrastructure when compared to electric.
With electricity you can build machines that sustainably harvest it, keep the power generation away from the things it’s used for, and transmit it efficiency at a low cost(albeit not overseas). While on the other hand, oil must be mined in a specific location, transported, refined, transported again, and burned at the appliance, never to be used again. I know I’m preaching to the chior here but I really think the only thing holding renewable electric power back is politics, like oil subsidies and the like.