zksmk

@zksmk@slrpnk.net

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Main obstacles facing the adoption of kite sails, the modern day answer to the Age of Sail, are not engineering-related, but social.⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨years⁩ ago⁩:

  Indeed. However, they are also very slow (usually around 30 km/h) and more importantly very slow to change that speed (cargo ships starts braking 5-10 km before port). All due to heavy inertia. The ships' engines aren't doing a ton of work themselves either, per unit of time.

  Work per time is power in physics. A ship like this has an engine of about 100 000 horse power per google, which is about 500 cars' worth of power. And 10th of that is about 50 cars. Which matches thereabouts a huge sail in a strong wind at large altitude in the open ocean like this, I think. My back of the envelope math checks out.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Main obstacles facing the adoption of kite sails, the modern day answer to the Age of Sail, are not engineering-related, but social.⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨years⁩ ago⁩:

  This is one of those situations where the free market doesn't give desirable results, and where a government could step in and give subsidies for this goal, assuming it were serious about decreasing GHG emissions.

  There would be no profit for the state, beyond less climate change, but the shipping industry would profit, having to spend less fuel.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Electricity Maps | Open Source | Mapping the climate impact of electricity | Live 24/7 CO2 emissions of electricity consumption⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨years⁩ ago⁩:

  Yeah, and even poorer to mid rich countries (that have hydro potential) can rely on it, locally, with no need to import solar panels, for example. Albania, for example, is 100% renewable, and has been for decades, thanks to hydro.

  Sucks you can't build hydro everywhere. I kinda wanna see more "run of the river" type of hydro. I think there's more potential for that, and it's less damaging to the surroundings. It's intermittent tho. I'd love to see it locally in my region, I think it could work.

• Main obstacles facing the adoption of kite sails, the modern day answer to the Age of Sail, are not engineering-related, but social.slrpnk.net ↗
  Submitted ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨years⁩ ago⁩ to ⁨energy@slrpnk.net⁩ | ⁨6⁩ ⁨comments⁩
• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨This 100% solar community endured Hurricane Ian with no loss of power and minimal damage⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨years⁩ ago⁩:

  Now that's the kind of success story I want to hear more about!

• Electricity Maps | Open Source | Mapping the climate impact of electricity | Live 24/7 CO2 emissions of electricity consumptionapp.electricitymaps.com ↗
  Submitted ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨years⁩ ago⁩ to ⁨energy@slrpnk.net⁩ | ⁨5⁩ ⁨comments⁩
• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Wind turbine installation vessels (WTIV) are specifically designed for the installation of offshore wind turbines⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨years⁩ ago⁩:

  Given that 16 of them already exist, I sure hope they do!

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Wind turbine installation vessels (WTIV) are specifically designed for the installation of offshore wind turbines⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨years⁩ ago⁩:

  Types of platforms, not shown in the above video:

  [1] [2] [3]

  The shear size of these things, specifically the "jacket" type: https://i.imgur.com/pj0qsN4.gifv

• Wind turbine installation vessels (WTIV) are specifically designed for the installation of offshore wind turbinesgiant.gfycat.com ↗
  Submitted ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨years⁩ ago⁩ to ⁨energy@slrpnk.net⁩ | ⁨4⁩ ⁨comments⁩
• Software Turns Promise Up for Offshore Windspectrum.ieee.org ↗
  Submitted ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨years⁩ ago⁩ to ⁨energy@slrpnk.net⁩ | ⁨0⁩ ⁨comments⁩
• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨What do you think about the renewables vs nuclear debate?⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨years⁩ ago⁩:

  Seems like a false dichotomy to me.

  Oh, agreed, personally. There's room for all these technologies, and sometimes even a necessity for only some of them, due to a lack of proper alternatives in some places. And it's not always the same technology. There's no one size fits all answer, for every place on Earth.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨What do you think about the renewables vs nuclear debate?⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨years⁩ ago⁩:

  nuclear safety requires something very near to 0 corruption

  Oh definitely, I'd never want my country to build a nuclear fission plant, due to how incompetent and corrupt both the system and mentality around doing these kind of things is around here. I'd be way too worried the thing would explode (despite all the safety measures) because somebody washed some money through the project, the funding got cut beyond safety limits or somebody simply got lazy and didn't do proper maintenance, alas. Ty, but no ty, at least for another half a century, we're not mature enough. I'm sure this applies to many poorer and smaller countries across the globe.

  Fusion I'd feel safe with, but that's a dream within a dream.

  Said that, I never support the ‘‘renewables are intermittent’’ point

  I do wish we had better developed and more universal grid storage tech than just pumped hydro. A large/continental-sized grid is cool and all, but energy independence is still important in geopolitics unfortunately, and simply in practical terms in general too.

• What do you think about the renewables vs nuclear debate?
  Submitted ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨years⁩ ago⁩ to ⁨energy@slrpnk.net⁩ | ⁨8⁩ ⁨comments⁩
• Perovskite solar cells. Major new breakthrough. [11:30]www.youtube.com ↗
  Submitted ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨years⁩ ago⁩ to ⁨energy@slrpnk.net⁩ | ⁨0⁩ ⁨comments⁩
• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Are vertical-axis wind turbines really the future?⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨years⁩ ago⁩:

  Correct. That's the main supposed advantage of these vertical axis turbines, in the context of offshore.

  ... its concept has a simple, robust design with a low centre of gravity, while its moving parts are located close to the water surface, enabling easier, cheaper maintenance.

  The lower center of gravity decreases the size of the submerged substructure and therefore also its costs, and there's also the fact a VAWT doesn't need a yaw system.

  Image

  Main supposed benefit, aside from the supposed windflow benefits, that is:

  When set closely interspaced in pairs, VAWTs increase each other’s performance by up to 15%, the UK-based institute said in its press release, triggering much media attention.

  The researchers argue that VAWT’s in wind-farm array do not suffer from HAWT-related turbulent wake issues created by the first row, which decrease the output of the rows of turbines behind by up to 40%. Using vertical- rather than horizontal-axis machines would not only eliminate this problem, they suggest, but the VAWTs would actually enhance each other’s performance.

  Which is both explained in more detail in the OP article, and most definitely put in question as well(!).

  But yeah, costs are probably even more important than that:

  ...the larger scale of offshore wind turbines and improved materials indicate that VAWT designs may have certain advantages and benefits for floating offshore wind energy installations. For instance, VAWT designs have a lower center of gravity, which would reduce the platform costs. From a systems perspective, that could be a huge breakthrough for floating offshore wind, where the platform is the single largest contributor to the system cost," said Brandon Ennis, Sandia's Wind Energy Technologies Department offshore technical lead. "The turbine represents approximately 65% of the system cost for land-based wind plants, compared to only around 25% for deep-water offshore sites.

  There are downsides too, it's a numbers game. That's why I'm curious what will the full large scale test by SeaTwirl in Norway show.

  ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

• Are vertical-axis wind turbines really the future?www.windpowermonthly.com ↗
  Submitted ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨years⁩ ago⁩ to ⁨energy@slrpnk.net⁩ | ⁨2⁩ ⁨comments⁩
• SeaTwirl’s vertical-axis floating offshore wind turbine set for tests off Norwaywww.windpowermonthly.com ↗
  Submitted ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨years⁩ ago⁩ to ⁨energy@slrpnk.net⁩ | ⁨0⁩ ⁨comments⁩