"If only we could generate energy cheaper than any fossil fuel, but free of carbon emissions!"
Uh.
And solar's not even close to done yet!
"MIT engineers have developed a scalable fabrication technique to produce paper-thin and lightweight solar cells that can quickly and easily turn any surface into a power source." https://pvbuzz.com/mit-produce-paper-thin-and-lightweight-fabric-solar-cells/?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email
The fusion discourse is extremely annoying, but it'll be gone again in a day or two, so let me just add two final notes to this.
First: no one, least of all me, is "against" fusion or fusion research. Research away! Yay for science.
When we look across the broad sweep of human history, what needs explaining is not times of rebellion and upheaval, but the much more common periods of unjust rule facing little resistance. Why do people so often internalize the ideologies upholding systems under which they suffer? Why do they fail to fight back? Psychologist John Jost has an answer. I talked it over with him.
@drvolts Not mentioned in the discussions I've read the past week:
1. Tritium (the most likely Hydrogen isotope for use) is usually created in nuclear (fission) reactors.
2. Fusion reactors themselves will likely become irradiated over the course of their operation, requiring hazardous disposal.
These environmental threats are a ton less than for conventional nukes (or coal, ftm), but they will certainly result in some "nasty politics".
Even if "magic energy sources" such as fusion (or The Expanse's Epstein Drive) WERE already possible - that energy STILL has to be converted to electricity somehow, and THAT part of the plant is STILL every bit as complex, slow and expensive to build and maintain.
@drvolts this point at greater length:
The U.S. Department of Energy announced some big nuclear fusion news this week. It is truly gigantic scientific news, and I don't intend to downplay the breakthrough at all here. I'm amazed and thrilled U.S.
@swampudlian @drvolts
Just do it… now (pref with a small installer (the big ones can be evil).
We put a small array on our shed roof 14 years ago (just 2k) and it produces 50% of our household use.
No moving parts but electrons.
Photo: our small shed with 12 solar panels (and some blueberry bushes).
They cost us maybe twice as much THEN as they would cost you NOW.
We felt it was worth it. They are Schott panels; they were made in the U.S. but no longer.
I cannot remember cost but I believe we broke even after 10-12 years and those years have flown by.
@drvolts @revolcom
In near future to deploy solar, likely yes
Further out, depends what our goals are — if we’re happy to significantly “over-produce” in summer batteries may suffice as storage mechanism (we should be able to find a use for excess energy)
I suspect more likely will be storage technologies suited to different timescales
— per another post, batteries for “short” duration; potential/thermal storage for “medium”; chemical (e.g. hydrogen, ammonia) for long-term
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