Ricki Yasha TarrAug 18, 2024
I was doing some reading about these power generating ocean buoys, and it's interesting to see all the complaints that pop up any time someone tries to make a new way to capture energy. Suddenly, people really care about the environmental impact of these methods, but never ever in comparison with coal and oil.
I still hear naysayers about solar panels, despite the fact that GPS and the International Space Station has used them for decades.
They really care about the migration patterns of Ducks when we start talking about wind power, but get an Oopsie about a massive oil spill.
Loss of life is very important for alternative methods, but no discussion about the impact when it comes to oil drilling and coal mining.
The fact of the matter is even setting aside the environmental impact, coal and oil are finite resources. Of course, we should care about the impact of how we produce energy, but we have to stop falling for false equivalency. Everything will have a downside, but we can address those issues and still move forward.
Show threadRicki Yasha TarrAug 18, 2024

In case, you had an interest in the kinds of things I was reading about:

https://www.popsci.com/technology/buoy-wave-generator/

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-07-31/wave-power-generator-supplying-king-island-with-electricity/101282070?utm_source=abc_news_web&utm_medium=content_shared&utm_campaign=abc_news_web

Huge 60-foot-tall buoy uses ocean waves to create clean energy

CorPower’s C4 prototype just completed a successful six-month test run off the coast of Portugal. Here are the results.

Popular Science
Show threadTomAug 18, 2024

@RickiTarr The biggest factor in all of these things is that those with the money to invest, whether private or government, are interested in big projects that can produce the most profit.

As PV panels are ideal for each person producing their own power at home, they are the least looked at unless in a 'solar farm' type idea.

Almost any country in the world could become energy independent with a decentralized power grid by installing PV panels on every roof top.

Besides the lower cost

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Show threadTom

@RickiTarr of living for people, it would also be a huge national security boost once the few, large power producers were eliminated as targets.

But doing so would cause too many with money to lose their advantage.

Any of the alternative ideas for power generation that don't cause widespread, long term damage are preferable over fossil fuels or nuclear, but they all face the same road block that they are hard to monopolize.

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Aug 18, 2024 at 6:32pmWeb
Show threadmike805Aug 18, 2024
@Tom @RickiTarr They are hard to prevent, too. If solar is cheaper and better people are going to use it. A lot of the world that has no proper power grid is never going to install one. People are going to buy EcoFlow type devices and solar power on their own. Much like mobile phones are common in places that never had a landline telephone system.