Energy production, storage, and future technologies

[jack_christie]

Biological battery

Bioo | Official Site

Electricity from nature. Generating energy through a symbiosis between technology and our ecosystems to develop a system able to power light points in cities and sensors in agriculture. Our technologies include the use of plants as biological switches and their aplication in domotics and smart ci...

www.biootech.com

Home | Bioolux

Bioolux | Discover a lamp that works as a flowerpot and allows the light to be activated by touching a plant.

bioolux.com

 

[GRtak]

Just a quick graph to show how things have changed.



View: https://mobile.twitter.com/_HannahRitchie/status/1559474921289523200


That is a big shift away from coal.

 

[CraigB]

I know our local coal plant went offline a few years back and was replaced with a wind farm. They would also burn chunked up tires, really could see the difference when they did.

 

[NecroJoe]

We replaced our roof i guess that's 3 years ago now, and kinda regret not adding solar while we has the easiest chance. We didn't think it wqs worth it since we have gas oven, water heater and clothes dryer...but since then, we are replacing our oven, our water heater is acting up, and our laundry machines are 12-year-old Samsung so we know we're basically living on borrowed time.

 

[GRtak]

We replaced our roof i guess that's 3 years ago now, and kinda regret not adding solar while we has the easiest chance. We didn't think it wqs worth it since we have gas oven, water heater and clothes dryer...but since then, we are replacing our oven, our water heater is acting up, and our laundry machines are 12-year-old Samsung so we know we're basically living on borrowed time.

It's never too late. There are also some new government incentives coming.

 

[GRtak]

I knew there was a reason why I didn't like gummy, well, anything.

Wind turbine blades could be recycled into gummy bears, scientists say

Researchers design composite resin for blades that can be broken down to make new products including sweets

www.theguardian.com

 

[eizbaer]

Regarding wind turbines... which for this thread is sort of "old tech" I guess, I just stumbled across a publication by vestas about their new 15 MW (!) prototype:
- 280m tall
- 115m blades
- up to 60% capacity factor
insane. the sheer size really is mindboggling, if you actually have people as a reference...

 

[NecroJoe]

Frankly, I'm shocked we haven't been doing this for years.

In a US first, California will pilot solar-panel canopies over canals

In 2021, scientists published a feasibility study about erecting solar panels over canals, and it's about to become a reality.

electrek.co

California to install solar panels over canals to fight drought, a first in the U.S.

California will be the first state in the nation to install solar panel canopies over canals to combat drought and climate change.

www.cbsnews.com

 

[GRtak]

Frankly, I'm shocked we haven't been doing this for years.

In a US first, California will pilot solar-panel canopies over canals

In 2021, scientists published a feasibility study about erecting solar panels over canals, and it's about to become a reality.

electrek.co

California to install solar panels over canals to fight drought, a first in the U.S.

California will be the first state in the nation to install solar panel canopies over canals to combat drought and climate change.

www.cbsnews.com

I know India has some canals covered this way. Now we need to do it in all of the Western states that have similar canals.

 

[eizbaer]

Frankly, I'm shocked we haven't been doing this for years.

Tbh that goes for nearly all of the renewable stuff it all just feels half-assed at best until now…
Ffs I work at a municipal utility and our roofs* don’t have any solar on them at all!

* that’s at least 4000 m2 of suitable (meaning no stuff in the way, good orientation) roofspace!

 

[GRtak]

Just a tweak to wind farms for more powah!

A new method boosts wind farms’ energy output, without new equipment

MIT engineers have developed a method to increase wind farms’ energy output. Whereas individual turbines are typically controlled separately, the new approach models the wind flow of the entire collection of turbines and optimizes the control of individual units.

news.mit.edu

 

[Mr. Nice]

Easy aluminum nanoparticles for rapid, efficient hydrogen generation from water​

UCSC chemists developed a simple method to make aluminum nanoparticles that split water and generate hydrogen gas rapidly under ambient conditions

Full Article

My apologies if this was posted already. I did do a search, but didn't find anything. This technology has the potential to be world changing!

 

[Blind_Io]

Just a quick graph to show how things have changed.



View: https://mobile.twitter.com/_HannahRitchie/status/1559474921289523200


That is a big shift away from coal.

I'm honestly surprised the US dropped that much, especially with our former President's stated goal of returning to coal power.

 

[NecroJoe]

I'm honestly surprised the US dropped that much, especially with our former President's stated goal of returning to coal power.

He may have regularly pushed it through a megaphone, but enacted little policy that was enough of an incentive to actually improve the conditions for it. In many places, adding renewables was more cost-effective long-tern than new coal facilities, or even keeping some existing ones open.

 

[Mr. Nice]

I'm honestly surprised the US dropped that much, especially with our former President's stated goal of returning to coal power.

Natural gas has mostly replaced coal. It's cheaper and easier to get out of the ground, and it can be brought to its destination via pipeline.

There are problems with natural gas, not least of which is that it is, in the short-term, worse than CO2 when it comes to warming our planet.

 

[jack_christie]

Natural gas has mostly replaced coal. It's cheaper and easier to get out of the ground, and it can be brought to its destination via pipeline.

There are problems with natural gas, not least of which is that it is, in the short-term, worse than CO2 when it comes to warming our planet.

Russia is burning off all the natural gas it can't sell!

 

[DanRoM]

Russia is burning off all the natural gas it can't sell!

Yeah, because you can't just stop getting it out of the ground.
From the environmental point of view, not much changes compared with Western Europe burning it.

 

[narf]

Yeah, because you can't just stop getting it out of the ground.
From the environmental point of view, not much changes compared with Western Europe burning it.

We're substituting coal for gas, which could easily be not-mined.

 

[Mr. Nice]

We're substituting coal for gas, which could easily be not-mined.

Centralia, Pennsylvania must have peered into the future to see this comment. The coal vein there has been on fire for something like six decades.

 

[jack_christie]

The Supply Chain to Beat Climate Change Is Already Being Built​

Look at the numbers. The huge increases in fossil fuel prices this year hide the fact that the solar industry is winning the energy transition.

European natural gas is nearly 18 times as expensive as it was at the same point in 2019, supposedly proving that nothing will be able to slake the unquenchable thirst for hydrocarbons. Meanwhile, lithium carbonate is about 4.6 times as costly, which is taken to prove the opposite lesson: that lithium-ion batteries are too dear to support the world’s energy needs.

Still, the likeliest outcome of the current rush of capacity building will be plummeting prices for solar’s most important raw material — and cost has always been this technology’s greatest advantage.

Bloomberg - Are you a robot?