IIUC, it’s variable D/C which must be regulated and/or inverted to A/C involving more hardware, conversion, and waste.

Actually, I had a discussion about this with someone who really knows this stuff recently, and we figured that the inversion process isn’t actually that inefficient. The efficiencies achieved are often >95%, so there isn’t actually a lot of loss.

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yes, and more importantly, normal Hydro plants could be updated to release water at selected times, to create “on-demand power”. The energy is stored in the water behind the dam. So conventional, already-existing hydro dams can perform a two-sided function: Storing water, and to release it on-demand. Like a battery that is refilled by nature.

My idea is that most Hydro-Power plants can be used as reservoirs with little modification.

And biomass can be burned at whatever moment you like (provided you have the plants to do so), so it is “on-demand power” in some sense.

I guess you should do what makes most sense to you.

There is no such moral obligation as to “have children” or “don’t have children”. The choice should be yours.

• non-urgent computing (AI training)
• non-urgent transports (i.e. construction material)
• steel, aluminum production

The thing I heard is that geothermal energy is actually only renewable on geological timescales, i.e. not really “renewable”. It’s just that there are very large reserves, so it’s not immediately obvious. But I can’t find a link rn.

It’s a conundrum, because while biofuels are expensive, there are ways to make them significantly cheaper, for example refining organic garbage and waste into fuels.

actually, that’s not true. I built a hobby-grade hydrolysis machine in my garage for a total of $3. I can’t imagine hydrolysis machines to be significantly expensive in general.

The reason why they’re expensive today is because they’re completely over-engineered. But that’s not physics’ fault. It’s just someone seeking the “highest-quality product” instead of one that makes economic sense.

Just informing you: You can see the power output of PV panels by looking at the Watt number. It says something like 400 Wp (Watt peak - i.e. Watt under direct sunlight). Voltage is more or less irrelevant.

translation: “dear boss, i can’t come to work today, because we have 20cm of snow”.

billionaires are a cancer of society and need to be cut out. they think of nothing but their own growth and will damage all of the system because of it. we need to get rid of them before it’s too late.

Edit: better yet, we need policies that disencourage their behavior.

So, I have comments/questions:

• insects just like any other lifeform is sensitive and needs protection. they lay their eggs underground, where they’re protected from direct sunlight and the cold winter. if we plough through the dirt every year, it’s obvious that we’ll disrupt that generational hibernation, and that disrupts the cycle of death and rebirth for the insects, that’s why they vanish. I think ploughing is the biggest reason for insects disappearing, though it wasn’t listed in the article (or i missed it)

“We could not feed the global human population without [insect] pollinators,”

(that’s a quote from the article). I think that’s wrong though. Most calories are provided by cereals, and cereals are wind-pollinating, AFAIK.

I saw a meme a while ago with three panels:

• in the first panel, insects smashing against a driving car (labeled 1990)
• in the second panel, just the driver, but no insects (labeled 2020)
• in the third panel, the driver is gone, it’s just the car (labeled 2050)

unfortunately i can’t find the meme anymore.

Instead of recycling rare metals from batteries (which is notoriously difficult), try constructing your batteries without rare metals. It is theoretically possible, sodium ion batteries set an example for this. Yet they are still under development. Link

solar energy is the cheapest form of energy at this point. capitalism will drive the green energy revolution forward from now on.

young adults have been forsaken by the society in favor of “the economy” and yet another bullshit.

we need an end to economic growth on earth. we need an end to investment, to innovation, to unnecessary scarcity, to the 40-hour work week, to young people spending large part of their lives in schools. we need a social system, we need communal construction and transport, we need free education and healthcare, 20-hour work weeks for all (including adults and school-goers). we need technological prowess for the benefit of society, not for some rich greedy assholes.