|
QuarkJets posted:Unclear. You never know which influential people might be influenced by crackpot sources. Yeah. An avowedly pro-science guy like Bill Maher still listens to anti-vax poo poo. Seems hard to determine if there's a common denominator for single-issue scientific illiteracy amongst otherwise sensible people.
|
#
?
Dec 22, 2014 05:48
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 10, 2024 06:54 |
|
|
Pander posted:Yeah. An avowedly pro-science guy like Bill Maher still listens to anti-vax poo poo. Seems hard to determine if there's a common denominator for single-issue scientific illiteracy amongst otherwise sensible people. And Bill Nye, who goes around mocking global warming deniers, is an anti-gmo nutbar. We came down from the trees too early.
|
|
#
?
Dec 23, 2014 20:43
|
|
|
Phanatic posted:And Bill Nye, who goes around mocking global warming deniers, is an anti-gmo nutbar. Bill Nye's been called out on it and challenged to a debate. CommieGIR fucked around with this message at 15:07 on Dec 26, 2014 |
|
#
?
Dec 24, 2014 03:51
|
|
|
Have scientists figured out how to store solar power like batteries yet? Or will we need to rely on pure electric power for a few decades more as a prime source of alternative energy? Also how much longer till we finally figure out fusion power? I hear a battery of that stuff could last decades.
|
|
#
?
Dec 24, 2014 22:58
|
|
|
Grouchio posted:Have scientists figured out how to store solar power like batteries yet? Or will we need to rely on pure electric power for a few decades more as a prime source of alternative energy? I heard if you put up two mirrors opposite to each other, you can trap light.
|
|
#
?
Dec 24, 2014 23:21
|
|
|
Also, if you put small wind turbines on an electric car it will power itself as you drive forward. Unlimited mileage per charge. If only those dirty oil companies didn't hold the patent.
|
|
#
?
Dec 25, 2014 15:08
|
|
|
Vermont Yankee shutdown today.  Sure, it had its mismanagement issues, but it'll likely be replaced with Natural Gas.
|
|
#
?
Dec 30, 2014 01:25
|
|
|
CommieGIR posted:Vermont Yankee shutdown today. Seeing as they shut down because they couldn't compete with Natural Gas on a price basis, its not too surprising. But loosing 620MW won't be as bad as SONGS going offline because of error.
|
|
#
?
Dec 30, 2014 04:33
|
|
|
QuarkJets posted:so if you want to go to 100% solar thermal for US power then you're pretty much forever doomed to paving over the entire state of Texas in order to do so. i am harry fucked around with this message at 04:39 on Dec 30, 2014 |
|
#
?
Dec 30, 2014 04:37
|
|
|
i am harry posted:What is wrong with doing this? Can it not be spread out across states in what is currently widely un-used space? If Texans care so much couldn't we just annex Mexico and cover that instead? Animals live in the desert too.
|
|
#
?
Dec 30, 2014 04:40
|
|
|
i am harry posted:What is wrong with doing this? Massive habitat destruction no matter how spread out or where you build it, if you're going to build a lot of it.
|
|
#
?
Dec 30, 2014 04:54
|
|
|
i am harry posted:What is wrong with doing this? Can it not be spread out across states in what is currently widely un-used space? If Texans care so much couldn't we just annex Mexico and cover that instead? A lot of land that is desirable for solar is also desirable for things like habitation and farming AFAIK.
|
|
#
?
Dec 30, 2014 05:02
|
|
|
Nintendo Kid posted:Massive habitat destruction no matter how spread out or where you build it, if you're going to build a lot of it. It's a matter of scale. Covering a significant portion of the continent with solar arrays seems irresponsible for a number of reasons.
|
|
#
?
Dec 30, 2014 05:04
|
|
|
What kind of service life does a large scale solar-thermal plant have? I imagine that highly reflective panels aren't exactly the most robust things in the world.
|
|
#
?
Dec 30, 2014 05:07
|
|
|
Rent-A-Cop posted:What kind of service life does a large scale solar-thermal plant have? I imagine that highly reflective panels aren't exactly the most robust things in the world. I'm seeing around 30 years, maybe 50. As for solar panels, most manufacturers seem to guarantee at least 80% of rated power output at 25 years of age, and after that it's kind of unknown.
|
|
#
?
Dec 30, 2014 05:16
|
|
|
computer parts posted:I'm seeing around 30 years, maybe 50.
|
|
#
?
Dec 30, 2014 05:22
|
|
|
Rent-A-Cop posted:The idea of paving over Texas with solar just reminded me that Texas has massive sandstorms and baseball sized hail so I was wondering exactly how robust those big reflectors are. Hmm, speaking of which it brings to mind the little problem the solar bikepath in the Netherlands had: https://twitter.com/PercyTwits/status/548754743557128192/photo/1
|
|
#
?
Dec 30, 2014 05:29
|
|
|
Nintendo Kid posted:Hmm, speaking of which it brings to mind the little problem the solar bikepath in the Netherlands had: Edit: Is it "the Netherlands" or just "Netherlands" like Ukraine?
|
|
#
?
Dec 30, 2014 05:43
|
|
|
Rent-A-Cop posted:Did somebody forget it gets cold in the Netherlands? Well the whole point of building the bike path as test bed was to determine whether or not the cold would be a real problem. It's either/or for the name. The official name in Dutch is Nederland or "Koninkrijk der Nederlanden" which includes the overseas parts.
|
|
#
?
Dec 30, 2014 05:58
|
|
|
Rent-A-Cop posted:The idea of paving over Texas with solar just reminded me that Texas has massive sandstorms and baseball sized hail so I was wondering exactly how robust those big reflectors are. Not much is robust enough to survive hailstorms. Drove through Blair Nebraska recently when I visited a nearby nuke plant, the entire town had to replace siding, roofs, and windows due to a massive hailstorm a year prior. Some pictures a bit down in this blog post. Took out windshields like they were nothing. I'd imagine low-probability high-damage weather events are included in risk assessment of solar deployments.
|
|
#
?
Dec 30, 2014 18:58
|
|
|
Pander posted:Not much is robust enough to survive hailstorms. Drove through Blair Nebraska recently when I visited a nearby nuke plant, the entire town had to replace siding, roofs, and windows due to a massive hailstorm a year prior. Sweet merciful..... 
|
|
#
?
Dec 30, 2014 19:19
|
|
|
Pander posted:Not much is robust enough to survive hailstorms. Drove through Blair Nebraska recently when I visited a nearby nuke plant, the entire town had to replace siding, roofs, and windows due to a massive hailstorm a year prior. Perhaps more relevant, it doesn't sound like the nuclear plant was damaged.
|
|
#
?
Dec 30, 2014 19:49
|
|
|
AreWeDrunkYet posted:Perhaps more relevant, it doesn't sound like the nuclear plant was damaged. But what if it was. Nuclear plants have to withstand up to  :atoms:
|
|
#
?
Dec 30, 2014 20:13
|
|
|
Lurking Haro posted:But what if it was. Nuclear plants have to withstand up to We have a real need to worry about rocket propelled hail stones penetrating the containment dome.
|
|
#
?
Dec 30, 2014 20:13
|
|
|
AreWeDrunkYet posted:Perhaps more relevant, it doesn't sound like the nuclear plant was damaged. It wasn't. They executed emergency procedures related to tornado missile damage just in case. I wasn't there at the time and don't recall specifics. If there was damage, it was likely to the switchyard or transformer yard, and mostly superficial. The reactor and auxiliary buildings themselves are 3' of reinforced concrete, which doesn't really mind hail. The turbine building is a little wonkier since it's not critical to the safety of the plant, but I'm pretty sure I'd have heard if it was damaged.
|
|
#
?
Dec 31, 2014 16:30
|
|
|
Pander posted:It wasn't. They executed emergency procedures related to tornado missile damage just in case. I wasn't there at the time and don't recall specifics. If there was damage, it was likely to the switchyard or transformer yard, and mostly superficial. The reactor and auxiliary buildings themselves are 3' of reinforced concrete, which doesn't really mind hail. The turbine building is a little wonkier since it's not critical to the safety of the plant, but I'm pretty sure I'd have heard if it was damaged. The Turbine buildings are still usually made of pretty heavy stuff, as most of them have to support a gantry crane, so maybe some dents in the roof but I can't imagine much else could happen. Smashed Windows I'm sure.
|
|
#
?
Dec 31, 2014 16:38
|
|
|
CommieGIR posted:The Turbine buildings are still usually made of pretty heavy stuff, as most of them have to support a gantry crane, so maybe some dents in the roof but I can't imagine much else could happen. Not sure how much I can get into it, but this turbine building in particular has some very unusual roofs over a couple large rooms.
|
|
#
?
Dec 31, 2014 17:04
|
|
|
http://www.euractiv.com/sections/health-consumers/researchers-link-air-pollution-heart-diseases-311038 And of course this does not take into account all the people that die extracting and transporting fossil fuels. But remember. Nuclear power is the real threat.
|
|
#
?
Jan 6, 2015 18:04
|
|
|
crabcakes66 posted:http://www.euractiv.com/sections/health-consumers/researchers-link-air-pollution-heart-diseases-311038 I had one guy who was screaming about how the tailings from Uranium mining are so evil, while praising coal and couldn't understand why we were a little disconcerted that Uranium mining has less of a footprint than open pit coal mining.
|
|
#
?
Jan 6, 2015 18:11
|
|
|
Air pollution is also one of the few things that's been linked to autism. The best way to get nukes built is probably for someone to push them on Oprah.
|
|
#
?
Jan 6, 2015 18:11
|
|
|
Tunicate posted:The best way to get nukes built is probably for someone to push them on Oprah. The people stopping nuclear power in the US aren't the general public, the NIMBYs, or the greens. Its the power companies and the price coal/gas. But I'm sure someone here will argue that the greens are to blame for SONGS and that really Crystal River shut down because of NIMBYs.
|
|
#
?
Jan 6, 2015 18:45
|
|
|
Tunicate posted:Air pollution is also one of the few things that's been linked to autism. Oprah pushed anti-vaccination and other bullshit, so good luck getting someone pro-nuclear on the show.
|
|
#
?
Jan 6, 2015 18:47
|
|
|
Trabisnikof posted:The people stopping nuclear power in the US aren't the general public, the NIMBYs, or the greens. Its the power companies and the price coal/gas. 
|
|
#
?
Jan 6, 2015 19:18
|
|
|
Anosmoman posted:The general public really, really don't like nuclear so I'm pretty sure they had a hand in it. Edit: That's a poll of the global community. I was talking about nuclear power in the US. Also, Gallop shows vastly different results for the US: 
|
|
#
?
Jan 6, 2015 19:25
|
|
|
Ironically, as soon as people see their electric bills the chart reverses itself
|
|
#
?
Jan 6, 2015 19:26
|
|
|
edit: oops, somehow I was back 10 pages in the thread. Have a pretty picture in the meantime of our Nuclear Future 
lapse fucked around with this message at 19:35 on Jan 6, 2015 |
|
#
?
Jan 6, 2015 19:31
|
|
|
lapse posted:edit: oops, somehow I was back 10 pages in the thread. I love nuclear power but there's no way that I'm putting a nuclear reactor in my trunk
|
|
#
?
Jan 6, 2015 19:35
|
|
|
lapse posted:edit: oops, somehow I was back 10 pages in the thread. As much as I love RTGs, keep them in space please.
|
|
#
?
Jan 6, 2015 19:43
|
|
|
CommieGIR posted:As much as I love RTGs, keep them in space please. Oh no, the Nucleon was going* to be a full steam loop  *In the same way all concept cars are "going to be," but never were meant to be built. Trabisnikof fucked around with this message at 20:03 on Jan 6, 2015 |
|
#
?
Jan 6, 2015 19:59
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 10, 2024 06:54 |
|
|
Trabisnikof posted:Oh no, the Nucleon was going to be a full steam loop Oh, I know. It'd be cool to see one working. Not cool to actually see one going down the road.
|
|
#
?
Jan 6, 2015 20:01
|
|