/sci/ - Science & Math

They aren't as conductive to illegal activities as wind and solar. More space taken up = more private property to conduct illegal business on.

>>10099693

geothermal is very location dependant, can't be applied everywhere.

>>10099693
Hydro is an environmental mess and a huge upfront cost. Geothermal is much better and highly scalable, but still really expensive and doesn't work amazing everywhere.

They're more restrictive as to where you can build them.

>>10099693
There are limited sites where they can be utilized. With hydro, most such sites are already used.

But coal burns everywhere.

>>10099693
Hydo often ends up being a disaster, a lot of dams built in US were deconstructed because of their enviromental impact and high maintenance costs. And geothermal is very location dependant.

>>10099693
We've basically built all the low head dams we can
>>10099736
Coal doesn't burn in the vacuum of space, there's no air

>>10099693
god i hate hippies
nuclear is the best and safest source and its not even on the image

>>10100041
>Coal doesn't burn in the vacuum
Well this is why you should use fission (or fusion when we reach that point) instead

>>10099693
hydro is like 41% in my contry, tehn 9% nuchlear and 50% coal

>>10099693
>Biofuel

surely this isn't worth the cost and is only done due to subsidies? There are so many fossil fuel inputs to growing crops, as well as soil erosion and nutrient depletion... there is no fucking way biofuels are efficient. Why are they pushed so hard?

>>10099693
Hydro is used a lot, to the point where habitats are getting destroyed and species are getting rekt (see the yellow river dolphin). China has a lot of hydro for example. That's why ecoterrorists bomb dams. Still better than fossil fuels, habitats are temporary but carbon is forever. Solar, wind and biofuel are the only moral ways of energy generation so far.

>>10099693
because of environmentalist faggots

Hydro is fucking awesome, but before we decided to harness water, nature did, so we have to remake all of that into dams and that ruins alot of things

I rather we build huge ass towers to harness jetstreams and super conduct all that juice down

>>10099693
>hydro
Eventually you run out of rivers where it would be efficient and safe.
>Geothermal
Price to performance ratio is too high.

>>10099693
there are entire nations powered by hydro, if you can do it it's the best source of power

>>10101422

we have almost reached peak hydro, we could be using only hydro but with much less people around.

>>10099693
Hydropower is sort of bad for the environment due to the dam causing the vegetation it floods to rot, releasing a lot of greenhouse gasses (mostly methane). So it's not even "clean energy". http://www.climatecentral.org/news/hydropower-as-major-methane-emitter-18246

And ignoring that little fact, it COMPLETELY fucks up the entire eco system both below and above the dams.

>>10099693
they are
there's nowhere left to tap into

>>10100045
>hippies
Oil and coal companies were probably rubbing their hands in glee when their anti-nuclear propaganda finally caught on. There’s more money in selling and burning fossile fuels.

>>10099693
Better question is why everybody's acting like you need positive Celsius to power machinery.

>>10101455
those damn hippies with their anti-nuclear BS did more damage to the environment than all the global warming denialists combined

France, a modern industrial country, was powered mostly by carbon-neutral nuclear back in the 80s. A feat that renewables are still struggling to replicate 30 years later.

>>10099693
Hydro has been exploited about as much as possible in most of the west, and geothermal is only possible where the subsurface temperature gradient has certain properties. You'll see geothermal grow more than hydro but less than solar and wind over the next 10 years.

>>10099712
>Hydro is an environmental mess and a huge upfront cost.
Huge upfront cost but basically cheap energy forever. How long has the hoover dam been outputting tons of electricity costing only mantainance

>>10102368

after a certain time artificial basins must be emptied and sediments removed, and it's a big deal.

>>10099693
Brainlet here. How is geothermal energy collected?

>>10102377
It's still incredibly cheap once you get past the crazy capital costs.

>>10102377
how much time? 100 years? has anyone done the math? im sure the actual economics is still beneficial, Constant flowing electricity at those magnitudes always is crazy, it must have A LOT of downsides for it not to eb a good deal

>>10102381
In the simplest terms, imagine putting a turbine on top of Old Faithful. There's areas where you can easily extract a lot of heat from the ground, just add water and a turbine, and you got a power plant.

>>10102384
Hydro is great if you don't care about the environment around whatever you're damming, have a ton of money to pay for building it, and have a location you can do it at. Other sources (except nuclear) are pretty cheap to start up, can be built anywhere and don't fuck things up so obviously.

>>10099693
Geo therms best growth potential is in micro yield applications, ie home heating/cooling applications. Geothermal power plants are super location restricted, and in the case of Hawaii, prone to happy lava time..

>>10102384

it is linked to the geological conditions of the area, sediment supply, basin morphology, etc.

>>10102385
Most of these things are just a matter of politics.

If you had certainty that the objectives, goals, and wealth distribution of your society would stay exactly the same for 200 years then it would make sense to build a trillion hydro dams and wind turbines, then switch all cars to electric ones.

Thing is, politics its extremely unreliable, whos putting the money? who will profit from the energy generated?

If you consider the actual capitalistic evil society who is ok with small children suffering even tough its easily avoidable then the current energy production is just fine, its enough for rich people to be comfortable, for middle class who can affoard it to pay for it and for poor people to barely exist and die without affecting the systems functioning.
That's one of the main benefits of oil, its easy to seal, to distribute to hoard and decide who gets to enjoy its benefits and who doesnt.

On the other hand if you want to live in a political system in which your goal is to prevent small children to constantly experience suffering that borders on torture then collectively building green energy is the only logical path to go

>>10099703
Yeah I bet those big open fields of nothing are real useful for all kinds of illegal buisness.

>>10102570
how is a big identified field that can be visually scanned by one person on a bike a good place to hide anything?

by that standard crops should be absolutely filled with illegal activities

>>10102570
They hide cocaine in the dead birds.

>>10099703
>They aren't as conductive to illegal activities as wind and solar. More space taken up = more private property to conduct illegal business on.

I was gonna say something like this, but rather:

>See hydropower and geothermal take up so little footprint that it's hard for politicians to show knuckledragging normies what an outstanding impact they have in terms of energy effeciency. For you see, the average normie thinks that using water/drilling into the planet for whatever reason=bad. To counteract this we'll use the old tried and true method of windmill, for even a dumb peasant knows how those work. The more of them we make, the more we can show these stupid normies that we're at least attempting to care about their unjustified concerns over energy. Plus they're prone to far more failures which will mean more repairs=more make work jobs for our government employees/contractors. And because they're dumb, peasant, windmill technology, the stupid normie will already understand the pitfalls of it and it will be easy to sell to them.
>Also; nice, big, inefficient, outsourced and "green technology" solar panels. Gotta have lots of those. Put them everywhere and subsidize them! Even in places where you only get sun 3 months a years. Pawn them off to similar mindsets as your own; those that want to show they care but don't want to understand what they're caring about! They'll eat them up like hotcakes and be the talking point of their rich, suburban, neighboorhoods. "Look at those there, Tim.1500 sq. feet of solar panels all ready to power my wife's hairdryer at peak solar hours.

>>10102395
Oregon is powered by Hydro and has more life than any nuclear/coal powered state in the country. Dammed water make rivers wider and supports more wildelife. The cost is fish too retarded to use a fishladder.

>>10102616
>Oregon is powered by Hydro and has more life than any nuclear/coal powered state in the country.
The important measurement isn't "more life". If the only environmental concern ever was the number of organisms, environmentalists would be importing invasive species everywhere (but only the smaller ones so we can have more per acre).

>The cost is fish too retarded to use a fishladder.
Do some research on how ineffective they are. It's not really a solution in general.

>>10102633
>The important measurement isn't "more life". If the only environmental concern ever was the number of organisms, environmentalists would be importing invasive species everywhere (but only the smaller ones so we can have more per acre).

Well maybe environmentalists have some sort of egotistical psychosis I'm not aware of, but last time I checked "more life" is better than "less life".

>Do some research on how ineffective they are. It's not really a solution in general.

You don't have a clue about what you're talking about. They power Oregon/Washington and as a result, those states have the cheapest electric bills in the country. Also any brainlet can understand that water flows downhill and a turning wheel generates motion. Also, what is a toxic byproduct of flowing water? Is it CO2? Nuclear waste? Constantly exploding gearboxes? Lithium/silicon strip mines? Hydroelectric dams and the structuring of water flow could power the entire US, but instead we have to hold ourselves back for animals that are either too dumb to live or are going to go extinct anyway. Would have been nice for the other smarter animals too, but guess they have to suffer now too.
By the way, this is the reason why California has "water emergencies". They are literally too stupid to store their water and instead impose laws on capturing water from river deltas because of the poor fishy-wishies.

>>10099693
NIMBYs hate hydropower almost as much as nuclear.

>>10099736
>most such sites are already used
Not even. The US is underutilizing the dams it already has and there is plenty more to tap.

Bhutan has like 97% hydro power.

>>10102377
it depends on location, but it's not a big deal
you usually build smaller forebays to trap sediment and debris

>>10102384
is about right, mayor reconstruction usually happens after 60-100 years.
dam crest will be renewed, leaks will be sealed new turbines might be installed. This will cost a few millions, usually less even then yearly profits.
Some dams here in my area are over 400 years old and still in mint condition. with regular maintenance they can do their job forever.
These dams serve more purposes then just power generation. Flood protection, fishing, recreation and most important as a source of drinking water.

>>10099693
The need for very specific geography/geology.

Nuclear, on the other hand, has a lower footprint in terms of most resources (land, iron, concrete…).

>>10099693
because exploitation is bad :(

Why are these nuclearfags in every energy thread and why are they always making false claims?