Climate Change

[skaredshtles]

X-post from the Cool Science thread. MIT's SPARC team is predicting sustained net-energy fusion by 2025.

Sure would be nice if they can pull this off.

This and advances in battery tech and we could actually make a dent in this whole thing... maybe.

[k2skier112]

Still viable and the public (who are hip [not you]) are behind it.

An issue Donald Trump and Joe Biden both agreed on incorrectly.

And one that has impeached you.

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Wrong
I'd be for Yucca Mtn. Since the DOW fuct that whole area up with over 800 nukes, it's a wasteland...too bad the mtn is so far away from the Flats test site


https://www.yuccamountain.org/
What exists today (2021) at Yucca Mountain: A 5-mile exploratory tunnel, no waste disposal tunnels (Over 40 miles are needed), no waste handling facilities, no state water permit, no license (construction authorization), no railroad and an expired BLM land withdrawal.

And there is more going on than we'll ever be let know, the military is running it...
https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-...a13-story.html

[spanghew]

Wrong
I'd be for Yucca Mtn. Since the DOW fuct that whole area up with over 800 nukes, it's a wasteland...too bad the mtn is so far away from the Flats test site


https://www.yuccamountain.org/
What exists today (2021) at Yucca Mountain: A 5-mile exploratory tunnel, no waste disposal tunnels (Over 40 miles are needed), no waste handling facilities, no state water permit, no license (construction authorization), no railroad and an expired BLM land withdrawal.

And there is more going on than we'll ever be let know, the military is running it...
https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-...a13-story.html

and trucks filled with radioactive waste would be driving highway 395 and up past the bristlecones . . . maybe powpig would think this would be fine, since there hasn't ever been an accident in the owens valley associated with nuclear waste in a fire ring on a forest campground, or some such idiocy.

Yucca Mtn isn't a wasteland yet, and shouldn't be made into one. There is a good roadside army surplus station where you can buy really good ammo cans en route to a Canyon trip, though.

[k2skier112]

Yucca Flat isn't healthy is what I was inferring
I saw that area around Hawthorne and knew those bumps were munitions bunkers

[altacoup]

X-post from the Cool Science thread. MIT's SPARC team is predicting sustained net-energy fusion by 2025.

I’ve been following developments in fusion energy for a while. There’s a bunch of companies that say they have commercially viable systems up and running in about that time frame. I believe Northrop Grumman said they’d have a reactor that good in the back of a pickup ready for the military by 2030. Fusion technology is our best shot at getting the climate change issue under control. There’s zero political will across the world to turn the clock back on economic development. When I worked on the solar industry the last job I did was 4000 panels for a Cisco server in SLC. That system was half a percent of their energy usage at just that one site. Unless the world shuts down major industries we’re going to need a new way of producing power. Fusion is without a doubt our best shot at maintaining current standards of living and rising the standard of living for millions. If the potential of fusion is realized we’re going to need a crap load of electricians and linemen to electrify the world. Currently solar on your roof charging an EV and a vegetarian diet are probably the most impactful things that an individual can do, if one feels personally obligated to immediately contribute to decreasing carbon emissions.

[TonyC]

Just drove halfway across the country. Could not imagine that in an EV unless it was an RV and self driving. Waiting for a recharge would suck.

Been there and done that twice in 2020:
https://teslamotorsclub.com/tmc/posts/4839256/ 3,260 miles, SoCal to Florida
https://teslamotorsclub.com/tmc/posts/5006604/ 5,009 miles, return trip via Lake Superior
Charge stops averaged around 20 minutes. 600+ miles a day during daylight hours is easy; not many people want to do more than that.

There are 5 factors that reduce range, and unfortunately all of them affect skiers.
1) High speed: you lose about 9% for every 5mph over 60mph.
2) Cold weather: Range starts decreasing below about 50F. I’ve read 13% at 32F, 25% at 15F, and probably 40% at 0F.
3) Long distance: You get 200-250 miles to start the day with a full charge, but you’re stopping every 90-130 miles after that for the most efficient charging. See more details of that in the links above.
4) Climbing hills: You lose 10 miles of rated range for every 1,000 feet climbed. You get 6 miles of that back coming down. For a 50 mile one way drive 7,000 feet up the Angeles Crest I used 124 rated miles going up and zero coming down.
5) Remote areas like SW Colorado with inadequate supercharger coverage.

In California 1) and 2) tend to be offsetting. To be cold in California you need to be high altitude and that generally means driving mountain roads at 45mph or so. Just as you lose range above 60mph you gain range below it. But if you’re driving on an Interstate when it’s 15F your range will probably take a 40% hit.

My 2016 Model S had 272 rated miles when I turned it in June 2019. Supercharging was max 6 rated miles per minute but decreased to 4 at 140 rated miles, 3 at 180 rated miles and 2 at 220 rated miles. My 2019 Model S (current rated range 360 miles) charges at a max rate of 8 rated miles per minute and is still 6 at 180 rated miles and 5 at 220 rated miles. FYI the lighter Model 3 with a newer battery design has a max charge rate of 10 rated miles per minute.

For those 90-130 mile legs between chargers I like to charge to 180-220 rated miles for a comfortable margin. You can see this would take much longer on the old car and that’s why I never drove that car farther than home to Reno in one day. The drive to my Snowbird timeshare week requires about 2 hours in charge stops but it would have been 3.5 hours in the 2016 car.

[SumJongGuy]

I still like the concept of roads as solar cells and cars pulling current directly from them as we drive.. Every parking lot is a giant wireless charging pad, etc... Might even charge the phone in my pocket and make me sterile LOL!

[spanghew]

Yucca Flat isn't healthy is what I was inferring
I saw that area around Hawthorne and knew those bumps were munitions bunkers

Yes, Henderson is hellhole. Bunkers that look just like those near Umatilla (KQ country) contain nerve gas.

But Yucca Mtn is a lot closer to Beatty than Henderson, and if you haven't read "My Undertaker, My Pimp," a tale of spending time in Yucca Mtn's shadow, here is your big chance:

https://longreads.com/2015/08/05/my-undertaker-my-pimp/

[WMD]

"Climate scientists are not fucking with us" from Jimmy Kimmel:
https://youtu.be/W_xq9FTPxxk

[d542east]

I’ve been following developments in fusion energy for a while. There’s a bunch of companies that say they have commercially viable systems up and running in about that time frame. I believe Northrop Grumman said they’d have a reactor that good in the back of a pickup ready for the military by 2030. Fusion technology is our best shot at getting the climate change issue under control. There’s zero political will across the world to turn the clock back on economic development. When I worked on the solar industry the last job I did was 4000 panels for a Cisco server in SLC. That system was half a percent of their energy usage at just that one site. Unless the world shuts down major industries we’re going to need a new way of producing power. Fusion is without a doubt our best shot at maintaining current standards of living and rising the standard of living for millions. If the potential of fusion is realized we’re going to need a crap load of electricians and linemen to electrify the world. Currently solar on your roof charging an EV and a vegetarian diet are probably the most impactful things that an individual can do, if one feels personally obligated to immediately contribute to decreasing carbon emissions.

https://youtu.be/JurplDfPi3U

Fusion isn't going to be here in time to save us. Same goes for every other moonshot tech venture capital slush fund. Not saying we should stop researching that stuff, but it's way too late to depend on unproven tech.

You're exactly right about needing a huge army of electricians, technicians and other skilled laborers. But they need to be building hundreds of thousands of wind turbines, solar farms, energy storage and 20 or so new HV transmission lines to move the power around the country. This needs to start ramping up right now.

Get a bunch of free 6 month tech schools going, pay starting wages at $30/hr and your army will show up.

Biggest hurdle is going to be NIMBies for the transmission lines and wind turbines. The next biggest hurdle is the supply chain for copper and steel for wind turbines and all the raw materials for solar panel and batteries. We're going to need to open new mines, mills, etc. to keep up with it. Think WW2 mobilization on a global scale. And yeah, we're going to need to stop spending so many resources on luxuries like beef and cheap flights.

Of course we should've started all of this in the late 80s and of course none of this is going to happen fast enough if at all, so enjoy the snow while it lasts and definitely don't have kids if you give a shit about their quality of life.

[Skrilla Gorilla]

Wrong
I'd be for Yucca Mtn. Since the DOW fuct that whole area up with over 800 nukes, it's a wasteland...too bad the mtn is so far away from the Flats test site


https://www.yuccamountain.org/
What exists today (2021) at Yucca Mountain: A 5-mile exploratory tunnel, no waste disposal tunnels (Over 40 miles are needed), no waste handling facilities, no state water permit, no license (construction authorization), no railroad and an expired BLM land withdrawal.

And there is more going on than we'll ever be let know, the military is running it...
https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-...a13-story.html

Look, the NTS is an entirely different asset from Yucca Mountain.

And, listen, your testimony doesn't carry any weight here in the court if public opinion because you've been impeached. So, you may check the NIMBYism and let the science (which says that Yucca Mountain us the most studied geological formation in Earth) dictate that we should open the site because Yucca is dry, safe, and an ideal site to store spent commerical nuclear fuel.

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[SailCat]

What hasn't been discussed here much is conservation. There is a lot of energy wasted doing nothing. Before I decided to put solar on my roof I tried to reduce energy use. When replacing appliances high efficiency was a priority. My roof was replaced and additional insulation added before I put panels up. Electric bills now are just the $20 per month meter fee. This is with 3kw worth of panels for a 1500 square foot air conditioned house.

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[kokomas]

oofah:

https://www.eenews.net/articles/grea...ency-for-utah/

Utah’s iconic Great Salt Lake, long neglected by regulators, is collapsing due to a historic drought and climate change.

And, in a cruel twist, the demise of the lake — which shriveled to a record low level in July — may threaten Utah’s posh ski towns and even the state’s water supply.

At issue: the "lake effect."

The sprawling Great Salt Lake doesn’t freeze in the winter due to its high salt content, so when some storms blow in, they collect the lake’s moisture, strengthen, then deliver extra snow to the Wasatch Mountains.

That snow is the lifeblood of ski towns like Alta and Snowbird, but it also contributes to water supply. Utah gets 95 percent of its water from snowpack.

Scientists say it’s unclear just how much the lake effect boosts the snowpack, but current research suggests it’s 5 to 8 percent.

[raisingarizona13]

I'm not a fan of turning Nevada into every other states waste dump. I've been spending quite a bit of time there the last few years and I really believe it's the last, great western state. Let's not f that place up. I think every state should be responsible for their waste and keep it in house.

[spanghew]

Look, the NTS is an entirely different asset from Yucca Mountain.

And, listen, your testimony doesn't carry any weight here in the court if public opinion because you've been impeached. So, you may check the NIMBYism and let the science (which says that Yucca Mountain us the most studied geological formation in Earth) dictate that we should open the site because Yucca is dry, safe, and an ideal site to store spent commerical nuclear fuel.

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Your shrieks of NIMBYism can be easily translated to: you don't live there. You've probably never been there. You probably know nothing about the roads that would become overrun with trucks full of hazardous waste, nor do you know anything about the towns these things would drive through, or the weather conditions, or, really, anything at all . . .

[k2skier112]

Look, the NTS is an entirely different asset from Yucca Mountain.

And, listen, your testimony doesn't carry any weight here in the court if public opinion because you've been impeached. So, you may check the NIMBYism and let the science (which says that Yucca Mountain us the most studied geological formation in Earth) dictate that we should open the site because Yucca is dry, safe, and an ideal site to store spent commerical nuclear fuel.

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It's not me. It's locals, conservationists and NIMBY's. NV is sparsely populated and I think it would work fine
Everyone want clean nuclear power, but no one wants the deadly waste anywhere near them

That said, THERE'S NO ACTIVE PERMANAMNENT NCLEAR WASTE DEPOSITRY, at the time, fact

In conclusion, there's no place that will hold the waste until it's inert without some major environmental problem, earthquake, floods, ground water, super volcano...so at best, burying nuclear waste is a band aide on the waste problem

[raisingarizona13]

I don't think the people in Nevada would agree with this assessment. Look up downwinders syndrome.

[chaka]

re: Fusion... I'm highly skeptical of any production claims in the next decade or even two. But there is a lot of promising work going on. Take Helion for example.. they are figuring out a direct cycle approach. Which would be awesome.

[raisingarizona13]

What could possibly go wrong with nuclear waste and moving it across multiple states?

[kamtron]

I'm for building out nuclear, fission and fusion when it works, both create radioactive waste that needs to be put somewhere. Still, nuclear has a track record of being quite safe with only a few accidents in its history. Yes nuclear radiation is bad but yes so is pollution from your car, your power plant, your big truck that you think you need to have to haul around a bike and some skis on roads that are fine for a 2wd sedan 99.9% of the time.

I think I'd prefer to take the gamble on building out more nuclear plants with modernized, safer designs than not. Solar & wind are great but too intermittent and the batteries aren't there yet.

[SumJongGuy]

Let's send the radioactive waste to Mars and tax/task Elon Musk and Bezos with the costs of the entire operation. They've already started working out some logistics of getting ships there.

[shaft]

I'm for building out nuclear, fission and fusion when it works, both create radioactive waste that needs to be put somewhere. Still, nuclear has a track record of being quite safe with only a few accidents in its history. Yes nuclear radiation is bad but yes so is pollution from your car, your power plant, your big truck that you think you need to have to haul around a bike and some skis on roads that are fine for a 2wd sedan 99.9% of the time.

I think I'd prefer to take the gamble on building out more nuclear plants with modernized, safer designs than not. Solar & wind are great but too intermittent and the batteries aren't there yet.

This is the best two paragraph summary promoting nuclear that I have ever read or heard

[nickwm21]

Let's send the radioactive waste to Mars and tax/task Elon Musk and Bezos with the costs of the entire operation. They've already started working out some logistics of getting ships there.

This is it. Homosapien 2.0 pollutes a planet PRIOR to colonization.


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[spanghew]

This is the best two paragraph summary promoting nuclear that I have ever read or heard

In the words of that great philosopher, Bullwinkle--

This time for sure . . .

[SumJongGuy]

This is it. Homosapien 2.0 pollutes a planet PRIOR to colonization.


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This is probably what happened to Mars a gazillian million years ago last time there was intelligent life nearby. It's like the New Jersey of the Solar System.