We are just scratching the surface of solars potential. The sun gives the Earth more energy everyday than we could ever use. It's like a bank account with trillions of dollars. You can never spend that money. I don't care how many times you go to smoothie king, you'll never run through a trillion dollars. Likewise, the same is true with the sun. We can run out of oil and coal. The sun is a trillion dollar bank account that we just need to get access to. Our energy problems are an access problem, not an energy shortage problem. We are all powered by the sun. All of us. All the energy in the food we eat originally came from the sun. All life on Earth is solar powered. Even in the ocean, accept for some deep sea creatures that use chemosynthesis. We need to find ways to get more access. Converting UV radiation, x rays, etc. A parking lot emits more infrared than a forest because of the heat trapping of hardscape. Let's run our ACs on the same heat we use them to get rid of.

https://www.the-independent.com/tech/device-infrared-night-solar-power-b2081545.html

by Glad_Objective_1646

5 comments

  1. It could not work without sufficient storage, and sufficient storage could not work without crippling borrowing to force accelerated lithium availability (among other things). Extracting it at that scale would also cause considerable (though comparatively minor) local habitat destruction.

    Just as we speak, sodium-ion storage technology is being put into production. Sodium is cheap, universal, and its primary ecological impact is the possible use of dirty energy to extract it from salt or whatever other common compound you choose. Once clean energy is bootstrapped, sodium is also clean.

    *Now*, solar can work.

  2. Plus we’ve only scratched the surface of conversion efficiency, we’re now up to the mid-thirties using perovskite as a separate layer, and others are on the way.

  3. The major auto companies also said EVs would never sell. Other than small amounts to niche buyers. Then Tesla started selling them in numbers and having higher margins per vehicle. Now BYD is killing them in China (largest market) and starting to export to many other markets. Apparently EVs can sell and customers will buy them.

    The ideas behind the technology of the future are not based on current levels. Unless you have an agenda that is trying to stop them. It always improves and at times exponentially.

    Saw a story on a wind power company using towers without blades that generate energy from vibrating. The basic lesson is if it is technically possible and potentially better we can improve it to where it is commercially viable.

  4. It’s funny that they write solar energy is lost „when the sun goes down“… like, ptolemaic worldview…

  5. It’s intermittent, so battery costs need to come down about an order of magnitude and be easier to install/use. I generally agree though, I’ve installed my own solar and batteries.

    Solar systems (mounts, inverters, wiring, etc) just needs to be a lot cheaper to put in enough for the winter months. Summer is easy, but covering heat pumps and electric cars in the winter is brutal. I have the land, but my solar system would have to be 5-10x bigger to cover winters.

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