Expert prognosis for the planet

[bcj]

Plant beans and squash along with the corn.
Poor return for Monsanto and corporate AG though I suppose.

[Irace86.2.0]

[Irace86.2.0]

[Lantanafrs2]

Is it global warming or climate change?

[Irace86.2.0]

Originally Posted by Lantanafrs2

Is it global warming or climate change?

Both; two separate things. Global warming is the increase in average global temperatures. Climate change is the change in weather pattern phenomenon related to global warming. For instance, if average ocean temperatures are higher then there is greater potential energy for hurricanes to get larger. As the video mentions, some areas are disproportionately affected by these changes and some areas have seen cooling. Some areas might have more droughts, but other areas might be seeing more flooding.

First three graphs show the warming trends (global warming). The last two graphs show how the extremes are more extreme and different in different areas (climate change).

https://www.epa.gov/climate-indicators

[Irace86.2.0]

[Dadhawk]

Originally Posted by Irace86.2.0

I'm relatively familiar with residential and corporate building roofing (my Father owned a small roofing business and I was a crew member/leader through high school and college). These panels are pretty slick from an install prospective, very well thought out. Nice underlayment as well (it's basically a waterproof barrier).

I'd argue that they don't "really" look like a metal roof, but they aren't unattractive. I'd put them on my house if I thought I was going to live here long enough to reach the ROI.

[Irace86.2.0]

[Irace86.2.0]

This has been done before, but it is cool to see more companies working with used EV batteries for grid storage.

[Dadhawk]

Originally Posted by Irace86.2.0

This has been done before, but it is cool to see more companies working with used EV batteries for grid storage.

What wasn't addressed is how far down the road this kicks that can, since that really is all it is. Once put into this service, how long does a battery that is already at 75% last? How much "time" does it buy before the battery is not useful?

[Irace86.2.0]

Originally Posted by Dadhawk

What wasn't addressed is how far down the road this kicks that can, since that really is all it is. Once put into this service, how long does a battery that is already at 75% last? How much "time" does it buy before the battery is not useful?

I don't know because I don't know its discharge and recharge cycle or how far it could degrade before it isn't worth the space it takes up over a healthier battery. At some point it would just be best to recycle it. Companies use different battery configurations, management systems and chemistry, and the used batteries will have had different degradation based on use, discharge and recharge speeds, temperature, etc.

For cars, these Tesla batteries are lasting 80-12 years with 80% plus capacity, and they are capable of lasting 25-30 years at ranges that would meet the needs for a majority of the population. Extrapolate that to grid use, and the batteries could be very useful for quite a while.

https://sites.google.com/a/lbl.gov/v...idemobile=true

[Irace86.2.0]

‘Miracle material’ smashes solar panel efficiency threshold

https://www.independent.co.uk/tech/p...-b2371954.html

Tesla solar panels are 19-20% efficient. Leading panels are 23%. Average panels are 15-20%. These panels just set a leap in efficiency by 50-100% to a new record of 33.7%, and they are cheap. A Chinese startup will be producing their version of this technology at 1/20th of the price of traditional solar cells. We will see if that turns out to be true.

As the gentleman said in the TED Talk above, solar is much more of a technology than other forms of energy production, and as such is the case, it should be viewed in that light in how it will improve and get better and cheaper. Steam turbines could see some improvements in efficiency for nuclear, gas or coal, but it is unlikely. Blade technology could advance for wind, but again, that is different than solar panel tech, which has more parity with cell phones, TVs and computers.

[Irace86.2.0]

[soundman98]

Originally Posted by Irace86.2.0

lab work is not reality.

it's going to be at least another 10-20 years before that makes its way to full production, and that's assuming that manufacturing can even be scaled appropriately. there's a trillion ideas that work in the lab or small batches, but can't be scaled to mass production.