1091
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[-] A_Chilean_Cyborg@feddit.cl 109 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago)

Yeah about that.

Those are termosolar powerplant, they use the sun to boil water and spin a turbine.

[-] chunes@lemmy.world 32 points 3 weeks ago

Why do I have an overwhelming urge to climb that

[-] Hedup@lemmy.world 43 points 3 weeks ago

You know if you're a moth, you can just fly up there.

[-] humble_boatsman@sh.itjust.works 19 points 3 weeks ago
[-] mexicancartel@lemmy.dbzer0.com 23 points 3 weeks ago

BRotHeR i cRaVe foR tHe ForBiDDen liGhT

[-] Rozauhtuno 7 points 3 weeks ago

You played too many Ubisoft games.

[-] fascicle@leminal.space 6 points 3 weeks ago

Are you perhaps living in a place where it snows or something

[-] sudoMakeUser@sh.itjust.works 3 points 3 weeks ago

Sam McGee just wants to do free climbing

[-] PointyFluff@lemmy.ml 5 points 3 weeks ago

Um...no.

Sam McGee just wants to be warm

[-] sudoMakeUser@sh.itjust.works 2 points 3 weeks ago

Yeah that was the joke

[-] nexguy@lemmy.world 23 points 3 weeks ago

Better solar power extractor.

[-] Fleur_@aussie.zone 11 points 3 weeks ago

If you think about it coal fired power plants are also solar powered 🤔

[-] nexguy@lemmy.world 10 points 3 weeks ago

True, just that an intermediate step(of many steps) is to continually destroy the atmosphere.

[-] Aneb@lemmy.world 3 points 3 weeks ago

It's not like we need it to breath anyways. We'll just pay corporations for oxygen masks and "Atmo-tanks" to breath. We have commodify everything because Capitalism requires it.

[-] mattyroses@lemmy.today 1 points 3 weeks ago

C'mon Cohegan, give dees peepul aihhhhhh

[-] psud@aussie.zone 2 points 3 weeks ago

Only that sun fell on plants millions of years ago. We really don't want that million year old carbon dioxide in the atmosphere alongside the recent stuff

[-] Fleur_@aussie.zone 3 points 3 weeks ago

Very true, the conclusion I'm drawing is that solar power is actively harming the environment and causing climate change. No new solar!

[-] untorquer@lemmy.world 1 points 3 weeks ago

Fine to think of it, it's also renewable!

[-] simcup@discuss.tchncs.de 3 points 3 weeks ago

AFAIR you can't get new coal/oil because in the meantime there are fungi in the ground that would process the dead plants/alge/whatever was pressed to make the hydrocarbons. but i can't find the source of that info, so grain of salt

[-] Riverside@reddthat.com 5 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago)

Most coal comes from the carbonipherous period, a period in which plants evolved wood but ~~microbes~~ funghi (shutout to Lyrl's below comment) still hadn't evolved wood-eating.

You can get new coal in marshes because I think the process to eat wood requires oxygen, and flooded areas don't allow for wood to decompose totally. That's why they can pull out wooden ships from 500 years ago from the bottom of the ocean in relatively good condition!

[-] Lyrl@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 points 3 weeks ago

That it took 400 million years for one fungus to evolve wood eating is wild to me. And no other microbe has ever evolved that ability: my understanding is all wood decay fungal species today evolved from one shared ancester.

load more comments (2 replies)
load more comments (1 replies)
[-] RavingGrob@lemmy.dbzer0.com 7 points 3 weeks ago
[-] mrgoosmoos@lemmy.ca 15 points 3 weeks ago

do you not know how those work?

the sun shines on the side angled upwards and heats it up. everybody knows hot air rises, so this raises the blade, creating the spinning motion.

it's basic, really. third grade stuff.

[-] mojofrododojo@lemmy.world 9 points 3 weeks ago

I really love how it's almost that simple.

the sun shines on the ~~side angled upwards~~ planet and heats it up. everybody knows hot air rises, ~~so this raises~~ creating winds that drive the blade, creating the spinning motion.

[-] Daft_ish@lemmy.dbzer0.com 4 points 3 weeks ago

Omg every body knows wind is created when god sighs at the collective sin of the world.

Some people so dumb.

[-] mojofrododojo@lemmy.world 3 points 3 weeks ago

the great orc father mungnog's farts propel the wind, all know this.

[-] Daft_ish@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 3 weeks ago
[-] mojofrododojo@lemmy.world 3 points 3 weeks ago

I declare bankruptcy!

[-] arrow74@lemmy.zip 12 points 3 weeks ago

The sun heats the planet unevenly, this causes wind. Wind is solar

[-] agentTeiko@piefed.social 20 points 3 weeks ago

Its even more metal they heat salt that heats water to spin the turbine. This keeps the power generation well after sun down.

[-] T156@lemmy.world 15 points 3 weeks ago

Although they're falling out of use these days, both because they're not very environmentally friendly on account of being instant bird death-rays, and also because regular solar panels are cheap enough that it's not worth it to make a big thermosolar plant.

[-] untorquer@lemmy.world 13 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago)

Habitat destruction, air pollution, and pesticides are unfathomably worse for birds.

[-] A_Chilean_Cyborg@feddit.cl 2 points 3 weeks ago

And I'm not sure how much alive things are in the Atacama (except when there is a blooming desert fenomenon.

[-] A_Chilean_Cyborg@feddit.cl 7 points 3 weeks ago

Idk, my country just inaugurated a gigantic one of these.

Also, fotovoltaic pannels decay with time and have to be replaced, 15 years I think? Their manufacturing isn't also the greenest thing on earth.

You build one of these, and you can run it for a long long time.

[-] drosophila 27 points 3 weeks ago

15 years I think

This number gets lower every time I see it.

First, manufacturers typically guarantee their panels for 25 to 30 years.

Second, while we can extrapolate from existing data and perform accelerated aging tests, we're actually not completely sure how long PV panels last in the real world because the oldest ones from 1987 are still going.

[-] asg101 9 points 3 weeks ago

fotovoltaic pannels decay with time and have to be replaced, 15 years I think?

much longer: https://www.slashgear.com/1989112/solar-panel-lifespan-longer-new-study/

[-] psud@aussie.zone 7 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago)

The usual warranty period is 20 years generating 80% of the nameplate generating Watts

They keep generating reasonable amounts of power 50 or 100 years later, though they tend to get overtaken by new technology in 10 to 20 years, and since they pay for themselves in about 4 years in my area they get replaced while still working well

I think we export our obsolete panels to developing nations

[-] untorquer@lemmy.world 6 points 3 weeks ago

Lies! Well the thermal plant is also fine but photovoltaics are really, really good.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KtQ9nt2ZeGM

load more comments (8 replies)
[-] ZoteTheMighty@lemmy.zip 11 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago)

Ahkshually, those tend to boil salt...which is later used to boil water.

[-] Gladaed@feddit.org 6 points 3 weeks ago

That technology is a relic of the past. Solar panels are cheap and efficient now. Just use solar panels.

[-] Tja@programming.dev 4 points 3 weeks ago

And much easier to operate and troubleshoot.

[-] AzuranAurora@piefed.ca 3 points 3 weeks ago

That's what they want you to think. I bet it also powers a secret orbital space laser. I should know, a man with a theoretical degree in physics told me.

this post was submitted on 06 Feb 2026
1091 points (100.0% liked)

Science Memes

19355 readers
1928 users here now

Welcome to c/science_memes @ Mander.xyz!

A place for majestic STEMLORD peacocking, as well as memes about the realities of working in a lab.



Rules

  1. Don't throw mud. Behave like an intellectual and remember the human.
  2. Keep it rooted (on topic).
  3. No spam.
  4. Infographics welcome, get schooled.

This is a science community. We use the Dawkins definition of meme.



Research Committee

Other Mander Communities

Science and Research

Biology and Life Sciences

Physical Sciences

Humanities and Social Sciences

Practical and Applied Sciences

Memes

Miscellaneous

founded 3 years ago
MODERATORS