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Daily banter For everything, and anything that doesnt fit in elsewhere |
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#51
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Shame he kept the manual transmission, I guess he left it stuck in a particular gear. That's 70kg of extra weight. I think Cold Fusion does work, but I worry 'they' will never release it to ordinary people because it would make us too independent and not reliant on central energy companies. Hot fusion, ie TOKAMAK, would of course be a clean form of nuclear energy if they ever make it work. I like solar too, depending on solar cell efficiency, if you cover an area smaller than the UK in solar panels it would supply the current energy needs of the whole world. Not bad. Last edited by Goran; 19th March 2019 at 08:22 AM. |
#52
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Personally, I'm pro-anything-that-works. I like the idea of renewables such as solar, I just don't think they're very practical or scaleable. And, something I hadn't previously given much thought to, until watching that TED talk, is the sheer scale of manufacturing required to bring renewable energy to the world. When you take that into consideration and think about the amount of energy and materials required to go 100% renewable (not to mention all the maintenance and the waste generated by continually upgrading and replacing the technology), it does start to seem somewhat counter-productive and futile. To capture enough solar energy in an instant to meet the world's growing energy needs, will take vast amounts of land and materials, especially if we're to meet the new demand and challenges that electric vehicles bring, which could potentially double the world's electrical energy requirements within a few decades. Using energy reserves makes far more sense, but not in the form of fossil fuels of course. One major energy reserve we have available to us is geothermal. Geothermal has the potential to provide practically endless amounts of energy very cleanly, if we can only develop better and more practical ways to tap into it. Nuclear energy, assuming we make it 100% safe, is the ultimate in tapping into endless energy reserves. This is the energy that forms matter; the energy of star-stuff. Huge amounts of energy converted into matter by the stars (thanks to E=MC^2), ready to be released and harnessed. It's not a burning or chemical process but a direct conversion of matter into energy. There is no denser store of energy than an atom and no cleaner way to obtain energy than to reverse what happened in the stars by turning some of the matter they created back into pure energy. The biggest challenge for nuclear of course is making it 100% safe, but I think with generation IV reactors we're almost there. And through greater use and investment, I think it's likely that someday we'll crack Cold Fusion. Quote:
And the bigger picture for me is that using hydrogen, as with any fuel, is just the harnessing of a chemical reaction. It's nothing more than the primitive burning of stuff. If the human race is to ever move up the Kardashev scale, and survive beyond this planet, we need to leave behind this 'burning stuff' and learn to harness energy properly. And that can only be achieved with nuclear. The more I think about it, the more nuclear seems to be the obvious answer. I'm not pro-nuclear but I am very much pro-science and I would conclude that the science points to nuclear.
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Mark ------------------------------------------------------ 2002 FE S8 Ebony Black Pearl ------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------ Cars Owned: The Tesla Era: 2020 Model S Performance Ludicrous+ (present) (Black, with all black premium interior and carbon fibre décor, 21" sonic carbon twin turbine wheels and FSD capability) The Audi Era: '97 A8 4.2 (Ming Blue) --> '96 A8 4.2 QS (Dark Green) --> '02 FE S8 (present) The Citroen Era: '84 BX 1.6 RS --> '89 BX 1.9 DTR Turbo --> '94 XM 2.0L Turbo --> '96 XM 2.0L Turbo Exclusive --> '00 Xantia Activa 2.0L Turbo The Banger Era: '76 1.2L Lada VAZ-2101 (Ruski Fiat 124) --> '80 1.7L Morris Ital HL, finished in Ermine White and Rust Last edited by moltuae; 19th March 2019 at 11:19 AM. |
#53
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1996 A8 4.2 QS. Bose, Solar roof, um...um... rally sport towbar. Now gone to a new home as the Traders 8. Bright yellow bus o love. |
#54
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I have no idea if he genuinely believes the stuff he quotes, or if he is just naively regurgitating it, but it's not convincing at all. So I'm out. Others may disagree. I generally - perhaps cynically? - tend to look for a greater burden of proof of an argument where I know there is a powerful (and rich!) lobbying group trying to make their point, particularly where they are trying to protect their vested interests/the status quo - whether that's the C**k (sorry Koch... ) Brothers in the Oil & Gas sector, Pharma companies, etc, etc, and this guy falls into that category for me.
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Autos Autos everywhere... (1) 2015 Tesla Model S: (was 85D, now 90D ). Silent and deadly, and very fast... But not as fast as Ian's M3P- (2) 2002 D2 S8 Final Edition: Bulletproof and faultless: Brilliant Black with Extended (Red!) Leather. Three-times winner of Best D2 1st prize (3) 1997 Fiat Coupe 20v Turbo: Scots (! ) Green. Fragile, but beautiful. (4) 2010 Fiat Panda 100HP. White Pandamonium (Final Edition!!). Pure old-fashioned 6-speed go-karting. |
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