Turns out we already have fusion power, it’s just been placed safely 149.6 million km away. The solution to energy independence comes up every morning.
All energy comes from the sun except for geothermal which comes from the Earth’s rotational momentum which might as well be the sun because it wouldn’t rotate without something to orbit around.
btw geothermal does not come from the earth’s rotation. it mostly comes from nuclear decay of heavy isotopes in the earth’s interior and the enormous heat capacity of the earth’s interior, which means it’s still warm from the friction heat from when the planet first formed. in other words it’s there since the Earth formed, independent of the sun.
also there’s another (practically accessible) form of energy that comes neither from geothermal nor from the sun: you can pull energy out of the tidal movement that comes from the moon’s changing gravity field as it orbits around our planet. i think that one’s not really being used though because the only way to really utilize it is to build dams across havens and important shipping routes and that interferes with trade, which is considered the more economically valuable activity from the two.
Tidal energy is being used in many countries. You don’t have to block the canals. You can build structures in coastlines, or just put underground generators that run automatically without any dams because the water moves without the dams as well
Technically nuclear came from a different star. The sun won’t create those kinds of heavier elements until it burns through its hydrogen and helium fuel to start fusing its way up to lead, and I don’t think it’s massive enough to actually reach the kind of supernova collapse required to smash lesser elements together into heavier elements than that in any significant amount. So technically, fission is the only the form of energy that isn’t based on solar. It’s just the still-cooling-embers leftover from someone else’s dying star, a whole bunch of billions of years ago. I guess you could say the sun’s gravity at least attracted it all into this general vicinity though, at least until the Earth’s own gravity started pulling its own weight.
well actually there’s renewable energy on the cosmological scale (look up E. Harris - Mining Energy In An Expanding Universe), at least theoretically. nobody’s ever practically utilized it (afaik).
Yes but no. The sun didn’t form the Earth. The Earth and the sun both formed from a primordial star. You don’t hear much talk about the star that actually birthed us, because theres very little we can say for certain about it. We can’t even say for certain if Sol (the sun) is a second or third generation star because we only have vague notions about if the star that produced all the elements that aren’t hydrogen in the solar system was long lived or went nova in under a billion years.
Decaying nuclei is from supernova, but the rocks that formed the solar system and Earth? I’m not sure they can pinpoint an origin. I think atoms of a rock have different origins and at some point, they combined to form the rock, so that’s also an origin. To be verified.
First a Dyson Ring; have you read any of the Ringworld series by David Niven? And for the time being solar panels, solar architecture, cardboard solar fucking ovens, solar deathray from a satellite dish, etc, etc, etc…
Turns out we already have fusion power, it’s just been placed safely 149.6 million km away. The solution to energy independence comes up every morning.
how many American hotdogs is that?
I’d want to say “about a week”, but I learned not to overestimate people, so probably 5 days top
You can’t mix units like that
At least three.
Found the guy who buys the fancy third of an AU dogs.
Well you know what they say about the length of your sausage. If it can’t reach Venus, then what’s the point, really?
All energy comes from the sun except for geothermal which comes from the Earth’s rotational momentum which might as well be the sun because it wouldn’t rotate without something to orbit around.
btw geothermal does not come from the earth’s rotation. it mostly comes from nuclear decay of heavy isotopes in the earth’s interior and the enormous heat capacity of the earth’s interior, which means it’s still warm from the friction heat from when the planet first formed. in other words it’s there since the Earth formed, independent of the sun.
also there’s another (practically accessible) form of energy that comes neither from geothermal nor from the sun: you can pull energy out of the tidal movement that comes from the moon’s changing gravity field as it orbits around our planet. i think that one’s not really being used though because the only way to really utilize it is to build dams across havens and important shipping routes and that interferes with trade, which is considered the more economically valuable activity from the two.
Tidal energy is being used in many countries. You don’t have to block the canals. You can build structures in coastlines, or just put underground generators that run automatically without any dams because the water moves without the dams as well
Technically nuclear came from a different star. The sun won’t create those kinds of heavier elements until it burns through its hydrogen and helium fuel to start fusing its way up to lead, and I don’t think it’s massive enough to actually reach the kind of supernova collapse required to smash lesser elements together into heavier elements than that in any significant amount. So technically, fission is the only the form of energy that isn’t based on solar. It’s just the still-cooling-embers leftover from someone else’s dying star, a whole bunch of billions of years ago. I guess you could say the sun’s gravity at least attracted it all into this general vicinity though, at least until the Earth’s own gravity started pulling its own weight.
All accessible energy originates from the low entropy state during the big bang.
well actually there’s renewable energy on the cosmological scale (look up E. Harris - Mining Energy In An Expanding Universe), at least theoretically. nobody’s ever practically utilized it (afaik).
emm that is not the source of geothermal energy…
TIL - according to one source 80% of the geothermal energy comes from radiation and the remaining 20% is from the sun.
Didn’t the molten core also originate in some way from the sun?
Yes but no. The sun didn’t form the Earth. The Earth and the sun both formed from a primordial star. You don’t hear much talk about the star that actually birthed us, because theres very little we can say for certain about it. We can’t even say for certain if Sol (the sun) is a second or third generation star because we only have vague notions about if the star that produced all the elements that aren’t hydrogen in the solar system was long lived or went nova in under a billion years.
The molten core is hot because a whole lot of rocks crashed into each other. Also, nuclear decay.
Well… those are remnants of a supernova aren’t they? So the velocities to have meaningful impacts came from a sun?
Definitely not what I was thinking or trying to say though, and not our sun, but kinda still all the energy comes from at least, a sun.
Decaying nuclei is from supernova, but the rocks that formed the solar system and Earth? I’m not sure they can pinpoint an origin. I think atoms of a rock have different origins and at some point, they combined to form the rock, so that’s also an origin. To be verified.
Probably
geothermal which comes from the Earth’s rotational momentum
umm… that is not the source of geothermal energy…
Yes it is, and the earth is gradually slowing down because of it.
I know you are joking, but we have several commercial fusion plants that are in the construction phase.
Now you know why Big Oil is pushing so hard for massive profits. Between renewables and fusion the energy landscape is going to change dramatically.
…and it’s still 20 years away.
That is the propaganda big oil pushes. You are correct.
You mean a Dyson Sphere right?
Dyson swarms would be more feasible. Heat rejection on a sphere would give an engineer a complete meltdown.
First a Dyson Ring; have you read any of the Ringworld series by David Niven? And for the time being solar panels, solar architecture, cardboard solar fucking ovens, solar deathray from a satellite dish, etc, etc, etc…