I absolutely agree, but that wasn’t what you brought up in regards to electric cars. As for the stuff you bring up besides the lithium, EVs eat more tires, but for the rest of it, the rest can be said about fossil cars as well.
Yes, you are right, cars are bad, but if you need a car, electric is better. And unfortunately, not all places are planned to be livable without a car. And that part isn’t the fault of the car driver.
I’m not saying it is nothing, but the environmental cost of 1 car battery has to be compared to the environmental damage of 1 tonne of gasoline/year it is replacing. So 500 kg of batteries or 10-15 tonnes of gasoline for a typical car…
I’d rather that than landfill, though. Today the tree tops, tomorrow the stars, as they say:)
Came here to post this
The specs yes, but obviously not the skills. And that is the problem atm, The second best droneoperators are not of the western hemisphere…
Conscription is the Nordic way. Train before it is needed, so that everyone knows what to do when shit hits the fan. And when it does a large part of the population knows how to enact a specific role in the army, would it be needed. From crewing submarines to driving tanks or how to use the communications equipment.
I honestly thought it would be bigger. Having said that, we (as in the municipality i work for) currently have 40-60 MWh sand batteries in production. The first, small and hot, one is currently charging to go into production when it gets colder. The bigger and colder battery is slated to start charging the next season.
“And you can store it for long periods, not just two hours or four hours like lithium-ion batteries, but potentially for days and maybe even weeks.”
I’m guessing here, but “for days and maybe even weeks” must be because the battery is above ground? With good insulation seasonal storage is very much in the cards.
A day care in another Swedish municipality use about 1/5 of the “normal” energy for heating thanks to a sand battery. As in 15-18 kwh/m2/year as opposed to 70 kwh/m2/year as is the current upper limit for new buildings in Sweden.
It is basically an isolated heat trap for excess electricity/heat during the summer to be used during winter. It is rather like ground heat except for a few notable differences:
The cons are obvious:
The pros:
Cost wise, for the tenants, it’s no difference, as the lower running costs of the battery is predicted to out weight the extra cost of capital, but in an emergency the house will be much easier to keep light and warm. The plan is to fit the house with batterier and V2G EV-chargers.
So far I’ve mostly changed how I do stuff, rather than what i do. Electric car instead of ICE, Bike and train for commuting, Solarpanels and 20kWh batteries for most of my summer time energy needs.
At work I have more possibility to make a difference, though. So far I’ve had batteries introduced (solar was already norm) as an accessory to “our” buildings, I’ve gotten 2 thermal batteries (sand) built and are currently investigating building mounted small scale wind power. Among other things.
Oil dependence is use as a of controlling the world. Renewables changes that control. Therefore Renewables must be stopped.
Depends on your view point. From a European perspective liberalism is center right, although I’d say that the so called liberalism as discussed in the US is pretty well into the right. The whole spectrum has shifted, so I’d say that what used to be conservative talking points are now liberal talking points.
Depends on what the alternative is. I’d prefer a beer to the water water of Flint i.e.
As bad as airing out a hot car is, it takes on a different need when its -20C and you need to thaw the car out before going to work in the morning. Much preferable to do that from inside.
As bad as things are, I’m still glad that the oil wars are driven by greed and not scarcity. Had the option been mad max things would have been so much more desperate, as things stand, a world with energy and hope is still an option.
This is not the application im worried about in regards to Jerome Paradox. There are other power guzzling techs that will eat any and all energy that can be produced while paying more per kwh than any of us can afford. Those technologies are my primary concern…
How on earth did you arrive at that conclusion? You are the one to bring the orange despot into the discussion to begin with.
Why are you so afraid to admit that the country you live in is not best at everything and may actually have something to learn by looking elsewhere? Having a gated pissing contest is not the way we will learn enough fast enough to have a future. Learning from example is the only way forward.
But I’m a bit astounded by this, do you really feel you have to buy a car simply because it is produced? Don’t you have any personal efficacy or desires?
Oh, the new “renewables are bad” talking point. Unlike the general feel of the article I think this is actually just in time. The first TW took 70 years to install, but the second took 2 years (2024). Given 20 years of operational life that means that the quantities starts to accelerate by the end of the 2030-thirties. Which is when the article states that there will be price parity between recycling and landfill…
However, at least here, the cost of landfills has increased and will continue to increase so it quill only be a matter of time…
So, westerners want to buy cheap ICE cars and somehow its the fault of the Chinese? As for the Chinese themselves they buy 50+% electric, well ahead of say Sweden.
But as for the topic at hand, surprisingly few people realize how much cheaper renewable are and that they stand to earn a buck adopting green tech while producing less dirty electricity. I have to deal with them at work, sometimes I get to see minds explode in disbelief:)
Here, maybe. For most outside green energy I expect it to be more newsworthy that 50% of chinas electricity is from renewable and that solar alone eeks out coal. An interesting point about the molten salts approach is that cooldown doesn’t happen immediately after sunset. The land use is problematic for most places, though.
Except the two biggest exporters of electricity, not to mention Norway and Denmark (Finland?) Being well over 90% electric in their respective new sales car fleets, Spain going all out on solar, several off shore power plants and a number of long term batteries (non-electric). Oh and the number of hydrogen installations throughout germany. Except all those steps?
I agree, more needs to be done and fast!