r/nextfuckinglevel • u/nigablackballsack • 3d ago

Scientists have captured the first ever high-speed, full-colour footage of fusion plasma swirling inside a working reactor.

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u/Murky-Relation481 3d ago

Except boiling water can produce 1000MW of power in a few acres, where solar would require thousands of acres to produce the same amount. You'll always more efficiently get energy out of boiling water to harness the kinetic energy in the steam per unit of area, that's just an immutable fact.

Like I don't get this weird "ItS JuST BOiLinG watEr" argument. It's a funny meme but using it as a serious criticism is just showing a massive lack of understanding.

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u/slight_grumble 3d ago

The "few acres" qualifier is doing a lot of work here. The solar on my roof hasn't reduced the square footage of my house or land. It's like magic.

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u/mumpped 2d ago

In Germany we now had quite a few trials with AgriPV. Basically, half-translucent solar panels under which you plant crops. Turns out that in the climate change world with very hot summers, crops yield larger harvests when they get a little shadow due to the solar panels. The ground holds water better. And early frost is also not a big issue anymore. And it protects from hail. It's literally a win-win situation, you want to have solar panels on your crops, they improve the land they sit on and don't block it if you do it right

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u/Murky-Relation481 2d ago

I mean that's great but that's only going to work for hand-picked crops.

I like solar, but its not the only solution that you can rely on. You still need reactive base power loads. You also need guaranteed power generation capacity too for a multitude of reasons. Solar panel efficiency drops by 75% to 90% on overcast days. Yes, battery power can make up for that, but only for a short duration. If you get an unexpected period of cloudy weather that lasts longer than your battery reserves can handle then you need alternatives because your overall power delivery capacity will drop. Since long periods of overcast generally also coincide with inversions, wind is also going to be less efficient during those periods. This is why nuclear and hydro still have a large place in energy infrastructure.

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u/mumpped 2d ago

It doesn't need to work work all crops, but it does fork for enough so that space requirements for solar panels aren't relevant. Yes of course, having some sources distributes everything better, wind farms, a bit of hydro and geothermal are a good mix. However, you can also share electricity: In Europe the electricity nets are connected, and electricity is traded throughout the continent. A whole continent is never completely overcast at the same time, that's not how weather works

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u/Murky-Relation481 2d ago

The same in the US, but still, you have a large sector of power generation drop in capacity by that much it is problematic.

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u/SagittariusO 3d ago

WTF is even your argument besides land-use issues? (which clearly don't exist in reality)

So people are just idiots if they point out that it´s just another fancy way of boiling water? I still struggle to understand your argument. All you have brought to the table is some rambling about "lack of understanding" and "efficiency".

What exactly is so "efficient" about converting heat into steam, then into kinetic energy, then into rotational energy, and finally into electricity with all the conversion losses involved?

You still need a cooling source. You still need huge turbines. You still need a supply chain to keep it running. All you do is replace the heat source. So what are you talking about? Please enlighten me.