It's not an issue of using less energy, it's an issue of consistently having any energy at all. The sun doesn't always shine and the wind doesn't always blow, so if we rely on only those sources, there are going to be occasional periods of time when there isn't enough energy to run the hospitals. People will die.
How about Yanks start insulating their homes, then? The US has the highest per capita usage not because it objectively needs the most energy, but because it expends it the most recklessly. Living conditions will have to change substantially to survive human habitat destruction - anything else is utopian anyway.
It really does seem like human existence is pretty much just downhill from here no matter what, materially speaking. Shit seems like a choice between the faster apocalypse or slower one to me.
The later we get on with transition, the worse it's going to be, for sure. However, I can say for myself that I live pretty comfortably in a well-insulated, AC-less apartment and it gets to 40°C here and over in summer. That's 104°F
Oh yeah I mean, I'm not doubting that properly insulated houses work just fine, it's just that the whole topic kinda got me thinkin about that shit. Just generally feels like humanity fuckin bonked it's head on the great filter pretty bad. And we don't even get a cool apocalypse like nuclear war or something, just very slow planet getting increasingly fucked.
I mean... If it is any consolation, I believe all-out war for resources is a likely outcome of global consciousness reaching any kind of "this habitat is fucked for real, we need to scramble to survive"-kinda stage.
Lmao yeah that's fair. Would be more interesting, at least. Either way, I'll continue to hope for a stupid pseudoposadist alien ex machina to keep myself sane until the hammer drops.
Entirely valid hope! I mostly lean into alien shit for coping just because I legitimately do think that there's something to UFO reports, and IMO the ET hypothesis is probably the most likely one given the current publicly available evidence, which, granted, doesn't prove much more than that UFOs are (probably) real, physical objects.
Oh yeah, absolutely. That's probably not in the cards, but it's possible that within the next year or so we'll actually get a public report from the US gov irt the DoD's Unidentified Aerial Phenomena Task Force. There's been some congressional pressure regarding it because Marco Rubio of all people is concerned about what the UFOs the Navy are seeing might be.
True, I keep hearing about new footage. Combined with Space Force this all seems borderline budget sci-fi flick with the exception that it's kinda really real. I wonder how unredacted any kind of large-scale declassification might realistically turn out to be, but I guess we'll have to wait to find out.
Well the specific wording of the shit in the intelligence budget appropriations bill was that the report has to be in an unclassified format, but that there maybe a classified annex if required. The cynic in me thinks everything interesting'll be in the annex, but the DoD publicly releasing three videos (albeit ones that had already been leaked) and admitting that they don't know what's pictured in them is really new, so who knows what's gonna happen.
Kinda tempted to do an effort post on the subject tbh, there'd probably be some interesting discussion.
Alright, I'll probably type something up w/ sources and all within the next few days or so. Unless I get distracted and forget I ever had the idea, which is very possible, but hey. Such is life.
With current technology, there isn't enough lithium on the planet to make enough batteries to run the world on non-constant renewables like wind and solar.
You don't need lithium at all for stationary energy storage, it's just attractive for mobile applications because it's less heavy than iron nickle for example.
mix of decentralized nickel-iron batteries for homes, semi-centralized nickel-iron banks as a supplement on infrastructure level, pumped water storage wherever possible, some power to hydrogen for overly productive days or where pumping isn't realistic.
Also, it's not like you can't have a few backup gas plants for emergencies. Those can be 'turned on' almost instantly - as opposed to nuclear for example.
It's not an issue of using less energy, it's an issue of consistently having any energy at all. The sun doesn't always shine and the wind doesn't always blow, so if we rely on only those sources, there are going to be occasional periods of time when there isn't enough energy to run the hospitals. People will die.
Downvoting isn't an argument.
Not to mention AC, which will become increasingly critical for keeping seniors alive, or food refrigeration, or a dozen other things.
How about Yanks start insulating their homes, then? The US has the highest per capita usage not because it objectively needs the most energy, but because it expends it the most recklessly. Living conditions will have to change substantially to survive human habitat destruction - anything else is utopian anyway.
It really does seem like human existence is pretty much just downhill from here no matter what, materially speaking. Shit seems like a choice between the faster apocalypse or slower one to me.
The later we get on with transition, the worse it's going to be, for sure. However, I can say for myself that I live pretty comfortably in a well-insulated, AC-less apartment and it gets to 40°C here and over in summer. That's 104°F
Oh yeah I mean, I'm not doubting that properly insulated houses work just fine, it's just that the whole topic kinda got me thinkin about that shit. Just generally feels like humanity fuckin bonked it's head on the great filter pretty bad. And we don't even get a cool apocalypse like nuclear war or something, just very slow planet getting increasingly fucked.
I mean... If it is any consolation, I believe all-out war for resources is a likely outcome of global consciousness reaching any kind of "this habitat is fucked for real, we need to scramble to survive"-kinda stage.
Lmao yeah that's fair. Would be more interesting, at least. Either way, I'll continue to hope for a stupid pseudoposadist alien ex machina to keep myself sane until the hammer drops.
I guess we all cope in different ways. Still hope the dolphins just start wrecking shit tbh ;(
Entirely valid hope! I mostly lean into alien shit for coping just because I legitimately do think that there's something to UFO reports, and IMO the ET hypothesis is probably the most likely one given the current publicly available evidence, which, granted, doesn't prove much more than that UFOs are (probably) real, physical objects.
First Contact would probably salvage this year for me, even if it's hostile lol
Oh yeah, absolutely. That's probably not in the cards, but it's possible that within the next year or so we'll actually get a public report from the US gov irt the DoD's Unidentified Aerial Phenomena Task Force. There's been some congressional pressure regarding it because Marco Rubio of all people is concerned about what the UFOs the Navy are seeing might be.
True, I keep hearing about new footage. Combined with Space Force this all seems borderline budget sci-fi flick with the exception that it's kinda really real. I wonder how unredacted any kind of large-scale declassification might realistically turn out to be, but I guess we'll have to wait to find out.
Well the specific wording of the shit in the intelligence budget appropriations bill was that the report has to be in an unclassified format, but that there maybe a classified annex if required. The cynic in me thinks everything interesting'll be in the annex, but the DoD publicly releasing three videos (albeit ones that had already been leaked) and admitting that they don't know what's pictured in them is really new, so who knows what's gonna happen.
Kinda tempted to do an effort post on the subject tbh, there'd probably be some interesting discussion.
I'd read it for sure. Unsure how much discussion I could contribute but go for it
Alright, I'll probably type something up w/ sources and all within the next few days or so. Unless I get distracted and forget I ever had the idea, which is very possible, but hey. Such is life.
Hah. Do I know that feel... Cheers
Batteries, bud. This is a solved problem.
With current technology, there isn't enough lithium on the planet to make enough batteries to run the world on non-constant renewables like wind and solar.
You don't need lithium at all for stationary energy storage, it's just attractive for mobile applications because it's less heavy than iron nickle for example.
What specific mode of energy storage do you suggest?
mix of decentralized nickel-iron batteries for homes, semi-centralized nickel-iron banks as a supplement on infrastructure level, pumped water storage wherever possible, some power to hydrogen for overly productive days or where pumping isn't realistic.
Also, it's not like you can't have a few backup gas plants for emergencies. Those can be 'turned on' almost instantly - as opposed to nuclear for example.