symboom
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chemistry related improving energy strain of the world
not the best title but
these are the things which would help improve the demand for energy and effecienty
ffc cambrige process for making cheap transition elements cheaply like titanium being used where aluminum is used
thorium fission
instead of more rare lithium ion batteries
sodium ion batteries itch would drop the price of batteries
iter fusion project
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Bezaleel
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I don't think that lithium is an element so rare that that drives up the price too much. In addition, is there any sodium battery technology known?
Thorium fission is known to be a possible alternative for uranium fission, but still requires extensive engineerig to get the first Th based power
plant working. The engineering costs have hitherto outweighed the reduction in cost from use of the cheaper and less rare thorium.
What would really help in my opinion is the development and implementation of fuel cells. There exist gas fuelled power plants, which would become top
efficient when fuel cell technology would be used. The greatest technological challenge here lies in preventing intoxication of the fuel cells due to
impurities in the fuel.
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Endimion17
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Just how can a battery solve energy demands? It's a battery. A tank into which energy is stored, either by putting fresh, "energized" chemicals, or by
driving electricity into chemicals.
But it's a tank. It does not produce anything. You have to invest more energy to produce those chemicals than you'll extract later.
I read what people say about energy demands and somehow I get this feeling that vast majority of population seems to think that energy grows on trees
and is just picked and transfered through cables to the hole in the wall. When someone starts equalizing power plants with batteries, I simply know
the discussion will fail.
The same goes for fuel cells. They are not primary energy sources.
Thorium fission is very nice, but will become interesting once the price of uranium jumps. For now, it's not interesting. It's more complicated and
expensive. It requires uranium as well, because thorium itself is not fissionable.
ITER is still a disappointment. It's possible, but technologically very challenging. Promises and promises. We'll see.
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blogfast25
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Quote: Originally posted by Endimion17  |
ITER is still a disappointment. It's possible, but technologically very challenging. Promises and promises. We'll see. |
Fusion research has been slow to deliver but not that slow. When I was a student there was talk of an ETA of about 2020.
A bit silly to condemn a facility (ITER) that hasn't been completed yet, yet appears more or less on target...
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Bezaleel
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No. Point is that being economic with the energy available in natural gas, stretches up the time the world's natural resources can be used.
Agreed, though, that in the long run we will probably only have the choice to use energy coming from the sun. In that respect, Tesla's observation
that energy can be extracted from the ionosphere, (where it is replenished constantly by radiation directly from the sum), seems a thing worthwhile to
investigate. As far as I know, so far permissions have never been granted to experiment with this. I.e. there's a virtually endless discussion about
Tesla's method, but as good as no experimental data.
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Endimion17
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Oh god...
I guess there have been some changes on this site in the last few years...
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