Will war fast-track the energy transition?

The sudden push to reduce Europe's dependence on Russian gas and oil could trigger a paradigm shift to clean energy sources that might be quickly scaled up.

https://www.dw.com/en/will-war-fast...r&r=9726007153921356&lid=2075356&pm_ln=137309

 

Clean energy will come. But it will take decades. Do you think horses disappeared from our streets and roads in one day when trucks and cars appeared? It took decades. So will clean energy.

 

Maybe we should let Target handle it. LOL

 

Target can't even figure out which sex goes to what bathroom.

 

I think it will accelerate ........as there is a lot of motivation and incentive afoot..........particularly now. This invasion from Russia might just be the impetus that was needed..............for that push forward.

Sad that it took a war ....

Horses will never go out of style..........think equestrian

 

LOL........ but with all the current gender identity issues........what do you expect??

 

When I can "fill up" the electric "tank" in an electric car in a five minute stop in a station on a highway, I might consider buying an electric car. Until then? No way. But I have recently gone solar in my house. My electric bill goes away. I pay about the same for the new system and it build equity. Over time, as electric costs go up, I might even make a few bucks selling power back to the grid.

 

No one I know has any such "issues". Libs don't have "issues" with sexual confusion... they have entire subscriptions!

 

Good for you.......smart thinking !!

 

True, but they change their clothing lines constantly and it's impossible to find any remnants of anything that used to be there. I have a bone to pick about that because I adamantly refused for my toddler daughter to wear a bikini and Target removed all their one piece swimsuits for little girls so I we ended up having to order her a few online. I get "trends" and all but retailers shouldn't be dictating that we push our kids to grow up too fast. She can dress how she wants to dress when she starts buying her own clothes. I choose for her not to have spaghetti-strap bikinis that are barely holding on at 2-3 years old.

So, my comment was tongue-in-cheek that if we "want a fast transition" they can handle it.

 

That's cool. Was it expensive to make the transition? How long is the break-even point?

 

There is no such point for me. I essentially traded a monthly electric bill for a monthly payment for the solar syste, Its all about the same now, only I'm building equity. As far as family finances are concerned, it made little difference. Someday, as electric prices rise, I'll make a few bucks monthly, but there's no way to predict when that will happen.

 

Wow... am I glad we haven't had toddlers around in decades! Although I do love when they come and visit!... with their own toddlers!

 

Well necessity being the mother of all invention, lots of our technology trickle down through the military first.

It seems like the first thing humanity applies it's technology too is new and interesting ways and weapons with which to kill one another

 

Counterintuitive, to be sure.

 

It was defense that brought us the Internet

 

Wait, I thought that was Al Gore? Lol.

Of course, bet the military sat on it for years before it became common knowledge too.

Technology is neutral, it's neither good nor bad it's what we do with it that makes it what it is.

 

But it does make some for some fun toys

I think it's pretty fun to make a piece of lead go from 0 miles an hour to a roughly 700 mph in the blink of an eye.

The history of firearms evolution is pretty fascinating.

 

Some people think yes, but I think the realistic answer is no.

The European Union was already super pro-environment before this conflict. It's obviously not so super easy or pragmatic or they already would have done it.

If you want to talk about the technology, I think from an engineering and heat efficiency point of view, the thing that makes the most sense is to have dual hybrid heating systems, that rely both on shallow geothermal heat exchangers, but which can also burn gas when the temperatures drop very cold. The idea being that through most of the cold part of the year, temperatures will not be cold enough to require the burning of gas.

Geothermal heat exchange involves drilling a hole down to tap into the earth's heat. The temperature might still be cold down there but it is still warmer than the outside air on the surface. Something called a heat exchanger can move the ambient heat energy that exists in one area and concentrate it in another area. It is like the reverse of an air conditioner. This still requires energy, but is more efficient (about three or four times more so) than transforming electric energy directly into heat. But realize it still does take a lot of electric power to create heat.

 

You don't find it the bit strange that we claim to be the highest on the food chain but can't figure out how to not hate and kill each other?

I forgot where I heard it but I heard a comedian (against 2A) said that when our Founding Fathers wrote 2A, they were talking about muskets and cannon balls, not glocks and ARs/SARs.

 

Not at all. First, Al Gore had nothing to do with the Internet. He did, however, lead a valuable effort called "highways in the Sky"... more on that later if you want.

In the 1960's, the Defense Department decided tat it needed an "uninterruptable" messaging system for nuclear weapon release messages. DARPA was tasked with making it happen. DARPA contracted with BBN (Bert, Baronek and Neumann) in Cambridge, MA as the lead contractor and to do most of the software work. Perceptronics became the lead hardware contractor. Lots of subcontracts were let with other companies and a bunch of universities I played a minor role. I was still in uniform and charged with integrating "dissimilar simulators so that tank simulators, helicopter simulators and more could train Soldiers by "playing together". It all came together in the late 1980's. The President made the decision to make the whole thing "public domain" in 1990 and what we know now as the Internet was born. BBN and other contractors jumped out windows, thinking they would make a bundle... then the President gave it all to the public.

 

Oh yes... I have worked in defense in and out of uniform for 50 years. Weapons development, along with sensors, networks, defensive systems, tracking... its a fascinating industry.

 

I knew old Al full of it...

You and my landlord could probably talk for hours. He's a Vietnam vet who also taught computer programming at a college level for many years and in different countries as well.

 

It will certainly lead to changes in Europe, but they will still need fossil fuels for a while. Will those changes in Europe have larger implications? Possibly. The truth is that the move away from fossil fuels is accelerating, but some impediments will take more time to overcome than others.

Certainly for nations that are dependent on others for crucial energy supplies renewables open up the possibility of energy independence.

 

I learned a lot about math by studying firearms ballistics.

You may know this but for the uninformed reader I will state this

There are three fields of ballistic study concerning firearms technology.

Internal ballistics concerns what's happening inside of the gun before the bullet leaves the muzzle.

External ballistics concerns the flight path of the bullet and terminal ballistics is the study of what happens when the bullet hits whatever it's going to hit.

Always wondered how they calculated the stress that's happening inside of a gun barrel, turns out they use some sort of a strain gauge.

Even the lowly 22 cartridge produces an internal pressure of roughly 12,000 PSI. So naturally your barrel would have to be able to hold more pressure even though that pressure is only present for a split second.

Then the chemistry of propellants is a whole nother fascinating topic....