The KGB Oracle Forums General Public Discussion (SPECIAL) The KGB Back Room Go Vikes!!

I come from the land of renewable energies, We have Hydro, Solar, Wind, and Bio fuels and I believe that it's no one thing that will be our basis on creating renewable energy but all things combined. Solar and Wind clusters get larger and more efficient everyday, Hydro never stops, and farmers continue to grow the crops needed for biofuels, we don't have as much in the way of geothermal, except in the northern Iron Range, but either way the reality is using these diverse methods to create the energy and then having both the technology to use the energy, or be able to store and disperse the energy to the technology that can use it best.

Everyone keeps concentrating on finding the one ring to rule them all but that holy grail isn't realistic. It will take multiple methods, various types of research to create renewable energy, the trick is building the infrastructure to collect and disperse the various types of energy in a centralized fashion.

Solar energy = you need solar panels which are awfull (ecologically) to produce, don't last a lot and can't work at night.
Wind energy = shit ton of magnets = you're using a ton of rare earth material. Enjoy depending on China for that.
Hydro = there's a limit on the number of river you can use for that (we are at it in France for example), and it creates artificial lakes which may damage the environment around it.
Geothermal = digging crazy holes under the earth does not sound like a genius' idea when you want to put those everywhere.

Thorium nuclear reactors may be a way to sustain our energy needs for a couple centuries until we manage to fond something new.

You're absolutely right Arkh.

Don't go turning my troll thread into a sound common sense discussion. There is no single solution. Everything causes impact, the question is maximizing the output, while minimizing the impact. It's like field wound and trauma assessment. All individuals are impacted, the question is, what are you going to choose to do and it what order to what things.

Wave energy is a low impact solution, but obviously its limited in its impact. The point being, the solution contains many options in the energy matrix. They are even working on at OSU reducing the impact of emissions from burning cow pies and pig shit to produce electricity. Yes I know, Who runs barter town?

I disagree Arkh, Solar cells have improved leaps and bounds since they were first manufactured, today's solar cells are arranged in large flexible panels which can accommodation many more cells then previous panels and the cells themselves far more efficient at gathering solar energy during peak periods of the day even in cloudy or poor lighting conditions.

Wind is costly I agree, but super conductor technologies are reducing the need for the common magnets in use today, and the rare earth neodymium magnets cost and origins can be offset by the use of better engineering of wind harnessing equipment, lighter materials such as carbon fiber mean that one wind generator can increase energy production using less magnets.

Everything has it's impact or limitations, the science is there just not the technologies, industries, and infrastructure.

Thorium Nuclear may not be the answer either, as that will undoubtedly have a waste byproduct which could potentially damage the environment as well.

Cow pie's & Pig shit... damn Oklahoma is going to be "In the shit" if this comes around as an efficient fuel source!

kool and the gang will be rich enough to afford one of them there big screen tvs at the walmart in no small part because he is full of it.

They have improved but it is still more efficient to burn fossil fuels at present. Some of the newer tech that suggests the ability to practically print solar cells looks promising but isn't there just yet.



From what I've seen the amount of waste produced by a Thorium plant equivalent to a current nuke plant in one year is only one 55 gallon drum full of waste material that will decay in 300 years vs the current run of hundreds or thousands of barrels of waste material that takes thousands of years to fully decay. That's a pretty amazing difference. Add to that the ability to simply shut off the plant if something goes wrong and then start it back up, both with no negative repercussions, and it seems to be far and away better than the current tech.

Look I will make this very simple. When we can create lightsabers then we will have the ability for true power storage devices and energy replication.

Solar panels...nuclear power...environmental waste? These are all problems too big to deal with right now so we need to focus on the smaller more important things.

Only through proper lighsaber R&D can humanity move to the next level.

Amen Donkey