morto@piefed.social to Science Memes@mander.xyzEnglish · 3 days agoTurbines are our friendsmedia.piefed.socialimagemessage-square92linkfedilinkarrow-up1649arrow-down14
arrow-up1645arrow-down1imageTurbines are our friendsmedia.piefed.socialmorto@piefed.social to Science Memes@mander.xyzEnglish · 3 days agomessage-square92linkfedilink
minus-squaremnemonicmonkeys@sh.itjust.workslinkfedilinkEnglisharrow-up2·2 days agoPlus, you get a lot of lag when heating water with concentrated solar. Overnight your water cools down, so you need time to get it back to boiling temperature before it can generate any power. That lag gets worse during winter and cloudy days
minus-squaremarcos@lemmy.worldlinkfedilinkEnglisharrow-up1·2 days agoIn some ways, that lag is good. You can cheaply replace batteries with just a thermal mass. But it’s not good enough to make up for the cost difference.
minus-squaremnemonicmonkeys@sh.itjust.workslinkfedilinkEnglisharrow-up2·2 days agoThe sunlight spent just to get the water up to temperature is also wasted, so the maximum extractable energy per day gets kneecapped
Plus, you get a lot of lag when heating water with concentrated solar. Overnight your water cools down, so you need time to get it back to boiling temperature before it can generate any power. That lag gets worse during winter and cloudy days
In some ways, that lag is good. You can cheaply replace batteries with just a thermal mass.
But it’s not good enough to make up for the cost difference.
The sunlight spent just to get the water up to temperature is also wasted, so the maximum extractable energy per day gets kneecapped