alt Hacker NewsEnergy security is national security.
Cheap electricity means you can do things that made "no sense" with expensive electricity. (e.g. smelt aluminum)
Cheap electricity means you can underbid regions that have expensive electricity...
As Technology Connections said, "Panels that cover your electrical needs for the next 25+ years? In the Midwest, we call that a good deal!"
Replies
eru • today at 12:44 AM
I love Technology Connections, but he has no idea what discounting is in economics. Or at least he writes his videos as if he doesn't.
noosphr • yesterday at 11:05 PM
Most of those technologies also need uninterrupted power supplies. Something wind, solar and batteries for the next 50 years aren't.
➕ show 3 replies
In 1800, humanity generated 0.3 terrawatts (TW).
Humankind generates 20 TW today. That’s a massive jump.
And everyone wants more power. It determines what society can do.
But 20 TW is a pittance in the grand scheme of the vast universe. Imagine if we were generating 100 TW or 1,000 TW.
That’s why we talk about stuff like the Kardashev Scale — type 1, 2, 3 civilization type stuff.
Electricity is not currently cheap. 20 TW is a pittance. One day humanity will reach a point where we’re generating 500 TW of power and questions of being able to smelt aluminum or make drinking water from brine seem almost like a joke. We will have flying construction drones 24/7 at that scale of energy production. At that point, we’ll be asking questions like “when will we have enough energy to terraform a planet?”
Of course, there are side effects of greater power generation such as global warming… but once again, it’s a scale thing. The universe is vast.
Slowly, we are getting there.