this post was submitted on 17 Jan 2025
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Technology
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Start with policies requiring technology companies to use computational work as a sink for excess electricity, compelling grid operators to prioritize sharing of intermittent renewable power, and mandating rooftop solar. That will hold us over while we start shutting down fossil fuel power plants and ramp up production of emissions free thermal alternatives and productive power sinks like electrolysis and desalination plants. Small back up power systems can be installed as needed at sensitive sites (similar to what we already do) and the roof top solar requirement will facilitate that. We would never expect PV solar plants to run at night. We'd just reduce computations or hydrogen and fresh water production as the PV solar output falls off.
I've never played the games you mentioned. Are there mods for automatic productive power sinks?
... Do you mean turn OFF everything at night? Because you do realize that the output of solar power at night, you know, when the solar part is missing, is zero, right???
And wind can't get anywhere near the difference, even assuming it's running at 100%. Not to mention many things need to continue running at night. Like hospitals.
And that's before I even got to the absurdity of tech companies using computational work as a sink. Computational work doing what, exactly? Rendering 3D farting fairies??? And that's not even getting into how they're the main cause of increased energy usage recently preventing us from catching up with demands in the first place, mostly because of AI.
And the back up batteries only at sensitive sites - so you just expect people to freeze to death in Winter or during a heatwave? To not eat because they can't heat anything up? What about comms. Most towers are in places where there's not enough space for local battery sites. "Mandating rooftop solar" sure, but you'd still also have to "mandate" that it's free because many weight be able to afford it.
As for the reason I said you should play this games, it's to make you realize how difficult it would be to run everything purely on solar and wind and without batteries, EVEN WITH future tech and perfect weather with no inhabitants like in Satisfactory. You'll either need good sources of hydro in every possible spot on the map (at which point, in real life, you'd definitely be altering the environment, + climate change is affecting that too in reality) or a massive battery storage site / so many distributed batteries you've accomplished the same thing anyhow. You'll fucking realize energy demands can be so damn high, the struggle isn't "what to do with all this power" but "I need more power / need power at night", constantly, even with magic future solar tech on a planet with a binary system.
You're clearly both too uninformed AND misinformed to continue this conversation. At best what you do now is help the fossil fuel industry with how ignorant you are - at worst you're a troll willingly doing so.
Who said anything about running everything purely on solar and wind?