With all the supply chain issues that thereâs been, I wonder how quick things will break down when climate change start to hit the supply.
Graphics like this, though they take a little bit of work to fully grok, are sharing a really important message that gets lost in the binary media diet of most people (even people who truly attempt to be properly informed). What I take from it is that weâve already made changes that are really moving the needle to a notable degree, there are agreements/plans in place to further improve the situation, AND yes more is still needed! But if weâve made this much headway then more should be attempted! I donât think Iâve seen or heard anything like this before that we have actually already made so much headway, instead I was under the impression that much of what has been done or committed to is barely making a dent.
This is the kind of Fremen level thinking we need to survive the rest of this century.
4th tweet reply shows the image to be about a story from India instead of Iraq.
Also itâs the kind of story that sounds good at first blush, but doesnât hold up when tested long term. I mean, itâs not âsolar freaking roadwaysâ bad, but similar ideas havenât panned out elsewhere.
Turns out itâs hard to maintain panels above water. Itâs much better to cover the water with a roof, or use a pipe, and then put the solar panels on normal ground where you can service them more easily.
It also turns out that a lot of the expense of solar farms is in the cables and connections. Itâs best to make a big chunky area of panels, none of them far away from the main grid connection. Stringing panels out in a very long, thin line (like over a canal) is very inefficient.
Mixing two types of infrastructure sometimes works, but if it was always more efficient it would be the standard method, rather than an exception.
This was my thought also, wouldnât a capped irrigation ditch or a pipe actually have almost 0 evaporation loss. It seems more like this was a convenient place for the farmer/property owner to setup panels at no expense to the existing arable land area and Iâm sure having to clean the panels regularly effectively (shown dumping water on the panels) cancels out any evaporation loss reduction gains.
https://knovhov.com/solar-panels-over-canals-in-india/ Adding in the linked article from that 4th twitter reply.
I tried looking for an analysis of the canal+solar idea, but all the Google results are from a story earlier this year based on a California study:
Supporting the weight of the solar panels above the water turns out to cost more than itâs worth in the long run. There was a âput the panels on raftsâ option that reduced the structural components needed, but then it introduced all the issues with needing boats to service them.
Trains powered by batteriesâŠ
⊠that could also double up as a way to import power into Texas? Neat.
I think we all know that there is no shortage of engineering solutions, only implementation.
Itâs great to see working solutions in action, despite the fact that we could be doing worlds more.
I continue to despair until we have a working Shizuma drive in our hands.