Christian F
Christian F  ·  3 months ago
@clockwooork @pluralistic
#solarpunk
I'm not an engineer and can't fact-check this, but if the numbers and assumptions are right this is really amazing:
Absolutely worth reading the whole article at https://pluralistic.net/2024/08/06/with-great-power/ but here are some key quotes:

"The promise of marshaling a very large amount of materials is that it will deliver effectively limitless, clean energy. This project will take a lot of time and its benefits will primarily accrue to people who come
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Christian F
Christian F  ·  3 months ago
/cont
"... after its builders, which is why it is infrastructure. [...] infrastructure is inherently altruistic, a gift to our neighbors and our descendants.
[...]
Within a decade, we'll hit peak mineral demand for batteries. By the mid-2030s, the amount of new "virgin minerals" needed to meet our battery demand will stop growing and start declining.
By 2050, we could attain net zero mineral demand for batteries: that is, we could meet all our energy storage needs without digging up
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Christian F
Christian F  ·  3 months ago
/cont
"... any more minerals.
[...]
The total quantity of minerals we need to extract to permanently satisfy the world's energy storage needs is about 125m tons.
[...]
125m tons sure feels like a large number, but it is one seventeenth of the amount of fossil fuels we dig up every year just for road transport."
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