Chris Baron

Ranch Hand
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since Mar 21, 2003
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Recent posts by Chris Baron

"They" yes, but not me ;) And real experts of course. Radioactive contamination is still a completely different dimension of threat especially due to the long term effects. One can buy and return batteries at the next filling station after all. Plutonium on the other hand...
8 years ago
Humpty Dumty is an eggman but ok...

8 years ago

Pat Farrell wrote:

Chris Baron wrote:Regarding the storage of energy: what's wrong with batteries?


Just about everything. For starters, they are all made with toxic and often lethal materials. Then there is the minor engineering fact that they provide a small amount of power over time, whereas peak load needs are lots of power right now. No battery can deliver that. Then you have to look at their low power density per cubic foot/meter. The list goes on and on.

Batteries are great for small amounts of power where portability is king. If you want even a modest amount of power, you need huge and heavy batteries (look at any car battery). There is no portability in solar, wind or hydro power, they are fixed, batteries are a poor fit from a simple engineering view, let alone economics.



Ahem!
Elon Musk unveiling the egg of Columbus
Up until now, i've always suspected the electric car "movement" a bit as a astroturfer campaign by the nuclear industry. This presentation and Elon's clear commitment to solar and other renewables made the electric car a big step cooler and desirable in my eyes. Sure, batteries are still "made with toxic and often lethal materials", but it's nothing that couldn't be handled with care and responsibilty. And i'm sure batteries can be produced in the future that will be much less critical to the environment
8 years ago