Posts by Rich of Observationz
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I personally like the look of them, because they speak to me of all that coal not getting burned
What he said.
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Hard News: Higgs Live!, in reply to Chris Waugh,
The numbers are summarised here.
For *grid* generation, wind looks like maybe 60% of the cost of solar PV. Wide disparities of course - much of NZ is fairly windy and cloudy. Australia would, one might expect, be one of the first places for which solar PV would be economical. I'm sure China has similar areas.
For off-grid, it's a completely different story. We've also got solar powered parking meters, traffic signs and the like. If you've got enough north-facing roof space, solar hot water (another proven technology) is a great idea.
But we should be making a plan now, on basis of things you can order right now.
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Hard News: Higgs Live!, in reply to Lilith __,
A wind farm has negligible impact on any native species (and on any non-native ones other than snotty homo sapiens worried about their view). The sheep grazing around the foot of the turbines are much more detrimental to the environment. Not to mention that, when a better solution comes along (if it should) it can be carted away and recycled.
Hydro has more impact, but it's totally localised and doesn't compare, even slightly, to the impact of climate change. A lot of the hydro we need to balance wind can be built on existing sites, e.g. pumped storage on current hydro schemes.
It's all very well considering emerging technologies like solar PV, but essentially you're creating another delaying factor (and people will then object to those ugly PV arrays all over Northland, and the tidal barrages harming the fish and taniwha, and the energy used in producing PV, etc).
NZ has a wonderful opportunity here. If we build out 100% wind/hydro/geothermal in the next 10 years (which is eminently feasible) we've taken a big step to decoupling our economy from resource exhaustion. Isn't that better than holding out for mirages?
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Hard News: Higgs Live!, in reply to Lilith __,
We already have the ability to get NZ to 100% renewable electricity and beyond using existing, off-the-shelf, technology and identified (wind/hydro/geothermal) sites.
The only reason we're burning fossil fuels to generate electricity is political (lower initial prices, higher profits and sheer pig-headed destructiveness). Pretending that if we wait, some panacea will be just around the corner is just a convenient excuse.
Sure, we should contribute to ITER, but not pretend that it'll be good for anything practical before the 22nd or 23rd century.
Also, thorium. Another pseudo-panacea, and a convenient excuse for India to keep it's nuke programme going.
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Hard News: Higgs Live!, in reply to Lilith __,
Fusion has it's own issues - no fission products, an off switch, but activation of the reactor structure similar to a fission reactor. A health physics paper is here.
The main threat to the environment from fusion, however is that it will take many years to perfect (it's been 50+ years away for as long as I can remember). If we factor it in as an energy source, that means we don't scrap Huntly and the various gas-fired generators as soon as we could. Which will be somewhere between bad and terminal, depending on if you live on the coast or in the way of an oil war.
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Hard News: The not-so-Evil Empire, in reply to FletcherB,
One of the things with cars is that it's been established over the years that manufacturers can't legally lock you in to support (read parts and service). For instance, in most countries, it's legal to make an aftermarket car part that fits the original, notwithstanding patents and copyrights, or to write a 'Haynes Manual' based on (literal) disassembly of the vehicle.
We should really have similar rules for the computer industry.
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Hard News: The not-so-Evil Empire, in reply to Simon Grigg,
I do think Apple are missing a trick commercially:
If they had a scheme where you could sign up for a gold ID and give them full access to your credit card - you would then be couriered the fully loaded, top of the range model of all products on the day of launch.
I think this would be very popular.
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Selwyn went mufti while I was there
Any problems with gang colours (even in Kohimaramara)? I'm generally anti school uniform, believing it to be part of a system of regimentation, but have read teachers who assert that if they didn't have it, fights over colours would be uncontrollable.
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Hard News: Higgs Live!, in reply to David Hood,
David, I'd call a valve 'electronics' (as I think the pioneers did, although I don't have a reference for the date of coinage). First diode was 1904, crude triodes* came along shortly after in 1907, so within ten years of the basic discovery. (Although De Forest didn't really understand the physics).
* For younger players, these work like a MOSFET, only bigger and hotter. You'll find them in guitar amps and expensive hi-fi. -
While finding the Higgs is of great importance, and well worth the euros and dollars spent, I'd take issue with the quote "on a par with Rutherford's discovery of the nucleus, or JJ Thomson finding the electron" unless it's meant in a context of pure science.
Those discoveries had imminent practical application - knowledge of the electron transformed chemistry (and consequently biology) and enabled electronics. Understanding the nucleus led directly to nuclear energy. Between them, those discoveries defined the 20th century,
The elucidiation of the Higgs field doesn't, I think, presage any such technological change - partly because it's so hard to measure an effect.