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Ask HN: What can be done to prevent a climate catastrophe?

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Re: Ask HN: What can be done to prevent a climate catastrophe?

#401

Post by jabl »

gpm wrote: post #258
plopilop wrote: post #138

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Think we're dumping too much CO2 into the atmosphere? We no doubt are but that problem basically goes away immediately if we ever get economic fusion power. That's an enormous "if". Fusion research has been underfunded for decades, we don't even know if we can sustain it, and for a reason I don't get, many ecologists are anti-nuclear. Plus fusion won't solve everything. You won't put a sun core into your car nor yo…

> nor your plane Agreed with car - not sure I agree with plane. Currently we have fission powered submarines and boats. Putting a fission reactor in a plane would be somewhat suicidal, but a fusion reactor would be mostly safe. A large plane is similar in scale to a submarine.

There was a US project to produce a fission powered plane, starting in 1946: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aircraft_Nuclear_Propulsion

There were recently some rumours about the Russians producing a nuclear powered cruise missile.

I'm not sure a fusion powered plane would be any less crazy. At least with D-T fusion you have a MUCH higher neutron radiation requiring more shielding. OTOH if the plane crashes there's less worry about nuclear waste spreading over the landscape.

Re: Ask HN: What can be done to prevent a climate catastrophe?

#402

Post by seymour333 »

What can be done to prevent a climate catastrophe? Start an economical catastrophe.

We need to immediately, and meaningfully, move away from oil, gas, and other carbon heavy industries in any way that we presently have the means to do so.

If everyone who is presently in the market for a new vehicle could afford to buy an electric one, we'd probably be in better shape. If every household could put solar panels and take a load off of the grid, we would be moving in the right direction.

The problem is these technologies are new, and expensive, and they can't be effective at solving the problem they set out to solve without mass adoption.

Mass adoption won't even _begin_ to happen until the average person can pick up a used Model 3 for around $10k. Where populations heavily use mopeds and motorcycles we need a flood of affordable electric alternatives. Both of those scenarios are at least a decade out.

If we need to solve this in 12 years we're screwed. Best bet is to move somewhere cold and inland. Then at least you can be somewhat comfortable while the whole thing goes down. Although the process of moving the world's economy away from oil (to whatever extent that can be achieved while still producing plastics etc.) is going to make life miserable no matter where you are.

Re: Ask HN: What can be done to prevent a climate catastrophe?

#403

Post by Retric »

anonuser123456 wrote: post #392
Retric wrote: post #380

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Solar hot water heaters are cheap and work very well for home heating outside the arctic circle. In the US we mostly use them for pool heating, as anything else costs to much, but somehow they are ignored for other uses.

Solar water heaters are not cheap. 1 square meter of evacuated solar tubing with a storage tank is > 4k, before installation. That 1 m^2 will give you at most 500w of solar gain for 2-3 hours... in total maybe 5k BTU. That's a factor of 20 off relative to existing systems.

That's not what I am talking about. Bulk collectors for a single home are ~500$. Flat plates run $1,000 - $2,500 per home. Evacuated tubes cost more and collect less energy, but produce hotter water. https://modernize.com/home-ideas/34541/solar-water-heater-co...

1 square meter evacuated solar tubing is used for hot water systems not home heating. It's a question of output temperature, the warmer the water the less cost efficient and more costly the system. High end systems include a backup water heater which means you directly save 1k on a hot water heater.

Anyway, for home heating you don't need 'hot' water, a heat pump operating on even 60f water vs 0f or below air is very efficient. You can also pre heat cold water with a flat plate feed that into your normal water heater and again save a lot of energy.

PS: Also, many people pay 1,000-2000$ / year on home heating even with a well insulated house. These systems generally have payback period under 10 years, assuming you actually need significant amounts of heat.

Re: Ask HN: What can be done to prevent a climate catastrophe?

#404

Post by avmich »

pedro1976 wrote: post #137

On the topic of geo engineering, I want to share a quote [0] from the physicist Joshua Bach: "As long as we are still burning fossil fuels to generate energy, the idea of capturing the CO2 from the atmosphere is a joke. It would require more than all the energy we have generated since the beginning of the industrial age. Or millions of years of growing non-rotting trees." [0] https://twitter.com/Plinz/status/10418818…

I wonder why he thinks so. What are the calculations? Why can't we use green energy to separate CO2 in atmosphere from clean air and do that faster than we as civilization add CO2 to air, thus buying some time to apply non-technical solutions?

Re: Ask HN: What can be done to prevent a climate catastrophe?

#405

Post by thinkcontext »

thewhitetulip wrote: post #344

Please start using Solar and wind as much as possible. We have amazing products available now. I have fiur solar lanterns, one flashlight, a 20k mah powerbank and a 14w suaoki foldable solar panel In a few years ehen I buy a vehicle, I'll buy an electric moped, a 60w suoaki solar charger and a 150wh suoaki power generator. That way, I will be using my vehicle on renewable energy at all times. We need to do this and f…

I have to take issue with your use of the foldable solar panel. Studies have estimated that commercial solar panels take 1-4 years to produce enough electricity to offset that used in their production [0]. This is for fixed panels, pointing south, at optimal tilt, during all available daylight hours. How many hours per day does that portable panel get used? It seems extremely unlikely to me that the average portable solar panel gets used a significant fraction of what a fixed dedicated panel does, thus will not offset its production emissions.

More generally, green gadgets are likely not very green. The true lifecycle advantages over a conventional product if there are any are likely to be very small and you are unlikely to be able to even find out for individual products. People would likely make more of an impact by wasting and consuming less. There are products that can make an impact, they tend to be high energy users like a water heater, HVAC system or insulating a building properly.

In the US, many states have deregulated utility markets. That means users can choose who provides their electricity and many green products are available like 100% renewable. See https://www.electricchoice.com/ for more background and if that's available in your area.

0 - https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S136403211...

Re: Ask HN: What can be done to prevent a climate catastrophe?

#406

Post by patrickg_zill »

adrianN wrote: post #238
patrickg_zill wrote: post #227

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are you aware of this country's recent past ethnic cleansing...?

How is that related to their carbon policies?

It seems strange to praise them for their Happiness quotient when they may well have arrived at that by shall we say, unsavory methods.

Re: Ask HN: What can be done to prevent a climate catastrophe?

#409

Post by jjeaff »

TeMPOraL wrote: post #254
jjeaff wrote: post #168

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Humans are the ultimate adapters. Heck, we can survive in the vacuum of space, the highest peaks and some of the lowest parts of the ocean. We live in deserts and rain forests and tundra and remote islands. Humans will survive. They will adapt. It may not be in the same numbers and lifestyle as today, but the human race will likely be here for a very long time.

Human societies can have individuals doing all that. Stable, large societies. The astronauts can survive in the vacuum of space because of technology, and they can get to space because of technology - technology that is backed by hundreds of thousands of people all across the greater economic machine that built the rocket and the space suits, and supplied and fed everyone involved. As individuals, we're not much more…

Without our technology, we can still run farther and longer than any other species, use our delicate fingers and opposable thumbs, control fire, and make and use tools and solve relatively complex puzzles. As a species, without our tech, we are head and shoulders above most species.
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