this post was submitted on 06 Feb 2026
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Yeah about that.
Those are termosolar powerplant, they use the sun to boil water and spin a turbine.
Why do I have an overwhelming urge to climb that
You know if you're a moth, you can just fly up there.
No brother!
BRotHeR i cRaVe foR tHe ForBiDDen liGhT
Are you perhaps living in a place where it snows or something
Sam McGee just wants to do free climbing
Um...no.
Sam McGee just wants to be warm
Yeah that was the joke
You played too many Ubisoft games.
Better solar power extractor.
The sun heats the planet unevenly, this causes wind. Wind is solar
do you not know how those work?
the sun shines on the side angled upwards and heats it up. everybody knows hot air rises, so this raises the blade, creating the spinning motion.
it's basic, really. third grade stuff.
I really love how it's almost that simple.
the sun shines on the ~~side angled upwards~~ planet and heats it up. everybody knows hot air rises, ~~so this raises~~ creating winds that drive the blade, creating the spinning motion.
Omg every body knows wind is created when god sighs at the collective sin of the world.
Some people so dumb.
the great orc father mungnog's farts propel the wind, all know this.
I declare holy war!
I declare bankruptcy!
If you think about it coal fired power plants are also solar powered 🤔
True, just that an intermediate step(of many steps) is to continually destroy the atmosphere.
It's not like we need it to breath anyways. We'll just pay corporations for oxygen masks and "Atmo-tanks" to breath. We have commodify everything because Capitalism requires it.
Only that sun fell on plants millions of years ago. We really don't want that million year old carbon dioxide in the atmosphere alongside the recent stuff
Very true, the conclusion I'm drawing is that solar power is actively harming the environment and causing climate change. No new solar!
Its even more metal they heat salt that heats water to spin the turbine. This keeps the power generation well after sun down.
Although they're falling out of use these days, both because they're not very environmentally friendly on account of being instant bird death-rays, and also because regular solar panels are cheap enough that it's not worth it to make a big thermosolar plant.
Habitat destruction, air pollution, and pesticides are unfathomably worse for birds.
And I'm not sure how much alive things are in the Atacama (except when there is a blooming desert fenomenon.
Idk, my country just inaugurated a gigantic one of these.
Also, fotovoltaic pannels decay with time and have to be replaced, 15 years I think? Their manufacturing isn't also the greenest thing on earth.
You build one of these, and you can run it for a long long time.
This number gets lower every time I see it.
First, manufacturers typically guarantee their panels for 25 to 30 years.
Second, while we can extrapolate from existing data and perform accelerated aging tests, we're actually not completely sure how long PV panels last in the real world because the oldest ones from 1987 are still going.
much longer: https://www.slashgear.com/1989112/solar-panel-lifespan-longer-new-study/
The usual warranty period is 20 years generating 80% of the nameplate generating Watts
They keep generating reasonable amounts of power 50 or 100 years later, though they tend to get overtaken by new technology in 10 to 20 years, and since they pay for themselves in about 4 years in my area they get replaced while still working well
I think we export our obsolete panels to developing nations
Lies! Well the thermal plant is also fine but photovoltaics are really, really good.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KtQ9nt2ZeGM
I wonder if it could be worth it to make one of those on other planets/the Moon one day. No birds to worry about there.
Solar panels are still cheaper and easier. Most spaceships and probes rely on them.
Yea, I should have guessed as much.
Ahkshually, those tend to boil salt...which is later used to boil water.
That technology is a relic of the past. Solar panels are cheap and efficient now. Just use solar panels.
And much easier to operate and troubleshoot.
That's what they want you to think. I bet it also powers a secret orbital space laser. I should know, a man with a theoretical degree in physics told me.