Most new clean energy does not use boiling water.
this post was submitted on 30 Jul 2026
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Pushing electrons? Really? Man of your talents?
there is a power generation scheme that uses high temperature fuel cells. optimally it could run on hydrogen only, but because it runs hot, it is able to take almost any flammable gas, along with some steam, and it forms hydrogen internally, then oxidizes it. this alone generates bulk of electricity, but offgas is hot, so it goes to heat exchanger which boils water, which then turns steam turbine
That's just burning a hydrocarbon with extra steps.
it replaces gas turbine with a fuel cell, which is a good couple % more efficient than CCGT. still under development. there is also another variant where hot offgas is generated under pressure and expanded directly. no steam, same effect
What is worst is that if we look deeper, we find out that everything is just turning the mill
The only advance would be solar that was capable of not using a mill that have to turn.... Everything else? Just a fucking mill
Looks like the Dutchies were right in the first place
Nah, the dutchies also invented the stock market.
Solar and batteries (chemical). If we could harness lightening then that's come without mechanical energy as well. There's biological energy as well, we don't have a way to extract it directly as electricity but it exists
Mechanical and heat is just the most common way to get electricity for us at the moment.
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Fun fact time oklo is the only known instance of a naturally occurring fission reactor.
Wow, that's mental
An amazing TIL. Thanks!
I love the description of PV to be basically 'outsourced fusion'
Face it, all power is water, all stories are Hamlet, all food is grass, and all music is Pachelbel's Canon. Reality's budget is running out and it's having to reuse assets.
I'd love to see someone try to explain how As You Like It is Hamlet
Both explore how characters must mask their true identities to survive a corrupt patriarchal system managed by a villainous uncle?
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Boiling water is the only reasonable way to turn heat into electricity.
how is solar water based?
Actually there's also the mirror based solar which boils water in a central column.
It's cooler than that; they use the heat to make molten salt, then use a heat exchanger to boil water with that, the salt gets stupid hot and holds energy into the night.
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Solar and wind biggest energy revolution is not needing to boil water
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Solar uses radiation not just heat.
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I’d like to thank some post on Mastadon, which really boiled down how and what a nuclear power plant works to provide power.. the little things.
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Can't improve on perfection.
Burgeoning supercritical CO2 turbine technology would like a word.
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