• ComradeSalad@lemmygrad.ml
    ·
    2 months ago

    Their conductive properties and light weight makes them perfect for use in large scale battery components.

    They have revolutionized polymer composites, as nanotubes bond very well to epoxy and create a material significantly stronger other current composite materials. The listed current applications for this are wind turbines, marine paints on ships, professional sports equipment such as skis, hockey skates, arrows, etc.

    Vantablack is made from nanotubes.

    I had to look this up, but apparently they are used in atomic force microscopes and have allowed us to discover tens of thousands of microbiological species that were undetected before along with revolutionized microbiological studies.

    It’s a significantly lighter lightweight adhesive compared to glue and other tapes. Since the tape also uses Van der Waals forces, there are no chemical adhesives needed.

    This is a limited list of course, but there are many further niches uses in various fields of research.

    • multitotal@lemmygrad.ml
      ·
      1 month ago

      wind turbines,

      Wind turbines are bad: they kill birds, the sounds mess with marine animals, and there's no way to recycle the blades so they have to be buried underground.

      marine paints on ships, professional sports equipment such as skis, hockey skates, arrows, etc.

      These things existed before nanotubes, marginal improvement isn't world-changing.

      Vantablack

      Rich people stuff.

      there are many further niches uses

      But that's it: niche uses that don't really affect people's lives, so carbon nanotubes haven't changed the world on a macro scale. We're just not there yet as a society/species and we won't be as long as there are hungry and homeless people on this planet.

      • cayde6ml@lemmygrad.ml
        ·
        1 month ago

        Wind turbines are remarkable as wind power though, and the fossil fuel industry exaggerates the still unfortunate number of birds killed by them.

        • multitotal@lemmygrad.ml
          ·
          1 month ago

          Fossil fuel industry is the one pushing for wind power, because guess what power is used to transport and install wind turbines. We need nuclear power, not wind power. A single medium-sized nuclear reactor can generate as much power as 900 wind turbines.

          https://climate.mit.edu/ask-mit/how-many-wind-turbines-would-it-take-equal-energy-output-one-typical-nuclear-reactor

          • ComradeSalad@lemmygrad.ml
            ·
            1 month ago

            I guess China is installing so many wind turbines because they’re filthy capitalists, right?

            What “fossil fuel” interests does China have to be the leader in installing wind turbines?

            • multitotal@lemmygrad.ml
              ·
              1 month ago

              What kind of argument is that? lmao. The US is also installing wind turbines, they are based communists!

              I could be wrong about fossil fuel industry supporting wind turbines, but you can't make the argument that just because China does something that means that thing is automatically good.

              The WEF is all gung-ho for wind power: https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2023/05/greenertower-greener-steel-wind-power/

              I guess the WEF is a bunch of communists and we should do everything they say.

              Wind turbines are dumb and worse than nuclear power, I don't care if Lenin himself rises from the dead and says wind power is the most communist thing ever.

              • ComradeSalad@lemmygrad.ml
                ·
                edit-2
                1 month ago

                China has triple the total wind power that the US does. The US added 18 GW of total capacity last year, and China added 72 GW.

                Womp womp. Guess China is acquiescing to the whims of capital by making wind it’s third most plentiful source of energy generation.

                What kind of argument is that? The WEF says some random piece of technology is good so it’s automatically evil? Really?

                • multitotal@lemmygrad.ml
                  ·
                  1 month ago

                  China has triple the total wind power that the US does. The US added 18 GW of total capacity last year, and China added 72 GW.

                  Oh, I see, the more wind turbines a country has the more communist it is.

                  What kind of argument is that? The WEF says some random piece of technology is good so it’s automatically evil? Really?

                  It's exactly the same as your argument, I just flipped it to show you how weak it is. I'm glad we agree.

                  In China, the largest wind turbine producer, Goldwind, is only 40% state-owned. In all countries wind power is a capitalist enterprise, whereas most nuclear power plants are publicly/state-owned and controlled.

                  • cayde6ml@lemmygrad.ml
                    ·
                    1 month ago

                    Flipping an argument only works if the argument is rational, makes sense or helps illustrate a point. You're screeching about the World Economic Forum.

                    • multitotal@lemmygrad.ml
                      ·
                      edit-2
                      1 month ago

                      Did you miss the part where the wind enterprises in China are mostly privately owned? In fact, every wind enterprise around the world is privately owned, while nuclear power plants by their very nature have to be publicly owned or at least under state-control. That's why most, if not all, nuclear power plants operate as a loss; which is also why you don't see companies advocating for them as much as they are for wind and solar.

                      • cayde6ml@lemmygrad.ml
                        ·
                        1 month ago

                        Does something that's privately owned automatically make it a bad thing? It's way better for the environment than any fossil fuel-based method of energy generation, China is a big advocate of it, it fits into their long-term economic plans and vision, the technology/knowledge/blueprints can easily be exported, and the CPC as a leash on anything and everything private. And not only does the CPC nominally have control over even private enterprises through various methods, it's willing to crack down if and when necessary.

                        You are practically fearmongering.

                        You're also ignoring that despite having "only" a 40 percent stake in Goldwind, that is still likely a controlling/majority individual stake.

                        • multitotal@lemmygrad.ml
                          ·
                          1 month ago

                          Does something that’s privately owned automatically make it a bad thing?

                          I think so.

                          But I could have been wrong re: Goldwind and it seems it is majority owned by companies linked to the CPC.

                          Let me revise my argument: wind turbines in deserts where there isn't much life aren't a big deal and are a good renewable resource (still inferior to nuclear, though); but wind turbines installed on sea are objectively bad and they negatively impact marine life and the marine environment.

                          • cayde6ml@lemmygrad.ml
                            ·
                            1 month ago

                            Do you have any articles about wind turbines disturbing marine life? It makes sense on paper and I'm skeptical, but I'm very willing to read any articles you have. I have the others you linked me open in other tabs.

                            • multitotal@lemmygrad.ml
                              ·
                              1 month ago

                              https://tethys.pnnl.gov/sites/default/files/summaries/SEER-Educational-Research-Brief-Underwater-Noise-Effects.pdf

                              Not a lot of research has been done on the topic, it seems. Offshore windfarms have hundreds, if not thousands of turbines, constructing them involves a lot of dredging, pouring concrete, and so on. To be honest, I don't trust private companies not to cheap out on environmental damage mitigation, because they always do.

          • cayde6ml@lemmygrad.ml
            ·
            1 month ago

            China is a big advocate of wind power.

            Relying on any one method though is stupid, a combination is needed.

            • multitotal@lemmygrad.ml
              ·
              1 month ago

              China is a big advocate of wind power.

              So? So is the US, Scotland, Denmark... what does that have to do with wind turbines being bad for the environment, impossible to recycle and less efficient than the alternative (nuclear)?

                • multitotal@lemmygrad.ml
                  ·
                  1 month ago

                  bad for the environment

                  A short summary:

                  Offshore wind farms have a big impact on underwater pollution. From their construction to their deployment, offshore wind farms, with their turbines and metallic foundations, generate noise and vibrations below the sea surface (called “anthropogenic noise” because it is unnatural and human-made) that disturb marine life and flora, especially for the underwater mammals that rely on sound (like echolocation or vocalization) to survive in the ocean.

                  https://sinay.ai/en/does-offshore-wind-affect-marine-life/

                  But here's a full report on environmental impacts where it is all rated "moderate" severe: https://www.boem.gov/sites/default/files/documents/renewable-energy/state-activities/Revolution_Wind_DEIS__Vol1and2_508_compressed.pdf

                  impossible to recycle

                  The blades are impossible to recycle.

                  In the US alone, some 8,000 blades were pulled down in 2021. Most blades were landfilled because there wasn’t much else that could be done with them.

                  https://cen.acs.org/environment/recycling/companies-recycle-wind-turbine-blades/100/i27

                  By 2030, it is estimated that more than 52,000 tons of wind turbine blades will need to be recycled each year in Europe alone.

                  https://www.stenarecycling.com/news-insights/newsroom/2023/wind-turbine-blade-recycling-boosts-circularity-in-fossil-free-wind-energy/

                  less efficient than the alternative (nuclear)

                  I already posted a link to the MIT website where they say you need around 900 wind turbines to match the power output of an average/medium-sized nuclear power plant.