Yeah I don't disagree, but smart grid is the most meaningful early adoption of industry 4.0 and virtually all the (not vaporware) talk about it currently relates to it.
It's more about how smart grids can mean better utilization rates of renewables than currently is the case because it would otherwise just default to natural gas is what I'm saying.
This isn't cheaper in the same way that if mined gas fell in price.
The value of the smart grid is that it allows you to fully utilize the energy being produced by solar and wind farms, which prior to this technology had problems with load balancing.
So while energy consumption can still go up, it does actually mean less natural gas being used as opposed to say, the cost just going down so we end up using it more and just end up producing less renewables.
ok, so I've got a question: From what I've read, you can desalinate seawater via reverse osmosis with 1000PSI of pressure against the semi-permeable membrane. At fist that seemed like a shit ton, but them I remembered each meter of water column gives an additional 1.45PSI or so.. That means if you go out to where the ocean is 700m deep, you should be able to desalinate water just with the pressure differential the water column gives. Could't you just put a big membrane on the bottom of the ocean, and have an undeground pipeline routing it back to land, where it could either be stored in some kind of reservoir or just have people drill wells down to pump it up? The logistics might be fucky, but I just looked some shit up and the deepest oil well is 2km deep. I guess keeping the pressure on the other side of the membrane at 1atm could be tough , I could see a hole in the membrane rupturing and then it floods and there's no pressure differential. Hold on a sec, couldn't you just build like a big cube (or sphere) of membrane that holds millions of liters of water, tie a big rock to it so it sinks down to the level where there's enough pressure for reverse osmosis, wait for it to fill up, and then haul it back up from the ocean floor, and have yourself a big bubble of fresh water for agriculture or drinking or waterparks or whatever? Like just get some old submarine, blast a hole in its hull, stretch the proper kind of membrane around the hole, and then have it sink to 700m, where it'll take on water like any submarine that got a hole blown in it would (except this one has to go across a semi permeable membrane, so even though its a SEA-water, it'll be FRESH-water filling up the sub), and then have it surface? I suppose you'd need to build waterproof electronics and engines and stuff so it can function while its flooded, but it can't be that hard, right?
Ah okay, I was wondering if it addressed those load balancing issues with renewables. Fair, that aspect is objectively good. Doesn't change the fundamental need to progress to ecosocialism, but it does sound like technology which would smooth that transition.
Nah smart grids are actually good for everyone. Lowers energy cost and means substantially less burned natural gas.
There is a lot more to the whole 4th industrial revolution thing than smart grids though
Yeah I don't disagree, but smart grid is the most meaningful early adoption of industry 4.0 and virtually all the (not vaporware) talk about it currently relates to it.
deleted by creator
It's more about how smart grids can mean better utilization rates of renewables than currently is the case because it would otherwise just default to natural gas is what I'm saying.
This isn't cheaper in the same way that if mined gas fell in price.
deleted by creator
Cool tech but increasing efficiency =/= meeting the end goal of leaving the vast majority of fossil fuels in the ground
The value of the smart grid is that it allows you to fully utilize the energy being produced by solar and wind farms, which prior to this technology had problems with load balancing.
So while energy consumption can still go up, it does actually mean less natural gas being used as opposed to say, the cost just going down so we end up using it more and just end up producing less renewables.
ok, so I've got a question: From what I've read, you can desalinate seawater via reverse osmosis with 1000PSI of pressure against the semi-permeable membrane. At fist that seemed like a shit ton, but them I remembered each meter of water column gives an additional 1.45PSI or so.. That means if you go out to where the ocean is 700m deep, you should be able to desalinate water just with the pressure differential the water column gives. Could't you just put a big membrane on the bottom of the ocean, and have an undeground pipeline routing it back to land, where it could either be stored in some kind of reservoir or just have people drill wells down to pump it up? The logistics might be fucky, but I just looked some shit up and the deepest oil well is 2km deep. I guess keeping the pressure on the other side of the membrane at 1atm could be tough , I could see a hole in the membrane rupturing and then it floods and there's no pressure differential. Hold on a sec, couldn't you just build like a big cube (or sphere) of membrane that holds millions of liters of water, tie a big rock to it so it sinks down to the level where there's enough pressure for reverse osmosis, wait for it to fill up, and then haul it back up from the ocean floor, and have yourself a big bubble of fresh water for agriculture or drinking or waterparks or whatever? Like just get some old submarine, blast a hole in its hull, stretch the proper kind of membrane around the hole, and then have it sink to 700m, where it'll take on water like any submarine that got a hole blown in it would (except this one has to go across a semi permeable membrane, so even though its a SEA-water, it'll be FRESH-water filling up the sub), and then have it surface? I suppose you'd need to build waterproof electronics and engines and stuff so it can function while its flooded, but it can't be that hard, right?
Ah okay, I was wondering if it addressed those load balancing issues with renewables. Fair, that aspect is objectively good. Doesn't change the fundamental need to progress to ecosocialism, but it does sound like technology which would smooth that transition.